Injured Leaf

Injured Leaf
Originally uploaded by wenjomatic.

Andrew found this turning maple leaf yesteday and brought it in to me. He loved the vibrant yellow but as we inspected it together I noticed that the leaf was damaged and had dried and browned in that area. Around the damage there was a halo of red. I almost couldn't believe my eyes. It looked just like a scab on Andrew's knee. Brown scab, redness surrounding it. Amazing really. He thought that was super cool.

I love that Andrew looks forward to fall. I'm sure it has much to do with an October birthday, but he really loves the change of the season. He loves being able to get back outside after the heat is gone. And I do to. I always hope for a long fall and we are really getting a heaping-helping of great days right now. As we kiss September goodbye today, we are hoping for a mild October full of days like we've had.

The Trike Girl - Riding is SERIOUS

The Trike Girl - Riding is SERIOUS
Originally uploaded by wenjomatic.

This girl can peddle!! I'm so proud of Abi, she's such a self starter. Peddling came at age 3.5 for Andrew and Mary Grace really never mastered the bike. Abi hopped on this little trike last week and after 3-4 days of pushing it with her feet she decided to try peddling. And it was just that easy.

We've had a long string of beautiful days in the last few weeks and we've been outside for hours and hours on end. I suppose time behind the wheel has everything to do with mastering these kinds of things. She has certainly used her time wisely.

We actually have a small 12" bicycle for her and I think she could probably peddle it. But its on loan to Andrew at the moment... he finally wore his bike out last week. To many skid marks on the sidewalk wore through the rubber... then the threads. Finally he was down to the tube and that was it for the back tire. His birthday is in 4 weeks, so he'll get a new, bigger-boy, bike for his birthday. We'll have to put the training wheels back on Abi's bike and let her take it for a spin.

Why do kids have to grow up SO stinkin' fast? It pains me to see her grow so fast, but I'm super proud of my baby girl.

Monthly Dishcloths

Monthly Dishcloths
Originally uploaded by wenjomatic.

Its been a few months since I updated on the dishcloth knit-a-long that my local knitting group is doing.

Top Right is the Stepped Ridge pattern in Sugar n Cream Stripes, American Stripes.

Top Left is the Pebble Stitch pattern in Sugar n Cream, Lavendar and White.

Bottom is the Bambo Variation patter in Peaches n Cream, Seaside (I think).

LCMK is 5!!!

Founding Members
Originally uploaded by wenjomatic.

View the slide show:
LCMK's 5th Anniversary Picnic

Goodness, I can barely believe it. The small group of 12-15 women that started in September of 2002... when I was pregnant with Andrew... has grown to a group of over 40 strong and wonderful women. Plus all of our families. It makes me teary.

We've been through so much in that time. From a meager start of one playgroup per week. To what is now practically a 5 day, 2 night offering of activities per week. Just amazing. I'm so proud of each and every member.

There has been a lot of water under the bridge. Some bright and sparkling, some brown and murky. But most of us have stuck it out, worked through the tough moments and hung in there for the sake of our children. What a blessing for everyone involved.

Pictured above are me, Keir and Heather... all founding members. To see the slide show of the 5th anniversary picnic held today, click here LCMK's 5th Anniversary Picnic. A huge group of us met today for a cookout, playtime, arts and crafts, face painting, bubbles and a pinata party. Woowoo! What a great way to celebrate on a perfect day.

I wish my mom could see these. She met and heard about so many of these fantastic women and children. I hope she was looking down today enjoying it too.

Hooded Sweater Complete

Hooded Sweater Complete
Originally uploaded by wenjomatic.

Yay! Abi's little top-down hoodie is all done! The yarn was a dream to work with and the pattern works up super fast. I just adore it and so does she!

This picture makes me misty eyed... she looks so much like mom.

Can you guess what this is?

Do you know?
Originally uploaded by wenjomatic.

Look closely... salivating yet? I am!

Its one of my favorite foods in the whole world. I can barely get my hands on it up here, above the Mason Dixon line. One of my mommy group friends brought it to me yesterday. I could just kiss her!!!

Its okra! I washed it, sliced it and blanched it right away. I have a big old ham steak waiting to go with some fried okra and biscuits.

Its a good day.

Andrew Gets A Duck Call

and a valuable moment with someone going the extra mile.

It is a beautiful day this fine Sunday and we had several options of how to spend it. We finally settled on going to the Middle Creek Wildlife Conservation Area in Kleinfeltersville, PA for a nature art show. We enjoyed a spectacular demonstration of hunting dogs that were retrieving ducks and taking direction from their trainers. These animals are truly amazing. We saw so many beautiful paintings, carvings and decoys and got to talk to people in the waterfowl conservation world.

The highlight of our day was when we were at the Susquehanna River Waterfowl Association's booth. Andrew and Abi were mesmerized by the duck calling demonstration. With stars in his eyes, Andrew said, "I wish I had one of those!" One of their members jumped right on that opportunity to give him a duck call and teach him how to use it. Andrew was thrilled and was surprisingly good at it! It was a blessing to see his enthusiasm met by this man's desire to teach him.

I'm so glad we decided to go. The weather and family time could not have been more perfect. I wish every day was paced so slowly and filled with together time.

Click HERE to view all of the picture from Middle Creek.

I've been blog linked

What a nice treat... I'm very flattered. Homemadeoriginals, one of my flickr contacts, contacted me about using one of my pumpkin blossom pictures on her blog. She wants to start a Friday Favorites sort of thing and post about her favorite picture from her flickr contacts each week. I had the honor of being the first!!!

You can see her post here: Home Made Originals.

Memories Bowl

Memories Bowl
Originally uploaded by wenjomatic.

This was a 2006 project... I knitted 3 of these Memories Felted Bowls for Christmas last year. As I walked past mine today, I realized I'd never taken pictures of it because I didn't want to reveal them last year before gift giving time.

It was a fun knit, much like painting or making pottery, as you control the color as you knit down the bowl. Its a sock weight yarn, held doubled as you knit in the round. Super cool. The turn is achieved by knitting one purl bump then beginning the decreases. I stretched it over a round glass water pitche to get the nice clean shape.

The pattern calls for the Knitpicks yarn, Memories, hence the pattern name. But I wasn't too keen on any of the colorways so I searched out another yarn, which was discontinued, but I found it on Ebay. Its called Lanscapes and is a very similiar yarn to Memories... also 100% merino and felts up so nice.

Yarn: Landscapes in Mesa from Knitpicks (discontinued)
Pattern: Memories, felted bowls from Knitpicks

Fairy Pumpkin

Fairy Pumpkin
Originally uploaded by wenjomatic.

Have I ever mentioned how great my neighbors are??

The pumpkin fairy has been to visit this week. I am not sure which neighbor it is, I have 2 in mind, but one placed a small, beautiful pumpkin underneath our pumpkin vines in the last couple days. We have a monster plant out back but so far its been fruitless. That beautiful blossom and baby pumpkin in my photostream from last week rotted off into the grass. I'm assuming its the wet weather we've had.

I've been worried that Andrew may not get a pumpkin from this summer-long project and was talking to the neighbors about it, on and off as they commented about our monster vines out back. One of them decided to take the matter into their own hands... on my children's behalf. I love that. I love that people do still care these days. And I love my neighbors.

Andrew hasn't seen it yet. Its very hard to wait. (bites nails)

One Monkey Down... some knitting progress

One Monkey Down
Originally uploaded by wenjomatic.

I've been working a little, all along on 3 separate projects. The Monkey socks in STR Cracked Canyon are halfway done. I've cast on the second sock but its just been sitting since before my trip to Alabama last week (more on that in another post). I'm loving the crazy pooling and electric colors though. I can't wait to get them done for our first fall cool snap that should arrive in just a few weeks.

Also, I have Don's second Lozenge sock on the needles finally, after a break this summer. I put the project aside to work on some summer projects but have it back on the front burner as cool weather approaches. They are in Lornas Laces, Shepard Sport, the colorway is Aslan.



And finally, Abi's hoodie for fall is almost done! One arm to go! I'm hoping to finish this up tonight! Yay! Is such a super fit and the fabric is just to die for. Thanks go out to my good friend, E, for finding this pattern in a LYS. Hooray!

Super Andrew

Super Andrew
Originally uploaded by wenjomatic.

Here is my little man modeling his Halloween costume a little early. Yes, I said Halloween! For those of you who know us, you know we've not participated in Halloween in the past because of our beliefs and desires to abstain from things we feel are openly evil. But all it took was Andrew, after handing out candy last year, saying, "Daddy, I'd really like to dress up next year and go trick-or-treating."

Daddy is a softy and he can see, now, the fun and childish side of Halloween. We are not of this world, but we do have to live in it, as the Avalon song, In Not Of, says. I must confess, I'm thrilled... THRILLED... that the kids will be dressing up and going out. I have very fond childhood memories of Halloween growing up. My big bubba, Randy, was a holiday decorating extraordinaire. And although we won't be putting any tombstones in our yard or hanging ghosts from trees, we can enjoy the lighter side through our children's eyes.

I'm very happy about it.