sewing bee, honeybee

Finished a new pincushion yesterday.

Really need it, even if this one has some very wonky stitches closing the seam. My old and very first pincushion (the red tomato that you get with sewing sets) has stuffing bursting out of the holes and is fraying in every possible way. It needs to be retired to a dark, quiet drawer before it bursts like a sliced tennis ball. What else is there to do with old pincushions? Let me know if you have any ideas.

My sweet boy – my honeybee – has finally recovered from his cold. Huzzah! So we have been able to enjoy playing outdoors this week with some unseasonably warm weather.  Yesterday he enjoyed trying out his new shoes.

Lots of supported walking, too. Bebe is almost a real biped. Watch out, world: here he comes.

We took our weekly trip to the library and found a new booklove:

Spreading
shadows,
setting sun

Crickets, curtains, day is done

-from All the World, by Liz Garton Scanlon & Marla Frazee

Delightful book, a definite buy for our home library. Bebe and I have read it several times since yesterday and once so far this morning. Mr. Perches also liked it very much – I read it to him last night as he was resting from several hours of an apple pie baking extravaganza (more on that later).

We also brought home, among many joys, The River Cottage Family Cookbook and Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitter’s Almanac. Elizabeth writes:

In some quarters, November is considered rather a dull month, but not at our house. It is a time of snugging down; of finding, and foiling, sources of draughts; of augmenting the woodpile, putting up the birdfeeders, starting in on some serious reading, and knitting – always knitting. One plans and executes the remaining knitted Christmas presents, and considers some ambitious project for that distant snowlocked time After Christmas. (pp125-126)

Agree and agree, except for the woodpile and especially the birdfeeders – which in our area only encourage the squirrels to become tree rats. But drafts, Christmas knitting, and lists for 2010 knitting? Yes, they have been with us this November.

Another thing I’ve found in the Knitter’s Almanac: the I-cord knitting term/technique, (which I just learned) is short for “Idiot-Cord.” Hmm, I can see why they only print the abbreviation and do not generally explain what it stands for. But it is a wonderfully easy and useful technique – you can see more information here and here.

What have you learned today?

today we are

baking brownies

cutting fabric

enjoying the outdoors

figuring out how to knit (and rip and re-knit) sleeves

playing with Bebe (who is LOVING his new growling vocalization: grrrr….)

What has been making you smile today?

remember the zeroes

As year-end and a new decade are approaching, news features are starting to “look back at this year/decade.” So I have been – looking back – and I was a bit disappointed in my memory on quite a few details. My journals are still packed away in storage, but I cobbled together a few highlights.

Big joy:
teaching overseas
marrying Mr. Perches (and celebrating 11 amazing years together)
completing an AmeriCorps VISTA service year
graduate school
beautiful babies born to family & friends

our own Bebe

Challenged by (good and difficult):
our very long distance relationship
graduate school
recovering from Hurricanes Katrina & Rita (2005), then Gustav & Ike (2008)
good work
new parenthood

Music love:
my brother’s music
Bob Dylan
The Cat Empire
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band
Love Psychedelico
Iron & Wine
Liz Carol
Miles Davis
Myshkin
The Ting Tings
Van Morrison
Kokia

Bookshelf love: (links go to amazon.com)
…new parenthood
The Wonder Weeks – Frans Plooij & Hetty Vanderijt
…craft
The Creative Family – Amanda Blake Soule
Maran Illustrated Knitting and Crocheting – maranGraphics Development Group
The Myth & Magic of Embroidery – Helen M. Stevens
…non-fiction
104 Activities that Build – Alanna Jones
A Moveable Feast – Ernest Hemingway
Communicating Across Cultures – Stella Ting-Toomey
The Functions of Social Conflict – Lewis Coser
Hokkaido Highway Blues – Will Ferguson
Interpersonal Conflict – William W. Wilmot & Joyce L. Hocker
The Names of Things – Susan Brind Morrow
Managing Public Disputes – Susan L. Carpenter
…fiction
The Elephant Vanishes – Haruki Murakami
Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series – Douglas Adams
The Moviegoer – Walker Percy
Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro
The Silmarillion – JRR Tolkein
The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger

Movie love:
After Life
Amelie
A Very Long Engagement
Center Stage
Blue Planet series
Deep Impact
Kung Fu Hustle
Lord of the Rings series
Love Actually
MirrorMask
My Left Eye Sees Ghosts
Office Space
Sen to Chihiro (Spirited Away)
Sliding Doors
Spring Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring
Underworld

Creative outlets:
poetry
photography
guitar & songwriting

learning to embroider, sew, and knit
teaching/training
work
cooking

Where I lived, worked, or traveled to:
Baton Rouge/New Orleans, Louisiana (2000-01, 2005-09)
Kyoto, Japan (2001-03)
solo roadtrip through Hokkaido, Japan
Washington, DC metro area (2003-05)
family reunion in Ka’u, Hawai’i
friends’ wedding near Toronto, Canada
4-week honeymoon adventure through China

How I journeyed: (links go to youtube.com)
1989 Dodge Ram Charger (aka “The Beast” – the family training car for me & my siblings)
2000 Saturn (my first car – no name)
walking & public transportation

a really old Honda hatchback
2007 Honda Fit / Jazz (again – no name) but I do love telling people that I could fit an alpaca or a surfboard inside. Haven’t actually attempted either, but I love that I could if I needed to. At one single time, I have actually filled it with: 
two people
one wheelbarrow
several trees/saplings and shrubs
a million several dozen bags of soil & mulch
eight or ten shovels
and various gardening tools.
…It’s only a small car on the outside.

And your decade? If you have a blog, link to your post in the comments. Or you can just leave a really long comment.

are dpns your friend?

With Bebe still fighting off a cough & nasal yuck, there hasn’t been much time or energy for other things this week. Like vacuuming, or getting out of pajamas before the noon nap – if he naps. So we sleep when we can, and do a lot of reading and games.

My little coffee bean cardigan has paused, as I need size 9 (5.5mm) DPNs to finish knitting the sleeves. Our LYS is out of stock, which means we’ll make the longer trek out to My Favorite Yarn Shop when Bebe’s health and the weather are both a bit better. And look: my new labels arrived yesterday, I love them!

Meanwhile, I am working on my craft swap for the stocking stuffer exchange (my list of babes are 10mo-3yrs, which I love, thank you Carrie!). And I am repeatedly attempting to cast on for these really adorable fingerless gloves. Knitting with DPNs is still a new-ish skill for me, and I am fine after the third row or if I am picking up stitches after working with circular needles. But when I am starting out a project with them – argh! mrah! eek! – getting from joining in the round past the second row is like torture. I don’t know why I’m stupid here, but the experience invariably feels like I have only two brain cells to rub together and they just aren’t making fire. Grrr…

In much cheerier craft news, November is the 3rd annual Handmade Holidays month at Sew Mama Sew, and every day this month they have posted a new theme with a really great list of project tutorials, recipes, etc. The Projects Queu on my sidebar has tripled in size thanks to so many great ideas. And did I mention some amazing giveaways? They are offering some really amazing giveaways.

sorry mom tattoo

Lovely: Frosty mornings. Saturday donuts. Friends visiting for the weekend. Adorable wee hats on toddlers. Spicy vegetarian chili (a favorite recipe from another friend). More apple spice cake.

Unlovely: Piles of laundry in our bedroom & bathroom.

Lovely: Walking around town with friends, exploring vintage shops and sunny cafés. Finding mulling spices, affordable vanilla beans, and chicory (for the morning coffee ) at the very charming Pa Dutch Tea & Spice shop. Lots of funny shop names.

Unlovely: Missing naptime with an overtired Bebe. Mr. Perches getting a bee sting on the neck when putting on his jacket.

Lovely: Cauliflower cheese soup. Warm hats. Listening to A Charlie Brown Christmas by the Vince Guaraldi Trio. Late night and early morning knitting. A very sweet pattern for a baby cardigan.

Unlovely: Fevers, coughing, 2AM calls to our pediatric after-hours clinic, and being instructed over the phone on how to do a rectal temperature check (ewww).

Lovely: Broken fevers. Lots of late morning sleep for Bebe.

What was lovely in your weekend?

protest 0, yarn 2

Oh, beastly traffic. I do not love you. You spoil my plans and make my butt ache.

Bebe and I went to DC this week to participate in the Champions for Children’s Health Stroller Brigade at the US Capitol building, a demonstration regarding health care reform for programs like CHIP that focus on uninsured children in the US. It was organized by the Children’s Defense Fund, which I heart very much – especially their Freedom Schools program. We drove to the nearest metro station, which is normally 45 minutes away, but we were caught in a snarl of inexplicably beastly traffic. Long ride, short story, is that we were 90 minutes late at our destination. And yes, there were strollers and children everywhere. But we arrived just as they were packing things away.  Foiled! Argh, grrr…

Good thing: we had additional plans for the day, which were lovely. Our first ever visit to the US Botanic Gardens was delightful. I was interested in their new exhibits on chocolate and Hawai’i (which were OK), but we lingered for two hours on the long winding paths of orchids,

sharp desert plants,

and spectacular bromeliads in psychedelic colors.

And then, since we were nearby, we visited a LYS called Stitch DC. I think I’d go back just to chat with the staff, they were so nice. Bebe had fun playing with the shopowner’s toddler, who was about a month younger and much more mobile. I looked back at them just in time to see Bebe, sitting in front of a display case, suddenly reach into the case with both chubby hands and start flinging balls of yarn around in every direction. Chortling gleefully. Oh my, so I cleaned up and we left with my purchases: 2 skeins of yarn from brands I haven’t tried yet, one from Classic Elite Yarns Giselle (fuzzy and very red) and another from Punta Yarns Merisoft Sock (dark rainbow colors).

A good day, and another beastly drive home. I hope your traffic is better than mine, and I hope you have a lovely weekend.

aston hat

Yay! My Cranberry Aston hat is finished.

Some knitting yesterday while we were riding on the metro, then lots of knitting early this morning. A quick Google led me to Stitch Diva so that I could figure out how to do an I-cord. Annnd done. I love it.

Bebe loves it, too. You can tell because he didn’t immediately rip it off is head, try to eat it, and throw it away. Which is what he usually does with anything on his head.

I shortened the ribbing, so it looks a bit different from the original pattern. In case you were wondering why it doesn’t look like an adorable acorn – cute on display, not so much on my head.

Details
Craft: knitting
Pattern: Aston by Stitch Therapy Brooklyn (free pattern)
Yarn: Cascade Yarns 220 Superwash (855)
For more details, see Ravelry.

knitty soup

I have been thinking about attending a Knit Night (you know, with “real knitters”) for the past four months. LYS send me their flyers or email, and our local library system has them once a month at most branches. But it hasn’t worked out for my schedule and honestly, non-attendance has been helped along by some low-level anxiety. I started knitting this year, and I’ve had a couple encounters with snooty knitters that have not been encouraging. Just enough to make me feel like I was a really awkward kid in middle school again, way too tall with big glasses and giant poofy hair. (Oh, I do not miss that hair).

But I love knitting, and I needed a little nudge to help refocus my energy on the projects in my big knit bowl. So I attended a Knit Night, my first ever, last night. And Yay!! so much knitty fun. I may actually finish my Aston Hat this week, maybe. Possibly. I’ll update with pics later today – and some delicious autumn soup.

Need some nerdylicious humor? This piece from the xkcd webcomic made me snarf hot chocolate.

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Update: here’s soup recipe!

Creamy Butternut Squash & Apple Soup (serves 6-8)
1 butternut squash
2 apples
1 onion
2 Tbsp butter
1 C water
1/2 pint (236mL) heavy whipping cream
1 Tbsp ground ginger
1/2 Tbsp cloves
1 tsp ground nutmeg

Instructions
1. Melt butter in a soup pot on medium heat. Slice stem and bottom off the butternut squash. Then cut in half lengthwise. Remove seeds, peel skin, and discard. Dice squash and add to pot. Cover and cook for 10-15min (prep other ingredients in the meantime).

2. Peel, core, & dice apples. Dice onion. Add apples & onion to pot. Stir, then add spices and stir again. Cover and cook for 10-15 minutes, gradually stirring in the water.

3. When squash is tender (test with fork), removed from heat and blend until smooth. Stir in the cream. Serve & enjoy! It’s good with croutons, and especially good with thick slices of toasted bread (plain, garlic, or herbal).

Notes
I had a medium sized squash and 2 small apples (Winesap). Any good cooking apple is OK. You can substitute the whipping cream with light sour cream or plain yogurt. The whipping cream makes it a little bit sweet, which I think is a nice balance to the spices. It’s a hearty, thick soup – and with some crusty bread for dipping, it makes a filling meal.

love sonnet

To conclude the birthday weekend, one of our favorite poems:

Soneto XVII / Sonnet XVII
No te amo como si fueras rosa de sal, topacio
o flecha de claveles que propagan el fuego:
te amo como se aman ciertas cosas oscuras,
secretamente, entre la sombra y el alma.

  I do not love you as if you were a salt rose, or topaz
  or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
  I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
  in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

Te amo como la planta que no florece y lleva
dentro de sí, escondida, la luz de aquellas flores,
y gracias a tu amor vive oscuro en mi cuerpo
el apretado aroma que ascendió de la tierra.

  I love you as the plant that never blooms
  but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
  thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
  risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

Te amo sin saber cómo, ni cuándo, ni de dónde,
te amo directamente sin problemas ni orgullo:
así te amo porque no sé amar de otra manera,

  I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
  I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
  So I love you because I know no other way

sino así de este modo en que no soy ni eres,
tan cerca que tu mano sobre mi pecho es mía,
tan cerca que se cierran tus ojos con mi sueño.

  than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
  so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
  so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

- from 100 Love Sonnets: Cien sonetos de amor
by Pablo Neruda (1904-1973)

first halloween

THANK YOU for sharing your gratitude, joys, and pre-birthday celebrations.

We have had quite a day, starting quite early with some excellent chocolate glazed donuts from a local bakery and ending with some excellent champagne and late night dark chocolate brownies (er…homemade as in “not from the bakery” but baked at home from a box mix). And in between, we did some laundry, a LOT of dishes, and discovered that Ikea is a very happening place on Halloween day (who knew?? We just needed to get a teething guard for our little chipmunk’s crib. I don’t know why the rest of humanity was there. Although I did see an amazing pirate costume.). And with some help from my little brother, I bought and cooked steak for the second time in my life – delicious.

The rain seems to have kept our local trick-or-treaters home this evening. I will update with pictures of Bebe in his Yoda costume. ADORABLE. Truly.

So Happy Halloween, a joyous Samhain, and – for tomorrow – a blessed All Saints’ Day.

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Update: here’s the pic of Bebe as Yoda

pre-birthday dinner

Some people are really into birthdays, other people not so much. I have a friend who celebrates her Birthday Season, which leads into her Birthday Month (which this year begins on Sunday), and flows into her multi-day birthday celebration. It’s quite epic.

I think we forgot my birthday this year – it was in the middle of school spring break and I was focused on overseeing a week-long camp for about 200 K-8 graders and having an emotional meltdown because my work schedule required that I supplement Bebe’s feeding schedule with at least one bottle of formula each day instead of only breastmilk. And I was trying to figure out how to knit. Crazy week. I’m one of the “not so much” people about my own birthday, but I love LOVE love celebrations for others.

It’s a birthday weekend at our house. We began tonight with a nice at home dinner, courtesy of whatever was on sale at the grocery store and a great dessert idea.

Spinach & Tomato salad with sliced prosciutto, pears, & feta cheese
Baked Salmon Steaks
Parmesan Risotto (from a box, real risotto takes too long unless I’m helping someone else make it)
Toasted Garlic Rosemary Bread with prosciutto & sliced figs
Chilled Pears in White Wine

Baked Salmon Steaks (serves 2-4)
2 salmon steaks
1 lemon
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 Tsp salt
1/4 C white wine
1Tbsp capers

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put olive oil in small baking dish. Put salmon stakes in the oil, flip and sprinkle with lemon juice, wine, garlic, and salt. Flip and repeat. Bake for 40 minutes. Plate with a sprinkle of capers. Devour (and watch out for fish bones).

domestic joy

Some days are so brimful and busy that you blink and suddenly the sun has already vanished and fourteen hours are gone, poof, behind you. But we did get a few pictures. Lots of sewing, embroidery, and crafty goodness were squished into moments throughout the morning and midday.

I started a series of wool felt needle cases in the autumn theme.

Bebe refused to nap – several times. It starts quietly enough, with his music and blanket and curtains closed. With the rubbing of eyes and sweaty curls. But after ten minutes of quiet, someone inevitably begins talking quietly, then laughing to himself, before finally standing up and howling for mama to come and pick him up (he says, “Up! Mamaaaaa…UP! UP!!” ). If we don’t respond to that, he then starts gnawing on the crib railing like a manic chipmunk. Funny, but not good. And our nap times today invariably ended with this face.

And how can anyone resist that kind of happiness? So we went to the playground and played there for almost an hour. Bebe explored the gravel (fine tuning that pincher grasp with his fingers) and the autumn leaves.

We did a little climbing, standing, and supported walking.

And a lot of swinging. We LOVE swinging.

There was a community bonfire this evening with candlelit pathways, chili dogs, cornbread muffins, a fortune teller, lots of whirling glowsticks, and children of all sizes in a variety of Halloween costumes. It was too dark for pictures, but my favorites were the 2-3 year olds dressed in fully body costumes as a dragon and a big fluffy dog. We kept it simple and just put a Viking hat on Bebe. The hat had been knitted for him by one of my bestest friends, who is having her wedding party this weekend.

Busy joy, exasperated joy, and very domestic joy all around today. Where did you find joy today?

fortunate

Today we’re focused on small things. Simple things.

The beautiful view from our back windows.

Bebe chortling with glee as we play Tents (we’re teething again, so any glee is a wonderful thing).

Working on a little embroidery.

Making Chinese food (fried rice; tomatoes & eggs; green beans with sesame seeds; and misfortune cookies – i.e. a little mischief in honor of Halloween:
Beware of squirrels tomorrow.
Careful, you may be low on fuel.
Today is not your day & tomorrow doesn’t look good either. Sorry.

Soulemama has had a couple of lovely posts this week about gratitude & taking the time to recognize and appreciate the gifts in our lives.

I’m grateful for having shelter during these autumn nights. For having food when we’re hungry. For having the resources to stay home with Bebe for a while so that he always has at least one of us full-time. For having peace and safety. For happy laughter, sweet dreams, and community. For my family, both blood and kindred spirit. And yes, for fortune cookies – and the internet that helped me finally figure them out.

What are you grateful for? Leave a comment and you may win this giveaway: a set of 5 stitch markers (made by me) for you or the knitter/crocheter you love.

These are glass beads, and the rings will fit needles up to size 11/8mm. The recipient will be chosen randomly and announced here on Sunday, November 1st.

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Update: Comments closed. Thank you for participating in the giveaway! Winner chosen by a random number generator. Congratulations to…

Thanks for the link to the fortune cookie video. very cool! I also love your misfortune ideas
I’m grateful for my little guy’s sweet kissable cheeks, among many other things.
Posted by quirkygranolagirl

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tied up with string

So many favorite things this weekend. Getting to visit wonderful friends, baking pumpkin butter cake, long drives with time for reading or knitting, getting finger puppets at Ikea. And little bundles of joy kept arriving in the mail. Friday it was a lovely rainbow of wool felt from purl soho,

perfect for upcoming sewing projects

AND a package on Saturday filled with wonderful things in cranberry and pomegranate reds and lichen greens from my partner in the vintage swap:

buttons in luscious colors

repurposed bottletop magnets from her etsy store

a crocheted poinsetta-pattern potholder, ivory on one side, pomegranate red on the other

a vintage handkerchief printed with broad mehndi patterns in lichen green, cranberry red, and off-white

a swatch of fabric patterned with tiny vintage navigational symbols and edged in hand-sewn french seams

a children’s book from Doubleday in 1960 with classic stories, period stories, a simple craft section, and beautiful illustrations.

Bebe was thrilled with the Peter Rabbit story. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! That package was AMAZING.

awake / asleep

Lots of embroidery around here lately. Yesterday a sweet package arrived for Bebe from friends in Arizona. They’d given us some gorgeous embroidered baby gifts, including a onesie that he has nearly outgrown. So just in time to continue with LSU football season, he’s gotten a new shirt with the same adorable Tiger cub as his onesie.

Since it’s a size 3T, it should fit him for several more weeks months seasons unless he keeps growing like a manic bean sprout. We’re playing Auburn tomorrow, woot!

I finished another piece of embroidery yesterday – this time a harvest moon

and sewed it together with the sunflower

to make an awake/asleep door hanger.

The idea came from another baby gift we’d received – a small door pillow in teal satin embroidered in bronze with “baby awake” and “baby asleep” on either side. We still use it on his door, but I can’t imagine him tolerating something that says “baby” on it when he gets a bit older and age-conscious so I thought about making something more symbolic. And voilá it is done.

So easy and fun, I may make a few more to sell. By early next week, I should have enough finished projects for a good startup inventory and will launch the shop. Keep an eye out for an Etsy update. Woot!