Monday Music

November ago

November is the kind of month that slips away before I realize it's really here. I'm excited to be heading south for Thanksgiving & seeing my family for a few days. This picture was taken in November 2005 right after our first trip in the opposite direction that our normal Thanksgiving drives took us. We moved here in 2005 & went back to NC over Thanksgiving break. While we were there, we met a sweet & very friendly grey kitten at my Grandma Janet's house. She stole our hearts & became our Sally Smalley:)

Moebius

More OTN projects..

More to share. I abandoned ship on the Strathcona! Long story short, I didn't love the way it was starting in texture alone & I kept having a repeated short number of stitches that was messing up the left slant! I decided to make the "Rathtrevor" fingerless mitts since I have never made ones with thumbs before. I usually leave a hole in place of a thumb cover. Knitting fingers..if thumbs count as fingers??,has always intimidated me. But I did one & it wasn't too bad, except when I dropped the waste yarn stitches & had to procede by picking up those little guys with a darning needle. Whew! I finished it & am really happy with the fit. Onto the 2nd mitt of the first pair. Since Strathcona failed..& it was suppose to be a gift, I lucked up & found a sweet Moebius Cowl by Michelle Hunter at Temptations here in Dublin! It's a sweet little pattern with a lacy look. I chose a merino wool/baby alpaca combo for the yarn. Excited to see it come to together. This may be my new knitted gift idea for that big holiday coming up...

Monday Music

OTN & off

I was so excited to learn Jane Richmond over at http://www.janerichmond.com/ has a new book "Island" coming out very soon!! I pre-ordered & got her beautiful patterns emailed right away!! Strathcona caught my eye & I knew exactly who I wanted to knit it for. A trip to my favorite knitting store yesterday put it all together..now the fun part! Also, after my first attempt at making Maddie a new winter hat failed & yes, I gained a sweet hat..if I do say so myself. She preferred a more softer yarn, so I got a gorgeous brushed yarn in multicolor for her & it has inspired all kinds of ideas. So far..her hat has passed inspection & fits pretty nice! Yay:)

Fired up!!

Monday Music

Post Halloween Thoughts

Our weather wasn't the best for trick or treating last night..Thank you babe for taking them around the loop in the cold & rain. Charlie & Kitty got quite a loot of candy & with a lot of hesitation, they even handed over the rejects to their dear old parents. I scored an almond joy & honestly was a little disappointed since I remembered them being so much better?? Has the recipe changed? or just my taste buds. The excitement of school parties, trick or treating, dressing up for dance classes has left us all feeling like yesterday should have been the beginning of a weekend. November, a month known to cause many pre-holiday jitters welcomes us with sunny arms this morning.. feeling thankful for that.

Happy Halloween:0

Halloween Eve

Hurricane Sandy brought us lots of strong wind & even a dusting of snow! Can't remember having snow in October before.

Monday Music

One Moment

OTN

AwareKnits by Vickie Howell & Adrienne Armstrong is a book full of beautiful knits. Wrist Factor & Solar Sweetie are two of my favorites that I have made. I always find myself coming back to page 18 every year! These will be for me:)

Monday Music

Dare you not to dance")

Weekend

Soccer, Soccer & More Soccer..Plus Farm Fun trip.. kind of sums up the weekend:0

Dirt

I took these over the weekend at a local farm that we picked pumpkins at. For those of you who are wondering why I am snapping pictures of dirt, oddly enough this reminds me of being a kid, not the pumpkin picking..I never remember doing that as a child, but I do remember spending alot of time outside. I saw these big tractor treads & crumbling earth patches & it reminded me of the times I would find the "just right" cracked & dried mud puddle just right for jumping on & cracking open. It felt really good. I remembered my walks on the dirt paths behind my house. I even had them numbered 1st, 2nd & 3rd paths. They were the paths the tractors came down to farm tobacco. Funny how a little patch of dirt can remind you of a long ago home.

OTN & off..

Thank you Amanda Soule over at www.soulemama for sharing a link to this quick, fun knit. It's just in time for the colder morning walks. http://spiderwomanknits.typepad.com/swk/2012/09/free-pattern-the-vermonter.html I'm calling mine "The Ohioer" Getting my knit on:)

Monday Music

How I still love " The Cars!"

Weekend Walk

Book or two

Maddie introduced all of us to this cute "golden-haired" hamster named Humphrey. If you havent heard of him, check out this series by Betty Birney. It's a perfect read aloud & the characters are ones you'll remember from elementary school. http://www.bettybirney.com/ I always end up reading too many books at once, but this one hits home. "the element" by Ken Robinson. Here he is talking at TED talk.

Embrodiery - Kid Crafts

Growing up I never learned many crafts, except one....cross-stitching. My mom & my sister both made these great cross-stitched projects. I have a few hanging in our house. It was the only craft I ever felt confident at. I remember in Art Appreciation Class, our end of the semester project, we were asked to create a "hand-made" item relative to our art history curriculum. I had no idea what I would come up with..I remember thumbing through the thick pages of our text book & admiring all the talented people before my time. I ended up, yes..cross-stitching a "native american art piece." I still have it! Framed & proudly diplayed on our basement bookshelf! I never knew I had any talents until I pulled them out of thin air. I guess that's why I remind my kids all the time how talented they are. We all are! It's in there..just keep looking. Kid Craft Project thanks to a visit to "sew to speak" with Maddie & Yaya. Luckily the pattern was iron-on transferable & I was able to make two for both Jack & Maddie. Not quite cross-stitching, but reminisicent.

On & Off the Needles (OTN is BACK!)

I mailed by first knitted gift of the season to a new baby & big sister today. It felt good! Here's the pattern for the hat found over at ravelry.com http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/baby-hat-with-jacket-in-bamboozle & the bow..it's easy peasey..knit 10 stitches garter on size 5 needles & then bind off, make another for the middle with 4 stitches on size 5 needles. sew into a look & slide over to make a cute little bow. or you could just wrap yarn aroundthe middle to create a bow. You can alter this to all sizes of course. I just attached it by tying it to a headband :0 .

Monday Music

Posting this morning reminds me that our blog resembles a video blog at the moment. Monday Monday Monday music...repeat! Sorry, blogging/typing has been pushed to the back burner..just haven't felt the urge to sit still & type lately. BUT with Fall here & the temps getting cooler, I have pulled out the needles..knitting my first hat & headband/bow for a new baby in the family. Hopefully this will movitate me back into posting on a regular basis. Remember my OTNs..I've missed that. I also want to take a picture walk this week & capture some of these beautiful fall colors that are popping up everywhere. Sea Wolf playing on Pandora so Happy Monday Music to you.

Monday Music

Favorite song on their new album:) I honestly only like about half of the songs on the new disc & love maybe two:) Maddie seems to be an instant fan & likes Track 1 - Erase Me. Something about that one, I'm not really loving. I occasionally hear Jack sing a lyric or two...I think making fun of me singing:) Still glad to see these three magic men making music again. I'll always be a fan.

Beautiful

Monday Music

Ben

somedays i miss my daddy so much..just wish i could have 5 minutes back. heard this & thought wow..this is for me to him.

What we are reading...

The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson has been our bed time story for a few weeks now. Here's a link in case you are interested in leaerning more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star_of_Kazan

Monday Music

Hello..

Imagine lots of papers flying, lunchboxes packed & unpacked, book bags coming & going, soccer balls bouncing, violin & piano's playing, dance shoes on & off twirling & tapping, papers lost & found, lots of questions asked & answered & put me somewhere in between. It's busy over here, but I hope to stop by & post a few times a week to keep our blog up & running. I am back in the role of "classroom teacher" & with that comes alot of skills I tucked away along time ago. I continue to grab from all the things I learned back then & all those days I spent with my own preschoolers. It's amazing to find yourself right back where you started only in a different light. I am remembering the magic of books & how they have can hypnotize even the wigglest of students. I am remembering those smiles that melt your heart & little hands & feet that are ready to move & learn. Feeling thankful to give back!

Monday

Monday Movie

Miranda July...my new hero:)

Being a Mom

Loved this..

Monday Music

Sunday

Nikki

Lou

How True

Monday Music

Can't believe they are playing live again. I remember hearing this at the "cats cradle" a looong time ago for the first time. Come visit OH BFF!!

Weekending

2009

FPC Desert Shot

Playing Catch Up

Monday Music

August ago...

A New View

KLIK