as an early birthday gift, boo got this bike! he picked red, because his daddy told him he had a red bike when he was his age. we gave it to him early because who knows how much longer this non-wintry weather will last.
last year we got him the glide-2-ride bike because at that time he evinced no sign at all of wanting to pedal, and only wanted to propel things with his feet. well, i guess it was too wobbly still, because he still doesn't like to ride it. (the 6 year old next door, on the other hand, loves it.) but all of a sudden in the last month or two he's started pedaling. and because franklin (his favorite book character of the moment - he's a turtle ) had a bike with training wheels, so he really wanted one with training wheels.
this one was much more successful - he got right on and started to pedal! with glee, i might add.
an idea taken from one of those free parents' magazines. originally they called for jelly beans, but it turns out that a big bag of jelly beans is rather spendy. so here are latex gloves filled with gummy bears and dot candies, with a bouncy ball eyeball thrown in for extra effect. these hang from our outside lights and birch trees.
(note to self for next year: do not use gummy bears if a warm october expected, because they will melt in the direct sun.)
these days boo isn't napping much. when he does, the pattern is that he stays awake for at least an hour taking all of his books off the shelves. then he climbs into the lazyboy chair in his room and falls asleep. in this picture, the window is open and the fading autumn light was lovely.
he also has developed the habit of falling asleep with the lights on. which makes it easier for surreptitious picture taking.
i intermittently listen to the cast on podcast for a bit of knitting commentary, and in one of the last episodes i learned about a fun way to summarize all the projects that you're working on. she talked about a report that's sort of like a crop report or a traffic report, that summarizes all the ocean weather conditions for ships at sea. basically it's a lot of technical jargon full of data for those who know the jargon, but baffling for anyone else. it keeps it brief so that those who might not care about it aren't subjected to an overly lengthy discourse.
so here is my "project report."
polar bear costume, mittens finished today, about to hot glue on felt pads. pattern for fleece shirt and pants snipped but not yet assembled; wary, as my cutting is not precise. lace ribbon shawl in dreamy red yarn with a silver strand. purple leaf socks for friend, why did i choose the hardest pattern of the book. montego bay scarf / headband tie with dark rainbow poems sock yarn. swallowtail shawl with lovely dark blue-teal-brown handdyed cashmere that was a gift. fleece blankets to edge, one for a friend's baby, one for christmas, and others for project linus. on the loom: color sampler, perhaps dish towel someday. would like to start habu/alpaca silk scarf and christmas scarves soon - bison, alpaca, silk and tencel represented.
in madison my cousin-in-law (is that a term?) took me to what was almost the perfect yarn shop: Lakeside Fibers. the yarn bins spill out into the coffee shop next door, and the coffee shop opens to a lovely little patio that looks out onto the lake. down below the patio there is a little playground. downstairs there are even some dusty cones of weaving yarn, which the knitting staff upstairs didn't really know much about. there was a beautiful scandinavian weaving magazine i thought briefly about getting; quite briefly, however, as it was in swedish. (i think. not real familiar with the differences between the scandinavian tongues.)
and the other day i was in milwaukee so i stopped by loop yarn. where lakeside was cozy cottage-like with a granola feel, loop was modern and just a bit edgy. it was easier to browse - more clean light and the room might have been smaller but the selection was better and a bit more higher end. i could not resist the habu in the clearance section. i have been obsessed with habu since seeing it at Stitches Midwest and even though i haven't yet knit or woven with it, it comes in such cute little balls and is so different from the usual stuff i just have to pick it up. so i got some blue sky alpaca silk in blues and greys to coordinate with some habu cork chenille.
the hat is somewhat improvised out of a bulky trendsetter yarn that i found at stitches. it's loosely based on this bear hat pattern i found on ravelry, which was made from a much bulkier yarn. i had to knit several more rows in places and i totally improvised the ears with a crochet hook. the outfit is made from white fleece - very simple, which was good considering my skill level at sewing. first time i've ever done sleeves! the trick or treat bag and the paw pads were made out of felt.
here are some pumpkins we made last weekend when my nephew was here for a sleepover. first carved pumpkins for both of them! the bumpy pumpkin in the back looks super cool but was a royal pain to cut because it was much denser/harder than a normal pumpkin.
knock me over with a feather - boo actually walked in the school "parade" and consented to take a picture with them! (the official school picture day last week was a fiasco - he insisted "NO PICTURES!" and would not even be in the class picture, much less his individual photos.)
