This week’s yarn along is almost exactly the same as last week’s  post – Wildwood and Wyatt.   So in the name of progress and my excitement for seeing tangible progress I was even more encouraged to keep working on the projects I have on the needles.   I bound off the sleeves and then knit half of the back of Sophie’s Wyatt sweater.  I am hoping to sneak some quiet time be able to finish up the knitting this week and get it seamed up very soon after.

I am slowly working my way through Wildwood.  The story is beginning to pick up and I have adjusted to reading a classic fantasy genre book so we will see how I fare from here on out. I’ll be honest and say I am not loving it as much as I had hoped to, but I am enjoying it enough to keep rooting for it to pull me in.  The older two girls and  I continue to read Little House on the Prairie.  All three of us are really enjoying it.

On an unrelated note: have any of you ever made the no-knead, dutch oven loaf bread?  Warm, butter-smeared bread always sounds good to me, but I want it to be worth my time, you know?

+++ joining along with ginny for her weekly yarn along

For these moments:

• a 3rd birthday girl who said more “thank yous” than I can remember
• the swelling in my heart as I went to bed that night thinking of what a privilege it is to be her mommy
• how she softly and so sweetly whispers she loves me
• her smile at how her family called and came to celebrate her birthday
• (more) firewood delivered before it snowed
• weekend fires in the afternoon and the family room becoming more and more snugly
• a slight dusting of snow and the world being white for just a few moments
• extra coffee and lingering in comfy pants
• a new budget
• the praise in the midst of blessing
• the hope of generosity
• a playmobil hospital (birthday gift) & how it has been played with constantly as the girls help sick patients
• hearing a very dear friend when way too much time has passed
• your comments on Little House and how it encourages me to hear of the voice of women recalling their moms reading the same books
• the morning light through the front windows

For these moments, these pauses, the grace of God in the moment, I am so thankful.

This sweater has been on the needles for a while. I just searched through my archives and I realize it has been at least since November which is the first time I posted about it.   I put it down around Christmas time because I wasn’t really devoting any extended time to knitting.  As we seem to settle back into more of a routine this new year my fingers are beginning to feel the itch to knit once again.  I have been working a row here and a row there as I go about my day with the girls.  I am almost ready to bind off the arms which should make knitting up the body of the sweater go a little faster.

I can feel myself beginning to wax poetic about how great it would feel to finish all my unfinished projects.  Ones that have been on the needles since November; ones that need to be ripped back and restarted; ones that just need to be seamed while they still will fit, you get the idea.

Last week, all I did was read The House at Riverton by Kate Morton.    Morton created a wonderful post WWI world where I became immersed in learning about the characters and each of their secrets.  The story weaves together the lives of the servants and those they serve.  Like Downton Abbey, but only a book.  Do you watch that show?  You really should.

I began Wildwood.  So far, so good.  I am trying to get back into our normal routine, so I am only reading a little bit here and a little bit there.  Have any of you read it?   Thoughts?

+++ joining along with ginny for her weekly yarn along

From time to time, I am asked if I miss teaching now that I am home with the girls.  My immediate and gut reaction is always the same.  I miss teaching good stories to students and the universal divide a good story can cross.

So it probably comes as no surprise, I love to read the older two girls chapter books.  We started with Charlotte’s Web when Ella had just turned 4.  Ella was really the only one old enough to understand this one.   Then, we moved on to Stuart Little.  Sophie wanted to sit with us through this story.  For my girls, Stuart Little didn’t carry the same punch as Charlotte and her barn yarn friend. They liked sitting with me, but the story didn’t capture their attention.  I worked to try to make the story come alive, but I knew they just weren’t super duper interested.  That was ok.   I picked up the Laura Ingalls Wilder books once or twice before from the library, but they timing never seemed right to begin them with the girls.  I am so glad I decided to wait.  A few weeks ago we were at the library, and I saw the library had just purchased a complete set of the Little House books with the full color illustrations by Garth Williams.  We brought the first one home as well as a couple of the picture books from the My First Little House series.  I read those couple picture books to the girls first and we talked about how they were sisters who lived and played together.   We talked about living a long time ago.  Living far, far, far away from neighbors. Not being able to go to a grocery store when you ran out of something.   In the picture book, Laura got a new doll for Christmas.  Well, that right there, hooked Sophie.  All she really wanted for Christmas was a new baby doll.  Slowly we worked our way through the book.  They loved the pictures.  I would find them looking through the pages to try and understand what was coming next.  I found them talking about Mary and Laura when I would get them out of bed in the morning.  Those sisters loved a good story about sisters.

To be honest, I thought Sophie was just listening to my voice and enjoying snuggling with Ella and I.  I couldn’t believe how much I was mistaken.  As we were nearing the end of the book, she told me her favorite part was being like Laura and getting a new baby doll for Christmas.  Ella began describing how Ma had to knit their socks and sew their underwear because there was no store to buy those things.  She started wondering about how Laura kept food cold.   We had a talk about not having electricity and preserving food in different ways.  They devised a plan of how they might be able to make the maple candy if we got enough snow.  And,  now they know maple syrup comes from trees and not the grocery store.

I know some of the themes and plot events are beyond them still.   But, I am positive they are getting some skills that are so much more valuable.   They are liking listening to the story unfold. They are trying to use clues from the text to put together plot events. They are stopping to ask questions.  They are using the pictures to help them understand what confuses them about the words.

I placed a hold on Little House on the Prairie, and we began that book over the weekend.  They were so worried about what happened to Jack, the bulldog, as the wagon was crossing the river.  I never read this book as a little girl and I think I may be as excited as they are to see where the Ingalls family settles and sets up home on the prairie.

I am so happy to snuggle with these girls of mine and read stories.  Good stories are pretty amazing, aren’t they?

Twelve comforts  I seem to never refuse:

• a quiet start to the morning
• spell check*
• the calmness of a small pocket of time to read during afternoon nap
• good warm soup – split pea soup; tomato & carrot; roasted squash soup, french onion; lentil (to just name a few)
• the feel of hot mocha (with whip) in my hands
• stopping to watch the feeding birds
• the pungent, sweet, crisp smell of salt water
• crossing off items from a/any to-do list
• sponge candy from wahl’s chocolates in Buffalo
• sneaking a look at the girls when they are playing together in their own make believe land
• the chance to put something in the recycling and not the trash
• warming my always cold feet on joel’s always warm legs when we sit down together in the evenings

* I used spell check five times while typing this post – one of them was for spell check.  oh, the irony is not lost on me.

What are you comforts you never refuse?

• Pattern: Honey Cowl
• Yarn: Plymouth Yarns Royal Bamboo
• Size: whatever two skeins knit up to
• My Ravelry Notes: here

I know I said I would be back with my goals, but that was before we all came down with a stomach bug.  A week ago, Evie got sick and then as hard as a tried with the hand washing and the clorox wipes; it spread to us all.  We are on the mend and for that I am very thankful.

In that time, however, I did manage to snag one day where I was dressed, in real clothes – not the yoga pants I have been wearing all week, while there was still light outside and a photographer over the age of four to take a few pictures of my finished cowl.  Here she is, my green tea with honey cowl.

This knit up very quickly.  The bamboo yarn slid over the needles and made the slip pattern fun to knit.  The part that took so long was working up the oomph to un-bind off and pick up all 240 some stitches again to fix the mistake I made while I was binding off the first time.   I am so glad I, a quiet house, and a glass of red wine took the time to do so because I have been wearing it quite a bit since then!

Last week, I reported I was reading Wildwood.  And, I was.  Until I stopped at the library and saw a copy of The House at Riverton waiting on the holds shelf for me.  I really like the story line – it might be my favorite of Morton’s books that I have read. By the end of this weekend, I was feeling better from the stomach bug and the girls were wanting to snuggle all the time while they were on the mend, I had some of my favorite reading time.  I read.  The girls slept and snuggled and looked at their own books.

joining ginny for her yarn along.  Hope you all have a great rest of your week.

Happy New Year friends in blog land.  I am enjoying the fresh start to this new year and I hope to have some of my goals for the new year to share soon.  My children had a grand ole time celebrating Christmas and visiting with family.  This week, however, they needed to return to normal.  We are looking for new and better ways to organize (especially their art supplies) as well as get back into our previously scheduled routine.

The past two weeks I have been doing much more reading than knitting.  I committed to no Christmas knitting that needed to be delivered before the New Year.  I do have two cowls to knit, but I am waiting to hear on color preferences before I cast on.

The first book I read was The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place and the Mysterious Howling. It was a cute start to a young adult series.  The book, however, did not have any resolution at the end.  I know the story continues in the next book installment, but, I do prefer when a book wraps up the immediate story line within the covers of the book.

I had been meaning to read The Happiness Project for a couple months now.  It was a very apropos book to read the week after Christmas while getting ready for the new year to begin.  I seem to be very drawn to year long writing project memoirs: including: Eat Pray Love; The Dirty Life; Julie & Julia.  I liked and appreciated Rubin’s idea of changing your life without changing your life which seemed to be the driving catalyst for her own happiness project.  Her writing was humorous, and she made her own struggles transparent.  I think I liked the first half of the book better, but am not sure I could tell you why.

As soon as I finished The Happiness Project, I began reading Wildwood.  I am only a couple chapters in, but am enjoying it so far.  The books has beautiful illustrations and a few full page color illustrations, making the book a rare treat.

I am reading Little House in the Big Woods aloud to the girls, right now.  All three of us are enjoying the story.  I first introduced Christmas in the Big Woods to them the week before Christmas.  I knew both of them would have a hard time understanding how remotely Laura and her family lived.  I was hedging my bets that once they had some framework to begin to understand the story they would like hearing about two girls and their family.  (A big thank you to all the reading literacy classes I took in college which helped me understand this very simple yet profound truth: people will love reading a whole lot more if they have some idea of what is going on in the story).  I am excited to keep reading the book to them.

Joining ginny for her weekly yarn along

For these moments:

• the gift of choices
• the longing for God’s best
• the peace even in the midst of waiting
• the joy and anticipation of Christmas week and
• the mystery of Glory among us
• the simple joy of addressing cards
• the choosing of the pictures
• reflecting on a year filled with more smiles than we could count
• snowflake cutting for big people
• with cheese and mushroom tarts
• wrapped presents shipped to family we will not be able to see this Christmas
• wrapped presents delivered early to make sure all five of us can fit in our car and make it to Nana & Poppa’s house after Christmas
• teething girls who are desperate for the momma to hold them
• that I can be her comfort
• the excitement over cookie baking this week
• girls who want to enjoy every moment of this season
• one said girl asking Santa which type of cookie he would like on Christmas eve
• Santa thanking her for being so considerate
• praying these words, not Santa, is what she remembers

For these moments, these pauses, the grace of God in the moment, I am so thankful.

I am joining in with Amanda for {this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

After a quick start, and a very easy pattern, I thought I was full speed ahead on my green tea with honey cowl.  One Sunday, I snuggled in bed with Ella during our afternoon quiet time and was set to begin binding off.  Almost done and a stitch fell off the needle.  I thought I got all the stitches back to their happy little home and secure.  Then with 15 or so stitches left to bind off, I ran out of yarn.  Arrr.  So, I attempted to bind off with a remaining scrap piece of yarn from the ball join.  I tried to make sure all my quick fixes resulted in secure stitches and I thought I did ok.  Well, one wear into enjoying the cowl I noticed my quick fixes were not secure after all.  Last night, I did what I should have done all along: un-knit the bind off row and rip back until I had enough yarn to properly finish.  Since I spent all the time fixing my mistake, I decided I wanted to make the border a tad wider.  A couple more rounds to go and then hopefully a successful bind off and I will be good to go.

Yes. doing things the right way the first time.  A lesson I always seem to need friendly reminders about.

You can see what I have been reading in my reading post from yesterday:  The Violets of March and The Distant Hours.

I am hoping our Christmas cards arrive soon.  The girls and I have cookies to make for a holiday party at Ella’s preschool later this week.  I think that this might be the beginning of our family cookies as well

+++joining with ginny and her weekly yarn along.  thank for stopping by!