cabled headband

Our weather here has been crazy.  Just yesterday we had ice and freezing rain in the morning and today the high was 67!  So this new cabled headband that I knit will have to wait until Friday when the high temp is forecast to be 30. I originally saw it on Thimbleanna's blog and I loved it.  The pattern is a freebie and it is a quick and easy knit.   If you're new to cables, this would be a great pattern for learning how to cable.

You knit the entire piece flat and then sew the ends together to form the band.  I had some leftover yarn from my Diamond Cable Gilet so you could definitely knit this with some leftover yarn and use up some of your stash.

Thanks to Maggie for being my model....she's a sweetie!  She's eating a chocolate chip cookie in that picture....can you tell? Anyways, I hope your week is going along smoothly (weather aside) and that you have time to steal a chocolate chip cookie or two!

stash building

Dishcloths...I love to knit them.  I've gotten into trouble before with my wrists from not knowing when to stop.  I like to keep a stash of them in my 'gift drawer' for when I need a gift for a special friend.  My stash has been running low and so this summer I've been trying to replenish it (in moderation).  Here are a couple of my favorite dishcloth patterns:

~this is the "granny dishcloth"...my dad requested these for Christmas last year.  He does the dishes at my folks' house and this is his dishcloth of choice!  Gotta love that!  This is the easiest dishcloth in the world to knit.  (follow the link above to see a full shot of the granny dishcloth)

~this is the "waffle knit dishcloth"...it's easy too and it's a fun one to add stripes to.  I love to make two of these that match and give them as a set.  I only have one of these done, but the next one will be the opposite of this one.  It'll be cream with a tweedy red stripe.

~this next one is fun when you want a bit more of a challenge but aren't wanting to tackle a big project. Dishcloths are great for (almost) instant gratification.  This one also knits up the biggest of all of the ones I show here.  It's called "spring is in the air"...but you can knit it anytime.

~this "feather and fan dishcloth" pattern is my favorite.  I especially like it knit up in the variegated yarns...the color patterns are really cool.  This one actually got finished and was immediately employed in our kitchen....before I got a finished picture.

~I just knit two of these "double bump" dishcloths and I have to say, they are fun to knit...very easy and the pattern is quick to memorize.  I picked these colors out because they reminded me of summer fresh tomatoes...yummy!

 I have enough dishcloth yarn to make some more....the only trouble will be deciding which pattern to work on next.  How about you, do you have a favorite dishcloth pattern?

hello monday

I'm linking up with Lisa Leonard to welcome a new week.  Here are some of the things I'm saying hello to this week:

 Hello to beautiful fresh cut lilies on my dining room table...they make me smile every time I see them.

 Hello to an almost finished quilt top.  It turned out a bit smaller than I liked so I'm adding a border to the outside before quilting it.  Hello to figuring out a way to make it all work!

 Loving the time I got on Saturday night for working on my project 365 album....thanks to not having to run my daughter out to a dance....she drove herself!  Hello to our newest driver!  (and hello to higher insurance rates!)

 Hello to a new dishcloth...just for us.  Love this cool breeze color way!

 Hello to new grass slowly coming up in our front yard....I'll be happy to say goodbye to the sprinkler!

 I'm loving these endless summer hydrangeas....they are gorgeous every day.  I have one pink/purple and one blue...right beside each other!

 Welcome summer...especially with our new !!red!! umbrellas and flag.  The deck is my favorite room in the summer.  I could spend all day out there!

 Hello to a new chalkboard for my kitchen...super easy and fun!  I just painted the inside of a frame with chalkboard paint and painted the frame a happy color!

Hello to cooking dinner with my Kenzie love...we made this corn casserole, quinoa salad, hamburgers, and blackberry cobbler.  So fun to work alongside of her!  Even more fun to eat what we created!

right now

Which season do you think is the busiest?  Fall, with back to school activities?  Maybe winter with Christmas and all the holiday happenings? I always think that the next season will be less busy but then I get to it and it's just as full as the one I just left.   I'm convinced that the busiest season is whichever one you're in....  No matter what season it is, it seems that the one in which you find yourself in is just as busy as the last one...but it's all good, isn't it?  These seasons are what make up a life....I'm learning to enjoy each and every minute of them.  My mom always told me not to hurry and wish your life away....she was so right!  There are blessings to find wherever you are.  

This season finds us:  

Enjoying Improv hour as Maggie performed (this was before the performance)

and Mckenzie watched on...she's such a great supportive sister!

 enjoying the wonderful weather outside 

(molly loves to sit on the deck and watch for the horses and squirrels) 

slowly getting started on a project...cutting 6 inch squares for the beginning of an hourglass quilt 

our boy is learning to mow the grass on the lawn tractor....I think his daddy was surprised that his legs were long enough to reach the brake....a key essential in mowing!

enjoying my plants - fiddleheads as they emerge from the ground all curly and green

bleeding hearts...

forget me nots

huechera...this one is called Peach Flambe....it is gorgeous!

working bit by bit on my favorite scarf ever...

it's so easy, I've actually got the pattern memorized.  

We're also into baseball season and basketball as well...but I'm having trouble uploading any more photos into blogger...oh well, that might by my cue to stop and go do some laundry.  It's always laundry season!  Enjoy your seasons and the days that make them up!  

a jumble

I've been absent for a reason...We just returned from a basketball trip to Lynchburg, VA where the Varsity teams competed in the East Coast Homeschool Basketball Championships.  The weather was great and the games were even better.  I'm all in a jumble...trying to get back to our routine.

 The girl's team took the 2A Championship and brought home a banner (along with plenty of bruises!  I don't care what anyone says....basketball is a contact sport!) Our boy's team came in 2nd place in their division.  Everyone got along and it was a week full of memories and special moments.

I always take along some projects to work on while traveling and I found this cute scarf pattern on Ravelry. The directions said to divide the yarn into two equal balls.  I had a huge ball of the sock yarn all ready to go!

  Since I didn't have a digital scale, I improvised and used my second grade balance scale.  I was pretty proud of myself!

But after all that cleverness, I barely stitched 3 rows on my scarf....I would come back after the games and crash...you'd have thought I was playing ball for as tired as I was by the end of the day.  (It's a lot of work being a good fan! )

I did manage to work on my cross stitch while we were riding down to Lynchburg.  I picked this out in January...it reminded me of summer days.

And speaking of summer, we have been enjoying some gorgeous spring days and now that I'm not sitting in the stands with a camera in my hands and a prayer on my lips, I found some time to get outside and capture some of the beauty of the season.

When we were traveling down to Lynchburg, everything was brown...but on the way home, the trees were covered in soft fuzzy green buds!  It was amazing how fast everything popped with a week of warm temps!  

I can't believe it's the middle of March and we're enjoying May like temperatures.  Everything is blooming or sprouting....hopefully the frost and cold temps won't be back.

I feel like we missed winter....like I took a long nap and when I woke up it was spring.  Sort of like Narnia, but in reverse.  Strange.  I'm not complaining though, I love this weather.  

So...there it is....a jumble of things going on...a wonderful jumble!   Enjoy your days!  

(Oh and John noticed the curtain...after he read my blog!  he he) 

simple pleasures

It's been nice to have some things lighten up in our schedule lately and I've found myself with some time to:

*enjoy my neighbor's hellebores.  The common name for these beauties is Lenten Rose.(today is Ash Wednesday....how appropriate!)

*put away packaging from Christmas...this has been sitting by our bedroom door just waiting to go downstairs.  I've walked by it every day for weeks  months and for whatever reason, I finally got it put away!  go figure!?  (does anyone else saving packaging from electronics, just in case?)

*pick up a long lost (started years ago) cross stitch sampler.  This is Harbison Chapel from my Alma Mater - Grove City College.  After all these years, I still really like it and would love to finish it.  Maybe this is the year!

*put away the snowmen....we've barely had a trace of snow here all winter.  I'm done with the snowmen taunting me.  (now it will snow, right?!)

*use my coffee beans in a new way.  With all my snowmen put away I was needing something to fill in a spot, but it's way too early for bunnies and daffodils, so coffee seemed like a good move!

*start on a hat.  You've got to wonder why I'd start a winter hat with a forecast that includes temps in the high 60's but I had the yarn and the pattern...and I got an itch to start a new knitting project.  The perfect storm...yarn, pattern, desire, time!

So, that's what's going on around here... a bit of this and a bit of that.  Hope you're finding time for some simple pleasures as well!  

closing in on Christmas

As we get closer to Christmas, I find myself trying to snatch away moments for savoring the season.  I'm certain that the hours fly by faster in December than in any other month.  In between school, basketball games, and practices we've been:

***learning how to play chess....John and John Samuel have been challenging each other as often as time allows (this is a teaching set and it shows you the moves and directions you can make for each piece...very helpful for me!)

***putting finishing touches on my decorations....this little tree was blank and boring so I hot glued wooden hearts, gingerbread men, candles and pine cones to it.  I tied some homespun fabric to the branches and now it's perfect! 

 ***cracking up at our dog....the kids found her laying on the remote, looking at the TV and they said she was watching Animal Planet! (I think this whole scene interrupted our math one day! )

***adding Christmas lights to more and more corners of our house....it's just so magical with all the beautiful lights.  It's so special to check on my boy and finding him sleeping in the glow of his Christmas lights.  (I always unplug them before I head to bed :))

***reading mysteries and taking notes as we go...after listening to Andrew Clements' Room One, my boy decided to solve the mystery of his chapter book in a similar fashion....works for me, I just like to see him reading and having fun at the same time

 ***for book club we read the light-hearted book: A Redbird Christmas...perfect for holiday time!  One of the ladies at book club gave us each a box loaded with an assortment of cookies that she prepackaged and labeled for us in little cello bags!  What a work of love...a delicious work!

And I've been knitting some little last minute gifts....dishcloths and toasty fingerless mitts....nothing like watching TV by the glow of the Christmas tree and knitting.  Some of our DVR'd favorites include:  NCIS, Person of Interest and Blue Bloods. 

So how have you been savoring these days before Christmas?  I hope you're finding time to enjoy the moments before they fly by!  It's closing in on Christmas...stay merry!