halloween day

homemade honey coconut cream candies

Little Pirates. Though tonight they plan to transform into a dragon and a lion. They are excited about the chance to roar at perfect strangers.



Small repairs on the costumes from the costume bin. Sewing on clasps to replace a broken zipper  for the lion and sewing claws on a pair of red gloves for the dragon.



Halloween books to read



 And there are plans to make an apple cake and some butternut squash "pumpkin faces," to roast hotdogs on a samhain bonfire and go out with some dear friends to do some candy collecting for the Switch Witch. Apparently she can turn junk food into small toys and books. Now that is magic.

Happy Samhain friends.

projects past

I wrote this post awhile back and am just publishing it now- a few crafts and projects from the summer. There are more still to add, but this is a start anyway! 

I've been meaning to post about various craft projects from this summer, but I seem to have a hard time remembering to photograph the things I'm working on. So I'll gather up the pictures I have on hand and write about what I've got. 

I dyed this wool with lichens I had been collecting for a shawl I want to make for a friend. It turned out a very subtle beigy- brown, but a warm tone that I think will be quite pretty as a shawl. I enjoyed the whole process a lot and I think I am going to want to do more dying of my own wool. My sister got me a book on planting a dye garden, so next year, I think I will include some dye plants in the garden plan and try for some more yarn dyeing. And then, someday I'll actually learn to use that spinning wheel that is collecting dust in the big house and spin my own yarn from wool I've dyed from plants I grew in my own garden. That does sound like fun. 

I knit these red slippers on one of our camping trips this summer. Ari requested red slippers with red pom poms.These were knitted in Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Cranberry with two strands held together.  I imagined that these would be worn with the cuffs folded down, but he likes them this way, and says they keep his legs warm. I had planned to sew a leather sole on the bottom, but Ari was not in agreement, as they currently make terrific skates on the wood floors. I'm not sure how they will hold up to such treatment, but until I happen upon some suede at the thrift shop, my little skater is in luck.

I finished these PJ's for the boys a little while back- the fabric had been sitting cut out and half sewed for ages and I finally managed to finish the job. Ari really needs new PJ's, and so I had him choose some jersey from the fabric shop to sew some for him. More red of course! Dori doesn't need PJ's at all, but I knew he would really love a pair of mama made ones, so I made these ones quickly from a plus sized thrift store women's shirt. They are quite funny- the bottoms are too short and rather tight, as I used the 3/4 length sleeves to make them from, and I giggle when I see him wearing them. But he was pleased and that's what matters. I will use the pattern I used for Ari's PJs again, I quite like how they turned out and they fit him really well.  

When I made Ari his red slippers Dorian declared that he needed a pair too (he has 2 pairs of slippers that fit him just fine,) and he needed purple ones. I wasn't too excited with the idea of knitting him something he didn't really need, and I didn't have enough purple in my stash to knit slippers anyway. So I knit him some mittens, which he does need, in the only purple yarn I had. These don't look like pairs much- more like distant cousins, especially with the different rib pattern on the cuff and the slightly different shaping- oh well. I knit these on another camping trip and I was paying more attention to the scenery and the kids fishing attempts than to my knitting. But they are warm and Dori seems happy with them.
Perry and the boys worked on the strawbale playhouse awhile back. It got a second coat of stucco and then a paint job with natural mineral pigments. I don't have a picture of the completed project on hand, but it looks quite sweet and the boys are very proud of it. Every visitor to the property must have a tour of the strawbale house/ icecream shop.




And this yummy yarn is waiting in the wings to become some other fun things. There are some future socks here, and a hat and scarf for me (yay!) and not pictured is the wool for a sweater for Perry. The rainbow wool is especially calling me, isn't it pretty? Oh, there is nothing like a package of new wool to play with to make this mama happy.

 I wanted to thank everyone for all the kind comments and e-mails over the past few weeks. I have been quite terrible about replying and keeping up with correspondence, I will really try to catch up. But in the meantime, know that I appreciate your words so much- thanks friends!

oh hello there.

Wow, The time has just been flying and I think I completely forgot I had a blog there for a bit. We have been pretty preoccupied over here with a few things, the main one being that, after much thought and research we decided to go on the GAPs diet to help heal allergies for Ari. It has been pretty crazy, the first while was really tough as I got used to the new cooking routines (the routine being: get up, start cooking, cook all.day.long and late into the night, fall into bed exhausted.) But I think we have found our stride a bit with it, we have introduced enough foods that the kids are not constantly starving, I have been able to fill the freezer with foods that are quick and the kids like, and I have made a meal plan that really helps me stay organized. Plus, I am feeling really well eating this way and Ari is absolutely thriving. Dori is adjusting, though it is tough for him, as he pretty much was happiest eating sweet things and starches before and those things are all gone now, but we are finding our way and he is doing quite well now. And amidst all that cooking and adjusting, we have done a few other non-GAPs related things too. A small few, but there have been some.

Our new-this-year chicks started laying. Ari has been going out every morning and collecting on his own and he is so proud to be doing this himself. He loves those chickens. And we are eating a lot of eggs these days, so this is a good thing.

Making kraut. This one has turned a lovely hot pink and is very yummy.

I've managed to pull the knitting out a few times. Working on a sweater for Perry, though I've warned him it might be a few years before he sees a finished product!

Playing in the leaves and enjoying the fall weather.

Enjoying the last of the garden and working on putting it to bed for the winter.

lots of playing indoors too- play dough rockets for the gnomes!

the last biking of the season

enjoying some GAPs legal treats- this was a almond flour pumpkin cake with a cashew cream topping. Yum.

Everything is in from the garden now (aside from the kale, but we need to get that in before the deer munch it all!) and it really feels like fall. A good time to be cooking in the kitchen and eating soups, and I do enjoy cooking, so it is all good. Maybe I'll even get to posting afew recipes. Maybe. Now I must go and make another vat of chicken stock and a huge batch of muffins for the freezer. Happy Thursday friends!

Three!

Dear Dorian,

We celebrated your third birthday this week- I can hardly believe that you are three already, you are growing so fast little boy! You are such a gift to our family, sweet boy. You are such a gentle soul, so loving and sweet and full of kindness. You are spunky too- you have your own ideas and you are not afraid to let us know what they are! You love to tell stories, and they are often quite creative- you talk about your "friends" a lot, a collection of imaginative characters who get up to all sort of crazy adventures. You love to play quietly by yourself, and the sweetness of your little voice in play just melts my heart. You also try so hard to keep up with your brother- you often repeat word-for-word what he is saying, and you have learned to run fast and bike fast and dance fast, just like him. Yet you like to do things in your own way, and there is trouble for anyone who tries to dissuade you!  You enjoyed your birthday celebrations this year, though you were fighting a cold and not feeling great. You loved the gifts we made you, the boat from Ari, the silkscreened crown shirt from papa, and the dolly from me. You were so excited that it was your birthday, yet you have been telling people that your are not three anymore, now you are two-and-a-half again. I think that sounds bigger to you! I love you so much my precious boy, and feel so lucky that you are here with us. It is a blessing to get to watch you grow. I love you baby. Love Mama