Author: MarthaKimball

a spring birthday + a historical farm visit

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Dear little Wren-wren turned six on March 3rd, when the hellebore were blooming and the frosty mornings gave way to the scent of warming soil. She received a new dress, as she does every year (and I’m grateful she is still excited about that), as well as a new hand knit sweater. She also received a new book of course, as well as a small camera that prints photos, with a few other goodies. Already I have forgotten some of the details of her day, but I know it was a delight and joy to celebrate this happy little girl who can’t wait to grow up.

We gathered with some fellow homeschooling friends to visit a local historical home and farm, the Historic Johnson farm. Touring the old home, doing a craft together, followed by touring the school house and a tractor ride on the grounds to visit the goats and bees was a delight to us all. It is sweet to step back in time and see how people lived in the late 1800s. I love all the old farmhouse elements so it was a delight to tour. Afterwards we had a big group picnic on the grounds. It was the first time in a long time that I took my old camera along for photos instead of using my phone, reawakening my love for capturing moments in this way. With computer issues preventing me from uploading photos until recently, I sort of abandoned my camera for awhile. It is so good to pick it up again and play.

Don’t you just love the old homes? I get so much inspiration for design for my own home. There is also a heritage weavers and fiber arts building on the farm and I plan to take a spinning class here next month, which I’m very excited about. It’s always enriching to connect with local fiber artists. Little field trip excursions like this really enliven our homeschool days, and I’m always grateful for the way spring brings a bit more breathing room into our schedule to allow for them.

welcoming Titus

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Titus Wilder, born February 28, 2023 at 11:46 am, 9 lb 14 oz.

As you can see, he was so loved and adored from the beginning. All the hands and all the holding. These were some of the sweetest moments of my life, holding that newborn chunk of sweet-smelling goodness and watching everyone meet him and snuggle him for the first time. I was induced for his birth the day before his due date because we were concerned about his size. It is the only time I have been induced and though it wouldn’t be my preference, it went fairly well. His birth was relatively straight forward and without complication. I cried when he was born with such an intense wash of relief and joy that all was well. I remember one of the nurses also cried and said it was such a special birth. We took nearly our whole hospital stay to settle on a name for him and felt that God led us to Titus. Brandon really liked Wilder for his middle name.

I’m grateful that despite the delirium and fog of those early days, I took the time to snap a few newborn photos, the only ones I captured. I haven’t shared them anywhere before. I remember being completely spent and sweaty after the couple of hours it took to get everyone dressed and trying to get decent shots by ourselves without a tripod, but it was worthwhile!

Then before we knew it, we were celebrating his first birthday. One whole year of waking up each morning to his snuggles and squish, everyone piling into our bed arguing over who would be first to hold him. Even at 16 months old, this is still the daily routine, their enjoyment of him strong as ever. It has been the sweetest season even amidst other difficulties, sacred and precious beyond words as we consider what a gift each child is, what a miracle, and we drink in the pure blessedness of it.

returning

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The first zinnia of the season, the turning of the days once again, the summer solstice. My heart turning once again back to this space, to words, to the slow pace, to contemplation, learning.

The past few years have felt like a plowing, like a shaking, a shifting. All the things I wish I could share, could explain, but how to write all the space of three years into a post? And so much of it is the tender, hidden aching and growing, losing and grieving and then rejoicing again. The narrow and often strenuous path of life curving through lonely mountain peaks, then winding back through warm mountain meadows.

I have thought many times, tried many times to sit back down in this space and “catch up,” but it has all felt overwhelming and uncertain. I am not sure that I have anything worth saying anymore. The world feels far less safe to be sharing my thoughts and family with. Yet another school year comes to a close and I feel this sudden ability to breathe again, to come back to myself a bit, to have this wider space open up for thinking, reading, creating, and I find myself considering it again. In the three years or so since I’ve posted, life has gotten exponentially busier. After the most difficult pregnancy yet, we joyously welcomed our fifth child, Titus Wilder, 15 months ago (for those of you who don’t follow me on IG). This past school year in particular felt entirely overwhelming juggling the needs of teaching four children ranging from 7th grade to Kindergarten while nursing a baby and dealing with sleep deprivation. They have been the sweetest days of my life and I haven’t wanted to miss a second of it, which means being ruthless in examining priorities and where I spend my time and energy.

I guess what I’m trying to say is I miss blogging. I so treasure looking back over the very different seasons I recorded here previously. I miss the way it gave space for my meager pursuit of photography and writing. I don’t feel that I have much room to try to squeeze it back in but I’m going to try here and there and we’ll see what happens.

So, hello again. I’m not sure that any of you are still there? I wonder how you are.

yarn along

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Nearing the end of November and the beginning of the Advent season now, and it has been weeks now since I posted. I do hope to have my computer issues remedied soon but there just has been no time or energy! I’m a bit technology adverse too so I’m sure that doesn’t help. I do have so many photos and things to share which does motivate me to press through the tedium of technology changes to get photos uploaded.

For now, just a simple yarn along post to pop in and say hello, to share what I’ve been knitting and reading lately. I finished Philippa’s birthday sweater in good time for her birthday and she really loves it. Pretty quickly afterward I cast on Noah’s birthday sweater. I’m knitting him a beautiful cabled sweater, which does move a little slower for me and requires more attention, but it will be worth it.

The kids and I have been reading Secret of the Woods aloud. It was a bit slow to get into, but we are really enjoying it. The way the author describes his observations of animals in the woods seems to slow us all down and immerse us in that natural setting, having such a calming effect. The stories are memorable, too. The kids often recount things learned from this book as we encounter an animal in our own nature explorations.

I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving and may you have a sweet start to the Christmas season.
xo

Martha

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yarn along

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October is nearly gone and it has been a beautiful month in many ways. Last weekend we were camping by our favorite mountain lake and the colors and weather were perfect. It seems like the fall colors here are burgeoning later, and maybe we are only just now on the cusp of peak color. October is the best month in western North Carolina in my opinion.

As November approaches, birthday sweater knitting season commences. I’ve begun Philippa’s birthday sweater and need to make some quick headway on it! They always knit up faster than I expect, however these children are bigger every year and the birthday sweaters take longer than they used to. Philippa helped pick out the yarn and pattern. She’s pretty picky about what she wears, and it’s worth it to me to know she will like the end product rather than surprise her with something she doesn’t like. This pattern has you begin knitting the back panel and then pick up for the shoulders and neck shaping. I’m ready to begin shaping the left shoulder and then will soon be able to join in the round, and the knitting should go a lot faster then. It is very soft, and Philippa has freaked out anytime she’s touched mohair yarn because it is so soft. It’ll be a treat for her to have a mohair sweater! She keeps reminding me I need to be working on it whenever she sees me knitting on something else, and she is very much so looking forward to her birthday.

I finished These High, Green Hills and need to check out the fourth in the series from the library. In the meantime I’ve been reading A Burning in my Bones by Will Collier, a biography of Eugene Peterson. It is interesting so far.

Hope you are well, hope to be able to share more on the blog besides yarn alongs soon!

xo
Martha

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yarn along

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Hello!

It’s October and my soul is so happy to welcome this most favorite and beautiful month. I haven’t been posting here because I’ve had computer troubles. Our very old desktop which I use to post this blog and to store my photos is finally dying. It will no longer open WordPress, and I’ve been having issues downloading photos from my camera. Boy do I have some catching up to do! But I’m not sure when or if it will ever happen. My phone is also having issues and wouldn’t let me email this photo to myself so that I could post it via Brandon’s laptop. All that to say, I’m bummed to have been so absent in this space and I miss blogging, but I’m not really sure what the future holds in that regard.

However, I finally figured out a way to get at least this post up! I have been knitting away on a new cast on that I’ve been contemplating for some time. I purchased this beautiful Wensleydale yarn from Woolly Mammoth Fibre Co a few years ago and have had trouble knowing what to knit with it because I only have two skeins. Of course it would have made a beautiful shawl, but I wanted a garment. So, I’m attempting to knit the brightfeather sweater but I’m playing some serious yarn chicken, so my tentative plan is to make it short-sleeved. We’ll see how it goes! One of the loveliest things about knitting is that if a project doesn’t work, one can always rip it out and reuse the yarn for something else.

I’ve been reading the third book in the Mitford series, These High Green Hills, and enjoying it. Also, I’ve been intermittently reading Humble Roots by Hannah Anderson, and have enjoyed it also. I was drawn to it because of the connections she makes between plants and the spiritual concept of humility. It’s a library book that is overdue so I need to finish it pronto!

So if you’re still here and reading along despite my spotty blogging as of late, I’d love to hear what you are making and reading lately?

Hope you are well, friends.

xo
Martha

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yarn along

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Hello, friends. Early September and our school year is well off to a start, our reading time together picking back up with more regularity. I’m on the last few pages of A Light in the Window, but thought I’d share today a read-aloud that the kids and I are enjoying lately, The Children of Noisy Village. During our morning meeting + snack time, we have all laughed through the sweet short chapters. Children, for all their occasional frustrating behaviors or wearying requests, are really some of the very best to spend time with.

I recently cast on these Elinor socks in some beautiful yarn I purchased off another knitter’s destash. It is so soft and lovely to work with and the dimension of the color is enjoyable. I tend to avoid lacey or really textured socks because they typically require more attention and are not as portable or easy of a project for me to take on errands. These, however, have been excellent! The lace repeat is 6 rows, very easy to memorize and very fun and addictive to knit! I have been loving working on them.

What have you been reading, knitting, or making lately?

Hope your September is off to a good start!
xo

Martha

a new sweater for wren

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Give a girl a bouquet of flowers and she’ll know just what to do. This little sweater for Wren was a knit I have planned for her last winter but time got away from me. It is the old growth sweater, slightly modified to omit the leaf/tree lace motif. I knit it in Ozetta’s beautiful soft and sheepy 100% Columbian wool. It will be very warm I think, though she will need a little something for her neck since the neckline of the garment is a bit open. I sewed buttons on this morning, albeit a bit crookedly. She couldn’t wait to wear it. The mornings have grown chilly and cool here, but it is still not quite sweater weather. We pulled a few zinnias from the garden, drying as they wane at summer’s end, still so beautiful. She walked barefoot out to the big maple where the sunlight fell softly through the shade and she let me snap these pictures. I will treasure them forever not because of the sweater but because I sure do adore this beautiful, feisty, sweet little girl.

yarn along

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Today is the very last of August and rains from hurricane Ida should reach us soon. We are ready for a couple of cozy days hunkering down and entering our second week of school. Though it has continued to be very hot and humid here, I am knitting away and starting to plan for fall items for the children as well as birthday sweaters. Actually, some small items such as hats and socks have been in my plans since last winter but it’s taken me this long to get to them. One such long-awaited project is the Old Growth cardigan I’m knitting currently for Wren. This one is flying off my needles and I forgot again how quickly baby/child knits can go when you devote time to them. I should have this finished in the next few days I suppose, and though she doesn’t need it yet, it will be ready for the first cool days of fall. Maybe we can usher them in sooner! I’m knitting with Ozetta’s 100% Columbia wool and it is super cozy, warm, thick and soft. Wren is very excited and loves to see her momma knitting for her.

Meanwhile I’m continuing to read A Light in the Window and am getting close to finishing it.

What are you working on these last Indian days of summer? What are you reading, knitting, or making?

xo

Martha

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summer fun

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All the little moments, their childish messes and the general disarray of our home with busy little people constantly at play. These are things I don’t want to forget. Seasons will come and go and the phases they are currently in fade quietly into the next. I was putting wren to bed today and remembered how when she was first learning to talk she would wake up in the mornings and say first thing, “Goo’ morning mom!” in the voice she uses when she’s trying to sound big. I loved it so much that when I put her to bed at night I would always say, “And don’t forget to say ‘good morning mom’ when you wake up.” Before I could even finish saying it she would say “I not forget!” so fast and then I would tickle her. Then she began to tease me and say “I forget,” knowing she would be tickled. I still remind her when I put her to bed and she still says it every morning when she wakes up but now her little voice is different and she doesn’t say “I not forget” anymore and I so wish I had recorded it sometime on camera so that I can not forget. Now she will just say as fast as she can “Forget” and “sbasket” (which is how she says “basket”) just to get tickled as I’m putting her to bed. I love the little years. Hard as they have been at times they have brought so much joy and I don’t want them to end!

Phoebe did drama camp this summer. We were grateful it was offered! She had a great week and played the part of an evil knight in the play. She did a great job! I always admire the ease with which she is on stage performing in front of others. Noah and Philippa did a week of basketball camp (Crossfire Ministries). They were a little overwhelmed at the beginning and balked at going after the first day, but they learned a ton and had a really special week together. It sparked in both of a them a new love for the sport and they have been practicing their drills at home.

In other summer news, my sister and her children visited for about 2 1/2 weeks from British Columbia, Canada. It was a really fun time together reconnecting after three years of not seeing one another and a lot of changes and challenges in our families during that time. It was really precious to be with my niece and nephews, have a lot of pool time and play at my parents house together. We had a picnic one weekend and met my brother and his family there to meet their brand new adopted daughter, Eliana Joy. She was born two months premature and is so tiny in these photos. We loved getting to see her and hold her finally! And we look forward to doing so again soon. (I can’t share photos of her face yet until all things are final.) More summer fun to share in the next couple of posts, I’m trying to catch up after so much busyness and very little time to blog about it all.

I hope you are well and enjoying the final bits of summer!