Little C Learning to Walk

A wonder to behold...

Christmas Socks Gifted

I did some sock knitting this season for some very happy and very gracious recipients.  My brother gets a pair of them knit up for him every year.  Most years I use fingering weight wool but this year I knit him some hiking socks (using a heavily modified version  of this pattern) in Blue Sky Alpaca Dyed Cotton.  They fit him well after a bit of stretching and will be accompanying him on his upcoming trip to New Zealand.  I like that he will be able to wash them with the rest of his clothes but they just aren't as pretty as socks knit with finer yarn.

My aunt got the second pair of socks knit up from a pattern in this book.  I have to do some repair work on one of the pair and I am not sure they will get as much wear as the ones that I give to my brother but they are pretty nonetheless.

Stephanie Pearl McPhee said somewhere that socks knitting is truly a labor of love.  Socks are not one of those gifts that last forever--they wear thin and then wear out.  And they are labor intensive.  Of the four pairs that I have knit for my brother, only two are still usable.  Although I do not love the process of knitting them, I love the wearing thin, wearing out part.  It only encourages me to knit them more.

Nature Study Monday: American Coot

During our recent visit to Texas, we encountered a pond full of ducks, many of which I have never seen (or maybe just never noticed) before.  The American Coot (pictured above), I have learned, is actually not a duck at all (it lacks webbed feet) but a water bird.  In the northeastern part of the US, the American Coot migrates south for the winter.  They can forage a bit for food on land; their diet though consists mostly of pond scum.  Ducklings are a fuzzy black and their adult counterparts can often be found swimming in open water.

The Rainbow Dress Gifted

to my daughter on the eve of a trip to visit my family.  The pattern knits up very easily.  My only problems related to my own inability to concentrate (on anything, ever) on the pattern.  I do not love the yarn either actually--I was envisioning more of a rainbow--but oldest does love it and that is obviously what matters.

I think I must be middle-aged in my knitting years.  I do like some challenges but mostly I would just rather knit in the round on my circular needles with an occasional increase or decrease.  I remember when each new project I started had to present a new skill.  I bet those days will return but I don't need those kinds of challenges on the needles now.

The pattern was just right for me and the dress is just right for her!  More knitted gifts to come...  

Yarn Along

Joining Ginny again today for her Yarn Along...

Although two of my favorite things in the whole wide world are to knit and read (like Ginny), I have not mastered the art of doing both regularly at the same time, especially when I am knitting in a crunch.  In the winter, I am better at it because our littles are in bed quite early, leaving me time to knit while watching a movie and then some reading time at the end of the night.

My brothers annual Christmas socks are almost complete.  I used Blue Sky's dyed cotton that I picked up at a garage sale in the middle of the fall to make him some hiking socks that I have put together using a variety of patterns.

About to finish And the Skylark Sings with Me and I am ready to move on to something less... less... less something.  I am getting all kinds of ideas about how to utilize our community and the resources that surround us from the author; maybe I am just growing a bit weary of his presentation.  Or something.  I am really glad to have read it though and would recommend it to anyone who, like me, is considering homeschooling.

Lots and lots of new reading for the kids.  My soon-to-be five year old is enjoying The Children of Noisy Village as a read aloud and I am too!

Nature Study Monday: House Finch

The bird world has become fascinating to me!  That these marvelously colored creations have been flitting about me all my life and I have barely noticed is astounding to me~ my eyes are wide open now, that is for sure.

The House Finch is a rather new visitor to our backyard.  Apparently word gets out--birds like the Mourning Doves arrived at our feeders immediately but the finches came a little later to the game.  Pictured above is a male House Finch (on the right) and what I think may be his female counterpart on the left.

The House Finch is native to the west coast of this country but can now be found all over and is a welcome visitor in most backyards because of its beautiful song (one that I can still not recognize).  House finches are almost entirely vegetarian; they also feed their young only plant material, which is evidently uncommon even among "vegetarian" birds.  These birds make their homes in and amongst humans--in urban centers, backyards, and barns.  

I plan on popping in and out for the next few days; I am going to be around for our regular Mondays and Wednesdays and will be fully back in the new year.  The happiest of holidays to all of you, my friends!

Nature Study Monday: Red-Bellied Woodpecker

This bird (or one of the same species) has visited our backyard throughout the half year that we have been here.  I spotted it briefly over the summer, but his visits are becoming more frequent in the winter months.  Even to my novice eyes, he is clearly a woodpecker   (I mistook him for a visitor when he pecked away at our backdoor a couple weeks ago) and the only woodpecker I know is the Downy Woodpecker.  His flash of red is so much more startling, though, than the pictures I have seen of Downy Woodpeckers.  Sure enough, a little research turned up the Red-Bellied Woodpecker.  Pictured above is a male; females have less red on their heads.

These woodpeckers are year round here in our part of the world.  They often nest in dead trees or on dead branches attached to live trees.  Evidently their nests are often taken over by starlings.  I still do not feel confident that I could identify the call of this bird, but  I will be listening more intently over the spring and summer as their calls are supposed to be easy to distinguish.