Home Spun Fun

For Buy and Sell Day at school, Seth is also making lip balm. You can see the ingredients above. It is really very easy. The recipe is supposed to be 1T Vaseline and 1 t Kool Aid. You melt the Vaseline a bit in the microwave and mix in the Kool Aid. We found the recipe a bit strong and added more Vaseline to the mix. We put the mixture in small (non food grade) bead containers from Joann Fabrics (bought with a coupon!). You may remember Seth made and sold these out in front of our house last summer, like a lemonade stand. We decorated the tops with small pieces of paper cut with a circle punch and decorated with rubber stamps. I am sorry I don't have the finished product to show you, they are cute.

I knitted up a market bag from a pattern I found on Ravelry.com. It is called a Hexagonal Bag. Seth says he likes it, but he wouldn't put raspberries in it.

Here is another photo of it, without the model. It was super easy to knit, and took 2.5 balls of Sugar and Cream cotton (bought at Michael's, regular cost $1.79 a ball.)

And a photo of Mumbles wearing his hat. On days when it is cold enough to wear his hat to school, Seth makes sure Mumbles has his on, too.

As for Noah, he is busy with track. He throws discus and shot put. He came home very happy the other day that there is one kid on the team who is worse than him. He threw something 13 feet and this kid can only throw about 12 feet. the school record is 40 feet. As long as he is happy, we are happy. He seems to love it, so we encourage this activity.

Never a Dull Moment

If you can't tell what you are looking at in the picture above, it is homemade soaps. The school is having "Buy and Sell Day." All the Fourth Graders have to make at least 30 of one item and sell it to the other kids at school for "funny money" in order to compete an Econ unit. The kids earn the money all year long, then buy things with their money at the Buy and Sell Market. Seth is making homemade soap with toys and shells and plastic jewels hidden inside, along with homemade lip gloss and book marks. He wants to put them all into "Mystery Bags". I think he'll make more money selling the items individually, but this is a good opportunity for me to remember it is his homework, and not mine.

Everynight this week we have been crafting for his Buy and Sell project, and let me tell you, I am tired! Bone tired. Weary. Why my kid can't just pick one thing and make that, I will never know. Other kids will sell greeting cards, autograph books, string games.... simpler items.


I have decided to organize my knitting yarn. I saw this idea on the Yarn Harlot's blog. She wants to knit one pair of socks a month. So, she put the pattern and the yarn together in bags and each month she grabs a bag, and that is what she knits. I decided to find patterns for yarn I have on hand but have not found the right project for. This yarn I bought for a scarf, but didn't like the way it looked. I am scrapping that plan and making baby hats instead. they should be quick and easy and I can use what is on hand. Whenever I want a new project, I can just look in my stash and see what I have on hand. I have a few more bags to put together, mittens to make, a scarf to finish, a felted wool bag that needs knitting.

I can't remember if I posted about the Fish Hat I knit for my son's favorite lovey, Mumbles the Penguin. I definitely have to keep my kids off of Ravelry. they come up with too many things they want me to make for them. I think I have knit enough for them, and I need to get some Christmas presents started. Laugh if you want, but I am a slow knitter. And easily distracted too.

Sorry I didn't update in a timely fashion this week, the kids keep me busy even when they are at school. One son just called and asked me to bring his pedometer to track practice. Uhhh, No. Mommy wants to nap. I have already taken too many things to him this week that he has forgotten. Lunch or homework may get delivered if I am in a good mood and realize it was left behind in time. A pedometer? No, thanks. Maybe he'll have a better memory next time.

Knitting Updates and Johnny Weir

I bought some red yarn because I was so entranced by it's beauty. Plus, it was on sale, and it was NOT green, which is what I usually buy. Show me some green yarn and I usually like it enough to make it mine. So trying to live like a wild woman, I bought some red yarn and thought "I'll just go home and look it up on ravelry and decide what to make with it." Silly me. The yarn is cotton and about the only good thing to make with cotton is baby stuff or washcloths. Lucky for me, I love knitting washcloths. I never knew! This skein made four and now I am knitting some more in brown. I decided I might as well make some that match my bathroom.

My youngest said he would model a cowl for me. I wish I could remember the name of it.

The cowl is lovely and soft. Again, the yarn was on clearance at the local yarn store. I would buy the rest of it, but even on sale, it wasn't cheap enough to allow me to own it all. As soon as I finished this cowl, warmer weather came, and the snow melted. I can look forward to next winter, now that I have some warm hand knits to wear.

Seth's birthday is coming and he has planned out his "fungenda". The list of things that will happen at his party, in the order he wants them to happen. He wants to have a Percy Jackson themed party along with a costume party. He wants his friends to come in costume, dressed like their favorite Greek God. Here he is modeling his Hades costume made from an oversized tablecloth. He then asked if he could borrow a pair of my high heels so his outfit would not be so long. I wonder if this is how Johnny Weir started out.

Winter Knits

See these fingerless mitts? I never thought they were exactly the brightest idea out in the knitting world. My fingers are the coldest part of me when I am outdoors. Who wears these things? Well, never mind. A friend got a pair for Christmas that had owls on them and I immediately knew that I had to knit a pair. My MIL loves owls and she loves handmade stuff from me. I found the pattern and knit her up a pair as fast as I could. I guess my thumb is hiding in the picture, but they really do have a thumb gusset in them.

Because the mitts felt like an incomplete gift I knit her a cowl, too. It was part of my plan for the Knitting Olympics. To compete in the Olympics you choose a challenging project that has to be knit in the 17 days that the Olympics last. You cast on at the Opening Ceremony and have to finish by the closing ceremony. I learned cabling for the mitts and learned to read (and knit) a lace chart for the cowl. Whew. I learned two new skills and completed my items before the end of the games. That means I am a gold medalist!

This is the full length of the cowl after blocking, but before buttons. See? Lace. The buttons add some extra bling to the cowl, and you know how I love some bling.

I made Taco Salad for dinner the other night. My youngest thought I was crazy for photographing it. Why not? It was very pretty and I love it enough I could eat it every night. The recipe? Lettuce, shredded cheese, ranch dressing, taco meat. Crunch some fritos on top and you've got dinner. I give it a healthy dose of tomatoes in summer, but the tomatoes at the store are not worthy enough to be purchased this time of year.

It looks like my little blog has 6 followers. I have to find a way to check and see who you are. I had no idea I had "followers". How fun! Maybe I can convince you all to check out my little etsy store in the sidebar. More will be added soon to my store.

Winter Weary

It wasn't until I began loading pictures for this post that I remembered my friend Laurie wanted to see the card I made for Scott for Valentine's Day. I'll have to take a picture and post it this week. I absolutely forgot that there is anything to write about except Winter. Along with my children being underfoot, Winter is the constant in my life.

Why? This is the most snow I remember receiving in Winter before. It snows and snows. It stops for a day or so then it starts again. We go from one televised Winter Warning to another with rarely a break. The kids have snow days, 2 hour delays, and built in days off for MLK Day and President's Day (today).

I often worry about money issues and things like paying for college someday, then I know that I may never go back to work. My oldest son proves his irresponsibility again and again and I know he can't be left to his own devices for any length of time. I don't know who these mothers are who work outside the home. What do they do with their kids in the summer? Who gets them on the bus when school is delayed? Who watches them after school when they are burning their bagels in the toaster? God forbid the day will soon come when they are entertaining friends of the opposite sex and looking for unapproved images on the internet. I am just not at a place in my life where I feel that my kids are safe without parental supervision. At the same time, I like it more when they are in school and I can do things like a knitting class or grocery shopping in peace and quiet.

I took the kids to the local park last week and we went sledding on a snow day. We crossed the bridge to the sledding hills and the snow was softly falling. It looked like Narnia to me. It was warm enough to be enjoyable and we played for about an hour. I eventually fell off the sled and went bare stomached down a hill. Once I got snow melting into my under garments it was time to head home.

I made cookies last week for all the people who work with my husband. I do this every year for Valentine's Day. Everybody gets at least one dozen cookies, many get more, based on their family size. I baked and packed and loaded up the cookies. Scott delivered them so I didn't have to make an extra trip out through the snow. I made 23 dozen cookies, and thankfully we had enough that some stayed home. The kids love to come home after school and have cookies waiting for them. Despite the fact I have days when I think I may go crazy as a stay at home mom, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Snow and More Snow

We got some snow in the past few days, like many people in the U.S. It is under six inches, so once it stopped falling we were fine to get out and go somewhere again. The snow started on Friday, during the day and the kids were released from school an hour early so they could get home safely. We are supposed to get another big batch of snow Monday and into Tuesday, so I am hoping school is not cancelled.

The kids were out of school last Monday for Staff Development and are out next Monday for President's Day, I don't need them to have a snow day this week. There just isn't enough to do to keep them entertained in cold weather. Maybe we could go see a movie or go out to eat, but that's all I can offer, and the roads have to be good for those things to happen.

I don't have any pictures to post. The kids spent the day out in the front yard playing with the neighborhood kids, all day yesterday. And I do mean all day. There was not the usual in and out. The yard looks like a herd of moose trampled through, so there was no use in trying to take pretty snow photos. I did not step even one foot outside with my camera to get pictures of the kids, either. I like to stay in with some hot chai, a book, some knitting, and maybe even fall into a nap. That's my kind of living. The kids are letting me live the good life right now and I don't want to disturb the pattern.

I hope you are warm and cozy where you are, too.

More Auction Items

This is another item I sent to my friend Beth for her amazing work on the charity Ball she is hosting. I made push pins from the stamp set she designed. I sent a set for her to use and a set for her auction basket of homemade items. I hope she loves them. They are made with Stazon stamped onto shrink plastic and glued onto push pins. Easy Peasy.

She also got this cute little cupcake pin cushion for her cupcake basket. It is made out of recycled wool sweaters and a bit of felt. These are so cute it is tempting to make a basket of them and place them somewhere in my house. They just make me smile.

I also donated a set of lampwork beads made in my studio. These are made with Italian glass and have a swirled pattern that gives them more of an organic feel. I donated another set similar to this for my Ukrainian friend and the International Talent Academy she is associated with. I am hoping this will be the end of charity season for a while so I can concentrate on opening an etsy shop with my friend Steph. We both would like to make some money with our crafts so we will see if we can do it or not.

I may add comment moderation soon or a word decoder type thing. I don't want to make it harder for anyone to leave a comment, but it seems as though the spammers have found me and I want them to go away. This seems to be the only reliable way to block them that I know of. My apologies for the inconvenience.

If there is something you think you'd like to see in our etsy shop, or something I make that you think would sell well, please let me know. For those who don't know, etsy is an internet marketplace for hand crafted items. I'll add a link to it (our store site) when it is fully functional.