What I think

2012 We've had some good, everyone is healthy. Some sad, the loss of our beloved Mo And some ugly, it boggles the mind at how cruel one human can be to another. Goodbye, I am not sure we will miss you.

I have just finished my first swap.  It was fabulous.  With Nicole of Positively Knitting so the swap package I sent was shown on the podcast which was very cool. I have joined 2 others.  Cowl Connection with Cafeinated Gert.  My partner will be another podcaster, Sockbunny.  The ornament exchange with the knitting den.  I have been knitting a lot.  The house is a disaster and I have made no plans for Hanks school. I need to get more organized.

It is raining.  We had months with beautiful weather, but that is over.  Fall is here.  I can not find most of the Halloween decorations, no clue what I could have done with them. I finally finished my first swap package.  It was supposed to have been received by tom. instead it will be mailed tom.  I think I did pretty good with it. Now I am knitting; pink ribbon shawl and a thistleberry shawl in pink for 2 different podcast knit alongs.  A candy corn colored wingspan and socks for sock the vote.  Such a kick. I also have a pen pal.  Not sure how that is going to turn out.  Thinking of joining another swap.  Just have to knit something and mail it.  Have to decide soon.

Summer is over, back to work tom.  How did I do on my summer to do list?  Not so good. Hanks room is almost painted, he wants yellow in the room so I am going to paint the doors yellow and need to get the paint.  Spinning: none.  Couponing:  Don't get it.  Canning:  A little more successful; salsa, blackberry jam, pickles.  Sewing:  Hanks quilt. Did not spend anytime online at sites like craftsy and pinterest.  The back room is not done.  The yard stuff I wanted to do is not done.  And the bamboo lace shall has not been touched. Hank has said he does not want to go to public school and he says he may listen to me when we do school at home.

I had such plans for the summer but some how summer is ending and I have acomplished very little.  Hank is not cooperating with home school.  Spends more time fighting doing work and playing around.  He does not want to go to public school and I don't want him to either but there may not be another choice.  I have told him he has to learn somewhere and if he doesn't want to go to a regular school he needs to do what I ask.  We have done school throughout the summer but have cut down what we do.  Starting next week we are going to have to really work harder and I am just nut sure it is worth fighting with him. 

There are never enough years..goodbye Moe we are going to miss you so much.  You were the best dog a non dog person could ever have had.

Where does the time go?  There was so much I was going to accomplish this summer and I have done very little. H's room is almost done.  Last of the painting will be finished today. Sorting thru all the stuff that 'someone' has dumped in that room will be a pain tho. The garden is growing. Hank got to pick peas.  And he ate them.  He is not a veggie fan.  How did that happen. Did several knitting projects this month.  The bamboo lace shall is still waiting to be finished.  That and a pair of socks is all I am knitting. Have decided to take a break, kinda, from school.  Spelling, multiplication, science or craft projects and some reading.  Will start again in Sept. with more in depth stuff.  Have made up a daily schedule.  He hates it and is constantly trying to change the times.

Still not any better at blogging. I have finished all but one shawl tho.  Just had to rip out part of a baby sweater because I didn't read. Have been trying to exercise every day.  I need to start doing more tho. The garden is actually growing pretty well.  None of the spring things really came up, no lettuce hardly any peas.  Replanted those but only a couple more started.  Weeded have the garden yesterday before it got too hot.  Maybe I can finish tonight then try and plant more lettuce and dill, cause someone is growing cucumbers in his garden and wants to make pickles.

School has been out for a week and I have not accomplished much. I finished the shawl with a slit in it.  There are still 2 to be done.  I finished Agony of the Leaves and Come home, which was not very good.  I have planted everything we have that needed to be planted.  Want to get some more lettuce seeds and see if they will grow this time.  We have had strawberrys and there are artichokes to be picked.  Oh and celery from last year.  It was pretty good. H will be choosing a country to write a report on.  One that we did not read about when we were working on the continents.  Then he will make a trip to the library and learn how to find things there.

The prayer shawl is done.  Started it Monday afternoon and finished it this afternoon.  I will bring it to coffee tom. and gift it.  She will be pleased.  Then I started baby hats for Click for Babies.  Worked one repeat on the Clare Shawl.  Yarn should not be that thin.  Need to finish Agony of Leaves it is due on the 10th and can not be renewed. H is resistent to school.  Doing alot on the computer.  Once I am done with school for summer we are really going to hit his school hard.

So I have finished the gratitude shawl and the age of brass and steam.  I have been working on the Clare shawl.  The bamboo shawl just sits.  I have started a prayer shawl tonight it needs to be done by Thurs.  I also want to make a nursing shawl as a shower present, that doesnt need to be done for awhile. I am reading  Agony of the Leaves by Laura Child.  The new podcast I have watched is the singlehanded knitter. H school is stalled.  Still working on the continents.  Are reading about some of the countries of Europe.  The he can read and write about any country we did not read about. I want him to be able to show me the continents on the globe too/  We will focus on grammar and multiplication.

So I have finished a few of the things I was knitting; the gratitude shawl, origami baby sweater, purse for the wedding.  And 3 hats.  One for our high school helper this year and 2 to be donated.  I have 2 other shawls on the needles and am going to start a wash cloth tonight. We have had a busy weekend.  Ch wanted to go to Sticks and Straw to have pear and gorgonzola ice cream.  They had a lot of different flavors, They each got 2 flavors I tried them and they were all good.  I didnt get one of my own and H just had a vanilla cone with sprinkles, of course. H will be focusing on grammar and multiplication, he should be thrilled.

We have been going to the Schrieners Iris Garden on mothers day for I don't know how many years.  The kids always get a picture taken without any fuss.  Even H who hates to have his picture taken.  He does have sunglasses on tho.  Got a new camera and both seasons of Downton Abbey.  Someone was pleased with himself.  There was a problem with the camera so have to make due with the pictures it would take.

Claire lace Shawl, Shawl of Gratitued and the Bamboo Lace shawl and the baby Origami Kimono all on the needles at once. Crazy.  The baby sweater is for a charity project and it's supposed to be mailed before the 15th.

H got Henry, his fish, almost 2 years ago.  Got him at a wedding.  Yesterday Henry died.  H cried and cried.  We buried Henry in a box under a cherry tree.

Hank has just posted his paper about bats.  We read a lot of books, found a great website (batcon.com) and watched Magic School Bus Going Batty. He is still working on the continents.  He made a paper mache globe.  He thought the paper mache was yucky and after the first strip of paper wouldn't do it. 

We are working on the continents now in school.  We are reading about each and then reading about a few of the countries on each continent.  We listen to them speaking the language of that country.  Thought about cooking food from the area but have not been able to be that organized about it.  Tho we have only done N America, S America and Australia and other then mexican food which he has had didnt seem to be a need to cook regional foods.  Now we are doing Asia and he has had Chinese food.  Maybe when we do Europe and Africa we can do some cooking.  We are also watching the DVD series, Travel the World by Train.  It is divided by continents so not only does he get to see the trains he can see some of the countries they visit. I am knitting my 5th pair of socks of the year.  Switching to a couple baby things and then a shawl for a bridal shower that is in less then 2 weeks.  We'll see how that goes.

Have finished the Thuja socks.  He says he won't wear them because of the pattern on them.  It's ok I'll wear them.  Have started the Basic Brioche Stitch Socks form the Knitting Brioche Stitch Socks book.  Have taken it apart 3 times.  Got about an inch in and did something and couldn't recover the stitches. C and H dyed yarn we bought at JoAnnes and Micheals.  Used the dye they have used for tye dyeing t shirts. Have not done school with Hank for a couple days.  Working on the continents.  Should start the paper mache globe, maybe tom.  I need to do some yard work and the taxes first.  Hopefully, I will be motivated to get things done.

I finished the Bernat Sox for me yesterday and started theThuja socks for him.  Already to the heel on the first sock.  Woolease is quick. Made 2 project bags with left over candy corn fabric just need to find something better to use as a draw string. Snow this morning just enough to be annoying.  Could have really used a snow day.

Finished the Farmer McGregor socks.  Way too much work for a sock. Hopefully, they will fit mom.  Finished a sock using the Bernat Sox pattern.  Working on the second sock now.  Have 2 other socks to work on when these are finished. Wanted to be like all the 'cool kids' and watch Downton Abbey.  Don't get it tho I have watched the entire first season and have started on the second one.  The characters are some of the most back stabbing vindictive people you have ever watched.

I need to be better about writing.  so far in Feb.  I have only managed to read 2 books, the last being Spells and Stitches.  I have finished knitting 2 charity hats.  I have a pair of plain socks on the needles and the Farmer McGregor socks from the Soctopus book.  One is finished and it's ugly and doesn't fit.  The second one seems to be better so if it continues to be so and fits better I will rip out the first one and re do it.  Hopefully, the yarn will co operate since it has already been ripped out once. I have also started to sort thru Hanks homeschool stuff.  Maybe someday it will be an actual curriculum.

We have finally finished Hanks U.S. map.  I think now we will start looking at the globe and working on the continents.  We will start with North America and read about the other countries on each continent.  Thinking a paper mache globe might be in our future. Not really sure where to go after that.  Should continue with US history.  We have gotten thru reconstruction.  Maybe after reading about other countries we could again start with WW1.

I have spent a lovely day off waiting for it to snow and cleaning the house.  I knitted the braided scarf and am working on the ridiculously scrapey afghan.  Trying to get Hank back in the habit of school every day.  Need to do some planning.  Can't come up with anything interesting.  Read about Martin Luther King last year so I guess it's ok that we didn't go over it again this year. We need to finish his U.S. map and our reading about measurements, including metric.

Feeling a little blah.  I don't want to knit or read or do anything else.  I knitted a hat on new years eve and one on new years day.  I read 3 books in the first day or so of the new year then nothing.  Trying to walk more but that has been foiled this week. Next week will be better.

Had made a shawl for a women who was going to begin cancer treatment.  She talked to me today and wanted me to know how much it meant to her to have it to wear while she went thru treatment.

Finished the first knitting project of the year.  Father/son hats.  It was also the last finished project of last year.  Finished the first book of the year.  Am going to try and keep better track of projects and the books I have read. Thought about starting couch to 5 K.  But know I really won't do it.  So will be better about walking daily and eating better, no carbs, less calories.