i am mostly knitting these days

on a big, boxy sweater for challenge #2 of the fiber factor.

today though,

that’s just not going to cut it.

i’ve got my 6 yr old’s singing in concert at 1pm

and then a drive and hang out birthday party with my 13 yr old at 6pm.

perfect downtime windows to do a little knitting.

but manhandling 5 different skeins per row on the boxy sweater

is in no way ‘downtime’ knitting.

i need something easy.

something that is also small enough

not to keep me from competition knitting after the party ends tonight…

last saturday

i drove up to the hub mills store.

met rachel face to face (fun, fun, fun),

caught up with tonia barry (whom i see way too infrequently),

enjoyed amy herzog and the trunk show for her book ‘fit to flatter‘

(which i highly recommend.  i’m loving my copy!),

and bought a skein of malabrigo‘s new mecha.

how could i not?  i mean bulky

and superwash?

yes!

so what to knit?

i’m thinking the farmer’s daughter mitts.

even if i get all wrapped up in them and don’t want to stop,

 in bulky weight they should finish up pretty fast and then back to the boxy sweater…

‘daughter’ taken from 30:15&16 in proverbs.

check out ‘the rest of the story’ over here.

and yes, this is part of my real-life closet.

the only clean part…smile.

‘part’ taken from 12:14 in first corinthians.

the rest of today’s story

is right over here in my fiber factor forum.

‘rest’ taken from 11:18 of job.

the ‘rest of the story’ behind the picture here in my fiber factor forum.

‘remember’ taken from 46:8 in isaiah.

check out my fiber factor post here to ‘hear’ the rest of the story…

‘stringed instrument’ taken from 3:19 of habakkuk.

with

the push

and

pressure

of challenge #1

for the fiber factor

in my

very recent

past,

frogging (ha)

is freshly

on my mind.

it seems, too,

with the

spring weather

now

deciding

finally

to arrive

here in my

neck of

the woods,

that

frogs

also

abound

here,

there,

and

any ol’

where.

‘leaping’ taken from 2:8 in the song of solomon.

the weather is teasing me.

last night it was in the 20′s.

today it’s headed up to the mid 50′s.

i am so ready to join my daughter in packing my summer things as i dream of vacation…

i guess we think alike.

our multiple readings of “phoebe’s birthday”

led to questions about favorite summer moment ever.

my 6 yr old picked this one from last summer-

very 1st day on her very 1st surfboard:

courtesy of slate falls press,

i have a copy of “phoebe’s birthday” to giveaway.

just leave a comment about your favorite vacation moment

(and a ravelry username or e-mail where i can reach you if you win).

i’ll draw a winner first thing monday morning, april 8th.

here, i’ll go first.

my favorite summer memory:

sitting in warm tidal pools that we dug ourselves

while making drip sand castles in the late afternoon sun.

and no, this is not a childhood memory.  it was just this past summer.  smile.

it is still cool here.

officially it is spring,

but first thing in the morning,

waiting for the bus, it feels like

we’re smack dab at the tail end of winter

and last week my 5 yr old packed for summer vacation.

i don’t mean talked about packing

or packed

a few things.

she filled

two duffels

to overflowing with

all her very

best stuff.

and the look

on her face was

painful to see

as i gently

explained that

vacation was still five months away.

we unpacked  flip-flops, her treasure box, her favorite puzzle,

the stuffed lamb that she sleeps with nightly, and her minnie mouse towel.

she looked

deeply sad,

then an idea hit.

and with a lilt in

her voice and

a renewed

glimmer of hope in her baby blue eyes she pleaded,

“can you read “phoebe’s birthday” to me, please, while i wait for summer to get here?”

and “phoebe’s birthday” it was.

the story is both sweet and real.  my kids relate.

they do puzzles with their cousins at night, just like the mouse family;

eat birthday cake,

splash in the waves,

snuggle under quilts,

build in the warm sand,

enjoy sidewalk music,

and eat (oh do we eat)

ice cream shop treats,

just like the mouse family on vacation.

the details of eric’s drawings keep them looking for more

and joanna’s story (like the two previous books) is comfortable and familiar.

they keep my kids turning the pages and saying things like:

“don’t you think mother mouse looks like aunt gail?”

“remember the summer that elizabeth learned to swim?”

“i know i’m finally going to beat uncle ben at chess this year”

“kuppy always tries to finish my ice cream for me before i’m really done…”

yup, it’s true.  the mouse family seem an awful lot like us.

i’ve even heard my kids whispering their suspicions

that the tiny toy boat which the mouse family vacations in

lies somewhere on the dunes of the same small town

where we spend two weeks in maine every august,

and i haven’t the heart to tell them differently.

 ‘remember’ taken from 63:6 of the psalms.