fini

Ready to ship.

Back in the saddle or, She Knits rides again

The only upside I can see to this whole flu thing (assuming it is the flu) is that I really got a lot done today in the knitting/crocheting department. As well as the laundry department, the cooking department, the running department and of course the nursemaid department.

I've had on my list this little order for a good friend who moved from Richmond back to her home town of Atlanta two years ago. She likes to get a few things from me each Fall to include in the silent auction for her daughter's school and this year it was a crocheted market bag, 3 little girls necklaces (not pictured-oops!) and 4, hand knitted tooth fairy bags.

Now if you've seen my website but haven't visited me at the market you may be saying to yourself, "But hey, she only makes baby booties and hats." And you would be right to think that judging from my shop, but really I do make lots and lots of other fun stuff, given the time.

On to the tooth fairy bags:

I'll line each one of these with fabric and hand stitch them into the bags. The first little Noro bag will be lined with Irish linen.

The hot pink Lamb's Pride will be lined with former bloomers from under one of my daughter's dresses from long ago.


The heathered Cascade 220 (this is one of my favorite yarn colors) will also be lined with fabric remnants from an old dress, hardly worn.

And we couldn't leave out the boys. This pretty blue goes nicely with one of my son's old button downs. "Church shirts" he calls them because he wouldn't be caught dead in them for any other occasion except maybe Christmas or Thanksgiving.

There you have it, the fruits of my labor on a day guarding the sick. If anyone is still sick tomorrow daddy is on duty but I hardly think I'd be able to get him to whip me up a few hats or booties, no, I'm sure his activities will have something to do with putting siding on the addition. Neither one of us likes to be idle.

Birthdays

There he is, almost 9, Mr. Positive at his outdoor birthday party playing putt-putt, whacking baseballs, eating cake and watching his friends go wild. They are full of energy and unbridled enthusiasm, I just don't know how else to put it. Luckily Kevin was there to manage one group and one of the other dads stayed to manage my group while I politely stepped back and let him take over. They do listen so much better to someone who's around 6 feet tall with a deep voice. All you moms of boys out there know what I'm talking about and like me, I'm sure you frequently thank God for dads.

It was also a very cold day in October which isn't like central Virginia. It's not at all abnormal to wear shorts and short-sleeved shirts here this time of year and even up till the end of the month, so to be blunt about it, we froze. But Mr. Positive had a great time and from the looks and sounds of it so did his friends, but he ended the night feeling not so hot and had a temp of 103. And then Lauren woke up at 6 a.m. with one. I've been waiting for it and it must finally be here. Oink, oink. (Insert apology here to all the mothers of the little boys in attendance.)

So the fire roars, the blankets are strewn about, games and movies have filled the day and my littlest is trying her hardest to be sick. That's right, she cries wolf whenever possible, Lauren says nothing until things are horrible and John will tell you he feels fine even with a fever and we practically have to force him to stay down. He reminds me of a puppy in that way. If all goes well it will quickly pass, but in the meantime I might be able to have a little knitting post for you tomorrow, cross your fingers (and maybe your toes too).

Ready to drop

It's been so long I almost forgot I had a blog. I've forgotten what it feels like to be able to grab the camera at a moments notice and go outside and see what I can see. I'm longing for the moments of stillness that used to come so frequently just a few months ago. I'm missing the dog, the kids, the knitting, the market, the warm weather, the outside, everything's just going so fast.


Instead I'm keeping up with the morning routine and streamlining lunch prep and trying to make sure everyone gets out the door on time and with everything they need, myself included. I'm trying to stay on top of the homework (and wondering why it involves so much parental coordination--is this really better than when I was young?), I'm orchestrating the shower routine, the bedtime routine, and it seems like every little thing.

I'm stuffing orders in the mailbox before the post office opens on my way to work, and when I get there I'm trying to keep people from falling, or hurting, or breaking anything else. I'm working with folks that may have no idea who I am and are utterly confused like the gentleman today who asked me if I was the "trash girl". I'm trying my best not to get hit or thrown up on, peed on, or anything-elsed on and then I come home and make dinner and try to pretend like my day was normal. Well, it is normal in my head, but when I stop to think about it I know it's miles away from what most of my friends would consider normal. But that's okay.

This readjustment has me caught up between worlds. Family, wife, home, animals, photography, knitting, e-business, market business, hospital business. I guess you could say today I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed, a little misunderstood and like there's no room for error and with one misstep it could all come a-tumbling. But then again, it sounds like all I really need is a good night's sleep, and a little TLC. Wish me luck.

Random bean

It has occurred to me that this blog may be dying a slow death, like the soybeans around our house. Or maybe I'm just readjusting. Readjusting to this new schedule, to more work outside of home, to more going and doing and running around like all those mothers before me told me I would, once the kids were older and in school. "It doesn't get easier" they said, "it's just a different kind of busy, a different kind of hard." I already know they were right.

But this isn't a complaint, mind you, just a statement of fact. For the kids are everything. They are our focus, our constant consideration, our joy, our sometimes frustration and most certainly those whom we admire the most in this world.

So my thought today is that I will continue on, perhaps less frequently, maybe more thoughtfully, but always delivering the news of what's going on in this daily life. With the ever-present goal of living with intention and purpose, and remarking on it in hopefully unexpected ways.