Yarn Along: Bright, Bright Sunshiny Day

Great news! It's only going to be 90 degrees today and it's only going to feel like 90 degrees today. Excellent. I have been knitting sunshine lately. I was gifted some sock yarn from Blue Moon Fiber Arts in a lovely shade of  Chamois. Mary Beth chose the color with a pair of legwarmers in mind. When the yarn came, she decided that she really, really wants those knit from Amy Butler Belle Organic Aran in poppy, the yarn I used for Sarah's summer sweater. So, I tucked the yarn into a basket in the studio and figured we'd find a use for it. 

I had planned to make the girls Tiny Tea Leaves cardigans from Rowan Calmer, but I just couldn't get gauge. On a whim, I tried the sock yarn, held doubled and totally fell in love. I love the color. I love the stitch definition. And I really, really love the ruching. Oh, this pattern has wooed me! It's a good thing, too, because if I'd read the pattern to the end and known that I'm going to have to, "Pick up 2 stitches for every 3 rows. Knit 3 rows" I might have never started. Now, I'm just going to keep falling in love and worry about the big finish later.

In honor of the abundant sunshine and our beautifully blooming sunflowers, I went to pull out the sunflower books for today. On my way to finding them, I was distracted by our Thoreau picture books. I'm in a Thoreau mood. Indeed, I think it's a Thoreau kind of day.

Walking with Henry: 

A fictionalized account of Thoreau for older children. The text is based on Thoreau's writings and the art is light-filled and majestic and absolutely fitting for the message

Henry Hikes to Fitchburg:

Henry Builds a Cabin:

These two are darling picture books for the younger set. Henry is a charming bear who lives Thoreau's life in the wilderness, collecting flowers, gathering blackberries, taking leisurely strolls. He builds his own house and he even nods to his neighbors, Emerson and Hawthorne.

Henry David's House:

In this beautiful book, the life of simplicity on Walden Pond is conveyed with Thoreau's own words and exquisite water color and oil paintings. In this one, he borrows an axe from his neighbor, Bronson Alcott. These books are such good food for thought and talk. I'm in the mood for one of those conversations today and I know just the children with which to have it.

I hope your day is all yellow and sunshiney, too!

Do go visit Ginny for more summer knitting and reading inspiration.

Stitch by Stitch: We're Learning to Sew

 “The human hand allows the mind to reveal itself.” 

Maria Montessori

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1. The end-product should be useful. The children should not “be employed in making futilities such as pea and stick work, paper mats, and the like.”
2. Teach the children “slowly and carefully what they are to do.”
3. Emphasize the habit of best effort. “Slipshod work should not be allowed.”
4. Carefully select handicrafts and life skills to challenge but not frustrate. “The children’s work should be kept well within their compass.”

Charlotte Mason from Simply Charlotte Mason

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After several poorly-timed efforts to learn to sew and to teach my daughters along with me, I'm finally on a roll. All the girls have sewing lessons written into their "school" plans this year. And the boys, too, are gaining basic skills. We are really rolling right along. As we've happily stitched away this time, I've considered what our stumbling blocks were in the past. There is no doubt that one of the impediments for me was distraction. Try as I might to hit a rhythm and to understand, there were too many other things taking up my time and brain space. And then there was that lemon of a sewing machine. Another detriment, I think, was the wrong books by which to learn. There is a difference between a book full of good projects for beginners and a book which deliberately sets out to teach beginners to sew using good projects. I'm not terribly interested in analyzing the "wrong" books too much, particularly since they weren't bad, just wrong for my needs. Instead, I'm happy to report on the right book.

I've read every word of Stitch by Stitch now and stitched several projects. The book is friendly, conversational, infinitely practical and--so far--it delivers. Written in the warm voice of an experienced sewing instructor who has learned a great deal from books on hand and who has clearly taught and observed countless beginning stitchers, this is the book--the book that has  gotten me going. When I read the story of how the author, Deborah Moebes,  blossomed as a sewist herself, I could understand better the voice of her book. She seeks to be that sewing muse for the rest of us. (Go ahead read her story of Sandra--really cool.) Deborah has obviously carefully noticed the mistakes beginners make and the questions they ask and she addresses them in the book. I hear myself conversing with the author as I work and I think that is the mark of an author who has communicated well. With every project, I feel more confident in the skills I'm learning. I've promised myself to do every project in the book in order (though I am waffling on the curtains). Each project builds on the next.

I'm staying a project or two ahead of my children, sewing them myself first and then stitching them again alongside the girls (and an occasional boy). So, in the end, I will have sewn everything two or three (or maybe four) times--good practice, I do believe.

One of the great joys of home education is learning alongside my children.This summer, that joy has budded in our sewing room and I look forward to it continuing to bloom for many years to come.

Our first project together was fancy napkins with mitered corners. We chose some autumn-themed fabrics (mostly because I didn't know how long finishing this project would take). Everyone got in on the stitching and they were all quite pleased with their successes.

Skills we built:

stitching straight lines

mitering corners

pivoting

edge finishing with a zigzag stitch

I chatted with Sarah the other day. Remember? It was Sarah who got me into this sewing thing this time around. Anyway, she's promised that any minute--just as soon as the all day long morning sickness isn't all day long any more--she will join us in this endeavor. A Stitch by Stitch sewalong! You want to sew with us, too? It's just us and the book. A casual sewing circle, if you will. No competition and no hurries. Just a friendly gathering and a place for you to brag on small successes and be assured that we will ooh and ahh over your finished objects. Leave a link below after you finish your napkins, or just drop a note in the comments and tell us all about it.

Next up: A Pocket Mat with Bias-Bound Edges

And Then There was Quilt Camp

While Nicky was a golf camp, Katie was at quilt camp. They spent a week in Charlottesville together with my dad and stepmom.  I think I might have been as excited about this opportunity as Katie was. I left a note for Katie to read the first morning of quilt camp

P.S.  Katie, when you get to camp on the very first day, you'll find a sewing machine there for you. To keep. And bring home.

Really! That might be the second hardest secret I've ever kept. The first one was this one.

Grandpa said to tell you it's Christmas in July;-)

Sarah missed Katie terribly the whole time she was gone. On that first night home, the very special quilt found its intended owner. And Katie, who chose the fabric and stitched every stitch with Sarah in mind, snuggled right in next to her for a well deserved good night's sleep.

 

Yarn Along: Filling Up

I have a bajillion posts in my head: lovely kindergarten ideas for the 3-6 year old bunch, carefully crafted learning plans for everyone else (including a plan for Nick that literally kept me up all night, I was so excited), a very happy boy and his new golf clubs, sewing success for an 8-year-old at quilt camp, a pair of favorite jeans that I love even more, sewing projects all stacked up and pretty...

Sigh. 

There is this gap between doing and blogging and it's wide these days. Because doing is just so full. I had a beautiful day yesterday with my best friend from college. We filled up on girl talk and early childhood education talk and mom of big kids talk. It was a whole day of filling our tanks. I'm brimming over. 

Happy.

And I finished this sweet sweater last night (Sweater details on Ravelry), knitting in bed with my big girl while she told me all about her time at the Franciscan Youth Conference. She made a mistake on her blue sweater that left her 57 stitches short at a critical juncture. We worked through it together (I even did the math) and her sweater is going to be even lovelier for the mistake (now fixed). I'm certain there's much, much more to say there.

I'm reading Mere Christianity these days. Simply God. It's good to visit with old friends again and remind oneself of essential truths, no?

It's good. 

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Go visit Ginny for more knitting and reading tales.I've settled into a Wednesday afternoon tradition: a big cup of tea and enough time to myself to click through a big bunch of the links at Ginny's. I am enriched by the yarns shared there.  Might not happen today, as I scramble to get out the door to register teens for dual enrollment credit at the community college, but say "hi" to everyone at Ginny's for me.

Working Outside the Box (or cubicle)

His "Office" Tonight

 

Production truck on site at the LA Galaxy versus Real Madrid soccer match

My "Office" Tonight

 

 
 

~home~