Yarn Along

I have not caught my breath yet, if any of you are wondering.

It has been full speed ahead around here.  I got the kids signed up for all their Spring things.  I’m honest when I say that we limit them extremely, but I have realized that all of us have been benefiting from some movement and I’m eager to get us all in shape a bit.  So I’m bending the normally strict schedule for some physical activities.  Spring planting is just around the corner, and I’m trying to prep for that too.  We returned from our trip to an empty fridge and no real meals planned, so I’ve been busy coming up with meals, grocery lists, massive shopping, and the like.

My seedlings are starting to pop up.  That makes me incredibly happy.  The cabbages and marigolds are leading the pack right now.  I do see that white mold is starting to grow on my seed trays already. I wasn’t sure what to do about that but a quick google search lead me to try sprinkling ground cinnamon on the mold, and so far the mold has quickly receded with this treatment, and I’m hoping will be gone completely soon.

But today my writing is about knitting and reading.  Well, tonight I hope to get a lot of knitting business done, but as for actual knitting, I’m still plugging away at this color work mystery using one of my favorites, Brooklyn Tweed Loft yarn.  I’m in no rush getting this done, and it has been the exact type of knitting that I have been needing: repetitious and easily memorized.  I can do this pattern in my sleep now, and can carry on a conversation while knitting it, and yet it does hold my interest, and it’s taking awhile.

I know that many knitters value a quick knit, but I love a knit that gives me my money’s worth in yarn enjoyment.  One can easily spend $30 on a skein of yarn that’s bulky and can be knit in a day or two.  But spending over a hundred dollars, while intimidating, this enjoyment has lasted me a few months. For one who must knit for sanity, fingering weight yarn is the way to go.  I don’t spend money and then rip the project off like a bandaid.  Well, in December I do, but that’s December.  Everyone is looking for quick projects then.

I have finished most of the long line of Clarkson family books from the Mom Heart Conference I went to.  I feel full of inspiration.  Actually, what I feel most inspired to do after reading A Storyformed Life is to actually read The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.  I was a literature major.  I took a college class on C.S. Lewis, one of Tolkein’s best friends.  I have watched the Lord of the Rings movies by Peter Jackson, and have been a Tolkein fan …. shhhhh … while never actually reading it.

That’s right.  I’ve never actually read the books.  [putting bag over head.] Knut has, and has this deluxe, fancy addition he got for his birthday or Christmas a long time ago.  I’ve always been meaning to read it.  I listened to a podcast “The Read Aloud Revival” (my new favorite podcast by the way.  Excellent, excellent stuff.  She blogs here, but I’ll admit I don’t follow her blog yet as much as I’ve been following her podcasts.)  Anyway, several of the people she interviews on that podcast answered her question “If you were stuck on a desert island with only 3 books, which would they be?” and several of these giants in literature answered “The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.”  Many of them have read them many times.

I didn’t think I had the time for such a tome, but 1) I haven’t read good fiction in awhile, and I am a firm believer that everyone should read fiction, just like I think it’s good for everyone to create things with their hands, and 2) I have this newfound time when putting my littlest to bed.  Ingrid (age 2) has been so messed up from our trip to see my parents that either Knut or I have had to sit outside her door, and put her back in bed several times after we lay her down as she has been coming out over and over again.  Sleeping next to her isn’t an option.  She’s just so messed up with the time changes, and sleeping arrangements constantly changing on our trip.  She just needed Knut or I to be up there and remind her of the routine.

The first couple of nights/naptimes have dragged on for 2-3 hours of her getting up after laying her down.  At first she got out about every 5 minutes.  After a few nights and afternoons of this, she is down to falling asleep in about an hour, getting out of bed only once.  We are on the right track.

Don’t get me wrong, she’s not calling for us, or screaming and keeping her 2 roommates awake.  I’ve realized that when my kids are clingy, the most effective thing to do is be clingy right back.  I smother them with hugs and kisses, and hold them in my lap for as long as they like.  It does not take any child long to push me away as if to say “Mom!  Enough!  I need some space and want to go play!!”  Depending on age, it takes anywhere from an hour to 5 minutes, but it always happens.  It’s my secret, evil plan that has worked with my kids.  They know if they cling to me, they’ll get me.  (evil laugh.)  It’s my smother them with love technique, and I came up with it myself.  It didn’t come from a book or anything.

Ingrid is giggling and wide awake at night, that’s all.  It’s actually worse, because while I know how to calm cries, I don’t calm laughter and energy well.  She’s her normal cheerful self, just in a hysterical, tired/exhasuted sort of way.  I am fairly certain, that in another week she will be down to 30 minutes or so, and maybe even by then we can start imagining our great sleeper will have returned to her normal schedule.

In the meantime, I have been reading this volume outside her door.  I am interrupted from time to time, but over the last few days I’ve been completely drawn in, and now I’m completely hooked.  I have seen the movies, I know how it ends but as always the book is always better.

Oh my word this is so much better.  The movies are a shadow.  My heart is racing reading this, and my heart is captivated.  I know I don’t need any more stress in my life but this is fun stress, if there is such a thing.  “Thrilling” I think the word is.

I feel a bit sorry for my family, who will be neglected as I hole myself up now and just read this.  But what’s done is done.  There’s not much turning back.

I’m joking really.  My family is too demanding to let me hole myself up.  They like eating and stuff.  Like, everyday.

I made 3 egg bakes yesterday morning for the freezer so it will be ready for spring planting time for Knut, and invented this amazing Brussels Sprout and Ham Salad that 3 of my 5 kids really appreciated.  In the area of salads, that’s a big win in our house.  Oh and we have new chicks and I have so much to tell about that, but I’ll save that for tomorrow.

Linking up with Ginny’s Yarn Along