chacha yarn

Eva picked out some funky yarn at the yarn shop a few weeks ago. (Trendsetter yarn Chacha in color 29, purple.) They had a scarf made out of it on display and Eva loved it and thought it would make an amazing purse (and then a smaller scarf with what was left over...).

I wound up the yarn on a toilet paper roll the other night and read through the instructions on exactly how to knit with this yarn because you don't knit with the actual ribbon but instead knit through holes above the ribbon. This proved to be trickier than I had thought it would be and I ripped out what I had and set it aside. I waited until I had some quiet time to myself this evening to check out the yarn again and found this youtube video to help.



Sample of Chacha. It's a little under 1 inch wide and knits up in ruffles!

galette inspiration

So I've made 3 galettes this week, inspired by the fruit still in my freezer, the fruit starting to show up at the farmers market, and the fruit picking season, which does not seem quite as distant as it once did. I used a new recipe for pate brisee with corn meal that I found on Martha Stewart when I went searching for how to cook rhubarb in a galette. I was struck by how different each galette turned out, depending on how long I left the dough (or did not) in the refrigerator and how dry (or moist) the dough was. The first was a rhubarb-raspberry galette that turned out picture perfect. The second was blueberry and had much drier crust and therefore didn't roll out nearly as well. (Still tasted good...) And the third was peach-strawberry-blueberry. It ended up being fantastic, but was a bit concerned during the cooking process because of all of the liquid. The dough was also a little soft, due in part to me not having time to refrigerate it at all. All were equally tasty, though, regardless of their form. I'm leaning toward a savory one next, with the extra dough currently in my refrigerator. I've got some extra greens lingering that would be perfect, I think.

Here are the galettes and some chocolate covered raspberries thrown in for good measure-





Also- two recent pictures {I liked} of Samuel, age 11 (with bedroom light behind him) and Eva, age 8.

knit knots

I'm writing this out on the patio, squinting to better see the computer screen, so that I can be-out-in and enjoy the lovely sunshine we are currently having...

I have been doing quite a bit of knitting- some satisfying, some knot-so-satisfying. I knit the Movie Star Scarf from More Last Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson for my sister {and forgot to get a photo. oh well.} (Finally, after over four months on the waiting list at the library!) I loved the first Last Minute Knitted Gifts and am finding the second one to be a lot of fun as well. (I'm trying to decide if I am going to buy this one {now} or knot.) Knitting the little loop to tuck the scarf into was thrilling- I love learning that sort of new (to me) knitting construction. It makes me want to make several more just for the thrill of that loop. (As an aside, I had made my sister a pair of fingerless gloves several years ago and she recently gave them back to me because they had stretched out quite a bit. Turns out the yarn I used had something in it silk? cotton? not sure...that gave a bit too much to be good for fingerless gloves. I ripped them out and re-used said yarn for this scarf. I blocked the scarf *severely* and you absolutely could not tell the yarn had been re-used. I'm hoping the yarn holds up better as a scarf than it did as gloves.)

I'm also currently knitting the Big Lace Scarf with a bulky cotton yarn (for Spring!) by Punta yarns in a whitish-creme color because I love my warmer creme scarf and wanted something in a similar color but a lighter weight for Spring. I'll try to remember to get a photo when I finish.

I also finished the Oatmeal Pullover, which I enjoyed knitting but which I do not enjoy wearing. I even ripped out the bottom seven inches or so and re-knit it to get the sizing better. I am finding it is still not a flattering sweater for me. What I like is the neck line. I also changed the sleeves to long sleeves because 3/4 length drive me batty. I've thought about ripping it all out and re-knitting it at a tighter gauge because the pattern is really nice but am now leaning toward an entirely different sweater. It's the kind of thing where I keep looking at patterns for bulky yarn and nothing seems quite right. And yet I have the yarn. Or rather, will have the yarn {again}, after I rip this sweater out (that I bought the yarn for....) Oh well. I'm setting it aside a bit to reconsider its use. I've thought of knitting hats and mittens and blankets with the yarn as well but feel a little sad because I like the color quite a bit for a sweater.

spring photos and one guinea pig

No alphabet today. I'm barely here, just popping in to upload a few spring photos.

K is for Halo? Or Birthday? Or um Samuel? Hmmm...

Today was Samuel's 11th birthday. He had a big day playing Halo 3 on his new Xbox 360 (I'm so proud I know what that is!), eating cake and Thai food. (Still not a single word that starts with K....)





Blowing out kandles on his double-roll kake. I sure would like some kale.

baby guinea pigs

We had the good fortune to spend time with friends AND baby guinea pigs today.





And just how do guinea pigs have anything to do with the letter I? Why, because they love to sit in their plastic igloos, of course. Plus, I love them!

Slice of Life Tuesday

It happens (that counts for an H word, don't you think? and i wasn't even trying for that one...) that I am going to take a photography-ish sort of online course starting in April that focuses on- is, in fact, called- the Slice of Life project. While the course doesn't start until April, the woman who teaches (Darrah Parker) the course has a Slice of Life Tuesday group on Flicker. This week the theme is Up Close and Personal. Here's the photo I uploaded to that group. {For fun.}



Eva (and I) working on a craft project together.

F is for flowers

in all their fancy finery.

E is for Eva (pronounced Ava. as in Gabor. but with an E, nonetheless.)

Done

I while back, I posted about Eva and I getting ready to read all of the Magic Tree House books in order. I wanted to post an update and say that we are {officially} done. Done, as in, she doesn't want to read them anymore. I have no idea whether this desire to read-them-all-in-order will resurface at some point {again} and am left feeling alternately relieved, confused and even a little wistful, asking myself bittersweet questions like, "If I had agreed to read-them-all-in-order before, would we have hit them at just the right time and gotten through them?" Or even- "Was it my willingness to read-them-all-in-order that finally allowed us to not read-them-all-in-order?" Such questions, though, are better left for 4:00 a.m. wakings, when they can really dig in and drive me crazy. Eva seemed absolutely fine when she said she didn't want to read them anymore. She simply said, "Yeah, I don't really want to read them anymore," and went off unceremoniously to do something else. And that was that. I'm trying to follow suit. Maybe posting about it will help. Or returning the others to the library. Out of sight, out of mind, and all that.



And- our dog Jack. Listening to what the kids are up to in the next room.

C. I've got nothing. Except cats.



Agnes posing for her 18th birthday photo. She turned 18 this past Saturday (02-26-11).

Organizing the Halo guys-

snow

So much for spring. Of course, the snow's all gone now, leaving us only with weather that feels a little-bit-colder-than-usual for this time of year, reminding us of our brief brush with Winter.



There was just enough snow yesterday for the kids to make the beginnings of a snow creature. Here is the head, I believe, of a snow vulture, of all things, to be exact.

snow day

It snowed! Yep. They said it would and it did! Quick, get outside before it melts!

knitting

While I did not finish Eva's skirt today, I did buy yarn for a new project, to be started once said skirt is finished-



I'll be trying this sweater featured on SouleMama. The pattern for the Oatmeal Pullover is found here. I will be using 5 skeins (maybe 4?) of Cascade Yarns 128 Chunky in color 9581. Although, I'll be honest here, I may be heading back to the yarn shop in the near future to exchange it for another color, because once I got it home, it turned out to be not quite what I had thought it was in the store. I thought it was more on the reddish side, when really, it is much closer to a warmish brown. The color chart doesn't do it justice either. We'll see how I feel about the color tomorrow morning. I'd love to see it in the sunlight just to be sure.

Agnes placed just so between the two kids/two laptops.

A little closer-

spring-ish

It's officially springtime. (Despite the snow predictions later this week. And yes, I know, it is still technically winter.) Still, after spending time outside today, I would say that as far as the seasonal continuum goes, the scales have tipped in the direction of spring. At least for the time being.

Two instances of spring in the air today-



The Columbine is just popping up in a few places.



And- Eva brought me not one, but two small vases of flowers.

ants

It seems like the ant scouts have come out a little earlier this year-



At least someone enjoyed the tangerines.

snowy wood violets

We woke up to {a little bit of} snow this morning. I'm happy to say that the flowers who were blooming seem to be all set for a little surprise snowfall.

An amazing mushroom covered tree we saw on our way to lunch.