One Quarter of the Way.

We follow (mostly) Ambleside Online’s curriculum, which is basically a killer book list. In truth, we have to supply our own math, spelling, and science (and whatever else I forgot offhand) but it covers geography, literature, nature study, and history through amazing living books. It’s a lot of reading. I get really excited about that.

We are now one-quarter of the way through this year’s curriculum. I like the find the books used, so now I start looking for the next school year. I start pouring through Ebay, Etsy, thrift stores, local book stores and library sales for really cool vintage copies.

I found this beautiful copy of Richard Halliburton’s Book of Marvels, which I’m equally happy to use as decor on the bookshelf until we read it. I’ve got a sweet version of Wild Animals I Have Known coming for $5.22 from Ebay this week. It’s a fun orange hardcover with tiny drawings of animals on it. How cool is it that I can vintage shop for my boys’ curricula?

Another useful thing about Ambleside is that it gives me a planning structure to work with. I don’t really follow Ambleside’s book list for my second son. It’s redundant, seeing as he is listening to his older brother’s books everyday anyways. Instead, I use that structure to plug-in other fabulous living books. I have a little stack of books I save from my thrifting for possible choices. I’m looking forward to reading David McCaulay’s Castle with the boys next year, along with some other fun building titles. The search goes on.

Halloween 2015.

It’s fun now the kids can really appreciate Halloween. Gone are the days of dragging the boys house to house with costumes they just feel uncomfortable in. Costumes I usually selected, so they would be cute in pictures. Gone are pumpkins that I truly carved alone, even though I gave them credit.

Now the real fun begins! It’s Halloween, kiddo style. The costumes are now their own ideas, I just execute with their help. Any discomfort with costumes can be beared for a few blocks of candy getting. The candy trading is natural, never had to teach that one. The jack-0-lanterns are a cyclops and ghost, ideas I’d never have thought of. The jolly smiles are so genuine as they look into their bags filling up with candy and think, “man alive, this is great.”

Yes, this year we had our share of tears, a baby tooth fell out on the way, there was some griping about costume malfunctions near the end. But we did it together. We braved the rain, we enjoyed the night. We celebrated. Happy Halloween to you all, wherever you are on your journey.

Sssuper Sssimple Snake.

While watching a disappointing NASCAR race with my boys, I knitted a snake. It’s a simple fella made to use up a full skein of yarn. Sometimes you just need a little rainy Sunday, race day project, right? Actually, my motivation was to have a snake for my Halloween costume, and the clock is ticking. Meanwhile, my younger fella has named him Rick. (Note: This is not meant as a toy or used without supervision because it’s super long and a possible choking hazard. It would be a great jump rope though.)

Anyways, if you wanna make this super simple snake, here’s what you’ll need:

1 skein Lions Brand Homespun USA (green)

2 Size 11 double point needles

Get started:

CO 5.

Knit as an i-cord until 131 inches long, (almost all the yarn is gone). Don’t worry, it goes by very quickly because it’s so chunky.

To form the head: (continue these rows in i-cord fashion, no need to pull super tight, this head will be “one-sided”)

Row 1: kfb, k3, kfb (slide and continue as i-cord knitting until the end)

Row 2: kfb, k5, kfb

Row 3: k

Row 4: k2tog, k5, k2tog

Row 5: k*

Row 6: k2tog, k3, k2tog

Row 7: k2tog, k1, k2tog

Row 8: ssk, k1

Row 9: k2tog

Knot off. Shape the head and weave in loose ends.

Optional:

Shape the tail point by gathering CO yarn tail, weave it in and pulling it tight.

Sew on buttons for eyes.

Can you guess what I’m going to be for Halloween?

(I was Medusa. This snake was my scarf.)

Learning to See Creatively by Bryan Peterson.

So, I just finished up this inspiring title, Learning to See Creatively by Bryan Peterson. The focus is how to open up the possibilities of your camera by more thoroughly exploring your subject instead of the average photography book. Elements of design, lighting, composition, cropping, and more are discussed and shown in use. Mr. Peterson’s enthusiasm and excellent descriptions makes it seem obtainable and fun. With tons of photos included, it’s exciting to see the variety of shots he feels anyone can make.

I was happy to see he suggests on site editing over Photoshop (which I don’t own anyways, although don’t fear at the end there is a section on it). I felt vindicated that he says to “create” photos by editing items in (something I do). Finally, I was inspired to try to do things a little differently or examine my subject a little while longer after I thought I got the shot I wanted.

Bryan Peterson is well steeped in photography with loads of titles to prove it. He demonstrates his ability to teach through this title as well. Thanks sir!

Even if you don’t shoot photos manually, there is a ton to learn from this book.

(I received this book from Blogging for Books for this honest review.)

Outdoors in October.

The boys and I have been out and about quite a bit. We’ve been out apple picking, pumpkin picking, learning sweet moves at sword fencing class (while Dear Husband and I spectate), playing at school group meet ups, visiting with Grandma, and just running plenty of errands. We’ve also had our very first flat tire together this month en route to fencing class, too. Oh my, did I forget to mention my sister and nephew’s visit too? We did the Foo Fighters concert in Nashville. Phew, I do feel like we are squeezing every drop out of this beautiful month!

Wander.

We made a long drive from Tennessee to Colorado this weekend. It was over thirty-four hours of driving. I knitted. We played car games, listened to new music, watched movies, chatted, and wandered. We were even stranded due to a bad alternator in the truck. But I don’t care where we end up. Put me in the car with my boys and my soul is soothed.

A Big Little Jacket.

My younger son decided he’d like to be a pirate for Halloween this year. Before I made him this jacket (he’s since outgrown but wears anyways). I asked if he’d like a new one that fits. He said that would be great. I dug through my stash and used a grey/blue wool blend for the exterior as the weather could be downright cold. I lined the jacket with orange, his favorite color. He asked for a hooded variation this time around (pattern from Big Little Shop on Etsy) and I decided it would be more functional with pull ties. Remember the knitting fork? I made the string for this coat with that.

Hot off the machine, I had him try it on and told him I’d detail it like his last coat. Only, he said he likes it just as it is. He’ll be a scary pumpkin man instead. Okay, sounds good. We’ve got a stellar mask and now his costume is all wrapped up. I’m sure we’ll add some seriously scary details that day, but having the coat as is afterwards will be great.

Mulch vs. Chickens.

Mulch looses every time. Or rather I do. Our front walkway is inevitably coated with mulch and leaves because the chickens scratch piles of it out of the garden and, well, right on the stone walkway. I don’t rake it daily, but weekly for sure. It’s annoying and I feel like an idiot. I am creating this cycle.

Today I got wise. Necessity, of course, made my brain click into gear. I spread fresh mulch a few hours ago and I’m not about to rake it all back up tomorrow. I realized I have a little fenced garden for tomatoes. With nothing growing in there now, I can now keep the chickens IN. Fabulous, right?

I got all excited, I thought I was genius, and the boys and I watched them enjoy the new digs. Then I came inside and looked out back. The chickens got out and were at the back of my house…digging in the mulch. Sigh. I think I’ll have to use it only when someone is outdoors. At least they didn’t get to the fresh stuff out front.

Chickens win for now.

Notes on a Basket Fail.

For $1.50 I found basket “parts” at a garage sale, precut and labeled reeds, lacing, etc. I bought it. I tried making a basket with my supplies and determination. What I got was basket-ish, but definitely a fail. I don’t have the heart to toss it just yet, so it’s in the bottom drawer of my bathroom holding first aid cold packets. I could see it wasn’t going to be even when I was weaving up the sides. Try as I may, the short sides grew taller than the long sides. I made myself go through the motions anyhow. It was a great learning experience. Afterwards I thoroughly examined the other few baskets I’ve woven in classes for a comparison.

Here is what I noted:

Less is more. At the bottom of my previous successes, I noticed much less and more loosely woven bases. My quest for a larger basket made me get crazy with the bottom, packing way too much in. This created my side height problem. The reeds couldn’t separate enough to slide the side reeds down tightly.
Wet is good. Those reeds sure will bend and pull tighter than I thought possible. Next time I will soak longer and not be afraid to push so much.
Make sure there is time. I anticipated less time for weaving and got frustrated with how long it was taking. Next time, I’ll weave when I don’t have too much else to squeeze into the day.
Thin reeds aren’t great for the stakes. I choose some thinner reads for better color, but that didn’t work out. They were way too thin to hold up well, and slid down when drying.
Trying and failing is A-okay. You know what? I learned way more about weaving by failing than by completing a kit perfectly with a teacher hovering. When the teacher prepares the kit, they account for the fails. That was a fabulous way to attempt my first baskets, but now I want to see those pitfalls by myself. Next time I’ll be braver.

37.

(Me at 6 months old.)

In the middle of many birthdays of friends and family, I celebrated my own. For my thirty-seventh, we went for a family bike ride in the morning. A little over six miles later, I intended to take the boys to the local tennis court to try out our new single racquet, a recent Goodwill score. However, apparently the local park does not have a court, so the boys tried out the new playground equipment instead.

When we were hungry. we headed home for my requested birthday lunch, cheese fries. There is something in my bones that aches for cheese and Dear Husband’s homemade cheese fries hit the spot.

I had a vision, while the kids were playing at the park and we were getting hungry, of organized recipes. I’m trying old-fashioned. My recipe collection is a mess. I think the tried and true 4×6 recipe cards will be my solution (hopefully forever?). I printed some cards out of old manilla folders, for durability. I weeded out some junk too. I’m glad to finally make a move to fix this recipe issue. We watched the NASCAR race as I worked and my son and I were pleased our favorite drivers are doing well. My favorite driver won, I’m certain it was for my birthday. My son’s favorite driver got fifth.

After this vegging out session, I perked up to make apple pie with whipped cream for dinner. A little while later, my youngest fella read to me as my birthday gift, he’s a big Dr. Seuss fan these days!

Relaxed, inspirational, outdoors, easy. A great day.