Yarn Along

I am joining Ginny for another Yarn Along this week -- a picture of our current read with our current fibre-related project.

The boys and I have moved on to our second Roald Dahl book.  The first was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and they loved it.  I picked this book up at a used book store about a month ago.  It's the story of a boy and his father and  their big adventure together.  The big adventure is perhaps a little dated in that it is about poaching pheasants from a nearby wood but the story itself is wonderful.  So much of it is just about the daily life of this father and son and their beautiful relationship.  The boys are quickly becoming Roald Dahl fans, as am I.

Just off the needles and out of the washing machine are what I believe to be the cutest little slippers ever.  Okay, this might be a slight exaggeration since they don't have bunny ears or anything like that but they are still pretty cute.

See?  They fit in the palm of my hand .  That makes them pretty cute.  Oh, and the cuff seen in the above photo is from the lovely Amy.  She used vintage feedsack for this cuff and it has a wonderful feel to it.  Thanks, Amy!

Weekend Crafting: Book Cozy

I tend to carry a book in my bag wherever I go because you just never know when the opportunity to read may arise.  I'll admit that it doesn't often happen but I don't want to take the chance of being stranded without a book.  There is a risk though.  Most times, my bookmark comes out of my book and I lose my place.  This irks me, oh does it irk me.  And then sometimes the corners get bent and guess what?  This kind of bothers me too.  Now I'm sounding kind of anal but I'm not really.  There is no need to be afraid to borrow a book from me.  I don't mind when books become worn.  It means they are well loved and well read.  But to become worn from my wallet smooshing it?  Different story.

So for the past few months, the idea for a book cozy has been rumbling around inside my head.  But it wasn't until last night while doing the dishes, that the idea for this pouch made from a felted sweater popped into my head.  It's a simple idea but I was excited.  (It is kind of embarassing how long it took me to come up with this but, on some days, I do call my youngest child by the cat's name.)  I would like to say that this was leisurely weekend crafting but it wasn't.  I had 30 minutes to work on it before our nightly chapter book.  I also have more urgent projects that need to be done.  I considered all this and then ran downstairs and pulled out my sewing machine.

My book cozy had to have a flap.  Otherwise, my book mark was just going to slip out the top of the book.  (See, I really have been thinking about this.)

I am pretty happy with how it turned out.  i love the colour.  I love how soft it is.  Yes, my blanket stitch could be neater but I was on a time line fueled by the feeling of guilt that there were other things I should be doing.   I figure my books deserve a little wooly love too.

Abandoned

This morning after swimming lessons, we went to the first Christmas craft sale of the year held at the local church.  The countdown to Christmas can now officially begin.  After having a snack and visiting the children's treasure room where items were 25 cents, my three men promptly abandoned me.  Abandoned me in the sense that they went home, leaving me alone.  By myself.  At a church sale.  Alone.  So much fun.  My first stop was the Spirit of Christmas Past room where I found these little ones who will be joining us for many Christmases to come.

My next stop was at the "Nearly New" book room.

Several good finds here.  A Paddington bear book.  A book of Greek myths and gods.   Not that I need another copy of Pride and Prejudice but I couldn't resist this small hard cover edition with hand written notes in the margins.  Oh, flipping through this book, I just found a piece of paper with information about polio vaccinations.  The book that I am really excited about is the book on the bottom of the pile:  Speaking Canadian English.

  Said the famous Canadian humorist Stephen Leacock: "I myself talk Ontario English; I don't admire it, but it's all I can do; anything is better than affectation."   I cannot wait to read this book.  I have always been interested in language.  Can't wait to get to Chapter 8: Slang.

Having been abandoned meant I had to walk home and it was a beautiful day for a walk.  I bought a couple of other things but I think I'll share those on another day.  I'm going to end this post with a picture from my walk home.  These berries were too pretty to not take a picture or two of them.

An Impromptu Lunch Date

Mike worked from home today and, since both boys are in school, he invited me out for a lunch date.  How cute is that?  But in a very manly way, of course.

yummy Greek food and a glass of red wine.  A very nice way to welcome the weekend.

Yarn Along

I am joining Ginny for her Yarn Along -- a single picture of your current read and current yarn-involved project.  Love the idea.  Please check out the link to see what others are knitting and reading.  So, on my needles, a pair of fingerless mittens and in my hands, Neil Gaiman's American Gods.  The gods of whatever kind of mythology you can think of are in America and they are just like us except, well, they are gods.  Which means they aren't like us because they have all those god-like powers.  The oh-so-likeable Shadow is a man caught in the storm brewing among the gods.  have I mentioned that Shadow's deceased wife makes the occasional  appearance?  Ah, I am loving this book.

Between preparing breakfast for the boys and getting them ready for school, this morning I was able to sneak outside and take a few pictures of our early morning frost.  It was a good one.

I Picked Up My Pencil

As most children do, I liked to draw.  I can still remember what the studio looked like where I took art lessons.  Then, as so often happens as you get older, I stopped drawing.  I stopped making time for it.  It was no longer something I did.  Several years ago, before both my boys were born, I took a drawing class here at the local art centre and fell in love again.  Then the boys came, my priorities changed as they do and I stopped drawing again.  When the boys were no longer babes, I again took an interest in drawing with them.  But now I was drawing as an adult and I just couldn't seem to do it.  One of two things would happen when I sat down to draw.  One, I had no idea what to draw and my page remained blank.  Or two, I had something to draw but it didn't look as I thought it should look and I would be disappointed.  I envy the boys.  It seems that I just need to suggest doing some drawing and they can sit down, pick up a pencil and start drawing.  I don't know if they have a plan or if they just go with their pencil.  I don't know but I want a piece of it, whatever it is.

The past weekend, I had 20 minutes to myself before we had to head out the door to friends' for pizza.  What to do?  There wasn't a lot of time but I wanted to do something so i picked up my pencil and started drawing a leaf.  Then I drew spirals, lots of them, because I didn't care what it looked like but I did want to know what it would look like.  And it looks like I'm drawing again.  i think I may need to go treat myself to a new pen.

Check out this video.  Warning:  Viewing may lead to the purchase of watercolour paints.

Halloween and a Splash of Colour

Much treating was done.  Much eating of said treats has already begun.  How early is too early for candy?  I know what my answer would have been when I was 4 but I'm afraid that my mommy answer is a little different.  Let the negotiations begin.  (Hint, boys:  Catch me at a weak moment.)

After waiting impatiently all day, Darth and Luigi were let loose on the neighbourhood.  Quinn is Luigi from Super Mario Brothers, of course.  This boy loves his video games (argh from a mommy who does not) and had decided midsummer that he was going to be Luigi.  And a mighty cute Luigi, I might say.  The moustache did not stay on long after the picture was taken.  This may have had to do with the fact that Mike had unknowingly sealed his lips together.  We thought he was awfully silent.  When I finally realized he was answering questions with a head nod, I asked if his lips were covered.  Head nod up and down.  Oops.

Keegan is Darth Vadar, a very interesting choice for him.  Kee has always been extremely sensitive regarding what he can watch on TV -- nothing with extreme action, mean characters, even some fairy tale characters --which has meshed just fine with what we are comfortable with the boys watching.  Recently, he watched a Star Wars Lego video game at a friend's house and decided then and there that he was going to be Darth Vadar.  Darth Vadar?  All in black?  Yep.  Even if we were to let him watch the movie, he wouldn't be able to watch it.  But he let his inner dark side out, in a very sweet manner, on Halloween.  And grudgingly wore his black rubber boots even though they had skull and crossbones on them and Darth Vadar's boots don't have anything on them.

I'm joining Emma at silverpebble for Splash of Colour 2010.  Here's my November Splash of Colour.