Star Day

Yesterday was Star Day in our house. When my son was four years old he asked me, a week before Valentines Day, why we had to have a holiday made around the shape of hearts. He said he didn't like hearts and why couldn't we have a holiday about stars? I told him that we could make our own holiday all about stars and asked him what that holiday would be like? He told me we'd have stars and candy. I should have known - every holiday for kids revolves around candy!

So since 2004, we've been celebrating Star Day near the end of February every year. We decorate the house with stars and the Star fairy delivers candy. Even the grandparents get into the celebration by sending a Star Day gift. My son tells me that he is going to ask the new president to make Star Day a national holiday. We may have to flesh out the celebration a bit before that happens.

Is spring around the corner?

Its beginning to feel like winter's slumber is coming to an end. The days are longer and I've seen the sun a little bit. I've even been out for a walk or two. Yesterday morning it was raining and it felt like the Willamette Valley, not the frozen tundra of Central Oregon.

Parenting challenges have been filling my time after work but I've done a bit of knitting. I made a Valentine's sweater for my daughter's bear and she loves it.

I have been working on socks and have four different socks on the needles. It may be a while before I have a pair of any of them but at least I'm knitting.

I am thinking of knitting the Lace Scarf from Vogue Knitting winter 2008/09. At first I was a little discouraged by the cost of the Blue Sky Alpaca bulky that was used in the pattern but then I received the latest Knit Picks catalog and discovered the Super Bulky weight Suri Dream and think it may be possible for me to make this scarf even in these tough economic times.

Catch Up

The wise, domestic website of Flylady says "You are not behind, you don't need to catch up, jump in where you are." and I get peace from her words. But in this case, I do feel like I'm catching up, in the sense that my brain is catching up with time. So much has gone on in the last two months with holidays and houseguests, school starting up again and new sports seasons beginning, and my own mild but annoying illness, that I've spent a lot of time just processing and dealing with everything that needs to be done along the way. Now I think my mind is in the present moment and I can move forward with all my own creative pursuits.

Facebook is one thing that has taken up some time in the last week. Once you join, you become addicted and have to log on every few hours to see who has accepted your friend request, or responded to your message, or posted a new status. I find that after a week, I need log on only once a day to check on things. But what a great way to connect with old friends, I've found friends from high school that I never thought I'd catch up with and some that I wasn't even that close to that I enjoy corresponding with.

Also in the last month, my beautiful daughter turned 12 amid home-made clam chowder and a new ipod. She is turning into the junior-high schooler I always wished I'd been - pretty, confident and in charge of her own wardrobe. She also participated in the 6th grade concert playing her bass in the orchestra.

My son had his first basketball game yesterday and there is much improvement from 3rd to 4th grade play. Its not as hilarious to watch and they begin to look like they know what they're doing.

And lastly, there has been very little knitting but I was able to show my brother the sweater I am making him and all that's left do is block it and piece it together.

Making progress

I had several good hours of knitting yesterday and made some good progress on the Brother sweater. I have finished the front and started on the back. I'm not enjoying this yarn and if I'd chosen it in the last few years I know I'd have made a different and more informed choice. Eleven years ago when I chose this yarn, I had no idea what I was doing!

But continuing to use the original yarn, I am being authentic and loyal to the project as it was begun so I will keep it up. I think it will soften up nicely after its first soak.

The sweater is looking good so far.

Completed Prayer Shawl

I finished the Prayer Shawl and have worn it in the evening while knitting. It keeps me warm and is so soft and comfortable. I do feel very comforted in the shawl with all those good thoughts having been knit into each stitch. I am looking forward to making many more of these to give to friends and relatives.

I found a fantastic blog tonight while searching for a recipe for cooking beans in the crock pot. Its called 'A Year of Crockpotting' and is written by a mom who made a new years resolution to use her crock pot for 365 days in a row starting 1/1/08. She has some fantastic recipes and the layout is very easy to read and use. The link is on the sidebar, check it out. I am so inspired!

Noro

I stopped into Juniper Fiberworks today to check out their Noro selection. I did not know they would be having an After Thanksgiving sale. They had many bags of old colorways and discontinued Noro on sale. I found a bag of 5 skeins of Kochoran on sale at 50% off and could not resist. This is almost enough to make the sweater that I've been thinking of making for almost two years but could never justify the cost of the yarn. It takes 900 - 1100 yards and at $20 for 176 yards, thats an expensive project. Now I have 875 yards which is not quite enough but perhaps I can shorten the sweater a bit.

I bought this Noro book when I started knitting again in earnest, two years ago. I fell in love with sweater which is a long cardigan, almost like a car coat. I will have to look carefully at the pattern to see where I can make modifications to adjust to a little less yarn.

Everyone raves about Noro and having never knit with it, I am looking forward to finding out how this yarn knits up.

Thanksgiving

Our family celebrated Thanksgiving together on Wednesday night before the kids headed out for their celebrations with their other parents. It was a nice dinner together and we all announced what we were thankful for, mostly each other.

Thursday was spent relaxing and not cooking. It was a two bath day for me and I finished two books. There was a little bit of knitting. I am grateful for hot, running water that comes right out of the tap into the tub. Aren't we lucky to have hot tap water enough to fill up a bathtub?

I finished two books by the same author - Anne Lamott. The first was Grace (Eventually) Thoughts on Faith that I bought for the word Grace in the title and the pretty colors on the cover. I loved the way the author wrote and as I got into it, I wondered if she was the one who had written a book I'd started to read years ago at a bookstore in Eugene, that I'd not bought at the time. This was years ago, before my kids were born. It stuck in my mind because it was about a single mom raising a son in Marin, CA. I looked it up on Amazon.com and sure enough, it was her book - Operating Instructions. I ordered a used copy of the book for 1 penny on amazon ($3.99 w/ S&H but still, a $4 book). I love Anne's familiar and witty writing style and her feelings on faith and the way she articulates it really touch me. I highly recommend her books, of which there are many more.

All in all, it was a nice Thanksgiving.