the wonder of it all

it's amazing watching a person grow. . .

finger paints

need I say more?

MOV02292 Zuri the Drummer

MOV02292, originally uploaded by mom2rays.

. . . climbs stairs and can ride a bike!

The gates have been installed, but they have to be actually latched or wonder baby, I mean Zuri, can find a way to get where she wants to go. This time around it's up stairs. This picture is from the 2nd time in as many days she figured it out. We are in deep trouble. She's quick, quiet and quite good at getting into places she isn't supposed to be. Earlier today on multiple occasions she tried and successfully climbed into her dollhouse! She also successfully climbed onto her catterpiller all by herself. She has had the dismount down pat for a few months.

Rocky found this oko Italtrike on craigslist and we picked it up for when she's substantially bigger but I had to give her a chance to check it out! She loves it. If she had her way we would not put it into storage and save it for later. Rocky predicted, but I didn't want to believe it, she has a natural inclination for things that go maybe as much as Charmie and Rocky do. . .

Zuri can walk!

MOV02207, originally uploaded by mom2rays.

Zuri started walking Thursday 12/04 but she's sneaky about it. Whenever I turned my camera on she would sit down, start to clap her hands and refuse to walk until I turned off my camera. Well I caught her unawares today, she was busy playing by herself and interacting with daddy!

Amigurumi who?

I've been all lusty after this art form but never delved into it until now. Amigurumi, it's Japanese, and it's crochet. The pieces are worked in the round and tightly stitched so that you cannot see the stuffing through them. They are 3 dimensional and often pretty detailed. Here is my first attempt. A doll for Zuri for Christmas. She's 7" tall and made from organic cotton. She needs clothes. . . I made a pair of panties/diaper but with her shape it just falls off. I think I will make a one peice body suit underwear thing that I dont' have to worry about falling off so much. I haven't decided whether or not to put on hair or not. I didn't know what I was doing so unfortunately quite a bit of stuffing shows through on this one. I learned some lessons though and made a little monkey doll for the dolly.

Monkey is smaller than a business card. Yes that is a business card next to her. The depth makes it deceiving but when I place her directly on the card and line up her feet there is about an 1/4" of cream card at the top. I used a significantly smaller hook and made the stitches tighter. I will be making more, they are kind of addicitve. They are not long projects, but they are labor intensive in that the crochet work is hard on the hands when it is so tight, and the details are tiny. I hope to get a few more done for Christmas presents.

O' Christmas Tree

Rocky did such a beautiful job decorating our tree!

Rocky finishing cutting, and the boys "helping" with their swords.

Charmie gets a turn by himself. . . he learns weilding the saw isn't as easy as daddy makes it look!

Mardie getting help from Daddy to cut a bit of the tree.

Christmas Tree Day at Pinetop Farm 2008

Last year we didn't get around to doing this. I just wasn't up to it at the end of my pregnancy with Zuri. We made the mistake of buying a tree by the roadside. We paid for it with dropped needles all over the place. This year we returned to our family tradition and drove out to our tree farm of choice. Due to the previous years of drout he only opened 4 days this year. This made us very sad. The selection was sparce but Charmie right away picked out this 8 ft. beauty. It isnt' as full, especially at the bottom as some of our past trees but it's still very lovely.

Fieldtrip and New Friends

The weekend before Thanksgiving Rocky and I took the kids to our Lake Hartwell, SC property to clear the lot some more and prepare for our move in teh spring, as well as to hava a bit of fun. We took the kids swimming. The boys were also helpful on day 2 with some clearing of the lot. They learned that little lizards loose their tail. . . long story anding with a root walled lizard dwelling complete with playground structure, "dinosaur" root excavation, and lots of other adventures. Overall we had a wonderful trip.

I have wanted to visit the Makers of my spinning wheel, as they are about an hour away, the Ford Family of HeavenlyHandspinning. I needed to pick up a set of new bobbins and also have one part of my Fidelis wheel inspected. I called Jan, the owner, to see if I could visit in person while we were there.

Jan is SO SWEET. If you ever purchase from her you will see. She welcomed me and the kids into her home, while Rocky did some major tree cutting and clearing, and we visited for a while. Richard, her lovely and talented husband, looked my Meggie kick spindle and Fidelis over and gave them treatments with hand rubbed beeswax and smoothed out soem arease as well.

They shared tips including what kind of preservative to use for the wood finish and how to get he Meggie to spin for longer. Their daughter Meghan, who the Meggie is named after, was wonderful with entertaining and supervising the boys and even watched Zuri for a bit. The kids all LOVED Meghan.

Not only did the family bless me with such a wondeful visit, but I was able to come home with a NEW DOUBLE TREADLE WHEEL, the Bellus.

Squee!

I am in love!

When I purchased my Fidelis wheel I asked Jan about a double treadle but the Bellus was not finished iwth development and they didn't know when it would be. Just a few weeks later Richard finished it.

I have been happy with my Fidelis and spun nice yarn on it, but he Bellus, being what I originally wanted was calling my name. . . I am so blessed to own one now!

I finished the wood with 3 applications of Howards Feed-N-Wax. The Red Oak wood has darkened and seasoned nicely. I plan to further embelish it with pyrography.

This sweet wheel has a slightly larger footprint than the Fidelis due to the 2nd treadle. It is easier to spin faster and feels more balanced. I often find myself spinning faster than I can draft. And I haven't even tried the fastest ratio. I have achieved my finest yarn yet.

I chose to navajo ply it. The result is a fingering weight three ply.