Friday, November 18, 2005

Our day off

Friday is the day we take off from school to do fun things. I'd rather take one day per week off than three months at one time in the summer. So, today looks like this

and when that is completed, I'll move on to this....

And some of this...

Hopefully, I'll have some time for drafting a pattern for a case for this as well as a few minutes for playing it...

and a few passes into this pile of fluff...



The beef stew is in the crockpot, the bread dough is ready to go, the brownies are baked-there's even a salad in the refrigerator to offset the guilt of those brownies. Fridays are very important to the WHOLE family-but especially for me!

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Comfort spinning


All that fussing with the Targhee finally took its toll. In all fairness, it is lovely wool and the blend will be wonderful to knit, but this colonial top just flies! No stopping and starting here. But then I began to feel a little guilty, so...


I got back on track once again! I did leave the purple bobbin on the attached Kate so I can spin a little of it, too, now and then. I'm still not quite sure if that was a wise decision. Ha!

On the school front, C and I started Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons this week. We did 6 lessons in two days-she is totally ready! I love seeing her excitement-it makes it so fun! And J is already in his second reader, and is just flying through his math text. I've stepped away from my eclectic approach and gone back to Sonlight's Core K. He's more ready and C can follow along now too. Now we are all enjoying it instead of him missing half of it because it is over his head. The real test was when I brought out The Apple and the Arrow again. This time, he loved it! He kept saying, "This is a GREAT story!" I'm glad we took a detour for a year, but SL is a great curriculum and I love getting back to it!

Monday, November 07, 2005

One down...


And two to go. This is taking me a great deal longer than I thought. I may have to detour into the purple colonial sooner than anticipated. Although I did fill the Bossie and Swan this weekend, so technically I guess that qualifies as a detour... hmm....
Still combing the pale green Corriedale. I made a blanket for B out of this fiber but still have a fair amount that I can comb up and use for something else. I may ply it with some of the same fleece that is still au naturel. It's great wool and was only $2/lb! For B's blanket I combed and spun and crocheted on an as needed basis. This technique(or lack thereof) resulted in a variegated yarn-not much, but enough to make one wonder if it's been in the family for a while. This time I plan to comb all the fiber and then recomb to blend the colors better. Sounds pretty obvious, but when you're impatient like me-apparently you can justify skipping some things.


On the knitting front, I've pulled the Cherry Moon pullover out of my knitting bag. That's the bottom and sleeves. I need to come to a decision about the sleeve shaping. I'm knitting this with J. Fee's Sweater Workshop in hand. I'm a little nervous about taking the design challenge! The yarn is Brown Sheep's Cotton Fleece. A few too many knots in this batch but it's a good yarn overall.

I finally took the plunge and tried my hand at Brioche. I baked one loaf last week and froze half the dough for cinnamon rolls. I pulled it out this AM and made them up for a mid-morning snack. They were proclaimed delicious by all except Brent who preferred his Cheerios. Who knew? So Mark gets an extra one tomorrow morning. I used the recipe from the copy of Baking With Julia from the library-just may have to add this one to my wish list since I want to master bagels and croissants as well. Excellent book. Although Mark did wonder WHY I had departed from my traditional whole wheat and made a loaf of WHITE bread. Next time, I'll just use all the Brioche dough for sweet rolls-there won't be too many!

More thoughts on War of Words...

"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up..." This is more than cursing, it is me-centered talk that is controlled by personal, earthly desires. It is an attempt to get what I want, and has no reference to the lordship of Christ or my call to speak as His ambassador. The truth is, that is what I am called to be to my children and I must learn to consistently approach them with a ministry attitude rather than a punitive one. If all I am doing is breaking up squabbles, then there is no soul work happening. Something to ponder.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Doesn't take much...

Perhaps I am easily pleased, I don't know. There must be some reason I get such a charge out of seeing this


become this


I love my wool combs. Every now and then I think fondly of drumcarders and ponder just how many months/years it would take to save up for one. The cure? I go to my storage closet where I have a number of lovely, well-prepared rovings from wool mills that are highly acclaimed by spinners everywhere. I pull one out and proceed to spin. I enjoy the process, I really do. But there is a difference between spinning them and spinning mine. Spinning a freshly combed top is like eating a Chocolate Pie that you made with real chocolate, cream, sugar-all the good stuff.
I think what it is is that with the top(and I'm NOT spending gobs of time combing here-two passes MAYBE three) I don't have to pick out all the little neps that finewools inevitably get in a carder. Many spinners are not bothered by these and allow them to zip on by and find a home in the singles-no problem. Sigh. Not me. A carder would be a welcome addition to my closet but only as a blending tool not as a timesaver. I'll still be flicking all the tips anyway.
Pie, anyone?
On the learning front...
Tripp has been talking about speaking redemptively. If I could only grab hold of this concept! If I fail to deal with my own heart issues then I am unprepared to "speak the truth in love" to my children. The most important encounter in personal ministry(or relationships)is not people's encounter with us, but their encounter with Him. Paul's epistle to the Philippians says "Do not look out for your own interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who....emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant..." I need to meditate on this today!