movie and mittens

One of my homeschooling goals is that Elizabeth finish her work in roughly 4 days each week which will enable us to reserve one day per week for field trips or other enrichment. In our first week of homeschooling, Elizabeth finished her week’s work by noon on Thursday. When I asked about her thoughts for Friday, she responded that she’d like to watch Boy in the Striped Pajamas since she’d recently finished the book.

When I read Boy in the Striped Pajamas over the summer, I wasn’t overly impressed. The notion that a boy in the midst of Hitler youth would be that naïve and innocent in his surroundings didn’t ring true for me. In addition, the use of Out-With (a combination of English words) as a pronunciation substitution for Auchwitz (a German name) drove me to distraction. I finished the book, gave it 2 stars on Goodreads, placed my copy in the Little Free Library outside, then moved on to greener pastures. I don’t think I even mentioned it to my kids.

Elizabeth discovered it in the LFL, and I found her reading it one afternoon. She seemed engrossed so I didn’t share my opinion. Of course, she became enraptured with it, finished it, and placed it on her “permanent collection” bookshelf. She wasn’t thrilled with the vagueness of the ending, but she found the child’s perspective of the Holocaust intriguing. She also recognized Bruno’s natural love and friendship toward others, regardless of heritage, as endearing. I think despite her fondness for Bruno, she appreciated the karmic payback received by his father.

Isn’t it fascinating how an adult reader and a child reader can see such different sides of the same book?

As for the movie, I found it more tolerable, without the insufferable “Out-With” references, and the mother’s and grandmother’s disapproval translating into Bruno’s naivety seemed more believable. Rarely do I appreciate a movie more than a book, but this was one of those cases.

As for the mittens, they don’t particularly tie into this post except that I finished them while we watched Boy in the Striped Pajamas today. I’m more than ready for cooler weather to allow me to test them. The pattern is Detour Mittens, available for free on Ravelry. I knit them in City Tweed, Tahitian Pearl. At first I wasn’t sure about the pointy tips on the mittens, but the elvish look has rather grown on me. I might be in love with these tweedy mitts!

Yarn Along

After a fairly significant break in knitting, for me anyway, I started a new project last week, socks for Finn. I'm using leftover yarn from other projects, which necessitated mixing colors. Finn requested that I make the sock's colors reverse images of each other. The pattern is Easy Toddler Socks, which I've made many times in the past. I'm using the same number of stitches as in the pattern but using sport weight yarn and size 3 needles so that they'll better fit a 7 year old.

As for reading, I'm just starting first book in the The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates series. I'm reading it for a children's lit online book club. Philip read it while we were in Costa Rica and loved it. Although I'm only a couple of chapters into it, I must say that it's proved very entertaining thus far.

Yarn Along

For this week's Yarn Along, I have a new book that I just started reading aloud to the kids, Flora & Ulysses. We're enjoying it, so 3 nights in we're already more than 1/3 of the way through the book. I'm still intrigued that it won the Newbery Medal this year though. Thus far, it seems a little sillier than Newbery's usual fare. More of an older-kid version of Mercy Watson than Kate DiCamillo's other more serious novels. I'll reserve my final judgment until we finish though.

On the knitting front, I've been working on some new dishcloths. I've made several dishcloth patterns in the past, but this one is new to me. I needed a change. The Double Bump Dishcloth pattern is easy to remember, but has enough visual interest and knitting interest to keep the utilitarian knitting from becoming boring. And it moves quickly. A perfect dishcloth pattern, in my opinion!

an update for the dining room

For several months now, we've had an update for the dining room on our agenda. This room was originally painted within months of moving in almost 10 years ago! It definitely served us well, but the paint was fading and the curtains were nearly faded through. 

First we had to recover from the Christmas updates to the kids' rooms. Then, we had to wait on the painting until I had the new curtains finished for this room. Our dining room faces the street and gets all of the morning sun. Living without a curtain in these windows is not a possibility! Finally, the stars aligned, the hardware and paint were purchased, and the curtains were sewn. For about $80 in cloth, hardware, and paint, we gained an updated look in the dining room.

Before:

After:

In addition to the new curtains, we relocated the keyboard and the stemware that cluttered the top of the wine cabinet. We also moved the Nikki McClure prints to this room from their old home, which is getting an update soon.

I'm happy that this Pyrex print matches the new curtains so nicely. It needs a larger frame and matting to really fill this space though.

The curtain fabric is from Michael Miller's Put a Lid on It line. I fell in love with it nearly a year ago, and the dining room update was really planned around this fabric.

The orange walls make the photographs look a bit darker, but the room is just as light as it was before and even lighter when the curtains are drawn. The heavy red drapes we had before really blocked out the light in this space. I'm definitely happy with the updates we made here.

Yarn Along

I haven't participated in Yarn Along for a couple of weeks largely because I haven't done much knitting. Easter is coming soon though, and I found these cute little bunny cubes that are a fairly quick knit (made with scraps, no less!) to add to the kids' Easter baskets. I haven't gotten quite as far as I hoped this week, but I'm sure I can finish the last couple before Easter.

I also just started reading Empty Mansions, which has been on my library list for quite some time. I was fascinated with the story of Huguette Clark when it hit the news a few years ago. Thus far, the book is quite interesting with history of her family and many details of happenings in the world at that time.

The lone finished bunny cube! He needs to start multiplying soon!

Yarn Along, and other crafting

I have to admit that the late-winter, post-Christmas/birthday knitting blues have hit. Knitting and I have largely taken a breather from each other for the last week or two. I do have a pair of scrappy socks on the needles for Finn. He loves his "crazy socks". A stitch here or there is really the only attention they've been getting though. We just started Little Town on the Prairie during our family reading time. The kids seem happy to be back in Laura's world. And it's comforting to read this well-worn copy that sat on the bookshelves of my childhood.

I have taken to the sewing machine for a few minutes this week. Actually, the bulk of the time in this project was with the scissors. This scrappy pillow to match our Cherry Christmas quilt whipped out in about an hour once all the cutting was complete. This pillow has been on my mind since I finished the matching quilt last summer. Unfortunately, I never seem to have time for Christmas crafting during the months of November or December because I'm so busy with present crafting!

With that same thought in mind, I also picked up my embroidery again this week and made a few stitches on these little ornaments. It might end up being the front of another throw pillow. I'm not sure yet.

on Valentine's Day

This Valentine's Day might be one of the most low-key we've ever celebrated. Not that we usually celebrate in a big way, but being snowed in certainly puts a natural limit on the festivities. Finn has already worked hard on his Valentine bookmarks for his classmates. They won't receive them today, but they'll be ready when he finally makes it back to school.

We found this cute printable with 8 different bookmarks, printed them, cut them out, punched holes in the top, and tied thin grosgrain ribbon to the top of each, then Finn signed the back of each bookmark. A lovely alternative to the homemade Valentine's card, I think.

As for my gift, I rose early this morning to finish the remaining toe of my husband's Valentine socks. They were kind of a last minute idea so I've spent much of the last week working on them. Tweedy green socks make for a good Valentine gift. We have to keep the toes toasty for these last few weeks of winter!

My boy and I also plan to have a grand time on this beautiful sunny day full of glittery snow. We will undoubtably spend a fair amount of time enjoying the snow remaining outside. The temperatures are supposed to be in the 60s next week so we won't have long to enjoy our southern snow.

But for today there are many inches waiting to be sledded, with a nice layer of ice on top for speed.

::right now::

::smiling over the pink sugar cookies made with my favorite cookie cutter::

::baking some love cookies::

::experimenting with beet pancakes::

::bringing out the festive Valentine's banner::

::preparing for an upcoming snowstorm::

::making Love words to hang over our kitchen table::

Elizabeth's birthday sweater

Back when I made the Shalom sweater for myself, Elizabeth tried it on and declared that she'd like one for herself. She hasn't been much into sweaters lately, so I am happy to accommodate any request of knits from her.

I ordered the Biggo yarn from Knit Pick in Calypso Heather, which is a color that she currently loves and chooses to wear quite often. I kind of wish I'd just gone with a heavy worsted or aran weight though. My sweater was knit with Madeleine Tosh Chunky, which isn't an overly thick yarn. The bulkier yarn just made the sweater a little bigger, something thin Elizabeth doesn't really need. I guess it gives her room to grow though.

Last January when I took Elizabeth to NYC for her 12th birthday, she picked this beautiful glass button out at Tender Buttons. It was easily the most expensive button I've ever purchased at a whopping $10 for the lone button. We decided back then that it needed a special project. It's been sitting in my button box for the last year, and I decided without telling her that this birthday sweater would be that special project.

With a week left to go before Elizabeth's actual birthday, I ran out of yarn on the bottom trim of the sweater and had to order another skein. (I blame the thickness of the yarn that it ran out too quickly! I bought the recommended amount!) The final skein came just the afternoon before her birthday which caused a frantic knitting session after she went to bed that evening.

Fortunately, it was completed and wrapped with her other gifts for her birthday celebration. And I now have three-quarters of a skein remaining for something else, if she chooses. Overall I'm very happy with how it turned out, and the fact that she's actually wearing it. Success!

Yarn Along

For Yarn Along this week, I'm working on a pair of cabled fingerless mitts. The Vancouver Fog mitts have been on my list for a while, and I finally ordered this superwash wool in Allspice to start making them. I'm almost finished with the first mitt. I like the long cuff because I have several very warm sweaters that are only 3/4 length. I hope these mitts will become a staple with those to keep my hands and forearms warm when I'm out in the elements.

I also started reading My Side of the Mountain to the kids. I knew with their love of camping that they would find this book completely fascinating. So far we have not been disappointed!

Project Redecoration: Philip's and Finn's room

Philip's and Finn's shared room was the last room we tackled in the days before Christmas, and we only had 2 days to complete the task while Finn was with my parents spending time at my grandmother's house. When they initially began sharing a room, it made sense to separate their beds and really give them each a separate space in the room. They each had their own wall hangings, bookshelves, and floorspace to maintain. Now that they are older, it makes more sense that we would reclaim some of the floorspace and give them more area to play, especially with the number of Legos that are often scattered over the floor.

Before:

After:

We stacked the bunks again, which thrilled both of them. I decided on gray walls with red accents for their room. Finn's favorite color is red, and there is plenty of red in his quilt, which I did not intend to replace quite yet. Philip's favorite color is yellow, which is hard to make work in a boy's bedroom, but he also loves Star Wars and Legos; it seemed easy to incorporate these with the gray. Philip got a new gray wool blanket for a bed covering for easier bed-making. I painted the little unfinished wooden shelf in their room with leftover red paint from our picnic table. They each got a string of rope lights hung above their beds for nighttime reading. I also made a hanging book holder for Philip's bed (to avoid the thundering crash of books kicked off the bed during the night) from leftover fabric from his pillow. Finn's new embroidered pillow appeared on his bed during the redecoration as well.

Philip got a set of Star Wars Lego prints that I found on etsy over his bed. The biggest addition to their room was a new Lego table, an Ikea hack actually, found here. The only difference in ours is that I bought regular blue building plates for the table top. (I also just realized that I didn't take a picture from an angle that showed the new Keep Calm and Build On print over their Lego table.) Their curtains are just an inexpensive pair from Target.

On the other side of their room, we put both of their bookshelves together on the opposite wall. We also limited the shelves to books and a few games and puzzles to minimize the clutter that used to build there. (Their newly red shelf by their bed is for their personal effects to hopefully keep the clutter contained.) Their red lamp was transferred from Paulie's old room, and the wall hangings on this wall were beloved pieces from their old room. With the floor space remaining on this side of the room, we may eventually add a reading chair in front of the bookshelves, but we haven't completely decided yet.

Thus endeth the tour of the newly redecorated kids rooms. It was a fun project; their reactions were priceless; but I don't intend to do anything this arduous in the days before Christmas ever again. ;)

Yarn Along

I'm finally joining in for Yarn Along again. I'll show the last of the Project Redecoration photos tomorrow. (Here are the other 2 rooms if you are interested in seeing them.)

This week, I'm working on finishing an Aviatrix hat for a sweet little baby boy of a friend. I've also been reading Where'd You Go, Bernadette? on the recommendation of Dawn of Postcards from Seattle. I like her description of quirky for this book. I'm only about a third through it so far, but it's a fun read. I have a resolution, of sorts, this year to read more adult fiction. If you have a recommendation, I'd love to hear it

I also just finished the Log Cabin socks that I started just before Christmas. (I've never started anything for myself BEFORE Christmas was over.) The pattern is from Handknit Holidays, and they are nice thick, cozy socks. Perfect for this Polar Vortex we're experiencing. ;)

Project Redecoration: Elizabeth's room

Elizabeth's room probably looks the least changed at first glance. About 6 weeks ago, after much begging, we went ahead and painted her room. We knew we were going to paint all 3 bedrooms at Christmas and that we would only have 6 days to complete the redecoration project. Since the color she wanted blended just fine with her old room, we decided to go ahead and get her painting done early. In addition she wanted stripes which we knew would take extra time anyway.

Before:

After:

Elizabeth's room was completely rearranged. She kept all of the same furniture she already had, and she also gained a night stand and a desk chair. Her night stand came from Ikea and was a natural wood that I painted with the darker color from her wall stripes. Her desk chair also came from Ikea. She also got new curtains and a little magnetic board, which she wanted for her collection of travel magnets, beside her bed.

Her new quilt finally came out of hiding, along with the matching pillow sham and throw pillow. I think they match her new room nicely.

She also received new Ikea lamps for both her desk and her bed. From other family members, she received a lava lamp, which has been on her list for quite a while, and a bean bag chair. Lastly, her favorite new addition to her room was a photo mobile. It replaced an old butterfly mobile in her old room, and she loves having pictures of her family and friends hanging where she can see them at all times.