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tucking in

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The first heavy frost came last week, this week the first snow flurries and frigid temps.  We’ve finished up the last few projects outdoors.  Brandon and I (mainly Brandon) worked on laying this stone walkway from our driveway to the back porch over the course of three weeks.  Sometimes it’s silly how long it takes us to get things done, but its not for lack of trying.  It’s just life in this season with a lot to juggle and a lot of interruptions.  We really love the finished product!  It’s always exciting to make improvements (though ever so slowly for us) to our little home.

I trimmed back bushes last week and raked up as many leaves as I could one morning then spread it over the garden.  The children have been enjoying any sunny warm weather they can, though those days may be behind us now.  How quickly these warm fall days give way to frost and bleak, barren limb.

Also, Phoebe has been singing weekly with a choir called Viva Voce and lately they’ve had a couple of performances.  These photos were from her first performance in a church nearby.  I can’t tell you how proud I am to hear her sing, and she loves it so.  Our mornings are full with school work, our afternoons are mostly full now with activities and I am running around ferrying children to and fro.  It is good, busy, and I’m a bit looking forward to a long break from school work in December.

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yarn along

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I cast on Noah’s birthday sweater a few days ago and am making good progress on it so far, almost done with the body below the sleeves.  He picked out the colors and I’m not sure if it will look good in the end but I love his input and wanted to make what he imagined come to reality.  I had wanted to knit him something with a color work yoke but he wanted big stripes.  My gauge is a bit off and this sweater is turning out on the big side, but I don’t have the heart to rip back and better to be too big than small.  I am using Beaverslide Dry Goods worsted weight yarn for the first time and it is really, really nice.  I would love a sweater in this yarn too one day!

The children and I began reading Pilgrim’s Progress last week.  We’ve read it before but I’m not sure if we finished it.

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yarn along

MarthaKimball10 Comments

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Apart from seaming the underarms and blocking, Philippa’s birthday sweater is done!  I need to cast on Phoebe’s this week, but I haven’t had the time to wind up yarn and swatch, so I’ve picked up my featherweight in the meantime.  Ever so grateful for a few mindless projects on the go that I can pick up as needed and add a row or two.  Somehow the body of my featherweight is already nearly done, I’m knitting the last few rows of ribbing on the hem.  Then onto sleeves.  I’m going to try knitting with small circumference circulars on the sleeves and see if it helps me avoid laddering.  I ordered 9-inch but now I’m wondering if I shouldn’t have tried 12-inch?  Any recommendations, knitters?

I’m still reading On the Road with Saint Augustine.  I can’t move too quickly through this one, lots to mull over and reflect on.  Although let’s be honest, I’m not reading much these days, only the last few minutes before sleep.

Joining with Ginny’s November Yarn Along, and Nicole’s weekly Crafting On.
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halloween fun

MarthaKimball8 Comments

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The sweetest halloween.  We aren’t huge halloween people, but children do love to dress up and to go door-to-door asking for candy, so we allow it.  I never want to spend much  (or anything) on costumes but I did buy noah’s costume (second hand), which he really loved, though I had tried hard to convince him to be a lumber jack so we could have a woodland theme (with Phoebe being a wood fairy).  I knitted a little mushroom cap and neck piece for Wren and a fox bonnet for Philippa from scrap yarn.  Phoebe put her own costume together and when she was looking at pictures with me she said, “Oh I really did look beautiful.”  I thought that was so precious, and I hope she always thinks that when she sees pictures of herself.

Wren was an absolute hoot to trick-or-treat with.  Every other time I’ve put the hat on her she has pulled it off but she this time she must have gathered that it was dress-up and she totally loved it.  She wanted to run up to the houses just like the big kids and she would eagerly yell out some form of “trick-or-treat,” and happily wave “bye” and say “dee-doo” (thank you) for candy.  She loved having her own “basket” to carry and didn’t want any help.  Though heavy rains and thunderstorms were forecasted we had clear weather and it got pretty cold by the end of the evening.  We don’t keep any of the candy we gather, Brandon ends up taking it to work, and I trade it out for the kids with candy and chocolate from the health food store that is certified GF and such.  They don’t mind a bit and are good sports about it.

Now, we are into November, and what a beautiful start to the month it has been.  I hope you all had a safe, fun and happy Halloween.

yarn along

MarthaKimball2 Comments

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I’ve made a good bit of progress on Philippa’s birthday sweater.  I’ve just finished joining the sleeves and body and knitting the first bobble row.  I’ve also been working on a last minute bonnet for her for her halloween costume and a pair of birthday socks.  She’s been seeing sneak peeks of what I’m working on and is very excited to be the recipient of  a lot of woolly love lately.  I’m eager to get back to some of the more selfish projects I had going, but yarn will arrive soon for both Noah and Phoebe’s birthday sweaters and I need to start on them asap.  Noah’s should be a fairly quick knit, but Phoebe’s will be fingering weight color work and will likely take a bit longer.

I’m still reading On the Road with St. Augustine.  It’s a bit different than what I expected, but it’s interesting and thought-provoking and I’m curious to see where it will go.

I do hope to get a regular blog post up soon, sorry for the absence.  It has felt busy around here with just our regular mundane and ordinary living and sometimes I forget to stop and photograph those moments, too.  Can you believe it is the last few days of October?  Please, time, slow down.

Sending love and well wishes to you today, dear reader, and just wanting to extend a big thank you for reading along here, for kind comments and encouragement, for the thoughts you share in return with me.  I do love hearing from you.  I’m grateful for your company in this little corner.

Joining with Nicole’s weekly Crafting On.

yarn along

MarthaKimball1 Comment

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Good morning, friends.  It’s another rainy Tuesday here in which it’s hard to find good light for photos.  That’s okay, though, I love the moody light on rainy days.  This week I’ve cast on for a birthday sweater for my Philippa who will be turning five exactly a month from today.  Sob.  This should knit up quickly as it’s a chunky weight sweater.  Last year Philippa didn’t really care for her birthday sweater so I thought I wouldn’t bother making another, and she has gone back and forth about whether she wants one, but I think if I knit for all the other kids and not her she will be bummed.  So, I’m trying to using some yarn that’s fun and colorful (which she picked out) and make an easy pullover and hope for the best.  She has requested socks and I hope to get a pair of those done, too.  Socks are really her favorite. 🙂

Also, I’ve begun On the Road with Saint Augustine.  This one looked really interesting to me and I’ve had a hard time putting it down thus far.  I think I will really enjoy it, but it’s a bit early to say.  There are some things already that I’m not sure I agree with.  However, it is a very timely read for me personally.  I have loved The Confessions by Saint Augustine since college and I’m eager to spend more time with him on these pages.

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yarn along

MarthaKimball2 Comments

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Still working away steadily on my fall featherweight cardigan.  It is easy and soothing to work on, and I tried it on yesterday for the first time to check length and “oohed” over how wonderful it felt on.  I hope I can knit it quickly enough to be able to wear it soon!

I’m reading The Graces We Remember, after reading the other two books in the series (one for spring and one for winter, this one is for fall).  I really enjoy the simple stories from their family life on the farm and the way she finds humor and holy realities in the midst of it.

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the first autumnal day

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On the first truly autumnal day of the year (last Saturday) when the rain fell off and on all day and the temps dropped low, we went out for a little drive in our town to find a pumpkin patch.  Our area is apple country and there are lots of orchards here, but almost none are organic (there’s only one that I know of and they aren’t u-pick) and they tend to be crazy busy this time of year.  We passed quite a few with lines of people curving around buildings waiting for cider doughnuts.  Hoping to find a quieter, lesser-known spot with a true pumpkin patch, we stumbled upon the perfect spot.  There were only a handful of other people there, the kids could wander through the pumpkin patch freely and the view was beautiful.  Phoebe couldn’t believe Noah was about the same height as her.  Noah found the “biggest pumpkin in the patch” so we will have a nice carving pumpkin for halloween.  Wren tried to figure out what all the excitement was about and Philippa trotted happily along with everyone else.  This spot was technically a nursery, so after picking out some pumpkins we wandered through the greenhouses. The children also had to pick out small pumpkins to paint, as they’ve done for the last number of years.  It was a sweet and simple way to spend a Saturday morning together.  We do so love this time of year!  (And if you’re local and need a good quiet spot to wander through growing things, we recommend visiting Linda’s Plants and Shrubs.)

yarn along

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Rain has been drizzling off and on here all day, now it pours in buckets from the gray October sky.  A torrent rushes out from the gutter on the garage roof.  The light is gloomy so it was hard to capture the color of this beautiful yarn accurately.  It is a dark mustard-y chartreuse, more golden yellow than is showing here.  I’ve worked on a few small baby items this week but mostly have been working on my featherweight cardigan.  It isn’t necessarily knitting up quickly, but I am enjoying every minute of it.  This lovely yarn from John Arbon is wonderful to have in hand.  It feels a bit different than anything I’ve knit with before, but I do really like it.

I’m still reading Beauty for Truth’s Sake, last night reveling in the theology of geometry.  I’m not a mathematician and this book is a mind-bender in the sleepy late evening hours, but it is still accessible to me.  Oh, to study any realm of the world and find in it Christ, the cross, the great Architect writing His design into all things.  It’s breathtaking.

Also, I pre-ordered a copy of Christina Deanne’s book Modern Heritage Knits.  She is a local-to-me designer (though I believe she just moved) and I’ve knit one of her patterns before, the Minaret crop, which I love.  There are so many patterns in this book that I want to knit so I felt it was worth purchasing!  It has been lovely to slowly flip through and savor it.  I don’t purchase many knitting books or magazines (though I wish I could!) and its nice to have something I can enjoy leisurely and knit from when I can.

Do comment below and share with me what you’re making or reading this week!

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in the company of trees

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“Popular attention has been caught by a concept from Japan and China called Shinrin-yoku, or ‘forest bathing’.  It is a common practice that began in the early 1980s, involving spending time in a wood or forest to ‘bathe’ in the atmosphere for the benefit of mind and body….In recent years follow-up research aimed at understanding the Shinrin-yoku phenomenon has shown that walking in a green space has a direct positive effect on several systems in our bodies.  Blood pressures decrease, levels of the stress hormone cortisol drop, anxiety is alleviated and pulse rates diminish in subjects who have spent time in nature and particularly among trees.”

– A Wild Remedy: How Nature Mends Us

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

– Joyce Kilmer

Since college I’ve wanted to visit Joyce Kilmer memorial forest and when we realized Lake Santeetlah was right next to it we knew we had to go for a hike there.  We weren’t disappointed.  It truly is difficult to capture the largeness of these mighty giants and it was amazing to walk amongst them and be dwarfed beneath their canopy.  I can only imagine how beautiful it would be to go visit again when the leaves are changing.  Truly, there is something restorative about walking in a forest, bending low to notice the smallest of creatures, the tiny microcosms juxtaposed by the mighty trees beside them.