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Tuesday, 24 November 2009

Creating New Traditions

As a child, I do not remember having holiday traditions, per say. The only thing I remember happening every year, was that Santa would leave our gifts in the oddest places, like in the bathroom, with silly little notes about having to go to the bathroom, and running short on time, so he left our gifts there. My father and his odd sense of humor.

Now that I am a parent myself, it is important to me that our family have holiday traditions. It is always fun to look forward to traditions, and Jake, my little romantic love bug, is proof of this. As part of our Thanksgiving feast, after we have said our prayer, we take turns going around the table and expressing at least 3 things that we are each grateful for. (Since our Thanksgiving feast is just myself, hubby and the kids, it is not terribly painful, and takes about 5 minutes.) My step kids behave like this is incredibly painful. (They are 18 & 21....need I say more?) The little guys, however, look forward to this, and have been practicing and coming up with their list, for the last week. Dominic sums it up pretty well.....he is "grateful for the entire earth and everything on it".

Prior to last year, we always decorated the house for Christmas, whenever time permitted. Sometimes, this was the weekend before Christmas. I was not particularly happy about this, but it was just the way it was. I love Christmas and the "magic" of the season, so I start to get in the Christmas spirit right before Thanksgiving, as does Jake. Last year, we decided that Thanksgiving weekend, would, by tradition, become the time we put up the tree and decorate the house. The count down to putting up the tree, now begins the day after Halloween. On December 1st, the advent calendar goes up. Unlike most advent calendars, where the kids get a "goodie" each day, our advent calendar is a nativity scene, and each day we take a piece of the scene out of the pocket (an animal, Mary, Joseph, etc.) and add it to the picture. The boys really look forward to taking their turn each day, in assembling the picture.

This year, we are going to start a new Thanksgiving tradition. Every summer, like most families, we take a vacation. It used to be that I would include vacation pictures in each of the boys scrapbooks. Jake however, expressed to me last year, that he thinks it is a better idea to just make one vacation scrapbook. That said, this year, after we put up the tree, the boys and I will spend the rest of the weekend scrapbooking our trip to South Dakota this summer. I am hopeful that this will become a yearly tradition, but we will have to see how it goes. Scrapbooking with a 4 & 6 year old could be a little stressful.

I am tickled that Jake is the romantic lovebug that his mother is, and I look forward to the years ahead, and establishing new traditions.

Sunday, 15 November 2009

It's Here

It's here, it's here. The winter edition of Twist Collective is out, and our yarn is showcased in it. The ever so talented Rosemary Hill has designed Manderley, with our very own Divinity Lace in the Royalty colorway. Hurry on over and check it out http://twistcollective.com/2009/winter/magazinepage_039.php!!

Be sure to watch for their spring edition too, as our hand dyed Merino/Silk lace will be showcased in that issue!!

Thursday, 12 November 2009

New Additions

How excited am I? After months of contemplating, we've decided to add worsted weight hand dyes to our menu at BB Knits!! Yip, Yip, Yuree!! I'm beyond excited! Many of you have requested worsted weights over the last year, but I couldn't find a base that I loved! I finally found one, and the 1st shipment is en route! Hopefully, we'll add a few colorways of worsted posted by the beginning of December. Just in time for winter sweater knitting Ordering of worsted weights will be a bit different than the sock and lace weight. If you are in need of more than 2-3 skeins of the worsted (say, for a sweater project), we will dye it up when we get your order. That way, we can be sure they are all of the same dye lot. An order for 3 skeins or less will be available to ship right away. I'll be dyeing up a large batch myself, for me, me, me, when it arrives. I'm itching to cast on Mr. Green Jeans

There are more new additions to share, but on a much smaller scale (not any less exciting though). I heard from my Secret Pal 14 partner. Yeah! And what a delightful little package she sent.

Some Brooks Farms merino/wool blend, that I just love (still hunting for a pattern to use this right away!), some merino/cashmere sock, dyed by her, a Debbie Bliss pattern book (one of my favorite designers), a new project bag and some other fun, knitterly goodies. Thanks a bunch Pal! I do hope your kiddies are feeling better.

On the same day that package arrived, I got the package for the journal swap, from sweet little JosieP in the U.K.

A beautiful butterfly journal, that I'm going to use for my next journaling, soul searching project (watch for details to come soon - Have your read Twenty Wishes?).Some adorable fabric, great for a Project Linus quilt. Sock yarn, and other knitterly goodies were included too. It was a lot of fun getting to know Josie, and I'm thrilled to have met her through this swap! We had several chat sessions, when my insomnia was haunting me.

Lastly, we're happy to announce, that we're bringing back one of our old colorways, Le Jardin. Again, so many of you have asked for it....we thought it was time. Watch for it to be added to the store soon!
A New Love!

Did you ever fall in love with something, (not someone) and not understand why?

As a person with many hobbies, I often "fall in love" with an idea, a fabric, a stamp, a color, a yarn (need I go on?). These little whims of mine don't often last very long, before I move on to the next one. I have a habit of going overboard on these whims, and my overly crowded/packed sewing/craft room is proof of that.

My newest love....OWLS!

I cannot explain why, yet, but honestly, I think it's something spiritual. There's something about an owls eyes that I find positively intriguing. As if the have so much to say. There's something, warm and comforting about their eyes, yet piercing and threatening at the same time. Predictable, but not. Lonely, but not. I continuously find myself almost entranced, when looking at photos of these beautiful creatures, and I think I'm driving our local library nuts with all my inquiries for books about owls.

To feed this new love, are all these yummy new fabrics that have come out, with adorably whimsical owls! My fabric stash is growing by the minute with this yummy fabric, and my sewing room is busting at the seams. This time, I must find something to make with it all!!!

With this love last? I wonder.....
Going Through Withdrawals

Since the day I started knitting, more than 6 years, I have had knitting time every day, with the exception of when I was in the hospital delivering Dominic. In the evening, after homework is done, dinner dishes are cleaned up and the boys are in their jammies, they watch a "kid show" while Mommy knits. The family knows that this is Mommy's "quiet time", the time when I decompress, gather my thoughts for the day (and my "to do" list for the following day), and I just can't go to sleep without it.

This week, for the first time, I've had several nights with no knitting time, and I think I'm going through withdrawals. My cold has turned into bronchitis, and I'm frantically working to get a wholesale order out the door. Once I sit down at night, I find I'm just too tired. I've picked up the needles, knit a stitch or 2, but end up putting it away because it just takes too much effort. Mind you, the patterns I've been working on (Christmas gifts) aren't really challenging, I don't need to "focus".

All I can say, is I hope it doesn't last long. I've still got 2 more Christmas gifts to finish!