Oh the many, many topics that could be included in this post! It seems that we are in the middle of so much right now and life is in constant flux. It’s ok. It’s hectic, but it’s good…growing, shifting, changing, expanding (quite, quite, rapidly in the case of my waistline), reassessing, reworking, reevaluating…good stuff, strong stuff. When we are in the middle of it all, it seems like it will last a forever, but I know that in the grand scheme of things everything is really coming along and we are making regular, steady progress.

I don’t remember if I mentioned it or not, but a couple of months ago, Steve and B the Builder put some drywall up in two separate areas. With the electric already roughed in and no need for plumbing, they are the only two places that we can close in at this point. The walls sat for a while, as summer kept us busy with other projects, but in the last couple of weeks, Steve has been working hard to get at least one section ready for painting. And after hours upon hours of filling in screw holes, mudding seams, sanding and finally priming, they are now ready to go. Paint! There will be actual paint! It’s pretty amazing really.

First up is the play area and a small wall in the adjoining dining area.

Another “in progress” that surfaced again the other day…

A knitting project that I’ve been working on for quite some time now. It seems this is going to be a very long-term project. I’ve slowly been adding to it with any bits of yarns that fit my criteria, yarns left over from other projects, supplemented here and there with a skien that I pick up on clearance. This project is quite the yarn hog! It’s going to be a while yet before I’m able to complete it. But it’s exciting whenever I get to add in a new little bit. And hey, if anyone out there has any wool yarn in shades of brown or pink that they are just dying to get rid of, well, you know where to find me!

The time has finally come to replace the winter hat that had become his trademark for the last two years. I wanted to use brown to highlight his big, beautiful, brown eyes, delicately rimmed with long lashes… so very like his daddy’s. The wool I ordered was not at all what I thought it would be, but I’ve come to like it anyway. And I mixed in a bit of chocolate brown that I had left over from the Sparrow to get more of the “brown-ness” I was going for.

I’m honestly not sure what pattern I used, as the book has long been returned to the library. I think that it may have been Kristin Nicholas and Melanie Falick’s “Knitting for Baby”, but don’t quote me on that. Whatever pattern it was, it only came in baby-baby sizes, so it needed some adjusting in circumference. I opted to add additional height as well so that I could felt it for extra warmth. His old hat was so very thick and warm, it’s a tough act to follow! I sewed the (unfelted) ear-flaps on after the fact and then lined the whole thing with an organic rib knit.

My little guy has taken to carrying his little wool bunny around in the front flap of his sweater. He says it’s his sling. Love that.

In anticipation of questions about how to line a knit hat, I’m just going to direct you over to Grace’s right now, as she has a highly detailed post on that very subject, including pictures and anything else you could possibly want to know.

The lining took me longer then I expected, but I think that is because I am slow at hand sewing and I was being overly anal about the size and gauge of said stitches.

At one point, when I had to abruptly leave the room to fetch something, I came back to find a certain little person had retrieved my work and was putting in an earnest attempt at finishing the job. While his wild, every-which-way stitches were absolutely adorable, in the end, I decided that it was probably best to pull them out and continue with my boring old methodical ones. But first I set him up with the scrap of fabric that happened to be in my knitting bag and a large doll-making needle…

I’m not sure exactly what they are, but I do know that they required quite a bit of careful measuring with my measuring tape, followed by much consideration of the information provided there in, “hmm, four, eight, semen…hmmm…” (btw, semen? In this case it is pronounced exactly like SEVEN only with an M instead of a V. NOT the other pronounciation, which my babyland brain didn’t even consider at first!) And that if everyone in the world took as much pride in their work as this boy does, then I think life would be quite different. As he gleefully announced to his brothers when they walked in, “I doin’ *my* work!”

Otherwise known as, the post in which I get thwarted all around.

I’ve had a little stash busting scheme going for a while now. I’m just full of schemes lately, aren’t I? On paper (or well in my head) it seemed brilliant. While money may be tight, I have some resources right here, thought I. I have this lovely basket of yarn, accumulated over the years. Most of it is in small quantities, leftovers from projects past. And what requires little bits of yarn? Why, knitwear for quite little people of course! And so the plan; bitty baby clothes from bitty balls of yarn. Brilliant, no??

Yeah, as it turns out…not so much.

First there was the little boat neck sweater that, lacking enough yarn for the sleeves, became a vest…

It’s rather difficult to photograph because, well, when laid flat, it basically looks like a square…which it more of less is. I think that when worn it will have a bit more character, but I’m not currently in possession of an appropriately sized model.

Next came the pair of longies that were so obviously not going to work that I completely ripped them out, with very little fanfare (perhaps a bit of muttering) before even completing the first leg…

Then came the little cardigan with problems quite similar to the failed boat-neck sweater, not enough yarn to complete the sleeves. This one got set aside while I tried to decide what to do. I was quite attached to this project by this point and had a clear picture in my head of just what it would look like finished. And an equally clear picture of just how our baby would look in it. This was a very special yarn that I had been saving for just the right project and once I found that project, I wanted it to be exactly as I envisioned it. The yarn deficiency was a blow and I needed some time to re-adjust my vision. After a couple of months, I finally resigned myself to the only obvious solution; stripped sleeves. I went to the yarn store and picked out a single skein of equally soft and pretty wool and the most perfect little buttons. I headed back home with plans to finish it up at last, only to find that in all that time waiting, my itty-bitty cardi had somehow been misplaced! It’s an on-going mystery and a simple fact that has brought me to tears on more then one occasion now. *sigh*

This is a picture of me working on it back in June…

So, you know, if any of you happen to come across it, I know that I, for one, would very much like to see it again!

As I mentioned before, everyone seems to be in need of clothing this year. I was lucky enough to have access to a message board where a woman was selling off her large stash of organic fabrics, cheap, cheap, cheap. So of course I planned to stock up. Tricky business that though…I spent $100 on the first box (there was a second, much cheaper box, but I’ll get to that later), plus $30 shipping (the cost of shipping is killing me these days!). In theory, this is a fabulous deal on some very high quality, organic fabrics. But the reality is that we don’t need more fabric, we need clothes. So, it’s really only a deal if I get it fashioned into some sort of wearable form…not if it just sits on a box or on a shelf. Then it would just be a ridiculous and inexcusable waste of money. Now it’s up to me to make my investment worthwhile. Here are some of my first installments.

I started off with the purple fleece. It’s super soft and warm, just what we are needing. I have been thinking a lot about what I should make everyone. While it’s certainly fun to make cute little outfits, what our life is really demanding at this point is warmth, lots and lots of warmth, as well as comfort. The kind of clothes that are well suited to afternoons at home by the fire.

At the same time, these little ones of mine have interests of their own and like a bit of fun. For now I’m hoping that some well chosen appliques will do the trick. So far, so good.

Galen’s sweatsuit was somewhat improvised. The pants are based off of a favorite pair that’s starting to get a bit small. I’m not entirely thrilled with how the shirt turned out. It’s not awful, just not exactly what I had in mind either. But I guess that’s what I get for being too cheap to by a pattern. I also thought that the stars would stand out much more then they do.

Elijah’s new favorite shirt, made from my all-time favorite boy pattern; Kwik Sew 3366. I’ve probably made this shirt 10 times in the last couple of years. It’s just so quick and easy. The blue and grey fleeces are also from “the box”, and will surely be making furture appearances.

More purple to come! I figured that while I had the machine threaded I may as well keep going until it’s gone. I have several other pieces made, but no pictures yet. And a couple more planned for late this week, early next.

Ah… all kinds of comfy, cozy at home. See? They work!

News that our first frost was imminent sent us out into the gardens yesterday, bringing in house plants, transplanting herbs to be brought indoors for the winter, harvesting tomatoes, basil and sunflowers….lots of sunflowers. There are now sunflowers spilling out of every vase in every room of the house, and I must say, it’s rather pleasant!

Our home this morning smells like a curious mixture of tomato sauce (emanating from the big pot bubbling away on the stove), blueberry muffins and spice tea.

Everyone donned sweaters first thing. There is a decided autumnal qualify to the air today. Summer is coming to a close. This has been a very busy season for us. I went back to look at my pictures from the last 3 months and was surprised to see how few there were. I guess we were so busy that camera play fell to the wayside. This has been such a special year, such a full season. We will all carry many memories from this summer. And thankfully, I did manage to capture a few images, a couple of moments in time, to help to sum things up.

Of course the big news this season was travel. For the first time, in a long time, we were able to get out and about and venture far from home. First with our camping trip to the ocean. And then to Philadelphia to visit family. The last time that we went down Iain was four and Elijah had just turned two. Steve’s parents and all of our extended relatives finally got to meet Galen for the first time. As you can imagine, it was a very big deal.

Back home, we spent a lot of time at our community garden plots. That was a first for us and the town this year. The general consensus seems to be that it has been a fabulous addition to our lives!

We are already so excited to be planning our plots for next year.

There was lots of time spent in nature…
Lingering to enjoy the splendor of a summer sunset…
Time spent learning new skills…and trying to perfect old ones…
There were swim lessons and drama classes and several art workshops.

As always there were many, many days spent at the farm…
Last year and this year…(oh, and those are the green shorts that I mentioned before)

And time out in the world meeting new creatures…
Lots and lots of water play, of all sorts…
Many, many hours of building…of splitting and stacking wood, harvesting food, making clothes, and just generally getting ready for the colder weather to come.

Of course there was also some time spent just hanging out at home.
With quite a bit of baby love…
And the usual amount of general silliness….

Several months ago, Iain, Elijah and I had the amazing opportunity of working with a local artist/builder/storyteller/craftsman/educator on the construction of a sapling hut.

It was an incredible afternoon. I was really surprise at the fact that only a few people attended, my boys the only children among them. And myself, one of only 3 adults (save for the instructor). The original plan was for only Iain and I to attend, as the advertisements specified that it was for ages 8 and up. Elijah was really sad about not getting to take part. Once we got there, I felt like the instructor would be totally open to him attending, so I asked and he rolled his eyes at the flier and insisted that Elijah join in!

With so few people there, they were a really active part of the building process. I know you can’t tell from these pictures, because the only time I had to take pictures was when we were making decisions about the structure or receiving instructions, not actively building.

The instructor opened with us all sitting inside the circle we had marked out. He told a Native American tale about a village that had lost it’s way, being tricked into coming together to create a community once again and all of the beautiful rewards they found there in. This structure was a gift to our town, to our community and the coming together to make it was a part of it’s blessing.

I couldn’t help but think how fitting and timely this was for my little Iain, heading into third grade to study both building and Native American culture and legend. It always amazes me when some perfect opportunity of this sort, just falls into our laps.

And yes, it turned out quite strong and sturdy! And we have plans to build one in our own yard sometime in the future.

Work on the boys room is coming along. Steve has been graciously setting aside bits of time to help me out and we’ve been making some serious progress. A little set of shelves constructed of scrap wood here, some fancy work with extension cords there, lots of scrounging materials (furniture, boxes, hardware) from the rest of the house and things are starting to cozy up in there. It’s still going to be unfinished, but a far more pleasant sort of unfinished. I’m sitting down today to draw up a list of the last couple of things I’d like to do before moving on to the next room. There are a few minor things to move around, but I think most of the heavy lifting, hanging around on top of ladders work is done. And now it’s on my to quickly pull together all of the crafty projects I devised, to make everything feel a little more like “home”.

When we gathered acorns for acorn muffins last year, I don’t know that I intended it to be an every year thing. Yes, it was fun. Yes, they were yummy. Yes, I felt like it would be worth doing sometime in the indefinite future… But in this year of extreme business, it surely wasn’t in the forefront of my mind. And yet, as soon as the first earth bound acorn was spotted, certain creatures started scurrying to gather them, the little two-legged creatures of my house being some of the most productive among them. And many a handful came in, and was presented to me as if a great honor, being deemed “for acorn muffins”. After the 11th or 12th occurrence of this sort, I resigned myself to the fact that evidently I was making acorn muffins this year.

And the children have taken to gathering with great determination.

These are from two days worth of gathering. Now they’ve made it into a contest with a score for each. From here on out, the goal is to see who can make it to 1000 first. They are neck and neck and alarmingly close. Every time they come in, glowing with the thrill of the hunt and baskets full of bountiful treasure, I have to remind myself to quiet the part of my brain telling me that we are going to have pry off the caps and break open the shell of each and every one of them…and then comes the days and days of soaking, with frequent water changes and then drying before grinding and finally baking, with the meager amount that remains. No, this won’t be a substantial contribution to our own stores of winter food (and I’m starting to feel a bit of concern for our furry friends outside, who must surely be starting to wonder about the severely depleted harvest). But there is other value here. My children are amazed and excited about the bounty nature has provided them. They are living in to the cycle of the year. And as a family we are (apparently!) creating new traditions. And those things are important too.

So, while it will be more work for me, which is not a thought I relish, perhaps the returns are quite, quite enough after-all…so much more then a few cups of flour. And in the meantime, I’m leaving the lion’s share of the gathering to my little forest children three. Two days ago, I took a book on our walk and let them scurry about me while I sat on a rock and rested and read. And while I didn’t get further then a page or two (with all of the exclamations of “Oh Mama, look at how perfect this one is!”) it was nice to sit and rest.

Current reading, for those interested, is “Three Cups of Tea” by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. I have it as part of a book exchange with some friends and am finding it to be quite an interesting read.

I feel certain that there will be other beautiful, golden, days of Indian summer, yet to come. But the fact remains that there is but a finite number of them left, each to be cherished, but quick to pass away. This past Sunday was such a day. A day spent on and in the water, soaking up as much sunshine and vitamin D as we could.

The plan had been for a full-out camping weekend, but the rain kept us home Friday night and to our regular errands on Saturday. But Sunday we made the trip out to the lake, where we were to stay. We met up with a group of friends and took canoes, kayaks, and rafts out to an island for a picnic lunch.

We got in a bit of swimming. Perhaps the last of the year? I find myself wondering which time will be the last. And a good bit of boating. Steve and I took the little one on his maiden voyage around the lake, a trip that he greatly enjoyed. Everyone took turns in the various crafts, borrowed from friends and neighbors.

And it was a very fine day indeed.