Saturday, October 15, 2011

Signs of fall

I can't believe it is already October.  Where has the time gone!  We've been so busy the past month or so that I haven't had any time to keep up with blogging.  Josh has been working 60 hour weeks on a pretty regular basis and while I am home, Maegwin is quite demanding of my time.  Certainly not a lot of time to blog.  The only free time is naptime and I use that to try desperately to keep our house back from the brink of unhealthy and to sneak in a tiny bit of knitting time.  I haven't knit anything for myself in a good long while but I have made lots of baby hats.  I'm currently working on a set of little bear hats with earflaps for my friend, Danielle, who is due to have twins any day now.  She's in the hospital on bedrest so they could be here anytime in the next two weeks.  I only have flaps and the brim of one hat done so I need to get cracking.

One of the things we did in September was attend the Wool Gathering.  As every year that I have gone it was full of wonderful things.  This year I have my eye on learning to spin with a drop spindle so I got three different types of wool to learn with-blue faced leicester, merino, and shetland.  I'm excited to see how each behaves differently.  They are all beautiful natural colors and I hope to make some mittens from them for either me or Maegwin when I'm done.  Just need to find a class to go to so I can learn!
Maegwin explored all the different sheep areas:
IMG_3179
She told me "You want a sheep?" which means "I want a sheep." We're working on pronouns right now.
IMG_3180
She especially loved these little guys with their multiple colors and little horns:
IMG_3181
She nicely asked if she could pet the angora bunnies:
IMG_3185
And a fiber snob is born!
IMG_3186
She loved the alpacas. She kept asking to see the pacas and pet the pacas.
IMG_3187
After all that excitement she fell asleep in the Ergo and let Mommy browse the market. So considerate of her! The weather was gorgeous and was very inspiring with just a hint of the fall to come.

The day before the Wool Gathering we drove up to a Cleveland suburb for my friend, Todd's wedding. It was a very long day but we had a good time. I didn't take very many pictures but I did take one of Maegwin on the dance floor. She and the little girl behind her did laps around it for about 30 minutes!
IMG_3178

Last weekend we went to a fall festival in the area with my friend Mary and her daughter Emma. We were both pregnant at the same time and the girls are only a few weeks apart. They had a great time.
Maegwin wanted to play in the corn pools.
can I get in, Mommy?
Once she was in she had a great time putting corn in a bucket.
digging in
using hands
All was going well until a rather large 12 year oldish girl got in and nearly kicked Maegwin in the face. She also started loading up the bucket and dumping it on top of her. I had to intervene and I moved her to another pool. She barely fit inside the thing so I'm not sure what she was thinking.
We moved on to the pumpkin patch where Maegwin had to try out all the pumpkins to find the right one. Thanks to the parking attendant for giving me those free tickets so we could get free pumpkins!
The first one was too heavy.
this one is too heavy
I caught her in mid-run to the next one.
not that one
She and Emma were very thorough in their quest.
finding the perfect pumpkin
We decorated our pumpkins which I couldn't get pictures of because I was busy helping. We were covered in marker when we were done though.
hehehe
I thought this one was great. They look like a dynamic crime fighting team or something.
the mod squad
Maegwin had a great time running away from our best efforts to photograph them together.
and I'm running
Emma was highly amused at her antics.
can't catch me on film!
They played peek-a-book around this wastebasket.
there she is
And squatted down for a chat.
having a sit down
Maegwin zonked out on the way home. We had a great day and presented our decorated pumpkin to Daddy when he got home from work.

On the knitting front, I finished a test knit for my friend Gwen. She plans to offer this pattern as a kit with enough yarn to make the adult size and kids' size of it. They are super cute! Still have to knit up the kids sample for her.
IMG_3252
I also finished a Santa hat Christmas ornament which was promptly absconded for Ken. I imagine I'll have to knit another one.
santa ken
I finished this fun little mousie that is part of the Spud and Chloe at the Farm set. I'm working my way through the animals. I have the dog's head and body knit but not sewn together, the mouse, and a chick and egg (but Maegwin has taken them somewhere and I can't find them at the moment). Mom is helping with the piglets but I don't know what her progress is.
IMG_3169
I knit a pumpkin hat for a co-worker, Seth, who was having a baby in October. They weren't finding out the sex so I made it more generic. They ended up having a girl about two weeks ago.
IMG_3205
I basically have the rest of my knitting time tied up through Christmas. I want to make some stuff for a Christmas swap in the Itty Bitty knitting group on Ravelry, the rest of the farm set, some of the fairies from the holiday Knit Simple issue, four more baby hats, one baby sweater, a stocking for Maegwin, and the kids' test knit for Gwen. Whew, when I write it all out it seems pretty nuts!

Well Einstein woke her up so my free time is over.

2 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness! Maegwin has such personality, I can't wait to see her in November. Nina, your knitting skills are truly impressive. Good luck with your giant list.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love how curious Maegwin is. I really get a sense of her personality through your pictures and descriptions.

    Can't wait to see you all and watch Maegwin meet her new cousin. Lots of love! Grandma Mary

    ReplyDelete