Category Archives: Books

Imbolc

This past week in our little home school was devoted to a dual theme of poetry and stories of the goddess Brigit (Bride, St. Brigid, Bridgid, Brighde). It was a very interesting week, so interesting that it seems to be spilled over into this week as well!

Celtic Memories by Caitlin Mathews has got to be one of our all-time favorite collection of stories. The boys were very pleased with a timely sharing of “The Cailleach of the Snows” (from the above collection) featuring Bride as the heroine.

Many, many poetry books found their way home from the library this week, far too many to list (there is a reason why Steve refers to library day as “hernia day”!). We’ll just stick to some highlights…

The couple of offerings we had from the “Poetry for Young People” series by Sterling Publishing Company, were well liked by all of us. It turns out that Iain enjoys Robert Frost, while Elijah prefers the fanciful descriptions of Emily Dickinson. I considered this a most delightful discovery on both counts!

Elsa Beskow’s Around the Year came out on several occasions. You know, I can never quite tell whether I care for the poems in this book or not…I’m always too busy looking at the pictures! I’m seriously considering framing a few color copies for our playroom.

We ended off the week by hosting a pot-luck and poetry reading. It turned out to be a rather small gathering, but I think it was all the more lovely thanks to the intimacy. We shared food and then poems. Two of our guests sang songs they had written (still love that). Another family brought, a new to us, collect of poems by Alice Schertle called I Am the Cat. This was a huge hit among the wee-ones! Even though, or perhaps because, some of the poems can get a bit gruesome at times. One little friend gave a very entertaining rendition of some poetry from Alice in Wonderland. I read Goodnight Moon on behalf of the bitty boy. My middlest boy was feeling a bit bashful about reciting in front of people and so chose a very little poem, Jack be Nimble, compete with one giant leap over a “candlestick”. I shared one of my own poems as well as one from one of my favorite collections. Iain had plans for reciting a Shel Silverstein poem and a very beautiful winter poem, but unfortunately he became ill before he had a chance. He ate some food that his sensitive tummy just isn’t ready for and it rebelled. Poor boy of mine…

We did have plans for making beeswax candles later in the evening, but the sharing of poems ran very late indeed and Iain had long been whisked away to the bedroom by Steve. We saved the candle project for today, when all of the children were here for our weekly get together. It turned out just right, as the weather wasn’t cooperating for our normal outdoor pursuits.

But first we made hats. Which really had nothing to do with anything, except that everyone was getting a bit too rowdy while the wax was melting. During which time, Galen happened to pick up the stack of paper bowls leftover from the party, cleverly balancing them atop his head…at which point I shouted “Hey, everybody, wanna make some hats?!?”. Out came the crayons and glitter, glue, yarn, bits of felt, feathers, pipe cleaners and scraps of wrapping paper, and 7 little boys quickly pulled every seat in the house up to my tiny table.

So the hats were made, and everyone had some fruit for a snack, while we started shaping out candle molds. I got this idea from a craft book and liked the concept, but was skeptical about the results it would yield. Basically you roll out a long “snake” of clay and then coil it up in the shape of a beehive, supposedly creating a mold for a beehive shaped candle. But what you get is actually the reverse…sharp bits of wax from the cracks and indents from the curves, instead of a lovely, curved and rounded beehive. Which is rather what I expected would happen. But we decided to do it anyway, and it was fun, and I seriously doubt any of the kids care!

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Books, celebrations and festivals, crafts, Homeschooling, Kids, Life, Our Little Home, toy making
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Stopping by the Woods

We woke this morning to the first real snow of the season.


I took my camera with me on our post-breakfast trek through the woods and snow, to our neighbor’s house to feed her birds (chickens and ducks). It’s probably for the best that my batteries died very early in our outing, if they hadn’t, I fear the birds may never have been fed! The flakes were still falling rapidly when we set out and we were all mesmerized by the glittery-mistiness that transformed the well-known trail between our homes.


Today turned out to be surprisingly productive, on the building front. Several windows went in on the first floor and our telephone pole has been erected! We didn’t know when they would be coming, so this is a pleasant development. Hopefully we will be able to hook something up to it sometime in the near future. The roof is complete, save for one more panel, destined for the section shown here… covered in snow…


That picture was taken at B the Builder’s urging, by the way, we’ll just chalk it up to his off-beat sense of humor…

I’m hoping to procure this book from the library, once again tomorrow, to share with the littles by the fire.
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Books, building, Life
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By Request, Part One: The Food Post

We interrupt your regularly scheduled meme to bring you the following response to your request….

Tina requested the recipes for the acorn muffins and apples crisps that we made a while back. With my free-form baking, that’s easier said then done, but I will see what I can do!

Besides, it’s seems completely appropriate to be talking of warm, nurturing, harvesty foods on this blustery day. And speaking of ‘blustery days’ I do believe that a visit between my middlest boy, good ole Pooh Bear and myself is in order this afternoon….because it’s just that sort of day.

There will be no new pictures here as we are currently not eating um, any of these. We recently started a new diet as an attempt to heal some of the various health problems within our family. So, we will just have to settle for lots of carrot soup (I’ve been practically living off of carrot soup lately) and home-made apple sauce this Autumn, and you will have to be content to refer to the original post if you want to see the finished product!

Acorn Muffins

The tricky part of making acorn muffins, is preparing the flour. Start with large, plump acorns that show no signs of decay. Remove the caps and shell them. Now that you have your nuts you must soak them to remove the tannins (and the bitter taste that comes with them!). I’ve read several methods of doing this. I opted to boil them, changing the water several times until it ran clear. If you are unable to get them to this point in an afternoon, storing them in the refrigerator, covered in water, will keep them fresh and aid in the tannin reduction process. Allow the nuts to dry and grind using whatever method you choose (mortar and pestle, blender, grinder). Now you are ready to start your muffins!

This recipe, by John Stormm, appeared in the Summer 2006 issue of The Blessed Bee. My adaptations, based on what I happened to have on hand at the time, will be noted in parenthesis. I doubled the recipe.

1 1/2 Cups of 50/50 flour and acorn flour (I used a combination of Bob’s Gluten-free flour mix, acorn and hazel nut flour)
1/2 C of unprocessed sugar (Rapadura)
1/4 tsp. of nutmeg (cardamom)
3/4 cup of diced apples and raisins or other dried fruit (fresh apples and fresh dates)
1 egg (equivalent egg replacer)
1/2 C buttermilk or milk (coconut milk)
1/3 C melted butter or margarine (olive oil)
(see how well I follow recipes?)

Cliff Notes version of the directions: Combine wet ingredients in one bowl, dry in another, mix together. Should remain a bit lumpy. Spoon into well greased muffin pan, bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes until lightly browned. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan.

Apple Crisp

Now here is where things really get vague!

Prior to going GF I used to make this using a combination of oats, a bit of flour, pinch of salt, vanilla, spices and maple syrup, all added to taste and baked at around 375 until it “seemed done”. I used all different kinds of fruit for this, berries, pears, peaches, you could add some dried fruit, if desired, as well. To this basic topping recipe I sometimes added a bit of oil or some nut butter, depending on my mood. I noticed that Grace has just posted a recipe on her blog that is very similar to this, and hers has actual measurements and stuff (imagine that), so if you find my creative, willy-nilly baking style too alarming, you might want to stop by there!

Since going GF, I’ve made this twice. Both times it was served to non-GF friends, and met with rave reviews.

The first time I used: a combination of gluten-free flours (rice and tapioca, I believe, but don’t hold me to that!), some ghee, pinch of sea salt, maple syrup, a bit of gluten-free hot cereal, cardamom, cinnamon, and coriander.

The second time I used: My leftover acorn and hazel nut flour (see above) that I had stored in the freezer in place of the hot cereal. I used rice flour, instead of a blend. I also added cashew butter.

The second batch was the winner in my book.

And while I’m in recipe mode, here is a wonderful, multipurpose, gluten-free sweet bread that I’ve been meaning to share (there are measurements this time and everything!). The recipe was crafted by a friend, with a few alterations by me.

All Purpose Sweet Bread

1/2- 1 cup Maple syrup

3-4 eggs beaten (I now use egg replacer because we can’t have eggs and it doesn’t turn out nearly as well, but still good.)

3/4-1 cup oil

1 1/2 cups Water

2 cups mashed or pureed main ingredient- so if you are making banana bread then bananas, squash for squash bread, etc. I’ve used this recipe with pumpkin, various other kinds of squash, bananas, apple sauce, and carrots so far. For the best results I would say go with one of the squashes first and make muffins, then after you can branch out and try different flavors.

3 cups rice flour White rice works best.

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

A note on spices:
Adjust these according to the type of bread/muffin/cake you are making. Cinnamon and cloves are nice with apple. I like a bit of coriander in my banana bread. Cardamom gives and exotic touch to carrot cake. Alter this part to suit your own tastes.

This is a good combo for squash breads:

1 tsp. cloves

1 tsp. nutmeg

Combine all of the wet ingredients in one bowl and all of the dry ingredients in another. Blend together. Bake at 350 in an ungreased pan. Muffins take about 20 minutes, bread is around an hour, cake is somewhere in between. keep and eye out because it varies from oven to oven. This makes around 24 muffins or two loaves of bread. Leftovers freeze well.

Happy baking and Enjoy!

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Books, Food, Homeschooling
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F is for Figs, Francesca, and Fascinating

F

Figs- Luscious, plump, juicy figs…mmm…. Dried ones are ok, but fresh ripe figs are where it’s at! This is a recently discovered fancy of mine. I think I had my first fresh fig only a year or two ago. Steve sometimes brings home a little carton of them as a treat for the children and I. I am sorry to say (alright, I’m really not all that sorry…) that if I happen to be the person unpacking the groceries, and there is no one else around, well, then, it’s highly unlikely that anyone else is destined to see even a single fig that week. I can’t help it. They are just so yummy, and dare I say, kind of sexy…


I’ve even tried growing them! Yup, to date I have killed two little fig trees. I haven’t given up on having a fig tree of my very own just yet, but I have decided that I should learn a bit more about their care before opting to bring another one home…

Francesca-This is Francesca, my newest playmate. Isn’t she darling?


Iain makes me the best toys! This little needle felted skunk was gifted to me earlier in the week, on a day when I was feeling just lousy. I love her so much, that of course, I had to give her an ‘F’ name so that I could share her right away! In fact, I love her so much, that I don’t even mind (too much) that my tiny little bag of super luxurious llama fiber was dipped into (and just about bankrupted) in order to make her. Now that is true love.


Fascinating- I can’t remember where I first saw it mentioned, but somewhere, somehow, I was introduced to the book Material World A Global Family Portrait . When I read about it I had planned to order it through our Inter-Library Loan system. Then last night, I ran into our local library, to grab a quilting book, and lo and behold, there on display at our teeny-tiny library, is this very book. So, of course I grabbed it, and I haven’t been able to put it down! Seriously, the kids basically had to take it away from me so that I would go and make dinner last night.

The premise of the book is a giant photography project, where the author visited countries all over the world, photographing families with literally all of their earthy possessions. The concept alone blows me away. Everything is taken out of their homes and the whole family poses in front of or beside it. Each photo series has a title. All of the possessions are detailed in a key. Then there are stats on the general public for the region (life expectancy, percentage of rural verses urban land, etc) and the stats on the family in question (number of family members, sq footage of the home, income, hours worked, etc). There are additional photos of the families going about their day as well as a paragraph here and there about different aspects of their lives. One of my favorite parts is that each family was asked to name their most prized possession, as well as their hopes for the future. Very interesting stuff. Though I was rather depressed by the number of people who cited the TV as a most valued object. *sigh*

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About Us, Books, crafts, Food, Kids, toy making
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Of Pumpkins and Dragons

Last week we stepped away from our current Main Lesson material to honor the Autumn’s arrival, as well as Michaelmas. While we did not cover everything that I had hoped, the week still went smoothly and felt full and well rounded.

Here is a little over-view of some of the highlights from our week.

  • Iain started his first ‘Saints and Heroes’ study with St. Michael. I have mixed feelings about the stories surrounding this saint. The theory of St.Michael’s over-throwing of the dragon as a metaphor for Christianity’s ‘triumph’ over paganism, is admittedly, a sore spot for me. So much so, that I considered forgoing any mention of this saint at all. However, there are other virtues there that I was interested in working with. Also, dragon fighting?? I mean come on, talk about your guaranteed hit for the 5-7 year old boy! (of which I happen to have two…) My very comfortable compromise was to work with the story in “The Seven Year Wonder Book”. The focus of this lovely tale (complete with fairies and other mystical themes) is more a personal theme of over-coming our own private demons (dragons) with the an ever present chance for redemption.

  • The ‘Rhyme Elves’ made an appearance and added this verse:
“Michael, great knight,
Strong and pure and shining bright.
I’ll be a knight of Michael, too,
And polish my crown to a golden hue.
Ask the gnomes the iron to mine,
Iron from the stars, from the earth, so fine,
To bring to the blacksmith, who with his might
Will make me a sword, so strong, so bright.”

to Iain’s Wonder Book in glittery, golden script, with a picture of a shining gold sword.

  • We all drew pictures of Michael and the dragon. The boys added them to their Main Lesson Books.
  • Iain wrote out the poem from that chapter of “The Seven Year Wonder Book” to accompany his drawing.

  • We spent a good deal of time, over the course of several days, mastering the most difficult form drawing we have attempted to date. It was a circle, with a design in the middle that spiraled outward in four directions. It took a lot of effort and practice for Iain to be able to keep the four points balanced. It felt like a very appropriate form to work with around the time of the Equinox. We had a lot of fun with it! I required quite a bit of practice as well!
  • We did some harvest-y baking.

  • Elijah added a number of leaf rubbings to our nature journal and Iain labeled them with the name of the tree or plant that they came from.
  • I finished my needle felted dragon (no pictures yet though).
  • We did make an attempt at flying a kite, though it wasn’t a planned thing, just kind of worked out that way, which was rather nice (kite flying is a common way of celebrating Michaelmas). Unfortunately, the wind decided to die down, just as we were getting ready to launch it!
  • We started transplanting some perennials in preparation for putting the gardens to bed for the winter.
The Chosen Ones…
  • We began work on a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle of and autumnal scene. It’s rather advanced for Elijah, but Iain really appreciates the challenge.
  • We read several nature stories about animals preparing for cold weather.
  • We spent nearly an entire day making and decorating a huge paper dragon. It turned out so large, that I had a very difficult time photographing it! I’m hoping that it is going to stay nice enough that we will be able to hang it over the play area, once the addition is finished.
  • Iain lost his third tooth and got a rose quartz and a shell. Elijah lost a button and got a piece of amethyst. We talked a bit about some of the qualities that are sometimes associated with each of those stones.
  • We finally began carding and hand-spinning the fleece that we spent so much time washing around this time last year. Iain is hopping to have enough homespun to make Galen’s Christmas present. I’m not entirely certain that’s a realistic goal, but it’s worth a try!

Note: Since coming across my sister’s old dog costume, Elijah is now a puppy. At all times.
  • We all helped to bring in the pumpkin harvest at our CSA. Two pumpkins, perfect for jack ‘o lanterns found their way home with us, along with one that was “just the right size” for Galen.
Puppy says “THIS ONE!”.
  • Between the CSA and shopping, we came home with a large selection of all different varieties of locally grown squashes to prepare in this coming week.
  • Iain and Elijah each picked out some Indian corn to decorate the house with.
  • We rearranged our living area so that it is now possible to sit around the table without someone getting scorched by the wood stove. Not very exciting, but very, very important, I assure you!

The smug look on his face? I had just suggested that perhaps tossing the pumpkins was not the best way of keeping them intact. Advice that he obviously took to heart…

I started to teach myself the song “Michaelmas” on the recorder, but did not get to the point where I felt comfortable enough to teach Iain. We also did not get around to the recorder case project I had planned. I hadn’t planned on working with the fleece last week, but the children wanted to bring it out. Working with it ended up replacing some of my previously planned projects.

And that pretty much sums up our week!

Apparently, puppies are fond of popsicles.
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Books, celebrations and festivals, crafts, Food, Gardens, Homeschooling, Kids, Yarn Crafts
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Elijah Henry


With their love of folk music and, in particular, their current attachment to Bruce Springsteen’s “We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions” (a gift from my Bruce loving, musician father, who knows that anything even remotely involving Pete Seeger is bound to be a hit with my boys), it’s no wonder that my kids have taken an interest in John Henry.

It struck me as being very appropriate material for going into second grade with the saints and hero blocks. The somewhat supernatural traits seem to be the key here. These blocks focus not just on good people, but on other worldly beings. Seems to me that John Henry could easy hold a spot there.


Ah, but while both boys enjoy the tale, the child who’s heart it spoke to is my kindergartner…

On our last trip to the library, much to my delight, I came across Julius Lester’s brilliant children’s version of this tale and sweet Elijah-Bug was sold at once.

He has quite literally been devoting full mornings to pulverizing rocks, leaving nothing more then dust.

Make-up and costumes make this play all the more exciting.


I’ve already requested that the song be added to our repertoire, for when our family chorus starts up again in the fall. If anyone else has any other suggestions for working working with this particular folk tale, I would love to hear them!

Edited to add: The day after I posted this, I received my copy of the Christopherus Unit Studies guide to Saints and Heroes by Donna Simmons. I was thrilled when I stopped John Henry mentioned early on in the book (I was hoping for that thing). Later in the book she goes on to say “the only reason I didn’t include this wonderful American folk hero is because I want everyone to get Julius Lester’s fantastic book on him (illustrated by Jerry Pinkey)! There is no way I could do as good a job as this book-” I had to laugh! Apparently, Donna and I see eye to eye on this one! By the way, while I haven’t gotten all the way through “Saints and Heroes” yet, it’s looking wonderful so far!

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Books, Homeschooling, Kids
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In the wings

Pictured below is the yarn that Elijah picked out for his next sweater. He liked how well it went with the lilacs he picked for me right before the yarn arrived.


The yarn is peaches ‘n cream in “Winterberry”. It seems I’m all about the cheap yarns these days. I won’t be starting this project for a bit yet. I only ordered the yarn because I needed more yarn to finish the sweater that I’m currently working on for Galen. I’m about 3/4 of the way through now. The other knitting project that I’m concentrating on right now, the one yet to be named, that I’m still not quite ready to reveal yet, is around two-thirds of the way completed.

I finish the diaper bag that I mentioned in a previous post a little while ago. Well, technically I still need to sew on a button and stitch up the small opening in the lining. But I’ve used it “as is” for several outings now and it works ever so well. I should have another little outfit for Elijah to post shortly as well. Buttons and button-holes…why, oh why, do I find them so distasteful? Elijah is needing some clothes so I will have to suck it up!

There has been ever so much going on here. We are spending lots of time in the garden, coming in every night covered in bug bites from head to toe. The lilacs, irises and lily-of-the-valley are all in bloom and the air is full of sweet scents. I’ve brushed off my best (terribly pathetic!) Yorkshire accent for our annual reading of “The Secret Garden”. And I’ve been serving many a meal on a blanket set under a plum tree.

I’m so full of plans lately that I hardly know where to start. I have so many projects tumbling around the corners of my mind, bubbling to the surface every now and again, giving me a poke and saying “come on, get on it already!”. They are all beckoning and calling to me at once, old ideas and new ones alike. Nothing to do but see what life brings and what, if anything, materializes.

I’m going to see what I can do about getting some pictures of recently finished projects later this afternoon. We are expecting showers for the rest of the week, so don’t be surprised if I disappear for a bit!

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Books, Gardens, Life, sewing, Yarn Crafts
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Running wildly after the bandwagon, needles in hand…

(Otherwise known as the Mason-Dixon post)

I finally got it out from the library. Time to see what all the fuss has been about… My verdict: it’s worth picking up and paging through. It’s nothing earth shattering or anything like that, but there are some fun ideas and inspiration. There are a handful of projects that I would like to try out and a couple of projects worked as springboards for my own creativity.

It’s mine for the next couple of weeks and I’m going to do some playing around. For instance I have a feeling that Mother’s Day is going to be a very dishcloth intensive holiday. Which was actually my motivation for checking it out when I did!

I was looking for a quick fix knitting project last week. Something with instant gratification written all over it. Bib O’ Love to the rescue!

After 3 kids, what’s left of our collection of bibs (which were all hand-me-downs to begin with), is well, a sad collection of rags, a matter that I’ve been meaning to remedy for quite some time now. One night I picked up some cream colored organic cotton that I happened to have lying around and churned out my first bib o’ love that very night.

I’ve actually been wanting to make these for a while now. They are just so obvious, I mean it’s a square with straps for goodness sakes! But they are so freakin’ adorable. The ones in the book actually aren’t that cute, but I’ve seen plenty of people use this pattern to make ones that are.

Since I was using such a plain color, I really wanted some texture. I worked it in a somewhat random combination of seed stitch, stockinette, and reverse stockinette, with a few yarn overs thrown in for interest. I adjusted the pattern (ha!) to make one strap longer and one shorter so that it buttons on the side instead of in the back.

Leave it to me, my kid needs a bib, so what do I do?? Well, first off a knit him one. Then I deem it too cute to actually use. I’m working on getting over it. Really, I’m trying. I’m taking it slow. For now he’s allowed to wear it to eat things like, say, banana…

Night two I used some leftover cotton from Iain’s sweater and whipped up a more work-a-day version, straight from the book (with the exception of shortening it a bit because I was running out of yarn).


I think it also looks pretty cute. Galen found them on the back of a chair and won’t give them back. He likes to wear them layered. Funny little guy. He’s totally into ‘dress-ups’ already.

Yes, I know he’s wearing a pink shirt. Why does everyone feel the need to point that out to me???

Ok, so was all of this rambling on all about bibs???? Oh my….

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Books, Kids, Yarn Crafts
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Doing better today

“You start with good thoughts, good intentions, prayers,” Clayton says when I ask how they begin each planting season. “Once you begin the seasonal cycle, taking care of the earth, it should be on your mind every day. You complete the process. It becomes a responsibility for taking care of the earth. So each day you have to be aware of what you started and where you want to take it.”

~The Earth Knows My Name; Food, Culture, and Sustainability in the Gardens of Ethnic Americans, by Patricia Klindienst


This quote spoke to me this morning when I read it. I believe it’s as true for growing children as it is for growing gardens.

Today went a lot smoother then yesterday, thank goodness. We are enjoying the kind of weather that I never knew as a child; sunny warm days with lots of snow still left on the ground.
I eaves dropped on an amusing convesation the children were having about their baby dolls and how they needed “baby milk” for them, not goat’s milk, because “baby milk” will keep them well.

I started work on a little spring flower fairy.

The only shadow over the day was the fact that my littlest love is having a really rough time. He’s cutting his first set of molars and he’s awfully uncomfortable. He’s feeling so out of sorts that he keeps falling down and hitting his head. Poor little guy, he’s being so brave and strong about it. Neither him, nor I seem to be able to get any rest though. He’s up and down all night and nursing all the times in-between. Being close to me seems to be a comfort, so I’m keeping him in slings for the most part when he’s tired. That way he can at least occasionally squeeze in a little cat nap.

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Books, crafts, doll making, Gardens, Kids, Life
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One off, one on….

I haven’t been sleeping much lately, which isn’t great. Not sleeping means I have lots of time at night to be knitting, so at least it’s been productive. I did manage to actually finish a project, and of course I started another!

Please excuse the quality of the photos. My camera broke. I am currently borrowing my fathers, but I haven’t quite got the hang of it yet. All of the photos look really washed out and a bit blurry.

Two Toned Socks

Started: February13th

Finished: February 28th

Pattern: Two toned socks by Debbie Bliss, from “Simply Baby”

Yarn: Foxfibre’s color-grown organic cotton in cream and sage. I love this yarn. I know that most knitters would probably find it very plain jane/vanilla, but I think it has this lovely, understated, natural beauty to it. It’s so pure. I feel really good about using it for my little ones. Plus, it has this wonderful sheen that I’ve never seen before on a dyed yarn.

Alterations: I used a different weight yarn and different needles from what the pattern called for and needed to adjust accordingly. I made the foot longer. I made the contrast toe area bigger because I was afraid of running out of the green yarn.

These socks were meant to be spring/summer socks for Galen. I made them with a much shorter cuff then last time and added length to the foot so that he would have room to grow into them. I was working on them while he slept and never actually compared them to his current foot size. When I saw how big they were on Galen I had Elijah try them on and they fit perfectly! He really liked them, so I told him he could keep them. He was so pleased with them that at out homeschooling chorus tonight he took them off of his feet and put them on his hands so that he could show them to everyone!

I came across these:
This is a pair of longies that I made for Elijah a couple of years ago. They were made from Full Belly Farm’s gray yarn with a gray/brown tweed for the trim. I used the Tiny Birds pattern. This was actually my first set of longies! They are very thick and warm.

They are still a bit big on Galen, but they work just fine with the cuffs rolled up. The only problem was that the last time he wore them Elijah cut the cord into about fifty pieces (don’t ask me why…). So I checked my handy stash and as it turns out I had exactly enough of the contrast yarn left to make a new tie. How’s that for convenient? And I now have one less little ball in my box.

Elijah wants me to make him some new longies. Maybe for next winter. I would have to find some super soft yarn for them though as he won’t put up with a bit of itch.


And here is Quinn! I finished the top band (11 repeats for a total of 132 rows). The color of the yarn is very different from how it appears in the picture. I’m having fun with this one.

Iain keeps commenting on how much he likes the cables. We have a date to sit and look through some books to pick out a pattern for a cabled sweater for him for next fall.

I cast on for E’s Slippers last night. So far I have finished both soles. I’m hoping to get some more work in on them tonight. I would like to felt them by the end of the week.

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