Yarn Along

It’s been so busy in the garden.  Strawberries are in, rhubarb won’t wait forever.  We harvested our first peas yesterday, though there was only enough for the kids and I to have a quick snack while we were out there weeding.  I love fresh, raw peas!  Soon the peas will take over my life for a few weeks.  Even though they’re one of my favorites, a part of me is glad that they didn’t come up very well this year.  Less work now.

All that to say crafting has been at a minimum.  Sometimes that makes me grouchy.  I need to get over that.  I just went to a baby shower, and pulled out my UFO box (UnFinished Objects) and found dozens of booties that I had at one time made for the express purpose of having a handmade gift at baby showers.  In my traditional form, I had made several booties, and their match, but neglected to sew up any of the seams, weave in any ends, or make any drawstrings.  Well, one had a drawstring, as shown in the picture, but the other one did not and I no longer have that yarn.  Since it was for a little girl, I just took out some pink yarn for the drawstrings and made them up quick and did other “tidy” work.

That’s the extent of my knitting this week.  It’s so depressing.

I have actually gotten a bit of reading done.  I’m finally getting to the Read-Aloud Handbook which was recommended to me by several homeschoolers and looking online, several teachers and parents recommended it as well.

It could have been titled “3,475 studies that prove that reading to your kids is really, really good.”  Ugh.  I hate “studies say” books, but this one has some treasure when I look for it.  I’ve basically been reading the sections that look interesting, and skipping a page or 5 here and there.  Normal non-fiction reading for me.  Knut reads every single word of boring non-fiction books.  He’s really kind of a nerd when it comes to things like that.

I am learning some great techniques for getting David more interested in hearing stories.  He never wants to pay attention when we’re reading one of our “read aloud” books, and this book suggests that if he is struggling with that to read one on one as much as possible, and I see I’ve been grouping him together with Silje perhaps too much.  I’m also getting some great ideas for particular books that could help Elias with his vocabulary.

Really, it’s inspiring me greatly to read to the kids more, and more intentionally.  That’s what I’d hoping it would do, so it’s doing its job.

I’m dying to read a good novel but am too scared.  When I pick up a novel, nothing else gets picked up in my house until it’s done.  So I’m not allowing myself.  This also makes me pout.  What I wouldn’t give for a good, captivating story.  I’ll have to at least wait until the garden is done.

I’m going to cheat a little again this week and show one more picture of the rest of the shower gift.  They’re called a “bapron” (baby + apron).  I did cut out more, and they were almost done, but I think I’ll save them for Solveig.  It looks like a great full size bib!  This tutorial was recommended to me by a friend and I’ve been waiting months to get a chance to try it out.  It came together so fast that I was in shock.  I got nearly 4 done in yesterday’s naptime hour.  (From cutting fabric to clipping threads and done.)  I did use prepackaged bias tape, though, so that cut down on the time.

I wish I could sell these in my store, but since I lack the permission they may just be my next favorite baby shower gift.  That…and the booties.  😉  I have to admit, one whole blissful hour of sewing did take the grumps out of me for quite some time.