:: Yarn Along ::

On the needles :: #1's sweater will only be on the needles for some part of today! I'm casting off!!! I'm thinking this thing is going to take FOREVER to block so I'll have plenty of time to find a zipper before setting in the sleeves, sewing up the seams and sewing in that zipper...I read and watched some tutorials and I think doing the zipper won't be too big of a deal (how did people learn to knit before you tube!). Next up is Mr. Wiedz's sweater. I'm going to set a goal of finishing it this summer. Since the sleeves knit flat I'm thinking the two at a time advice would be perfect here. #4 has also been waiting patiently for his turn so I think I'll start a sweater for him since I need some car/easy pick up-put down knitting (Mr. Wiedz's sweater is not that).

On the nightstand (kindle) :: Book Three of the Mortal Instruments series. When I started book one and book two I told myself I would only read that one...sometimes a series gets a little too predictable. But wow! good books. Into number 3 and really enjoying them!

:: Yarn Along ::

{this post contains affiliate links to the amazon books I'm currently reading, if you click through my link I'll get a little something-something, thank you.}



I haven't been here in so long!!! But I've missed it. What better way to jump back in than with Yarn Along with Ginny.

On the needles :: I've been working on a sweater for #1 for the past couple of months. Its a really nice pattern worked on biggish needles with chucky yarn...LOVE! The Quince & Co yarn is so nice to work with. I'd heard all about Quince & Co but had never tried it. The sweater is going to be so nice and dense and soft. I'm on the second sleeve already and it's totally knitting up quickly and without all those awful second-sleeve-I've-already-done-this-don't-want-to-do-it-again issues. Next is the hood and band then in my effort to learn something new when I knit, a zipper! Yikes!

On the nightstand :: Another mom at baseball was carrying around a book a few weeks back. When I asked her about it I was interested and looked into Amazon. I got the first Mortal Instruments book, City of Bones, that night. I'm on book two, City of Ashes, now. Good books.

History is Alive :: Sumo Wrestling and Wind Poems

Since my planning for more history projects we've actually been able to accomplish the more hands-on learning that the boys LOVE into our days. In our lesson time we learned about the Warlords of Japan. Once Japan had a Tokugawa Shogunate, the leader wanted to find a way for the samurai to fight and compete without killing each other and continuing to start wars. So he introduced Sumo.

The activity book gave great descriptions of the symbols and traditions of sumo wrestling and we turn our living room into a dojo to have our own tournament.

   

We also wrote wind poems, though the boys just couldn't come up with actual poems to write...note to work on poetry later. We wrote wishes on our streamers and hung them out in the wind.

History is Alive :: Eye of Newt Soup

After my post last week I implemented my new plan and I think it's going to work. The boys were all so happy when we had not one but TWO projects to go with our lessons last week. Now that I'm actually doing history "projects", I guess calling them hands-on learning would be better, I feel the need to catch up and actually blog about the projects we did do towards the beginning of the year.

Eye of Newt Soup

I LOVED this idea when I came upon it in the activity book. The ingredients went along with a reading from MacBeth. The boys talked about it for weeks.

This whole MacBeth reading and Eye of Newt Soup came from our lesson on Shakespeare and his contribution to history in his poetry and plays. It was a fun lesson with a few extras from the library, there are so many retellings of Shakespeare's plays written for children. I was really excited to find so many that brought the poetry down to the boys' level.

We also made up baggies of all the ingredients and took them to #1 and her friends when we picked them up from school. I read the girls the same selection from the activty book and the boys shared how each part fit in the story. It was a lot of fun!

:: Yarn Along ::

On the needles :: Really the only thing I've worked on all week is Mr. Wiedz's sweater. Oh, wait, that's not true. My car and Bible study knitting are two hats that I'm working on for the children. I've got one for #3 with left over yarn from his sweater, I'm going to have to change to a different color for the top since I ran out. I'm also working on a hat for #6. Back to Mr. Wiedz's sweater...I had a breakthrough! I've had two issues with this sweater. 1) the yarn color on newer skeins was different than what I had been using. 2) I wanted to work the back in garter or seed stitch instead of pattern. Last week I had Mr. Wiedz lay down and I laid the sweater on his chest so he could feel how lovely and heavy and warm it was getting. I realized that it was time to split for the neck, so the next time I worked on it I got out the directions and read up on doing that...to find out I need to add a skein of yarn at this point so I can work both sides of the neck going up to the shoulders. Of course, I don't have another skein right now. But I got to thinking this problem could actually solve my other two problems. I'll use this as the back. I'll be motivated to cast back on for the front, much more so than I was to cast back on for the back. The color problem (it really isn't as noticeable as I was worried about) will be on the back and will therefore bother me less. AND I'll know how much yarn it takes and will be able to buy it all at once eliminating the color problem from happening again. Wins all around!!!

On the nightstand :: nothing. I haven't picked up a book all week. Not even on the Kindle.

Yarning Along with Ginny.

Handmade Christmas :: H's Milanese

My last handmade Christmas gift...it took a bit to photograph since I gave it to our wonderful babysitter before Christmas without taking any pictures of it. I had to ask her to bring it back so I could take a picture of her with it. We remembered this weekend. 

I have been so blessed to find H as our babysitter. I had asked and asked for friends to recommend a babysitter or share one that they use but I got nothing. So I finally joined Care.com and found H. Best decision EVER. H is a perfect fit for our family for babysitting. She's adorable and fun and young enough to be cool but is so good at her job that the kids know when she means business, listen and respect her and she has my kitchen clean and more laundry done while she's here than I do all week. LOVE her!

So when Christmas was on the way I really wanted to do something to show her how much she means to our family. I knitted up the Milanese cowl with my favorite yarn. It turned out great, even with my mistakes. The drape is really great. It is warm and cozy for our winter days and she seems to like it. Win.

History is Alive :: Elizabethan Buildings

Catching up here with a history lesson we did at the beginning of the year...look how beautiful and sunny it is outside! Though it must have been October since that's when #2 covered nearly every surface with drawings of super heros and Halloween costume ideas.

Anyway...

We covered Queen Elizabeth in our history lessons and talked about how much her people loved her. One way they showed their love of their queen was to design buildings in the shape of an E. The boys each drew their own E building. They didn't turn out the way I had envisioned but the boys got into it for a little bit and enjoyed their own hand at building design.