Little Coffee Beans

yarn {and read} along

yarn

 

Snap pea. And bird's egg. Currently these are my two favorite colors.

The day this yarn from Quince & co. arrived last week, oh, that day was a good day. A very good day. I've been keeping my hands busy working on the Odette hoodie for my girl. She'll get the green one, and in a few years L can wear it, too. And soon enough he'll have his very own hoodie in blue. So far, this yarn is super-dreamy to work with and the pattern is moving along nicely as well. But to tell the truth, I'm feeling a little trepidation about those sleeves. Just stick to the pattern, and I should be good to go, right?

Fingers crossed. This is my first sweater, and I've got my eyes on the Katrine for myself so there's a lot riding on the success of these hoodies.

 

 

{and read} 

My dear friend in Colorado mailed me this copy of Barbara Kingsolver's latest, Flight Behavior. No doubt about it, Kingsolver is one of my favorite authors. I've read everything she's published. This novel is sure to be another imaginative and exquisitely written adventure.

The Flower's favorite library book this week is Are You a Ladybug? by Judy Allen and Tudor Humphries. 

It's a misty, rainy start to the day up here on the divide. The girl and I slept until 7:30 a.m. and I'm quietly nursing my second latte. Ssh. Don't tell my kids that the day is starting off close to perfect, or else one of them will surely lose their cool.

Here's to a smooth rest of the week. Happy Wednesday!

Joining Ginny .

yarn {and read} along

yarn

"Mama, you happy today, Mama?

Yes, sweetie. Are you happy?

I am! I'm going to knit a little bit. Okay, Mama?

That sounds nice. What will you make?

A house, Mama. I'm knitting you a house!"

 

 

In the last week, I've knitted these two hats for the kids. Initially, I thought I'd make them matching ear flap hats, but that's not how it turned out. I must have started the Flower's hat three times. I just couldn't figure out how I wanted it to look. In the end, I made it up as I went with a seed stitch brim, and a pom pom on top. And the Tree, well he got a hat quite similar to Dada's - a simple rib pattern with a cute little topper.

I loved working with that super-bulky wool/cotton blend. This is actually the first time I've knit with a super-bulky yarn and I loved how fast these projects went. I feel like I'm ready to take on a bigger project. Like, maybe my first sweater. Truth be told, I started the Baby Surprise sweater for Z when she was about six months old. I made it thirty or so rows before I abandoned it. I think what led to its demise was using those teeny tiny size 3 needles and working with such light weight yarn. I put hours of work into it and could barely see my progress. Given that experience, I've currently got my eye on the Cozy, Comfy Pullover in More, Last Minute Knitted Gifts. But don't hold me to it, yet. I was up too late last night looking at patterns on Raverly. Do you have a simple go-to sweater that comes together easily?

 

{and read} along

I'm currently reading the Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison. I picked it up because of its cover. I often do that, with both books, and wine. But especially books. If the cover catches my eye, and feels good in my hands, I'm likely to bring it home. I'm only 40 or so pages into this one so the verdict is still out. 

The Flower is most loving How to Raise Monarch Butterflies by Carol Pasternak, and I'm most loving reading to her And the Good Brown Earth  by Kathy Henderson.

Joining Ginny ~ follow the link to see what others are knitting and reading.

Happy Wednesday friends.

yarn along

This week, for the first time, I'm joining Ginny for her weekly yarn along. After almost a year without knitting, I'm excited to say that I've picked it back up! Unlike sewing, which is rather difficult to do with a lap full of babies, knitting is accommodating to nursing, and lap-napping children.

In the last two weeks I've finished a simple hat for my husband (here, and I love the way it turned out), and the honey cowl. For the cowl I knitted the in-between size (110 cast on). The slip stitch honey comb pattern is just lovely, but I'm not loving the in-between size. I can wrap it around my neck twice, but it's a little tighter than I prefer, and if it's not wrapped, then it's not quite as cozy as I'd like. It does, however, fit my girl perfectly and she seems to like it, so it's officially been gifted to her. I'll just have to start another one for myself. It's exactly the kind of knitting I like - rhythmic with no counting necessary.

Next up are ear flap hats for Z and L. Last night I cast on a hat for Z with a super-soft cotton/wool blend from Spud & Chloe. 

We are loving our local library branch. Every Thursday we go for children's story time and to refresh our weeks supply of books. Two of Z's current favorites are Little Night by Yuyi Morales, and Gotta Go! Gotta Go! by Sam Swope. Little Night is a beautifully illustrated story about Mother Sky and her daughter, Little Night (whose dress is crocheted from clouds) bringing colors to the evening sky while they get ready for bed. Gotta Go! Gotta Go! is a sweet story about a Monarch caterpillar who's "gotta go to Mexico!" We're actually both loving these two so much that I'd like to add them to our house library.

I'm reading Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri (author of the Namesake). It's a collection of short stories that has been perfect for bedtime reading.

Up here on the divide it has been brrrrr cold here the last two days. Our temps were in the teens last night and we're all happy to be starting our day in front of the wood stove.  Happy Wednesday to you!

 

birthday loving

Today we celebrate my biggest crush. It's Steve's birthday, and the girl and I are doing some early morning birthday crafting over here. Next up, I'm attempting my first ever homemade pie crust thanks to the help of Ashley English.

Why pie? After our first successful date (which was a blind date!) my man called, and left me a message saying that he'd like to invite himself over to my house for dinner, and in return he'd be bringing homemade pie fixing ingredients, including rhubarb from his garden. I think I made something spicy with chard and noodles, and his pie crust turned out beautifully. It was a good date! Today, I'm taking on apple pie. I think it's the perfect way to help my honey greet 39 with a smile.

I'll let you know how it turns out!

unraveling

The last few months have been a collection of many new experiences, to say the least. Many joyous moments with this family of mine. Hard spots along the way, too, as we settle into this new life, in this new house, in this new state. We're all changing, and as to be expected we're all experiencing our share of growing pains. 

It's hard to sum it up in a nice, tidy blog post, and I'm not one to complain about the state of affairs much, but sometimes life just feels like too much - too much stress, too many demands, too many house projects. I know for some folks, the nowness of hardship and struggle can be a time of rejuvenation, growing while wallowing in the muck of it, but that's not me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those overly-cheery folks that never has a bad day. Oh, no, no. I get pissed. I shout. I definitely slam doors, sometimes. But I get it all out in one messy burst, and I move on. Around here I've had many a bad day lately (we all have), but as challenging as this time may be, I'm trying to keep my sights on the sunny side. And, even though I see the beauty of life all around me, it's still rather messy right now. 

I don't want this blog to be about that. I come here to share the beauty of our life, the moments worth remembering, worth writing about. For my sake (and yours) I use this space as a place to pause and reflect on the yummy bits, and this is why I haven't been around much lately, because I'm lacking the energy to write about our struggles. 

But on the sunny side? Well, my family rocks. We're all healthy. And this house, while it needs a ton of work, it's pretty freaking fabulous living up here on the eastern continental divide. Also, I've picked up my knitting needles again, and I'm feeling inspired. In the last two days I've cast on countless stitches, gone a handful of rounds, then ripped it all out, only to start again. It may sound frustrating, all of that frogging, but it's quite relaxing, this rhythm of knitting and releasing. Knit. Release. Knit. Release. I knit all my stress in to a few rounds, then pull....

and it all unravels.

It's quite cathartic. I've saved a few patterns in my ravelry library, and I'm hoping to check out the cute local yarn store in a day or two, but for now this feels like enough. 

Knit. Release. 

the flower becomes the bee

My goodness that was fun! Who knew making a costume and turning a flower into a bee would bee such a hoot? My girl loves the bees that's for sure - she follows them around the garden, buzzing as she pretends to fly - so this get-up wasn't a stretch of the imagination in any way.

The costume was super-easy to whip up. The dress is a basic pillowcase design with yellow stripes sewn on. The knitted hat took me a little bit longer to make, however. I'm a beginner knitter and this makes my sixth hat (and my sixth overall knitted project). The pattern was a little tricky in parts and I had to go the yarn store once to get some help retrieving a dropped stitch, but the good news is I managed to stay on gauge (although the 18mo-2T sizing is still a wee small for my girl's big noggin). I'd hoped it would be a hat she could wear all winter but I think we'll be handing this one down to another sooner than later.

Overall costume cost: $10. 

Instead of  trick-or-treating we opted for an afternoon of dress-up at music class. A friend of mine gave me the brilliant idea of giving non-candy-treats to a few neighbors on the block to hand out to Zinnia and we'll definitely be doing this next year. Don't get me wrong I can get down with a bar of dark chocolate from time to time, and I have fond memories of inhaling gobs of halloween candy in my childhood, but my girl is way too young to be consuming her weight in empty sugary calories. She's got the rest of her life to crack-out on sugar and I'm going to postpone the love-affair with it as long as I can. Unitl then it will be toys, fruit and maybe a Lara bar in her trick-or-treat bag.

On that note I also found an affordable non-candy treat to hand out to the kiddos last night: fruit leather.

A box of 48 leathers was actually cheaper than the ginormous bag of candy at Costco and with less than five ingredients, I felt good about handing out these naturally sweet treats. The kids were stoked too. Two quotes from kids included: "Hey mom, that lady gave me fruit leather. Cool!" And (my favorite), "Finally a healthy treat that's not pretzels. I just love fruit leathers." You know you live in Boulder when... 

Zinnia stood at the door all evening waiting to get a glimpse of "babeees" coming up the drive. Every time she spotted a group the squealing would ensue.

She had a blast. And so did we.