I've had the Nefertem shawl done for a while; it knit up quite quickly. However, Daughter kept complaining every time I asked her to model it for me. Apparently at the age of 6, it's just a bit of a nuisance to model. Kind of like putting away dishes or helping with laundry. Her art class just happened to be next to a thrift shop with four of these body forms sitting outside. And that is how it came that I no longer need a live person to model for me.
I finished this some time last week, but just got around to taking a photo. I was pleasantly surprised by how good the story was in this book. I shouldn't have been since I tend to like Neil Gaiman, but I didn't expect to not be able to put it down. So that is how I ended up dropping it in the pool (good thing I don't care if my books stay in perfect condition) and eventually staying up far too late.
Today is the last day of the library summer reading program and I'm glad we did it. The kids read the same amount, but they were rewarded for it. As for me, it was nice to push myself and to read more than just kids books. I'm now trying to read The Hunger Games, but I'm having a really hard time with it. The writing is fine, but the premise is not. Perhaps I'm just too sensitive or my imagination makes things too realistic. I'm not sure.
I've kept with the practical theme in crocheting some wash cloths. I've had the Oh So Soft Wash Cloth pattern in my queue for years. I think I had intended to make some baby wash cloths with it at one time, but obviously either never got around to it or decided it wasn't much of a baby wash cloth. This weekend I found some Lion Brand Nature's Choice Organic Cotton for a really good price and picked up a couple of skeins not quite knowing what I'd do with it. Then I remembered this pattern. I'm so glad I did. It's a perfect quick project (it took all of a half hour to do one cloth and I was able to get 4 wash cloths from the 2 skeins) and so practical but luxurious. The cotton is really soft and very nice on the skin. Since the pattern goes so fast I decided to use some cotton ease I had in my stash, along with a G hook, and make some child sized wash cloths as well.
The chart on the bottom is for Husband. He's nice enough to help with laundry, but sometimes I find wash cloths with the dish cloths and it's a little sad. Perhaps I shall frame it and hang it in the bathroom so he'll have a handy reference chart always.
Also, I may or may not have painted the top of my coffee table with chalkboard paint.
We usually have a rotation in our house. We buy washcloths and when they get worn they become dishcloths. From dishcloths they turn to rags. It's a cycle that we love, but recently the dishcloths have become warn and the washcloths haven't. Since I already had cotton yarn in my stash I decided to just knit some. The ballband dishcloth pattern is my favorite; interesting yet, easy enough to knit while watching tv. It can be found in the Mason-Dixon Knitting book or here for free.
Also, thank you for the kind comments on yesterday's post.
*work in progress
Daughter's taking an art class at the local studio this week so I took Son for a coffee date today. There wasn't a whole lot of talking since we're both more of the quiet type. The barista recognized him because "he's the Precious Moments baby!" She then went on about how cute he was and almost forgot to give him his snack. She was very nice about it, but it's hard for me. My kids have always made me more recognizable to the places we go on a semi-regular basis and I'm much more of the anonymous type. I find it hard to live in small towns for this reason (I transferred from a small town college to a mid sized town college - eventually moving to Chicago where I could truly be anonymous).
On our coffee date today, as I was reminded by the barista (who also polled all the other baristas - who agree) how cute he is and how much he looks like me, I wondered how I could have ever hated the way I look. Then I see an ad on tv about how terrible it is to grow old, so learn how to cover those wrinkles. Or pinterest where I should be doing approximately 5 hours of exercise a day so I have rock hard abs and the perfect butt. Then I know I could have hated the way I look. How I can still sometimes be dragged down and hate the way I look. And I worry that my kids will have to go through the same thing. So I decide to be a positive role model. I will go gray (when that happens), I will accept my wrinkles, and I will spend my time with them instead of exercising 5 hours a day.
We were supposed to go camping this weekend, but then the forecast reached 90° F and the park called to tell us about the burn ban (not even a candle). We decided to cancel and keep our weekend open instead. On the way home on Friday I saw a sign for Batfest at a forest preserve not too far away. Daughter is interested in all things animals and even had her Grandpa build her a bat box so Husband and I thought we would nourish this interest.
The weather cooled off for the evening (thankfully) and we enjoyed a presentation from Flying Fox Conservation Fund, and some bat themed coloring, face painting and crafts. Daughter made her bat craft very weird. Both of the kids touched the bat (it was a very proud moment) and enjoyed themselves. We ended the night watching the bats come out of the shelter*. There were people on hand (professionals) that caught a couple of the bats and there was a camera so that everyone there could see what the brown bats looked like. It was a late night for the kids, but we all learned something new about bats and had fun.
*There was a picnic shelter turned bat shelter there. It was switched to a bat shelter when picnic goers realized that guano was falling into their food (which isn't very appetizing). Instead of trying to rid the shelter of bats, they just built a new shelter for the people and put up bat boxes in the old shelter to make it more comfortable for them.
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I was actually nominated twice for this, so it's probably high time I got to doing this. Thank you to both Chrissy of Whimsical Poppysmic and Debbi of Yankee Burrow Creations. It was very kind of both of you to nominate my very tiny blog.
So, the rules:
I also finished my third book for the summer reading program, Quiet: The Power of Introverts by Susan Cain. Being an introvert myself, I learned a lot. From now on I'm totally blaming physiology for why I want to run out of a room when a large group of people are there. If you like reading non-fiction I highly recommend this book. Even if you're not an introvert, chances are that you know when, and this book could help you better understand why they ditch out on your parties.
That title makes it sound like there's going to be a really good story. I'm going to disappoint you unless I make something up, but even then I might disappoint you because I can't really think of what might go wrong with macrame. Maybe one of your loved ones ending up in knots? Or maybe one of your loved ones ending up in gold knot covered clothes?
Alas, nothing like that happened. I just miss having plants, but we have cats. Having plants with our cats tends to lead to a vicious cycle and a lot of clean up. The plant always ends up dead. Then I remembered that I had two hanging pots in the shed. Husband informed me one of them broke so I still figured I had one hanging pot in the shed. I went to the shed only to find it broken, but only one of the holes that held the chain was broken. I thought about buying a ceramic bit and drilling a new hole, but I was already home and I'm a bit lazy when it comes to dragging two children to the hardware store. Then I remembered something I had pinned. I pin about a million things, so it's a little amazing I try any other pins than recipes (we just had this last night and I'm not really sure why you're still reading this and not making it).
Back to the macrame though, the instructions were very clear. I did cut my rope longer (clothes line rope by the way - remember, above all, laziness forces you to use what you have on hand) and added an extra knot 7 cm down from the second since my pot was larger. Since that was Friday (or a day close to that) and it hasn't fallen off the wall; I consider it a success. Perhaps I can still have an herb garden this winter.
We braved the heat to see fireworks on Tuesday. Being that it was evening and by a lake, it wasn't too horrible, but it was still hot. We were also lucky that our town did fireworks this year. Due to the draught it was cancelled in a lot of towns. Better to be safe than have an unwanted out of control fire.
Daughter loved them. She remembered them from last year, so she was already really excited. Her favorites were the ones that looked they were coming at you. Son spent much of the time in my lap with his head buried. If you ask him now though, he loved them. They were big, blue, and green. I'm not too sure how he saw any of them, but we let him tell everybody about them very animatedly.
The next day was spent relaxing in the morning with an early nap for everyone but me. It was nice that the city had a bit of foresite and had the fireworks on the 3rd instead of the 4th. I know there was some complaints about it, but I for one appreciated having Husband home on the 4th to help deal with the crankiness that comes after a late night.
Photo taken by Sister since I had Son hiding in my lap most of the time and a street lamp overhead
Happy 4th of July to all my American friends!
Every year we talk about moving. It would be nice to have a little more space (basement) and some chickens (me more than Husband, but I'm a law abiding citizen). But, every year I learn a little bit more about our yard. I carve out more space for plants; I learn where the plants would do best. I already know where we'll put the blueberry bushes next year, where the lettuce, kale, spinach, and shade loving peas will go. That 4 of my tomato plants are in a bad place. We could use more nitrogen rich compost where the wood pile used to be. That straw only works as a weed reducer for a year and I need to save newspaper to put under it (after we till the soil) for a better weed reducer next season. I already knew that when it gets to 90° out I suck at going out and pulling weeds (hence the reason for weed reducers).
This was the first year with Annie. She's taught us that we need higher barriers to remind her where she shouldn't go or she'll trample the plants (I'm officially sorry to my hostas, green beans, cucumber, and plant whose name I can't remember).
As much as a basement would be nice I'm just not sure I want to learn a new yard yet. The kids will get older and we won't care about having more space. Eventually their toys will be traded for c.d.'s (they're not getting their own computer in their room, so they'll need c.d.'s), books, and going out with friends. Our time living with them - in the grand scheme of life - is limited, so why have more space for them to disappear to. Just because sometimes they fight? Right now, they choose to room together; right now, I can only hope that they'll be this close when they're older.
Also, if anyone can tell me what to do with lemon balm, I seem to have a bush of it.
