I can spend hours looking through the photos in this group. I feel inspired by all these lunches.

Bento Boxes

A few more projects from the To-Do have been finished. There have been a few additions to the To-Do list, but they are Christmas projects. I am trying to be realistic about how much time it is actually going to take me to finish my gift knitting.

The first project is one that I had hoped to finish for Christmas, last year, for Little One. What can I say. It is her five little monkeys quilt. I was trying to make everything look off center and askew. But I am a bit to OCD to do that well. So it just looks like I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing. All that it needs now is a good washing since the material has been sitting around in storage for a year.

I also finished my Fit to be Tied handbag from The Happy Hooker. I finished the crocheting a while ago, but had to wait to get the zipper before I sewed the lining in. The material for the lining was left over scraps from a previous project. I think I bought the material in Taiwan.

I have started my February Lady sweater fro myself. I only have about 6 rows done. But fall and cool weather are here and it is almost sweater weather again.

We got our chicks the last weekend in April and they were about a week old. There were 8 chicks and boy did they eat and grow and grow and eat. We got the chicks to raise as egg layers. And finally, they are laying. Out of the seven chickens we have left, four are laying now. We have a dozen uneaten eggs right now. And you can tell the difference between the eggs from chickens that are just starting to lay and eggs from the chickens that have been laying for a while.

I finished my Springtime Bandit scarf and ended up picking up four stitches at each top corner. Then I just knit garter stitch for several inches, long enough to wrap under the scarf and tie so that scarf would stay on. I am very pleased with out it has turned out.

For their birthday, Little One and my Niece have birthdays in June, they got a play kitchen. It is a well loved toy and Little One is actually tall enough now and starting to stand on her own. A fun way to spend a rainy morning. And my Niece loves baby dolls. She is collecting them from all over the place.

Things Little One has learned over the past week. How to climb up the stairs. How to climb up on to boxes and dogs in her way. She is starting to take several steps by herself now, especially when she thinks no one is looking. Her love of books has gone to the next level. There was a Betty Boop doll on the table this morning. Little One grab it, while sitting in my lap, and read the tag half a dozen times. She could have cared less about the doll but reading the tag was awesome.

Starting tomorrow I am going to home school my niece. She is two and 10 to 15 minutes a day of focused learning will be good for her. She is quite smart and needs some focus. I am looking forward to teaching again. And Little One will be picking up on everything as well. With Little One’s interest in reading, this won’t be too much a stretch for her.

So I blocked my Springtime Bandit. A rather good, severe blocking.

And it stretched out more than I thought. The ends still aren’t long enough for my taste. So I am considering adding something to the two corners, something along the lines of some I-cord so I can tie the ends underneath and don’t have to worry about it falling off.

I also finished my ribbed for her pleasure scarf as well. I used three skeins of yarn instead of two as called for in the pattern. I prefer a nice long scarf and the two skeins just didn’t quite make it.

Also, the cross stitch for Little One is progressing along quite nicely. There has been some room reshuffling and Little One now has her own room to sleep in. It doubles as the toy room when the kids are awake.  But I am looking forward to decorating her room. This cross stitch is going to the first bit.

My brother called yesterday. He is back in Colorado safe and sound. I called to talk to him but my sister commandeered the phone from me and I never did get it back.

Little One is teething. Two new ones on the bottom, two on the top waiting, and probably some back ones too. She has also taken to grinding her teeth. That is worse than the sound of nails on a chalkboard for me.

The brave chicken was killed by one of the dogs this week. She was called the brave chicken because she didn’t hesitate to find a way out of the fence and wander all over the place. The other day one of the dogs got her, we are very sad.

I thought getting up early would give me some quiet time without having to stay up until midnight. I didn’t count on Little One wanting to wake up with me. My dad is visiting and there has been some bed shuffling so that has to be factored in as well.

I finished up Springtime Bandit. I only did two of the four body repeats. I knew I didn’t have enough yarn when I started but crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. I haven’t blocked it yet because even with a good severe blocking I don’t think it will be long enough to wrap around as a scarf. Still trying to decide what to do. When I have a few more minutes, I will post a picture.

Today is my Dad’s birthday, he was born 10 years before Michael Jackson. But he will be turning 29, again, this year.

Edited: Here are pictures of my unblocked Springtime Bandit. I have several ideas. One is adding a row or two to the top. Another is ripping out, casting on, knit one repeat of the body section and then the end section. The other is find another pattern and start over.

And yes, awesomeness is a word……….in my world………….where I make words up as needed. Found out today that my brother is out of Iraq and in Kuwait waiting for his flight back to the US. He said if would be a few days before he is able to get a flight probably. I think my body heaved a big sigh of relief when I heard that. In terms of my brother, it has been a very long year and I am so thankful that is he going to be back in a country with less chance of being stuck working in 120+ temp.

I have decided that the only way I am going to get anything done and have some quiet time for myself is to wake up at an insanely early hour. I was trying to have some quiet time in the evenings, but not getting to bed until midnight at the earliest was really wearing me out. The ultimate goal is that I get up early enought that I can get some exercise, shower, send an email or two and still enjoy a few minutes of quiet time for myself. Getting up early enough for that is going to take some getting use to for me. Since I am starting on this plan, I actually have a few minutes to blog about my latest knitting projects.

I have knit a few more dishcloths. The garter stitch ones, also called Grandma’s Favorite, is something I can knit up while watching a movie. The Ballband Dishcloth still requires a bit more concentration, so the movie must be dialogue heavy so I don’t really need to see what is going on.

The Lacy Kerchief Scarf is also finally finished. I didn’t realize until I was halfway finished that the increases were suppose to occur every 6th row and not every 8th row like I knit them. Going through Ravelry, I found a lot of people had problems with this because of how the instructions are written. I kept going with the increase and decreases every 8th row and still had enough yarn to finish. I used two skeins of Socks that Rock medium weight in Coral.

For some strange reason, I feel the need to knit lace right now. I don’t know why. So I have cast on for Ishbel and am slowly working on it. The yarn is lace weight, I believe, so I am taking my time with every stitch. It is coming along slowly but surely.

I have finished, but haven’t blocked or photographed, my Ribbed for her Pleasure scarf. Finally. I do have the end weaved in and it is waiting patiently for a good soaking in the tub. I am also working on Springtime Bandit. It is in progress I am trying to figure out some slight modifications because I don’t have enough yarn for a complete one. Alas, no photos at this point either.

We haven’t really had a summer here to speak of, but we have been busy anyway. My sister and I have been taking the girls out as much as we can. We have gone swimming a few times and we took the girls to Swallow Falls State Park. Part of the falls are rather small and gentle. My niece loved them, she is very fearless and willing to try anything that looks like fun. It gets her in trouble plenty of times as well.

There are wild raspberries and wild blackberries growing around the farm here. My mom did most of the picking but I made all the jam. It was a lot of work making mash or puree out of the berries. There wasn’t a lot after I was finished and it is disappearing quickly. Apparently even the pickiest eater in the house likes it.

There have also been plenty of chance to practicing going out to eat. Little One is finally big enough to sit in a standard restaurant high chair. So I don’t have to try to maneuver around with the stroller in a restaurant.

This week, my sister and I took the girls to the zoo. My niece has developed a fascination for tigers. She walks around the house going “tiger, Roar” with the correct response being something along the lines of “I am so scared” The first animal we saw at the Pittsburgh Zoo was the tiger. My niece was beside herself with excitement.  She keep telling the people all around, “tiger, tiger”. Little One on the other hand was completely engrossed by the penguins swimming.  She was yelling at them and trying to hit the glass.  She was totally in love. So guess this means I have to knit her a penguin to add to her collection of knitting animals.

Plus there is the usual playing of toys. Little One has taken to my old Cabbage Patch Kid Premmie from years ago. It makes me happy that my daughter loves playing with something I enjoyed playing with as well.

I am not a country girl at all. But I live on a farm, right now. The kind that is measured in acres, the driveway is a 1/2 mile dirt road, and the neighbors are even further away. I love public transport, corner stores for that late night gallon of forgotten milk, cell phone reception at home, and the readily available culture and activities. I really hate the constant flow of dirt in the house, the donkey braying at dark thirty hours, long distance is anything past the neighbors house, the corner store is a 30 minute drive one way, and unreliable internet. That being said, there are some perks to living out in the middle of nowhere. Like the garden, I love fresh tomatoes and fresh herbs. All 8 chickens are doing well and living quite happily in the chicken house. Then there was the discovery of wild raspberries all over the farm.  My mom has done most of the picking but I have been able to help here and there. The other night I made raspberry compote to go along with an angel food cake. All of it was gone. Every. last. little. speck.

I finally finished a few items off of the to-do list as well. The necklace pendants finally have the ribbon attached. I may change the ribbon to something else after a few wears. I used liquid stitch glue on the ribbon ends to keep them from fraying.

My feather and fan scarf in also completely finished. I weaved in the ends and blocked it. I think I am going to have to actually get some sort of blocking mats one of these days. I was able to get a picture of the niece modeling it for me.

Finally, so Little One gets her share of pictures time with this post, here she is with her “please take my pictures mom” look.

I have an amazing child, at least in my eyes she is. Every day, I am amazed by this little person with a BIG personality and voice. Every day she learns something new and not afraid to try new things. She is strong and is able to bounce back. The other day we went swimming and it was the first time for her. She loved it.