one

 

Today we are celebrating Jude's first year. He is one! Already! I have become one of those people who says everything is going too fast. All my life time felt like it dragged on; I couldn't wait for the next thing to happen. But now I just want time to slow to a snail's pace so I can soak it all in. 

And there is a lot to soak in. On St. Patrick's Day, Jude learned to give kisses. Irish boy that he is, that seemed about right. Two days later he took his first toddling steps. He does a sideways shuffle because he's used to holding on to walls and furniture. 

He's such a sweetheart and a cuddlebug. K and I both feel incredibly lucky to be his parents! It's a hard, exhausting, and completely wonderful job. 

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Have a good weekend!

P.S. Notes on the birthday crown are here.

carving

Walk your own path.

Write your own story.

Carve your own spoon.

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I had my first (but hopefully not last) spoon-carving lesson with my father-in-law over the weekend. It was difficult, but such a fun and productive way to spend a morning! My favorite part was getting into a rhythm with the chisel and watching the spoon bowl and curves of the handle emerge from the birch wood. 

I am already gathering ideas for my next carving session.

everywhere a milo

Milo vests have been flying off my needles lately. I loved making these and, just from looking at the photos, I feel the urge to cast on another. There's a bit of magic each time those rounds of garter stitch suddenly become shoulder straps. It's the same feeling I get when I turn a heel in sock-making. Do you know what I mean?

Milo is a sweet, classic-looking vest and is endlessly customizable. For the larger, gray one I added a small cable down each side, and I could see trying out a different cable design for each Milo I make. Except that I love this vest plain, too. The yarn I used for the teal one is a Merino-bamboo blend, and it felt too slippery to cable without a cable needle, so I just knitted round after round of stockinette for the body.

I made the gray one first in the 18-month size, but it was much too big for my boy to wear this spring. So I cast on the little teal one in the 12-month size and made it significantly shorter than the pattern called for to fit my pint-size toddler. It is perfect for him to wear right now, and that makes me one happy knitting mama. Only I keep thinking how great it would be if he had two Milo vests that fit him right now. Hmm. Maybe I do need to cast on another.

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Have a great weekend! 

P.S. I officially changed my Ravelry name to match up with my blog, so you can now find me as fieldwonderful on Ravelry. 

mornings

After breakfast and teeth brushing, we play. There is peekaboo and castle-building and naming everything, especially the bunny picture in his bedroom. "Dat," Jude exclaims, pointing at the bunny once again and looking at me for an answer. He bounces his approval when I correctly identify it.

There's always lots of reading too. He usually cleans off his bookshelf first, throwing all the books on the floor, and then he chooses one to read. The Snowy Day has been in heavy rotation lately because we've got snow on the ground here again. He also wants to read any book that includes dogs, cats, or pigs. He likes to point at the dogs the most and one particular pig on a dinghy. I have no idea why.

This morning I pulled out a Vanilla soaker I've been working on and knitted a few stitches while Jude pulled every toy out of the toy box. He quickly realized I wasn't paying attention to only him anymore and came to investigate my yarn!

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I'm joining the yarn along with Ginny and many others today.

P.S. Thanks for the suggestions on what to knit with my pink and gray handspun!

gray and pink

  

I'm loving these colors together lately and am still fawning over the yarn I got at the festival last weekend. It's handspun from WindSong Fibers Farm. I'm thinking I should make something striped--maybe a cowl or shawlette. Any ideas for a little more than 300 yards of light worsted-weight yarn?

sugarbush

  

  

We braved the mud over the weekend to get our maple syrup fix. The Maple Syrup Festival did not disappoint. I drank maple syrup tea, which they make by ladling out hot sap from the evaporator and steeping black tea in it. And I stuffed myself with waffles covered in fresh syrup and topped with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. It's such a decadent breakfast, but I'm already dreaming of re-creating it at home.

After filling up on a sweet, syrupy meal we rambled around the festival. Or I should say, others in our group rambled around. Me? I made a beeline to the handspun yarn booth, where I spent all my festival time gawking over yarn and talking to Kate, the shepherdess, spinner, dyer, and knitter in charge of the whole operation.

I came away with a couple of handspun skeins, a year's supply of syrup, and the smell of woodsmoke on my clothes. It was a good day.

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I hope you all had a good weekend too!

P.S. If you're near the Southern Indiana area, you've got another chance to visit the festival this weekend.

before the thaw

Like so many other places, we've been hit with snow and ice and snow again. Snow doesn't usually stay on the ground for long in Kentucky, but this winter we've had it for weeks, long enough to get sick of it. Oh yes, I've had my fill of snow. I've also had my fill of being cooped up in the house. Jude and I kept ourselves as entertained as we could with piles of books and toys, and of course I've been squeezing in some knitting (a Milo for next fall). I've been keeping warm in the kitchen and filling our bellies with potato soup and hot chocolate with homemade marshmallows, the perfect things to help us through the gray winter days.

Things have been thawing out over the past few days. The snow and ice disappeared, and the ground turned to squelchy mud. We've been out for walks and done some porch sitting with bare arms. We've actually seen our neighbors! Everyone seems so happy to be out. Jude is enjoying his newfound mobility and finding ways to maneuver where he wants to go. He started pointing at things this week and saying what we interpret to be, "What's that?" I'm excited to get outdoors and explore with him.

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I am looking forward to the Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival this weekend. I'm excited to eat waffles with lots of syrup and drink maple syrup tea! Check it out if you're in the area. It's my favorite festival of the year.