Work in Progress: Shibui Shawl #3 (almost done!)

Yarn: Shibui Staccato and Cloud

Pattern: Shibui Shawl #3

Previous Work in Progress Post

I am making amazing progress on my shibui shawl. I decided to knit an additional repeat so it would be a little bigger. Lately my shawls have not turned out as big as I thought they would. But now I have even more ends to weave in. :( It is off the needles but not super motivated to weave in ends or block it now that it is too hot and humid in Kansas to wear it so I can't call it officially done. It is so soft and amazing I cannot wait until it is cold enough to use it!

I am not exactly reading or listening to a book currently but have recently found the CraftLit podcast to listen to on my commute to work. It is awesome! She is an English professor with really interesting commentary about the classics she is playing on her podcast. I listened to an interview with Franklin Habit, her commentary, and then a chapter of Jane Eyre during my ride home. I think it is a great idea for a podcast and combines reading and crafting so well. She has been doing it for awhile and has covered many classic books already. Since I recently listened to Jane Eyre, I am going to download earlier episodes and listen to other classics I am not as familiar with. Maybe The Scarlet Letter.

Joining with:

Frontier Dreams

Small Things

Tami's Amis

Hearts Knit Together #11: Sewing with children

Hearts Knit Together was born out of my struggle to balance my desire to create with my busy life as a working mother of four. I am challenging myself to do something creative WITH my children each week and to share that adventure with you on Mondays. I invite you to share your creativity with your children so that we might inspire each other with ideas to help "knit our hearts together" with our children.  

Ginny Sheller first introduced me to this book, Sewing for Children.


She posted several projects that her children had made for their siblings for birthday gifts. I decided to try it out and ordered it for Maeve (age 6) for Christmas. I was thrilled when she was excited about it! She has made several projects out of the book since then. She needs me help to thread the needle and tie knots but once she gets sewing she does great. I make the templates and she pins them on the felt and cuts out the pieces herself. It makes her feel very independent but she loves me to sit right next to her as she sews. 

Maeve made a felt cupcake and sweet bun first. Then a cow finger puppet. Now she is onto this cat purse and a doll. Apparently she is getting into the swinging of crafting with multiple works in progress. We have special one on one time on Sundays for 30 minutes or so to talk about her week, evaluate her behavior contracts, and do something fun together. Sometimes she picks to play the game Clue (who thought it was a good idea to make a murder game for children? We have Clue Junior but they prefer the real thing. I guess the fact that I purchased it makes me look just as bad as the inventor...) and other times she wants to sew. Also one of the envelopes in her mystery motivation bag for practicing her violin is 15 minutes sewing with mom. So we have that built in sewing time and try to squeeze in other time as we can.

I would highly recommend this book. There are lots of fun projects that my children want to make. And really pretty simple for a beginner. What have you been creating with your children this week?

(Did you notice the wonderful tissue paper flowers my girls made me for Mother's Day? They are beautiful. The girls spoiled me on Mother's Day and I am shocked my little monkey boys haven't destroyed them yet!)

Finished Object: Multnomah Shawl

Pattern: Multnomah Shawl

Yarn: Malabrigo Sock Yarn

Work in Progress Post

I love this project! It was my first experience with a lace pattern. I had to start the lace section over a few times but I finally got the hang of it. I wasn't so sure about the triangle shape. At first I felt like a cowgirl wearing it with the point in front but I now embrace that and wear it with my cowboy boots. Actually I wear it with everything. The variegated yarn has so many subtle colors that it matches a  lot of my clothes. I wish that it was bigger. If I made it again I would make it larger but still I love it. I am quickly becoming obsessed with shawls.

Joining with:

Tami's
Creative Friday
Fiber Arts Friday

Hearts Knit Together #10: Money Box

Hearts Knit Together was born out of my struggle to balance my desire to create with my busy life as a working mother of four. I am challenging myself to do something creative WITH my children each week and to share that adventure with you on Mondays. I invite you to share your creativity with your children so that we might inspire each other with ideas to help "knit our hearts together" with our children.  

I am a bit obsessed with Dave Ramsey. We live a pretty frugal life but we have  A LOT of student loan debt. Dave gave me hope that we can get rid of that debt before my children are in college. We are working his plan and I am thrilled to report that we paid off $14,000 in the first 6 months. I want to teach my children good money habits. I had this debate with myself about chores and allowance. I want my children to work in the home because we all live here and need to pitch in. But also I want them to learn that you get money by working. I think we have come up with a system that works for us. Each child is required to clean their room, unload dishwasher, practice their musical instrument, and do a parent chore each day. A parent chore is simply one chore that we assign them, depending on what needs to be done that day. We all do that because we live in this house together. After their list is done they can have free time and/or 20 minutes of computer time. An extra parent chore could earn them 10 more minutes on the computer or money. 30 minutes computer time is max but they can do as many parent chores as they want. We have a list of chores and amounts each ones earns you. Dave calls it commission. They are learning that money comes from working. My co-worker told me that it is such a middle class mentality. But I guess I am okay with that when he explained the alternative is to teach them to steal. He has interesting ideas. Anyway...

I needed a way for them to store their money and learn good money spending/saving habits. I cannot claim this craft as my own. I got the idea from my friend Carrie at This Mama Makes Stuff. But it has been so great for my girls. The money boxes are a bit of work to make but have been great once we finished them. They each have four slots cut into the top and labeled: tithing, save, spend, and share, so they can learn to do all four. 

The girls are better able to keep track of their money now. Occasionally Maeve has to pay us money so it is wonderful that she has no problem finding it! She has two behavior contracts, one for getting ready for school on time and one for practicing her violin. There are lots of positive reinforcers built into those contracts but the consequence for not following them is an extra parent chore or paying us $.50, for the violin rental or our time driving next to her as she walks to school because she wasn't ready to leave with her older sister. She thought paying us money was the easy way to go but she quickly ran low on money. Slowly she is learning.

My little boys are interested in money but are still too young. One day my littlest did a chore so I paid him a quarter. He quickly stuck it into the piano keys where I couldn't retrieve it. No more money for him!

Finished Object: More socks!

More socks! Knitting socks is just so satisfying. And self patterning yarn makes you look like a freaking genius to none knitters. I am playing catch up a little with my finished projects on the blog, these were Joel's Christmas socks.  Unfortunately I cannot remember what the yarn is. I picked it up on sale at my LYS. I wasn't sure I really liked it but it was a good price and I figured it would get used. When our Christmas budget was spent and I hadn't gotten anything for dear husband yet, I was glad I had the yarn in my stash. It was a record 2 weeks of knitting time, while he was off on a film shoot. In the end I love how the yarn looks all knit up. And more importantly he loves the socks.

Joining with:
Tami's
Creative Friday
Fiber Arts Friday

Work in Progress: Neapolitan Socks

During blog week one of the posts I read (I am sorry I cannot remember who it was) talked about how she missed how blogs use to be, talking about the process of projects as they went instead of now when finished projects just appear without having been mentioned much before. She said she is now following the Wednesday work in progress posts which helps with this.  I had to laugh a little thinking about this and my current work in progress. These poor socks have been blogged about to death.

First Work in Progress post
Starting to see a frog coming.
Failure #1
Failure #2 before I knew it failed. 
And again.
Failure #2 complete

I am sure some of you are thinking I am crazy and my yarn is probably ruined by now. You are right about the first part but the yarn is holding up okay. In my quest for the best simple sock for me, I have figured out a few things.

1. 80 stitches on size 1 needles is too big. Even though using the Yarn Harlots math for inches around leg times stitches per inch gave me that number.

2. 60 stitches on size 1 needles with mostly stockinette leg is too small.

3. Size 1 needles are ridiculously tiny.

4. Size 2 needles with 56 stitches in a 3x1 rib works great!

Currently still using knitting books as my bedtime reading. Cookie A's sock book is the one I am intrigued with now. She is freaking amazing.

Joining with:

Frontier Dreams

Small Things

Tami's Amis

Hearts Knit Together #9: Bubbles!!

After a long hiatus here is another Hearts Knit Together post. 

I feel like I was a much better mom when my girls were little than I am with my little boys. I am just pulled in so many different directions right now. Soon though I will retire from my PTA president gig, be laid off from my grant funded job, and move away from all my other commitments. (My husband's job is taking us to Utah this July.) I am looking forward to starting over and putting my family first again. Hopefully this time around I will not overcommit myself, keeping in mind my most important work happens inside my home. We will see how well I do with this...

This little creative moment was brought to you by Pinterest. Gotta love Pinterest. Sometimes I come away from that site feeling like an inadequate mom and sometimes I am inspired by what I see. This was one of those moments. An easy activity for us to do together, or for the boys to do on their own while I am working. All it takes is a little bit of water, a few drops of dish soap, and a straw. They LOVE it. 

Please leave a comment sharing your creative moments with your children!