Yarn Along

 Following along with Ginny again this week.

Still knitting those broken rib socks.  I cast one off the needles last night and then realized that no one older than 10, and definitely not my 34 year old brother, could actually get their foot in it so I am ripping and watching old Thirtysomething episodes on Netflix tonight (Gary, Hope, Michael, and Eliot are household names here.  We talk about them as if they are actually a part of our circle of friends).


Just finished this and am starting Teach Your Own tonight.  Starting to consider our options for public schooling next year so I am collecting information and beginning here.

Making New Crayons from the Old

We had a cozy, crafty, homey kind of weekend over here.  No plans, starkly bright blue skies and good moods all around.  We spent most of Saturday morning melting down the many, many crayon bits that we have accumulated over the years.  As I have gotten older (and maybe wiser), I have resisted the urge to throw away useful bits like crayons that we get in restaurants or ones that are too small to use anymore so the collection we have amassed was really quite impressive.  

We began by sorting the pieces--the fun part for my girl.

Then, using the mini-muffin tins I got expressly for this purpose, we prepped them for the melting.

After that, we put them in the oven heated to 350 degrees.  They came out looking like this in under five minutes.

Now we have six (or so) new sets of crayons.  I am going to bag them up and give them as party favors for middle's birthday in February.

Nature Study Monday: Eastern Black Swallowtail

In July, when watering our potted dill plant on our front porch, I came across the most spectacular caterpillar--one straight off the pages of an Eric Carle story.  She was green with yellow, black and white markings and she had clearly been eating a lot of dill.  The kids and I found our fish bowl (which had recently housed another caterpillar whose fate was not a fortunate one) and put her inside with a hefty amount of leaves, sticks, and some water.

In a week, she hatched into what I now know was an Eastern Black Swallowtail butterfly.  The bright blue and yellow makings on her hind wings identify her as a female.  Males have a row of yellow spots on their wings and some dimmer blue spots under those.  {Eastern} Black Swallowtails like plants in the carrot family, like dill and fennel, so if you want to attract them to your garden, definitely plant some of these host plants.

Quotable Sunday

Inspired by Kyrie

NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay. 

Robert Frost

Thankful Thursday

Kerry of Young Ones has dedicated all of her Thursday posts until Thanksgiving to expressions of gratitude and I am going to join along.  Today I am thankful for so much, for the big and for the small, for the lasting and for the fleeting and more specifically for:

• a day off from nursery school for my two older children
• the rain--it kept us inside and together
• paper and crayons and the budding artist in my middle child
• high heels for my oldest to don
• my husband, his open heart and open mind
• the smell of bread
• and for our baby's new word "ug-ok" or truck

Yarn Along

For the next few weeks I am going to be joining Ginny as she shares what she is knitting and reading.  There is little that I like to do more than knit or read so to post about them at once sounds lovely!

Today while my older two were at school I stole a rare knitting moment while our baby played with yarn and some books from our seasonal book basket.  Each year, I knit my brother a pair of socks.  This year I am making him the broken ribbed socks from 101 Designer One Skein Wonders out of some stashed cotton yarn.  Usually I make his socks in wool as he loves it but I love the color of this yarn for him so we are going cotton this year.

I recently began reading The Mood Cure by Julia Ross based on a recommendation.  While the author can be a bit "pitchy" for my taste (and I remain skeptical about some of the claims that she makes), there are some definite kernels of wisdom in the book.  I am really interested in her claims about adding protein to your diet in order to sharpen your thinking and elevate your state of mind, for example.  I look forward to trying some of her suggested recipes in the coming weeks.

I am also reading Chickens in Your Backyard.  We plan to get our chicks in the spring so this book is giving me some ideas about coops, breeds of chickens, fencing, etc...

Nature Study Monday: The Gingko Tree

I am going to start a little Monday nature series by writing about a new-to-me discovery in my backyard or on our daily walks.  I love learning about the birds, trees, bugs, and butterflies that we encounter on a daily basis and I think this will be a good way to record them--our nature journal of sorts.  Please join along if you like.  I am looking forward to learning so much more!

Gingko Trees--I had only heard of these before this season.  My mother-in-law found a large gingko tree leaf last fall on one of her trips and brought it home to show the kids.  The leaf was large, from a tree much more mature than the one pictured, and exotic looking.  Even a novice like myself knows that it is not native to the area, and yet we have two within a half mile radius of our house!

The Gingko hails from China and somehow its leaves tell that story--beautiful fan-like delicacies, they are.  It can evidently get quite large but those in our neighborhood are fairly small--maybe 16 feet tall or so.  I would love to know how much upkeep they require, given that they are non-native.  I feel as though this might not be a tree that I plant in my own yard, and it is still simply stunning to behold.