With tons of help from my mother, the real sewist in the family, I finally finished the skirt I started last July. This is the first garment I’ve sewn for myself since I was about 11 years old and mom tried to teach me to sew during one summer vacation. Back then, I made a pair of cotton shorts and a simple, matching shirt (kind of like a short-sleeved, scrubs-type shirt) and doing it was rather like jackhammering out my own teeth with a sewing machine. I’ve grown since then, I think.

The pattern is Butterick B4461, “Fast and Easy,” a simple A-line skirt. It has facing and a zipper in back and a couple of small darts in the front. Nothing fancy. Ultimately wearable. It fits into my mommy uniform of tees, sandals, and comfy skirts quite well.

Inspired by SouleMama {this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

My mama, who knits (generously and prolifically) very practical and beautiful things like sweaters, socks, baby blankets, and scarves, asked me, “So, what’s with all the knitted animals?” My answer is, “Because they’re small and cute and fast, and I can justify making them because I have kids (even though my kids don’t play with them). Moreover, I’m practicing simple/basic knitting skills like increasing and decreasing, following a pattern, and counting. Prerequisite skills for knitting anything that might be worn by someone.

In the case of this pony, the pattern (from Toymaking with Children by Freya Jaffke) was just slightly different from the donkey I knitted in June, so I was curious about that. I had the rainbow wool yarn from a felting project I did a couple of years ago. So, why not? Haven’t you always wanted a rainbow pony? I have!

Thursday was a big day for both of my children. Lucas attended his first swim meet (we had missed the first two meets of the summer due to illness) and Asher finished his second session of swimming lessons by jumping off the diving board.

Here’s Lucas (in the black shirt) doing a great backstroke. He is is becoming a stronger swimmer thanks to all this practice! This, and having fun, are our two big goals for this experience. I am also hoping that this is the right amount of team and competition for my beginning athlete.

He’s new to diving, as are many of his teammates. They are given the choice to dive from a standing or seated position.

Here’s Asher floating calmly with Miss Brittany. He has come a long way in the four weeks he’s been taking lessons. For the first time, on Tuesday, he didn’t ask my “WHY do we have to do swimming lessons?!” He just came along quietly and did the work. I think he’s finally settling into the routine of it, so I signed him up for another session! (We have to be there anyway!)

The coup de grace! Asher jumped (was helped) off the diving board with his noodle. He was cheerful until he had to walk the plank; then his face was full of grim determination. Jay was there in the water to reassure him and make sure Asher didn’t slip out of his noodle. He popped up quickly, blinked, and made his way to the ladder. We cheered like crazy!

Asher got a certificate for completing the session and a lolly. BIG treat!

Lucas reported that the swim meet was pretty cool, but there was a lot of sitting around and waiting for his turn in the water. They did a warm-up swim, then each child raced in three events, with multiple heats. In between races, they rested. During a regular practice, the kids swim for 45 minutes with only very brief rests.

Lucas’s swim meet culminated in ice cream sundays. Daddy came to see the kids swim, and so did two grandmas, so my kids had quite the cheering section.

Four more weeks to go.

This knitted kitty I made is far simpler than the knitted donkey I made a couple of weeks ago. Seriously, it’s all rectangles and all garter stitch. Easy, even for me.

My cat is about 2 inches high and 3 inches long. The pattern I used is from Toymaking with Children by Freya Jaffke, but all you have to do to make this little cat is to knit a rectangle that’s almost a square (for the body). Then cast on half as many stitches as you used for the body to make a head, which you will knit until it is a long rectangle (almost three times as long as wide). Last, cast on less than half as many stitches as you used to make the head, to make a tail. Knit about the same number of rows as you knit for the head rectangle. Then sew up the tail into a long tube. If your cat will be small like mine, then no stuffing of the tail will be necessary. If your cat will be bigger, you might have to stuff the tail with wool roving. Fold your head piece in half, sew up three sides, stuff it with wool, and sew up the final side. You may wish to make a few stitches to accentuate the ears. For the body, pinch a corner of your rectangle and sew it into a cone (leg), then move to the next corner and do the same thing. Repeat for all four corners to make for legs. Stuff all of the legs and body and sew up the body at the cat’s tummy. Now attach head and tail in a way that looks appropriately catlike. Voilà! A kitty!

My dear Lucas has been sick this week. Monday night, after a day of feeling low and opting to sleep with his head on his desk at school, his fever when sky-high and stayed there for a couple of days, with small breaks, thanks to the children’s ibuprofen I give him. So Tuesday and Wednesday, he worked diligently on the couch with a peg loom that Ian and I brought him from Seattle. (It seemed way more appropriate to bring Lucas an open-ended toy or craft rather than a silly Space Needle statue. And we were right!)

The Harrisville Designs Peg Loom kit comes with a long plastic needle to make weaving easy. The frame is wood; the pegs are plastic. It also comes with cotton warp string and 100% wool yarn in bright colors.

See how sick he looks? Kind of hollow around the eyes. But he worked hard on this and you can see he’s proud of it.

Binding off the warp strings was a bit tricky because they were quite short. I helped a little with this. But then he folded his woven piece in half, sewed up the sides, and sewed on a button. I showed him how to make a button hole and he did that with some embroidery thread. Now there is no mistaking where the button should be pushed through to close his pouch. He opted to finger-knit belt loops (instead of making a purse-like strap) and attached the loops to the back of his pouch.

Here’s Asher’s Yellow Bear modeling the finished pouch. It’s tremendous!

For a final step, Lucas “finger-wove” a belt. That’s what he calls it; I don’t know if this technique of “knitting” a wide belt using only one’s three fingers as pegs has another name. The technique he used is similar in principle to using a knitting nancy, AKA knitting tower or spool knitter. But that’s where my knowledge ends.

Waldorf kids are cool!

The knitted donkey work in progress that I wrote about last week is finished. Here he is!

We decided our newest mom-made toy is named Sturdylegs the Donkey. Other name contenders—all great suggestions from Lucas—were Nightsky, Faithful, and Chimney. His names were so perfect and creative, it makes me want to knit three more donkeys just to use them all. (I doubt any family of four needs four knitted donkeys, however.)

Sturdylegs is all one piece, knitted from wool yarn and stuffed with wool roving. His mane and tail tuft is black acrylic because that’s what I had. The pattern is from Toymaking with Children by Freya Jaffke.

I’ve started knitting a cat, which is far easier than the donkey.  😉

Why a donkey? I don’t actually know, except that it’s small and doesn’t matter. I think that appealed to me. And this pattern is more challenging that the lamb and duck that I’ve knitted in the past. I’d been feeling a lack of handwork even though I’m discouraged because the sweater I was knitting for Asher would no longer fit him if I actually finished it—yes, it takes me THAT long! (Oh, and he hates sweaters.)

Anyway, this donkey has been a good way to practice (remember) how to increase and decrease stitches, and to read a pattern. The trickiest part was increasing in the center of the rows to produce the neck of the animal. There was MATH and everything! It was a great boon to have my friend Dakini_Grl (an accomplished knitter) over for dinner the night I first attempted that! She’s the BEST. It’s actually looking like a donkey now.

Inspired by SouleMama {this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Asher has been very musical today—well, he’s been musical a lot lately. He sang a song about mooshy, mooshy zombies over his oatmeal this morning. Ian jotted it down.

“I don’t like no (mooshy, mooshy),

No I don’t like no (mooshy, mooshy),

I don’t like no mooshy, mooshy zombies!!!”

As Asher and I walked to school today in unseasonably chilly weather, he was on a hunt for a good, stout stick to carry. I steered him away from the sticks lying beneath the neighbor’s oleander trees and we found a perfect one about a block down the road. It’s got a gentle curve and two small branches near one end that look quite a lot like the hilt of a sword. Eureka!

(Now you have to imagine that all *s below are little tongue clicks.)

“I’ve got a sword!

I’ve got a good sword! * * *

It’s really, really big!

It’s got a sharp, pointy end! * * *

I like my sword!!!

I like to fight. I am strong.

I like to fight bad guys! * * *

I like to fight bad guys! * * *

Bad guys are BAD!

I fight them with my SWORD! * * *

I am a GOOD GUY!

I FIGHT THE BAD GUYS!

Sword, sword, sword, sword.

Sharp, sharp, sharp, sharp.

* * * * “