Yo-yos

Whew! Thank goodness I got that out of my system. Sometimes I feel the need to do a little hand sewing, and I always have grand plans for completed queen-size coverlets and quilts (see: Grandmother's flower garden, crocheted ripple blanket). This time I made myself stop with this tiny doll-sized product. It's about 9" by 11". I used Heather Bailey's tutorial for these. They're all from the scrap bin, and were actually pretty enjoyable to make. But I'm so glad to be able to let myself off the hook on this particular method. Sometimes there's too much inspiration out there, you know?

Strawberries

Yum! The strawberries are becoming a yearly spring tradition. We go to Wegmeyer Farm, out near my grandparents' place (and pretty close to my parents' new place, too). Everyone had a good time at the patch. Notice H's red shirt-- a deliberate clothing choice by Mama after last year's championship berry eating left his blue shirt purple with juice. This year H was more interested in picking and picking and picking than eating, though.

We picked enough for a couple of batches of jam and several gallon bags of frozen berries for smoothies. I'm always battling fruit float with my strawberry jam. Is the secret to let them macerate with the sugar for awhile before you cook the jam? For this batch, I just followed the recipe on the Pomona's box, and it's plenty tasty, although the fruit float is bad despite my turning efforts.

Also, while I appreciate the shorter cooking time (and using less sugar) with the Pomona's, for strawberries, it leaves the finished jam tasting a bit like freezer jam, of which I'm not a huge fan. (It works great for blackberries and blueberries, though, I've found.) I've got another batch of strawberries macerating with a vanilla bean in the fridge right now-- I'm going to try Food in Jars' strawberry-vanilla small batch jam tonight. It's a pectin-free recipe. I hope the extended macerating time will help me skip the fruit float.

Knitting Catch-up #1

We were moved out of our house almost all winter for a home renovation, so I didn't get to blog about the knitting projects that I completed in peak knitting season. I'm going to attempt to catch up, but there may be some unseasonable photos! This is George's stocking. It's (obviously) the same pattern as the other family stockings that I made in 2009. I think my favorite thing about this pattern is that it comes together so quickly with such a nice finished product. Line them in interlock and they look like a million bucks. Here are all the family

stockings hung by the chimney with care in the little house where we stayed during our renovations.

Pattern: Falling Snow Stocking by Jennifer Hoel, a free pattern on Ravelry

Yarn: Malabrigo Chunky

Needles: US 9

Lining: Cotton interlock

Kefir

I bought milk kefir grains from Cultures for Health about a month ago, and have had a pint jar on the windowsill growing ever since the grains arrived. We had been eating a lot of "kefir" from our dairy delivery (love South Mountain Creamery) in smoothies and such, but it was getting too expensive. H loves it so much that I decided to begin making my own.

I wish I could say this was harder, but kefir is so incredibly easy to make. After rehydrating the grains, you really just dump them into milk and leave it, covered, for 24 hours. H's favorite smoothie is kefir with strawberries and a little honey. We have been eating it instead of yogurt. For about a year, I was making yogurt every week, first in a little yogurt maker and then in the crock pot, but this is so much easier I don't know that I'll ever go back to making the yogurt.

Our success with milk kefir is making me curious about water kefir. I am a little wary, though, because although milk kefir is a fermented beverage, it doesn't taste alcoholic in the least. I'm worried that water kefir will be like kombucha, which I can't stand. Has anyone tried making their own water kefir?

Spring sensory bin

I found myself falling back on tv as a babysitter a lot more often than I hoped as we moved back into our house. There were times when I needed to unpack a box or reorganize a closet without little people underfoot, and so into the basement H went, to watch an episode of Little Bear. I know that tv has its place (for example, he's so excited to talk about all of the characters from that show, and the things they do often relate to our days, especially on walks or at the farm), but I don't really like the way H zones in front of the screen. So after I saw the wonderful sensory bins that Counting Coconuts' Mari-Ann puts together for her son, I decided to create one of my own.

This is our Spring sensory bin, with a garden theme. Henry loves to manipulate and sort tiny things, so this has been a huge hit. I put the items in a 32-quart under-bed storage bin (with a lid!) and added a little wooden bowl for sorting. I just need to get a magnifying glass, and this bin will be complete.

And the thousand dollar question: Does H keep the items in the bin, or does he throw them around making a huge mess for me to clean up? Well here's a little story about that. The other day, H wanted to play with the bin when I had just put it away. He pulled it down off the shelf, scattering beans and tiny things everywhere. We sat together and I made him pick each little individual item up, not letting him stop until they were all back in the bin. I told H how proud I was of him for cleaning it all up. Then I started to put the bin away, but saw a quivering little toddler lip, and relented and let him play a little more. I think this "animal bin" (as H calls it) might be the favorite toy of the moment.

I'm excited to build the Summer bin when the time comes (already have some great ideas!), but I hope he doesn't get upset when the Spring bin disappears in the night.

This bin contains: 7 pounds of black beans, 2 pounds of pinto beans, unscented (sparkly!) fishing lure worms, flower buttons, tiny insect buttons, wood beads, brown glass beads, green freshwater pearl beads, fake flowers in two sizes cut off of a "silk" arrangement from Michael's, brown pom-poms, feathers, and by far the most popular items: the contents of this Toob.

Making a home

I've been filling out a lot of forms lately. Some of them have been official forms for banks, others less official (although only slightly!-- people are *serious* about preschool) ones for H's first year of "real" preschool next year. And all of the forms have a little blank for me to fill in with my profession. Each time I write "home maker". I know some people who do what I do have problems with this term, but I think it's the best way to describe it, despite some negative connotations. (It's certainly better than "house wife", for example.)

I live in an area where many women and men have very high-profile careers. When they hear that I stay home, some think that I have no ambition. But they're wrong-- this is my ambition. It kind of always has been. I enjoy making our home and being a full-time wife and mother. Building the atmosphere of love in our house and practicing our routine, day in and day out. Stacking up peaceful days like waves on the shore.

Fabric diet

We've just moved back into our house after a longer-than-necessary remodeling session, and reorganizing the basement has afforded me the opportunity to lay my hands on almost every piece of fabric in my stash. There is waaaay too much. So, as of March 18, 2011 (when my husband and I shook on it), I am on a Fabric Diet. I won't buy any fabric for a year. I should mention that this diet is made slightly easier because my mom also has a huge stash, and what I need to finish up some of my unfinished projects I can probably "borrow" from her. Still, I hope I can make it!