I’ve been remiss this week in posting. After all the fun of T2’s birthday we got sad news. DH’s grandfather, the reason we moved to Maine, passed away at the age of 98. This wise and wonderful man was an incredible husband, grandfather and great-grandfather. We were greatly blessed having lived near him for most of the last eight years.

I’m sure that at some point I will was poetic about him. He deserves it. Today I leave you with a glimpse of Maine in May.

Please click on this picture. It’s the side yard of the Blair House (the governor’s mansion), looking towards the Capitol building (shown is the Capitol office building). The trees are in full bloom, the sky was brilliant blue, and the gang of fourth graders full of life and laughter. The Way Life Should Be.

We survived T2’s birthday week! And, here’s the reward:

Of course he immediately put on his socks (you gotta love a kid that loves to wear what you make for him!)

I’ll put up some birthday day pics later, but it’s late.

We’re nearing the end of T2 week

For my birthday T2 gave me the project he completed in a school arts residency. The students all embroidered symbols of the State of Maine. T2 chose the Seal of the State of Maine. In a week, working every day (I think) he drew out the design, learned to embroider, and did all the stitching. Very impressive IMO.

Last week, continuing their studies of the State, the kids went on a field trip to the Capitol. I went along. In the House I saw this rendition of the State Seal and thought I’d share it, too. Personally, I like mine better!

Earlier this year my kid, T2, spotted an owl outside the window. Yesterday another winged friend was making fist-sized chunks of wood fly outside my bedroom window.

I’m told that it’s a pileated woodpecker, the largest of the woodpeckers found in Maine (perhaps anywhere, excepting the supposedly extinct Ivory Woodpecker).

The pic was taken through the screen in my window, so it’s not too clear. You can see the striking red crest and, I think you can tell that it’s one BIG bird. Like a crow–I’d say over a foot long.

This post is another in the series of birthday posts for T2. Everything I’ve posted this week has been about or for him! His completed birthday present pics will go up on Sunday (his birthday!)

My second child loves origami. Particularly origami cranes. From 2×2 inch pieces of paper to huge present-wrapping pieces of paper, this child folds cranes. In honor of T2’s birthday coming up this weekend (see posts on geodes and T2 socks this week), here are some special origami cranes:

Made out of won ton skins, these are some of the cutest, most useful origami creations I’ve ever seen. They come from EvilMadScientist where you’ll find complete instructions. I’m looking for won ton skins for this weekend. I’m sure T2 would make plenty for us if we ask nicely.

This past week I got to spend a lot of time with 4th graders. For those of you sans small people in your life, these kids are nine or ten years old and can follow directions pretty well. This particular group can also explain the difference between sedimentary and igneous rocks; discuss the three branches of government; and have embroidered the Seal of the State of Maine for an art project.

I was invited in to teach 81 students how to make felted geodes. If you want to know more about rock geodes check out Wikipedia. We made geodes with wool. How fun was it? VERY. There were four groups of about 20 students each. I did an interactive presentation on how felt is made, the students put together there own geodes using commercial, dyed Corridale roving, then we spent about 40 minutes washing our hands.

Since my hands were wet throughout this part of the class I didn’t get any pictures. Even though I presented the class four times, I never got any pictures. I just get too busy with the kids.

After washing our hands (and geodes) in hot and cold water and a liberal squirt of Dr. Bronner’s magic soap (in peppermint, of course) for about 40 minutes, I squeezed them out and cut them almost in half (half spheres–hemispheres; another word we used during this project).

Much fun was had, we all ended up clean (with wrinkled fingers), and we learned a bit more about geology and wool.

Here’s what T2’s geode looks like:

It’s a bit smaller and softer than a tennis ball.

Here’s the recipe for making your own geode:

Materials (for each geode):

• ½ oz. wool roving
• one knee-high stocking
• hot and cold water
• soap (Dr. Bronner’s is best, but dishwashing detergent works in a pinch)

Method:
1. Lay out roving in a pleasing way. Remember that your geode will be approximately 1/3 the size of the original (fluffy) ball of roving.
2. Carefully place ball of roving into stocking.
3. Squeeze all the air out of the ball and plunge into hot water (you do NOT need to have scalding water, but it should be a bit hot for your hands when you start).
4. Add a bit of soap and, using a snowball-making motion, work the ball into a lather.
5. Dip into hot water and add soap as you work the ball. Continue for 10 minutes.
6. Take stocking off of ball and squeeze all water out of the ball.
7. Plunge ball into cold water.
8. Continue the snowball-making motion, squeezing the ball together and rubbing it with some soap for 10 minutes.
9. Squeeze all water out of ball.
10. Plunge back into warm water (you can reuse the water from above) and continue to work with a bit of soap for another 5 minutes.
11. Squeeze all water out of ball.
12. Put ball into cold water (again, you can reuse the cold water from above) and work all the soap out of it.
13. After another 5 minutes in the cold water, test for doneness. If the geode is very firm you can squeeze dry and cut; if the geode is still very mushy (more Nerf-like than tennis-ball-like), repeat the hot and cold water treatments.
14. Cut geodes with an electric knife.

Oh, as a child of the 70s I remember the Atari 2600 fondly.

They are very difficult to find after all these years. The one I had in college was donated to the UCLA Medical Center’s children’s wing. But some intrepid knitter decided that memories weren’t enough and whipped this one up. There’s a tv as well, along with 9 other very geeky yarn creations (not all knitted).

If this site doesn’t make you chuckle, nothing will.

Son number two asked me for socks for his birthday. His birthday is less than a month away and, of course, I wanted to dye them myself. Insanity runs in my family.

I wanted to try out an idea from Spin Off Magazine, the Winter issue. The article included handspun yarn, knit on a knitting machine, dyed in stripes, and then re-knit into a finished object. I started with Briggs and Little’s Tuffy yarn (sorry, I don’t spin much white wool). It’s a wool/nylon blend in a worsted weight. I knitted it on the machine 40 stitches wide.

I then painted the giant swatch in red, blue and green.

Here’s where fate took a hand. I didn’t have time to steam it, so I let it sit for a day. In my opinion it got very muddy, but, as I’ve knit it, I like the way the bright colors peek out around the muddy/dark parts. Here’s the first sock:

I’m working on sock 2 and need to have it completed in about 10 days. I think he’ll like it!

Two weeks ago we got a new color of Plymouth Encore in the store. I couldn’t figure out what to make to see how the pattern worked out–it looked like it would have stripes and maybe some “fair isle”-type colorwork. I decided a baby hat was fast and big enough to suit my needs.

Worsted weight yarn–Encore worsted is perfect; washable and warm–much less than one skein (I may make some baby mitts to go with it)
Size 7 needles–double points and 16″ circulars
Note: this project can be done with the double point needles alone, I find that the circulars are faster and I don’t mind switching.
Stitch marker

Gauge 5 st/inch

k2tog = knit two stitches together

CO 72 st on circular needles, join in round being careful to not twist stitches

K1, P1 ribbing for 1 inch

K around for a total of 4 inches from edge

Decrease as follows, switching to DP when necessary:
row 1 *K7, k2tog*
row 2 K around
row 3 *K6, k2tog*
row 4 K around
row 5 *K5, k2tog*
row 6 K around
row 7 *K4, k2tog*
row 8 K around
row 9 *K3, k2tog*
row 10 K around
row 11 *K2, k2tog*
row 12 *K1, k2tog*
row 13 *k2tog*

Cut 12″ tail and draw tight through stitches. Do NOT weave in at this time.

Make three curly-ques:
CO 25
row 1 knit in front, in back, and in front again in each stitch (total of 75 stitches)
Cast off loosely

CO 20
row 1 knit in front, in back, and in front again in each stitch (total of 60 stitches)
Cast off loosely

CO 15
row 1 knit in front, in back,a nd in front again in each stitch (total of 45 stitches)
Cast off loosely

Weave in cast on tails. Use Cast off tail to attach curly-ques to top of hat. Tie curly-que tails and hat finishing tail together. Weave in all ends.

Some of you may have noticed that the progress bars in the sidebar don’t move regularly. A few projects seem to be . . . stuck. I noticed that, too. This past week I decided to attend to that by picking up the Chinese Red Vest and going to it. I was making incredible progress–both vest fronts complete and finishing the second button band! Then I looked at the “collar” instructions (which were only a few lines) and found that it involved picking up 100 stitches and more than a pattern repeat (18 rows) of knitting. The bad news? I was down to 1/2 ball of yarn. I was at least one ball short.

The woman who’s been known to do math in her head, really messed this one up. It was a meters/yards issue (with the math), or at least that’s what I’m telling people. I only need one more ball, but it needs to be this dye lot.

I got a lot of suggestions on how to find it–call around, check eBay, put WTB (want to buy) emails out to fiber buy/sell mailing lists. I did all of them. And, then I contacted Plymouth Yarns, the distributor of Country 8-ply. I sent an email listing exactly what I needed. The next morning I got a response from Pattie with a list of Maine stores; all of which I had already called.

But another email got me a longer, New England, list of retailers just a few hours later. I started calling and found that everyone has the color, but not the dye lot. Sigh. I kept calling.

Carol at Knitting Treasures in Plymouth, MA was just as lovely as all the other Yarn Store Ladies I spoke to (no offense to you Yarn Store Gentlemen, but I didn’t speak to any), but she also had four balls of said yarn on her shelf! Yipee!

It should be here before the weekend. I will wear this vest before Memorial Day!

Huge Thanks to Pattie at Plymouth Yarns and Carol at Knitting Treasures!