1) We have no more snow. Only rain. Animals are happy to have grass again. I am sad to have mud again.

2) I can’t stop crocheting earflap hats. I bought a whole bunch of new wool and like I said, I can’t stop making them. Our whole family is outfitted and then some. I made myself a red hat (fired brick is the color) but even though the red is the most beautiful color, it is too much color for me. Then I tried coast grey. Not enough color. I need dark. I should have just made a black one in the beginning. Those hats (that I decided not to keep) are at a local bookstore for sale. I have more wool waiting in the wings. I can’t stop making them. In fact, I am thankful to have this project because there are many times when I want to be doing something sitting down and quiet. This fits the bill.

3) Started schooling again this week after our two week Christmas break. I have been getting the kids up early. This is not only for school and productivity, this is an attempt to ensure that they are really tired at night and thus will go to bed instead of be wakeful for a few hours after bedtime. It does really help with our school day, too. If they don’t get right outside early to feed the animals then school starts too late for my liking.

4) I have a friend who admired our merino wool interlock shirts/garments. I made a baselayer shirt for her husband so he can keep warm when he’s out and about with his job. It is working so well that he wants three more of them. I made two of those yesterday for him and one shirt (just like mine) for my friend. I will dye those black/dark grey today. Also today I will sew him a shirt that remains a natural color. For her today, I will do a baselayer (like this) out of tan wool jersey. I also promised to sew an overdress for their daughter to match dresses that Haniya and Naomi have. I love sewing and there is nothing like a deadline to get me going (we will be going to their house tomorrow for a turkey dinner).

5) I love my new bed! I’ve adjusted.

6) Haniya has begun the journey of getting braces. We hope to shorten the total length of time of her wearing them (compared to most kids) because we homeschool and she can/will wear the head gear many more hours a day than most kids do. This past Wednesday, she got a spacer put in. Next week, the bands go on. Then after two more weeks, the head gear, I think. She is a lovely girl and we are so proud of her courage! She’s a little anxious because on the 28th, she has to have one of her stubborn baby teeth extracted.

I can’t tell you how much we’ve watched it. I will find the kids in front of the computer practicing the moves, getting tangled up in their own limbs, yet getting really good! The laughs are the best. This hasn’t gotten old yet.

Note: The picutre above is NOT the video; it is a screenshot of it. Click on the picture and you’ll be taken to our video at elfyourself.jibjab.com. It expires on January 15, 2009.

“Oh, no, that is so out of the law!”

What did he mean by “out of the law”? I’d like to know if his logic is apparent to anyone outside of our family.

Mikah

Naomi

Naomi and Fiddlesticks

Naomi and Trouble, the steer

Naomi and Mikah, kicking their feet in a waterfall off the rock wall.

Two days ago, the ground was still entirely covered by snow. We received snow for two weeks. Then two days ago, it started raining. Pouring actually. Washed away and melted almost all the snow. Finally, the goats and the cow could start grazing again.

During the heavy snow (it was up to mid-thigh on the kids, above the knee on the grown ups), we lost several trees. The kids counted 25 total of downed branches, fallen over trees, or bent over trees. Today, the wind is blowing and Jeff is worried about more trees falling. The ground is so wet. In particular we have three or four madrones surrounding the barn. Eventually we are planning to take them down, but we are worried they might fall over today with the wind and wet weather.

With regard to fabric and yarn, here’s my thinking: if I’m going to make something, why not make it well, with the best materials, that perform best?

For fabric and yarn, that means, most of the time, I use wool.

Do you know the benefits and properties of wool? The fiber is incredible! Wool is moisture absorbing (holding moisture away from the body), insulating, easy to clean, low static, wrinkle resistant, durable, color-fast, fire retardant, dust mite repellant, natural, renewable, and easy to sew. Read more about wool at  DenverFabrics.com.

If you think wool is itchy, think again. Merino wool (very fine, smooth, soft wool) can be tolerated, even enjoyed, by most people who think they are allergic to wool.

As for being a food snob, here’s my thinking. I have to cook, right? We need to eat, right? Why spend money on things that are not good for us? Why cook/eat things that God did not provide for us to eat (like engineered, processed foods)? You can read much more about that at my kitchen/recipe site, GNOWFGLINS™.

Are you a snob about anything? I’d like to compile a list with input from all my readers. Share and give your reasoning. I know we can all learn and be inspired by what is shared.

Oh, be sure to start your comment with “My name is _____ and I’m a _____ snob.”

For me, I have a very selfish reason why I don’t fancy having a Christmas tree up ever again. I hate clutter. So you might be wondering why I consider a Christmas tree clutter. It really isn’t. But my mind feels that way about it. Another thing to pick up after and freshen up, and then take down again. You also might think that my house is clutter-free; guess again! Ironically, at this stage in my life, I have more clutter than ever! I am very tired and very busy and don’t keep up with it well enough.

Now that I’ve disparaged Christmas trees, let me surprise you by sharing a kind of Christmas tree I can embrace: a living tree. Every year, my sister-in-law sends us a living bouquet to celebrate Christmas, our anniversary (the 28th) and both Jeff’s and my birthdays (his is the 4th, mine the 8th).  This year, she sent us a lovely ‘living’ Christmas tree which we can replant outside, where it will grow to 10 feet tall. I think ours is a juniper, but I could only find this picture of a cypress at 1-800-flowers. Isn’t it lovely? The fun part is that it also came with a strand of lights and some ornaments, which the kids enjoyed putting on. And its low profile suits me perfectly!

Tomorrow I have *got* to find time to declutter the house. I have piles all over the place. Anybody else a pile maker like me? Just here by the computer I have three piles. In the kitchen I have two piles. I have another huge pile on top of my household notebook and financial binder. Then in my room, another pile. In the bathroom, well… you get the idea.

Our Christmas is going to be about the simplest ever. The kids picked out their Christmas presents. They all wanted a useful multi-tool, so we ordered them each a Leatherman Surge multi-tool off of eBay. They arrived the other day. The kids wanted to use them as soon as they came and we said yes. We also ordered some plant walk and survival DVDS from GrannysStore.com. They have been fun to watch. We’re into that genre lately. Have you seen Survivorman or Man v. Wild? We’ve been borrowing those from Netflix and have become big fans of Bear Grylls and Les Stroud.

We have been kind-of-sporadically reading Jotham’s Journey. I am sure we won’t finish by Christmas, as we are far behind. I feel badly that its conclusion won’t coincide with Christmas Day. But we’ll do the best we can. Jeff’s mom gave us this book to read during the Christmas season (thank you, Judy!). I’m thankful she gave it to us because I have been hearing about this book and wanted for us to read it. Even if we’re late.

What are your Christmas plans? Do you like to go all-out or low-key?

Yesterday, I watched Persuasion while finishing up Jeff’s back up wool earflap/neckflap hat. Then I started a forest green hat for my friend. She is going to give me a Thai massage in exchange. After that I’d like to make a hat for myself. I think its more than past my turn. I’m almost out of the fine wool yarn I bought from KnitPicks.com last February. Time to go shopping again. Any color requests?

I want to show you what my new binder foot did extremely easily and well. The picture shows the neckline of a nightgown bound with 1/4″ (finished) binding. To apply this, I sewed one shoulder seam closed, leaving the other open. I then applied the binding along the neckline from one end to the other, using the binder foot to enclose the neckline edge in the fold of the binding. The binding was a 1″ strip of fabric that I pressed in on both edges and then pressed in half.  I should have stay-stitched at the neckline’s edge before applying the binding, so it wouldn’t gape open at all, but I didn’t and the gaping is really not bad.

Now the ruffle (at the ends of the sleeves and the bottom hem) was extremely easy to add using my serger gathering attachment. (I don’t know how I ever lived without a serger. It is the only reason I am at all productive.) I applied all the ruffles “flat” also, which is something I do often now. It takes a few moments before beginning a project to figure out how to adjust the steps, but after that, the whole project can be much easier. Here’s the procedure I followed to add the ruffles “flat” during the garment construction.

1) Sew/serge one shoulder closed.

2) Add neckline binding. (See above.)

3) Sew/serge other shoulder closed.

4) Sew/serge sleeves to the bodice.

5) Attach ruffle to the end of each sleeve,the bottom of the front bodice, and the bottom of the back bodice, using the serger gathering attachment. My differential was set at 2.25 and I allowed double the amount of fabric for the ruffle.

6) Sew/serge entire side seam, from end of sleeve, passing underarm point, to the bottom hem of garment. Repeat for other side seam.

7) Using serger, add a rolled hem to all ruffles. (This step can be done at any point after step #5. However, doing it at this point means you cross all serger thread tails and don’t have to knot them or catch them in the beginning and ending of seams, such as I discussed here.)

I didn’t discuss the construction of the boys’ pj pants construction, but will write about those on another day. In the meantime, you can refer to this post to see some general comments about how I construct pj bottoms.

Bonus: Receive huge kudos from me if you can figure out my big mistake. Look closely at top photo. It is kind of hard to see. Those are not the best photos.

2. Side Effect #1: Frozen Pipes in the Pump House. We didn’t have water one afternoon. I thought the worst: power was out, pressure switch needed to be replaced, or pump failed. None of the above. It was frozen pipes. The pump guy suggested I thaw them (Jeff was at work). I asked how. He suggested a blow dryer? Don’t have one. A heat lamp? No, just a light bulb shining in the well house. A propane torch? No, not one of those either. The best I could come up with was my flax seed packs. But without a microwave to zap them fast, I heated two up in the oven for 1/2 hour and laid them on those pipes. Then I remembered that many years ago, my sister-in-law gave me a heat tool for stamping/embossing. Who knew it would come in so handy??? Those pipes got nice and warm and then I kept rotating flax seed packs on them until Jeff got home with heat lamp bulbs. So far, we’ve not frozen up again.

3. Side Effects #2 and #3: Fallen Trees and Being on Call. We  spent last night listening to the radio and dispatch, so Jeff could hear what the crew was doing. He also received several calls and emails with outage updates. (He is one of the managers in the local power company field office.) Not much sleep. About 4 am, he decided it was time to get to the office. By 5 am, he was out the door. I went back to bed, only to be waken up by him pounding snow off his boots at the back door at 6:30. Turns out two trees had fallen and blocked his truck. He sawed those and freed his truck. After changing into dry clothes, he left for the second time. A half hour later, he was back. There was a tree in the road and he had come back for his saw to get that one out of the way. That was awhile ago, and he hasn’t come back again, so I think he’s okay. …Update: He just called. He made it. There was yet another tree in the way that he sawed free!

4. Wool Ear Flap Hats. I’ve lost count, perhaps I’m making my 6th or 7th one? Everyone in the family has one, except me :(, and I’m currently crocheting Jeff a backup. The first hat I made for Jeff turned out to be a little small. He wore it and it itched his forehead, so we thought it might be too small. So I made another for him with one more row of increase. The hats have been amazing in this weather. For the kids, who all have long hair to cover their necks, I have eliminated the neck flap. After I finish Jeff’s backup hat, I will be making one for my friend who owns a bookstore in Sutherlin, Oregon (Books Gallery). She is going to trade me a Thai massage for it. Won’t that be awesome?

5. Our BED! It arrived on Tuesday. Because of the roads, I had to meet the tractor-trailer delivery truck down by I-5 to get it. We made it there and back again in one piece. Naomi and Mikah helped me assemble the pine platform bed frame kit (unfinished and sustainably grown in from Pennsylvania). This was the same day as the pipes freezing so cleaning out my bedroom and setting up the bed wasn’t as high a priority, but we got it done. Now, the question is — how are we sleeping? Well.. I am one of those really annoying types of people who have to get used to something before they can relax and enjoy it. The bed is certainly much, much, much more comfortable than a camping cot (which was our last bed) and I can tell that my neck isn’t torqued out of wack and might even be healing. If only I could relax and enjoy it. I’m getting there. Then there’s the issue of learning to share covers again with my husband and vice versa. We’ve tried three different scenarios on the three nights we’ve had the bed and have decided that we need a really huge wool blanket or two, in order to have enough for each of us to make a cocoon and to keep warm enough with minimal bedding layers.

6. A Home For the Barn-Raising Quilt. The quilt laid out on my (new) bed is one I started the first year of our marriage, almost 12 years ago. Then came our joyous kids. I’ve written before about how when they were little, I didn’t do much other than keep the house clean (I’m such a slacker now). So crafting of most sorts took a backseat. Three years ago, I decided to finish the quilt as a surprise for Jeff. I gave it to him for Christmas. The look on his face! He knew he recognized it but he couldn’t place it. We had picked out the fabrics together but he hadn’t seen then for 9 years! So, here ya go. This is our wedding quilt. It took me 9 years to finish, and 12 years to find a home for it. I know that the quilt doesn’t match; nothing in my room matches. And like I wrote in #5, the bedding situation is in flux. No matter what, though, that quilt is going to be spread on top of the bed, even if we don’t use it.