this week was

a business trip
left me home alone
with late nights
and not much sleep.
advent knitting
baseball
laundry
and purging
consumed my time.
he's coming home tonight.

happy friday my friends!

words for wednesday

the great thing about the arts is

you learn by doing them.

-unknown

holiday preparation

when leslie shared her advent ornament project last year, I knew I wanted to make one for our home. thinking it would be another tradition we could share together as a family. and knitting it, what could be better?

so several months ago, I made my plan, my yarn list, and then...stalled. lost steam. do you ever do that? get totally excited about a project, an idea, a craft then stall on it's progress? I kept thinking "next month I'll catch up." but next month never seemed to arrive...until this weekend! I knew June 1st I wanted to have 12 of the 24 ornaments completed. with only knit, it was my crunch time.

so after finishing, I kept the ball of yarn rolling and got organized for a weekend of "pick up" knitting. I didn't obsess over finding knitting time, just quietly picked up the needles during down time. and this morning finished the NINE hats with their pom poms. number ten is already on the needles. and just like leslie, once I was started, I couldn't stop knitting little hats!

the pattern calls for you to make the poms without help. I just couldn't do it. my tops all looked silly. so off I went to michael's to purchase the pom pom maker. much better!

so I'm now well on my way to reaching my goal of 12 finished by June 1st. the mittens will follow, then the numbering and cords. it's a work in progress, but it's now a project in motion. what project do you want to get moving? go ahead! just take 15 minutes to work on it. and get the ball rolling again.

family weekend

a weekend full of family fun! my parents and sister came up for the holiday weekend. it was a busy week leading up to their arrival, but oh how relaxing it was to let down and have some fun! a parade, a funny movie, great food (including lisa's broccoli salad, leslie's peanut butter cookies, chelle's breakfast bake, spencer's brownies), a garage sale, knitting, a game of farkle and lots of being instead of doing.

words for wednesday

If someone can stand on my shoulders

and take their dream to a higher level,

maybe that's success, too.

-Steve Potter

finishing

the past few weeks I've been struggling with FINISHING anything! just when I get started, I have to stop. when I think I've finished, something else is added to the task. when I schedule the time, another priority takes it's spot. ever feel like a pinball, being thrown this way and that?pretty much me.

but when erin posted about finishing, I immediately thought of two knitting projects I could easily complete in an evening. last night I finished:

another chunky knit beanie and my so called scarf. both repeats. both from stash yarn. yeah! these will be tucked away in my gift drawer for Christmas gift giving. now onto that advent project, and oh yeah, I'm still percolating about my february lady sweater.

hope you have a week of finishing.

it is remarkable that no matter how many months or years you've been knitting

or how many things you accomplish as a knitter,

the thrill of a finished piece will likely never leave you.

you can make a thousand sweaters and

still the end of each one will be profoundly marked

by genuine pride and the childish (but appropriate) thought,

"look, I made it myself!"

stephenie pearl mcphee 2009 calendar

monsters inc.

my boys amaze and inspire me each and every day. this post is specifically about the oldest of my two sons...spencer.

on thursday afternoon, he spent a long while in his room drawing and creating. this isn't unusual. both of my sons love to doodle, draw, and create. we have spiral notebooks full of their creations. so many that we sometimes don't have spirals for school. and it's becoming increasingly difficult for me to know when to keep or when to throw away their drawings.

when he came out of his "studio," he had created the monster series. he had drawn a collection of 10 monsters and the "key" for the creation of others.

the choices included body color, icons, eye style, mouth style, and horns.

I thought it was awesome until friday came...

friday, spencer came home from school focused on something. he immediately had a snack then had to have plain white paper. I sent him down to the printer for his stock. he then disappeared into his studio for what seemed like hours. when he emerged, he had a stack of newly created monsters. I was amazed. "spencer, we need to get you a binder to put all of these monsters in. this is amazing!" "just a minute," he said and disappeared into the studio. he came back with the sheet pictured below.

A MONSTER ORDER FORM from students in his class! he created all of these new monsters by request of his peers.

now, I have a creative side. but at his age I would have never thought about taking my creations to school, let alone sharing them with others! this simple act so inspired me!

step out.

take a chance.

share yourself.

be confident.

I will.

love you, spencer!!

**stay tuned for a webpage for you to request your own custom monster**

handmade mother's day treat

on mother's day spencer made me one of my most favorite treats- walnut cranberry bars! while I was at work on saturday, mark taught our budding chef how to make them, and he treated me to an entire batch! this is mark's recipe. I don't make these. I always make sure we have the ingredients and then make a request. when he has time, he blesses me with them. that he would think of doing this for me on mother's day made me so happy!! I hope you'll make them.

walnut cranberry bars

from: healthy appetite with Ellie Krieger

1 cup quick oats

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 cup wheat germ

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup honey

1/3 cup applesauce

1/4 cup canola oil

1 egg

1 egg white

3/4 cup dried fruit (we use dried cranberries)

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

1/4 cup preserves (we use orange marmalade)

mix dry ingredients together. whisk wet ingredients together and add to dry. add fruit and nuts. put mixture in a 9x9 non-stick pan.

bake 30 minutes at 350.

glaze with heated preserves and slice into bars.

enjoy!

words for wednesday

talent is always conscious of its own abundance

and

does not object to sharing.

-Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

celebrating you, mom

*me, mom, and my sister*

her children rise up and call her blessed;

her husband, also, and he praises her.

Proverbs 31:28

happy mother's day, mom!

Top Ten Things I Learned from my Mother:

10. when the tank hits 1/2 full, fill it up!

9. always wear clean underwear; you never know when there will be an emergency.

8. how to read a map and go new places

7. give generously of your time and talents by volunteering.

6. how to cross stitch and explore creative outlets

5. how to write thank you notes

4. when giving the gift of outfits for children, always include matching socks!

3. don't be afraid to try new things, move new places, make new friends!

2. take care of your family, always!

1. laugh often, share much, and love big!

this is obviously NOT an all inclusive list! her impact on my life and what she's taught me couldn't be summarized in a Top 10 list! you are a blessing to me mom.

I love you to the moon and back.

your daughter

girlfriend scarf

believe it or not, I still knit and currently have on the needles- a chunky knit beanie, ruffle scarf, my so called scarf and advent ornaments all for Christmas gift giving. in the finished department the scarf I started with lisa.

while I was with her over spring break, we were able to hit a few yarn shops solo {thanks to her most generous husband occupying all five of our children. thanks john!}. for our first stop, we traveled down to wool winders in rockville, md. this was a lovely shop. small, full of yarn, and full of lovely knitters. a small group of knitters were clikcking their needles and chatting as we shopped. as I listened, I longed for a 'few good friends' who I could knit sit and knit with for a spell each week.

as we wondered, lisa found a beautiful scarf just sitting on a table. once we located the yarn we had found a project! a simple seed stitch scarf made with a strand of Rowan kidsilk haze mohair and a strand of Koigu merino wool. choosing our colorwave of koigu proved to be the most challenging part of this project. both of these yarns were a dream to work with! I love the colors and ease of this project.

Pattern: friendship scarf
use one strand of each yarn. cast on 19 stitches. knit in seed stitch until the end of Koigu. my scarf finished at 58".
Yarn: one skein each- Rowan kidsilk haze mohair, shade #600-dewberry and Koigu merino wool, dye code P319
Needles: size 11

*special thanks to spencer for taking my photos*

I considered giving this scarf as a Christmas gift, but as soon as lisa named it the girlfriend scarf, I added it to my collection! it will forever be a reminder of my special friendship with lisa! go see her finished scarf and get the pattern here.

words for wednesday

quoted from Purls of Wisdom, by Stephanie Pearl McPhee

Have you ever heard this? Someone comes up to a knitter (maybe you?) and says, "Wow, did you make this? You're really talented," and the knitter blushes demurely and says, "No, no...it's not hard, it's just knitting. You could do it." Then we get all ticked off that people think of knitting as "just knitting"--even though we keep confirming their suspicions.

When someone gives your knitting a compliment, think about telling the truth. It's taken you a lot of practice and experience to be able to make the things you do. The next time someone says you're talented, and your work is beautiful. Say "Thank You."

will walk for blessings

today spencer's fifth grade memory book packet was due. his part was complete, but I still had to get pictures developed this morning to finish my part. so my inner struggle this afternoon was- do I drive the one mile round trip to school to drop off the packet OR do I get some needed exercise and walk with my ipod and camera and see what blessings I can find? even though I have a 'to-do NOW' list a mile long, I sought out the blessings. this is what I found along the way:

I was in awe of the beauty of the flowering trees, and these two squirrels made me laugh out loud as the "posed" for my pictures. I will walk for blessings.

vera, vera, and more vera

to say the girls' weekend was fun is an understatement. kathy and I met my mom and aunt karen for lunch at Panera to get sustenance for the shopping that was ahead of us. anticipation ruled our conversation- "do you have a list?" "what's on your list?" "what patterns are you looking for?" then we were off!

we walked into the colliseum in just two minutes- no long lines here. we decided to divide and shop for an hour then meet up at 'our spot' to sort and regroup. this part went like clockwork. then the announcements started- "ladies, the end of the check out line is marked by the pink and silver balloons. at this minute the wait to check out is two hours." YIKES! I started to get concerned. now for those of you not 'into' vera bradley you may be thinking 'I wouldn't wait that long in line for anything!' and normally I would be with you. but this sale was about more than shopping. it was about being, spending time, and sharing life moments. my sister and I got in line first, then mom and aunt karen joined us. in total, we waited four hours to check out! rumor has it that at one point, the fire marshall closed the doors because there were 5,000 people in the room!!
for all the waiting, we did find incredible products and save a ton of money! in the end I purchased 49 items {for me, gifts, lisa, and becky} with a retail value of $1495 for $245. I can't show all the specific items, because I was able to purchase 4 great christmas gifts! but for me-a backpack, backsack, coin purse, five belts ($1 each!!), a mini hipster, and pj pants. after dinner and a fun trip to Target, we crashed in the hotel room and poured out all our finds- comparing finds, swapping and bartering were all going on.there was talk of visiting the outlet sale again on saturday, but when the line to get into the door was an hour, we just couldn't do it. in the end we visited a vera flagship store nearby. while you might expect all the shoppers to be at the outlet sale, this store was packed!! the store had it's largest day on friday and showed no slowing on saturday.

we shared, laughed, shopped, ate, and drove our way around ft. wayne, and we're looking forward to another trip next year. it's becoming an annual event!