Change is in the air

I love how busy-in-a-good-way this past month has been for us. So much to do, to see, to soak in... As soon as temperatures drop just a few degrees, and I can sense the sun shining just a little different, the instinct of enjoying warm days and good weather kicks in, and I can't help but want to spend more time outside, pack as much living into these days as possible.
(photos were taken either with iPhone or my manual-focus-only D200. I'm loving unintentional blur of some photos, and find myself doing it on purpose occasionally)

Inspiration from friend's garden...


Labor Day weekend. Sheepdog competition. We had a blast...




Visiting family at the farm. Moody skies. Smell of hay...










After a looooong break, knitting again, gifts (this one is for my mom) and such...


Hiking again. This time we reached the lake! But on a different hike, Twin Lakes Reservoir...






















Drawn to simple comfort foods at the first hint of autumn. It really is in the air...

Catching up

It's been a while since I dedicated a post to just knitting and nothing else (or joined Ginny's Yarn Along, for that matter). Mostly because April has been such a busy month for us, I just didn't have enough hours in the day for either blogging or knitting. Instead of sharing current projects today, I'll dedicate this post to Baby Surprise Jacket (or BSJ, as it's often referred to in knitting world), since I finished it about a month ago, if you don't count the fact that it remained button-less for almost 4 weeks.

This project was so fun to work with for a couple of reasons. It was my first time knitting with EZ's (Elizabeth Zimmermann) ingenious patterns. The term 'pattern' is used very loosely here. No dry boring charts or row by row written directions. In fact, there's nothing boring about EZ' writing. And she's pretty entertaining to watch in "Knitting Workshop" even for someone like my husband, who has no interest in knitting unless it produces an object he can wear or admire (or when it works as a sedative on his wife).

And did I mention that EZ is somewhat of a knitting genius? Who else could come up with an idea to knit something like this:

that can transform into this:

Fun pattern aside, I also ended up underestimated how much yarn I would need, so I had to dig through my bins with yarn and look for leftovers from other Noro Kureyon colorways. There was a lot of alternating between the balls, cutting out certain color repeats in order to have colors that would go well with one another. But it was all worth it. Once the jacket was done, it became our go-to piece of clothing for Ivy whenever we took her outside, buttons missing and all.

I added a few finishing touches to this BSJ to make it a better fit for Ivy. Even the seaming, that I was so nervous about, turned out to be easy and neat looking (you can find more details and links to helpful tips, like seaming, on this project's page).

And here's the only photo I have of Ivy wearing it (so far). Notice, it has buttons!

Ivy with her great-grandma

today...

Cooking (or rather, fermenting). 48-hour old batch of kimchi and pickled vegetables is starting to get nice 'kick' to it. I should probably stop checking on it every hour, but I can't help it. Haven't had kimchi in a while...




Friends. Katrina came over with her little ones, and I managed to sneak in a real grown-up lunch for both of us. Before kids' lunch. And BEFORE 5 p.m. Triple score!




Knitting. Almost done with a couple of projects that were put on hold due to the sickness in our house. Now that everyone is feeling better (except for Maya, who is still dealing with an ear infection), I can finish some things and make good progress on others. Also, found this gem at Costco, full of ideas for using quinoa, loads of gluten-free recipes too. Sweet!

It's been a while since posting knitting updates in time for Ginny's yarn along. But my Shalom cardigan is DONE. As in, it's even blocked. I love it. Could've used an extra 10 stitches for the cast on, but I think it looks perfect with one button done, which is how I'll be wearing it. And I'm still counting on losing a few pounds sometime this year, mostly from my face (ha ha). So it's all good :)

Another week.

It's been a busy week. Wish I could say we've been up to all kinds of fun. But in reality, our busy-ness can mostly be blamed on sickness in our family. Ivy got sick first, then Anya followed her germ trail. Maya and Elijah picked up the crumbs just a few days ago. Unfortunately, those two don't slow down when they are sick (unlike Ivy, who for a couple of days just wanted to sleep and snuggle). If the peak of their sickness can be pinpointed by the amount of lacking judgment and rationality, then I'd say those two reached it on Monday. Good thing there was no cliff within walking distance to jump off. Luckily, Mark answered my distress call and came home early. So here I am, diligently documenting our happenings instead of catching up on sleep...

To sum it up in photos, our weeks consisted of:

the sick (and very cuddly) baby. I could use some of that cuddliness on regular days, without Ivy getting sick. Hear that, baby?


the yummy (gluten-free) food. still loving "Gluten-Free Baking Classics" by Annalise G. Roberts.





(just a quick mix of leftover polenta with sundried tomatoes and garlic, pan fired, served over spinach, with some feta cheese on top)

the latest favorite 'toy' (which they consider to be anything within their reach)








the artists. Anya's been perfecting her coloring skills by drawing sophisticated shapes and filling them in carefully.
















the bottomless pit of knitting projects. Including first practice pair of socks and now completed Shalom cardigan.






the I-slept-with-humidifier-in-my-room hair


the meaning of motherhood.
{picture a pile of my clothes used for wiping noses. against my will, I must add}