Month: May 2018

Weekend Morning

mildlygranola, 2 Comments

6 out of 7 days I wake up and drink coffee while hanging out with the kids. I make them a full breakfast around 8:30. There is not a lot of time for relaxing and contemplation.

One day each weekend that changes. Today was that day. John was on kid duty, so I had a relaxing morning. I slept in. I drank coffee in bed and worked on the applied i cord on my blanket. I watched the latest Knitting Monk podcast.

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Do you watch the Knitting Monk? He is amazing. I get something out of each of his podcasts – every time I watch one I walk away thinking about the mindfulness of my craft a bit differently. In his latest podcast, which I watched this morning, he spoke about finding the opportunity in what you have in regards to your stash.

For me that means if I find something I want to make, I shouldn’t think about how I don’t have the yarn called for in the pattern. I should look at my stash and see if there is a way to make it work. Will that always work? No. Will it stop my from buying yarn whenever I see I project I think I need to make? Yes.

I am still on my yarn diet, and thinking about the opportunities to knit with the stash I have is something I’ve been trying to do more of this year. I have so much yarn in my house. I don’t need to buy more.

I am so thankful that I found that episode this morning. It set my day off on the right track.

Do you watch any knitting podcasts you would recommend?

Knitting Picture Books

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My two favorite hobbies, knitting and reading, are things that I like to share with my kids. While I haven’t taught the kids to knit yet, they both pretend to knit while saying “In. Around. Through. And off.” Considering they are only 2 and 3 I think that is pretty good.

Both kids love to read and being read to. We have a lot of books, but I’m always looking to add to the collection. Some of my favorite books to buy are picture books about knitting.

These books are great for anyone looking for new books for their kids. You don’t need knowledge of knitting to enjoy them. They would also make a great baby shower gift if any of your favorite knitters are expecting.

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This book is about a little girl who finds a magical box of yarn – she can knit and knit and knit and never run out of yarn.  It is a cute story – who wouldn’t want an endless supply of yarn? I love how the knitting is illustrated.

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Everyone in our house loves Ned the Knitting Pirate. It is a fun read, with a rhyming pirate song to enjoy within the story. My only issue with this book is that Ned appears to knit exclusively with boucle yarn, and I just can’t get behind that.

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The Surprise, by Sylvia van Ommen, is one of Audrey’s all time favorite books. It’s a book without words that follows a sheep as she dyes her wool, knits a present, and gives it to her best friend.

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I love reading these books to the kids. We get to talk about the story as well as knitting. Do you have any knitting picture books to recommend? I’m always looking for more books to read.

Today

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I had a hard time coming up with a topic to write about today.

I could write about how Elliot has taken to climbing the learning tower and throwing toys to the floor. Even metal toys. Our floor has new scratches in it.

I could write about how I realized my borrowed digital copy of Trevor Noah’s Born A Crime is due in three days and I really need to finish it. I cannot begin to explain how interesting that book is, so finishing it won’t be a problem if I can find the time.

I could write about how Audrey now says “Mama, I’m sick of you” and “Mommy I don’t like you.” It breaks my heart. I responded to her with words I remember my Mom saying to me, so I sent my mom a text to apologize for being a jerk.

I could write about the cute things that happened today, like Audrey saying maybe we would see R2D2s at the Kansas City Zoo and Elliot attempting to blow bubbles.20180517_170926883889581.jpg

But instead I’ll just show you my finished sock, because I am not up to a long, thoughtful post today.

I messed up the decreases on the toe. It turns out decreasing while pushing kids on the swings doesn’t work as well as I would have hoped. I decreased on rows that I should have decreased on twice on the top of the sock. I decided it worked and I’m not going to tear it out. It’s still comfortable.20180517_19043658301587.jpg

I hope you had a wonderful Thursday.

WIP Wednesday: 19/52

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Happy Wednesday! I’m only aware of the day because I keep checking the calendar. I’m still thrown off from our camping weekend.

I’m slowly making progress on the applied I Cord on my blanket. I finished the third side yesterday. It is so big it takes me a while to locate the yarn and find a good way to hold the blanket. If I’m sitting down for less than a half hour it doesn’t seem worth it to pick up.

I cast on socks before I headed down to Missouri last week. I’m using Felici in the Stone Harbor colorway. Felici continues to be the fastest sock yarn I’ve ever worked with. I’m already done with the gusset on the first sock.

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Over the next week I hope to finish this sock and start the second one. I also hope to finish the applied i cord on the blanket. Once I’m done with the blanket I’m going to start my sister’s Christmas present (I like to stay on top of holiday knitting).

Book Club

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Last night my book club met for the first time since February. We all finished the book back in March, but life got in the way of the three of us getting together. Between the three of us there were two international trips and one trip to Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood. We had a lot to catch up on.

Our thoughts on the book, Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal, were positive. We all enjoyed the book, but also found it slightly discombobulating. You would be reading a dramatic story about a woman teaching in an immigrant community in the UK and then BAM! an erotic blurb was thrown in.

At the end of the night, the book doesn’t really matter. What really matters is having a dedicated evening to catch up with friends. They are amazing listeners. They give me good advice. I always leave book club with my spirit elevated, and not just because of the book inspired signature drink.

Camping Recap

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As I mentioned yesterday, camping wore me out. Part of that is the lack of sleep. The other part is we spent the entire time on the go. It was such an enjoyable weekend.

The drive down to North East Missouri (in the same area as Mark Twain State Park) took about 4 hours. It went remarkably well. I borrowed my sister’s portable DVD player, so the kids were able to watch Mickey Mouse and Olivia in the car. We stopped at a park about three hours into the drive. Getting them out of the car to play helped all of our moods.

When we got to the campground we unpacked the car and then walked up to the camp store to order pizza.  It was a great way to get the kids familiar with each other again, and a great way to get us out of cooking.

This is the first time the boys have spent much time together. They immediately hit it off and played well together all weekend. It was so much fun to watch.

After dinner we headed back to the camper. The girls and Bryan went for a ride on the golf cart (Kirsten’s husband was there dropping it off and drove them around) while Kirsten and I go the beds ready. Elliot was not up for a ride yet. He liked exploring the golf cart, but he was scared of riding on it.

After the golf cart ride we tried to get the kids to bed. It did not go well. That was the case all weekend. As they get older it will get better. That’s what I’m telling myself.

In the morning we had breakfast at the camper before we loaded up the golf cart and heading out to play.

The first stop is the modern playground. It is a big cube for climbing, with a slide and swing in it. The kids loved exploring it. Eventually it got busy and we headed to a different playground.

The second stop was an older playground, also at the campground. We were the only people there, which the kids (and their mothers) enjoyed. The kids played hard until it started to rain.20180512_0953321026274787.jpg

The campground has a place for kids 1-5 that is basically an indoor area to explore. Sadly most of the toys were broken and it hadn’t been cleaned for what looked like a decade. That being said, it was free and kept the kids busy.  20180512_1021082060642474.jpg

After all of that it was only 11. We decided to have lunch and try for naps. Lunch went well. Naps didn’t. The boys got out of their pack and plays after about 30 minutes and walked out to the living room. We decided to throw in the towel and explore some more.

We headed to the Mark Twain Lake visitors center. It was full of things to do. We checked out a few scenic overlooks. We took a hike. We looked around the visitors center. They had a table with crayons and coloring books for the kids. The employee on duty even handed me a bag with 4 packs of sidewalk chalk and two workbooks for the older girls. He mentioned they will be added a playground next year, so we will be back.

The nice guy at the visitors center then told us the best park to visit at the state park. It was a great park and it is very close to the campsite. There is also a beach close to the park, so hopefully we will try that out later this summer. The kids were so entertained at this park Kirsten and I were able to sit on a bench and actually talk! It was a miracle.

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That night getting the kids to sleep was horrible. At one point I went in to check on the boys because they were being very loud. They had crawled into bed together and were very proud of themselves.

20180512_190013579921131.jpgOn Sunday we got up, attempted to go get pancakes and found the restaurant closed, and drove home. All in all, it was a crazy way to spend Mother’s Day weekend, but it sure was fun.