december baby

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On December 2nd, the first Sunday of this Advent season, our own little child of light was born to us.

And she is a girl! Elsa Willow. Born at home. Happy and healthy, all 5 and half pounds of her.

(No photos to share yet. And not much computer access for us. But hopefully I will be able to return and share more, soon-ish...)

So here we are, watching this beautiful white and wintery world outside our windows, watching this sweet and perfect little one sleeping in my arms, or dancing her new big brown eyes around the room...

We are all well, as I hope you and your families are too.
I hope everyone has been enjoying Advent days full of peace and joy.
Happy Solstice, Christmas, and Winter Holidays to all!

Love, Renee


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wool love, baby love...

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And now it is the middle of November, cozy days (super freezing days actually...) I feel good and happy that I have been able to knit up quite a few warm woolens lately.

And I will be having a baby sometime soon.

We prepare, I knit, we look forward and feel so excited about this magical season that is coming, and this little one who has come to be a part of our family.

Dear friends, who have offered so much love and support during all these past months, are very much in my thoughts and heart. I have obviously been quiet here, and will soon be even more so, but I will be sure to check in when I can to share our happy news with you.

I hope everyone has a beautiful and full of joy coming holiday and advent season.

With love...

(and I guess knitting notes, pattern details, (not to mention blocking..) and the rest of the woolens will have to wait until after baby is born...)

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autumn making for my family

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I have finally returned to my sewing, and how good it feels. I feel so much myself when I am pressing fabrics at the ironing board, snipping with the scissors, stitching away at the machine. And the girls are in such need of clothing. I don't know how much I will get done before the baby is born, but I am at least making some progress.

I finished a new top for Chloe a few weeks ago, made with some old green calico. We call these "farm shirts". They can be worn outside while playing in the dirt, gardening, to the the farm. They will get dirty. They may get worn to pieces, as Chloe's last two did. So we aren't going for super pretty fabric here or anything. Mostly actually I am just going for something that fits. Goodness these girls are growing.

I am also almost finished with two new autumn skirts. The brown striped fabric is for Chloe, the golden hemp/cotton muslin is for Chessa. Again made with older fabrics, and the girls are preferring these more earthy colors these days.

And the cardigan! I sure can be a slow knitter sometimes. A hooded brown cardigan for Chloe. It is done except for the buttons and blocking. I will share more details soon...

And more soon on what I have been making for baby. It's not all super exciting, things like a nursing pillow, some newborn fitted diapers. And of course some good knitting too.


I am going to link with two of my dear friends this week... Ginny and her fun Yarn Along, even though I guess I left out the book part this time. And I am so happy to be finally for the first time joining Nicole and her Keep Calm Craft On!

What have you all been working on?

Now to return to this teeny tiny super cute adorable sock I am knitting.
Oh wait, I guess I should go finish making dinner first...

Happy creating!!!


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moments from the first weeks of autumn...

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Oh how happy the aspens make me!

It makes me laugh how often these two, horse and child, look up at us with the same expression.

These girls and their horses! Or really I should say these girls and their daddy's horses. Cause you see the girls would have had to wait for horses, but daddy could not.

 

And do you see here.. it was cold enough for wool coats, but apparently warm enough to wear no socks. Hmm?..

The feel of these recent weeks is so perfect and autumny, it could be nothing but October, beautiful.

Hope you have all been having wonderful days too!


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greeting the new season

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There had been a great feeling of the changing season all through the month of September, and the first day of autumn felt just right and so so good. Although it hadn't been the original plan, we ended up spending most of the day at the lake, which was wonderful of course. (Also we were celebrating not just the first day of autumn but Jason's birthday too.) This place is very special to us. We used to live on the hillside overlooking the the lake, it is where Chloe was born. It is is one of our very favorite places. Right now we are keeping our horses out there, it has been nice to be spending more time there lately.

And the first autumn day was bright and sunny, with a good wind blowing and making us think of St. Michael riding through the forest on his snowy white horse...

Our autumn days have been full and beautiful. I have much to tell you about.. cozy days full of knitting and sewing, a visit from friends, and homeschool days too of course. So I will return here soon...

Wishing you all happy and beautiful days in this new season ahead!


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first, summer good-bye...

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It was an interesting summer. It was very rainy, that was very nice. But my pregnancy pukiness never went away, that wasn't nice. And it doesn't feel like there were enough flowers. Still it was beautiful.

(And oh yes, there is a garden. But I haven't much wanted to talk about it. Last year we grew enough vegetables to eat abundantly from the garden all season, with enough put away to get us through the winter as well. This year, well, I have been focusing my energies on growing this baby, and that is good, and there is always next year for more of a garden.)

(And the potatoes sure are looking great, and the collards are so yummy.)

Now we have said good-bye and begin a new season...


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off to the orchard...

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Galloping, galloping, here we go... Off to the orchard, don't be slow.

Up in the green orchard there is a green tree... The finest of peaches! you ever did see.

 The peaches are ripe and starting to fall...

 And here is a basket to gather them all.

Yes, peaches! The last day of august found us driving 2 hours away to an abandoned orchard.

(I laughed at myself on the way as I realized that it was the furthest I had been from home in more than 5 years! It was quite a journey for us, a very fun family outing...)

Every year we have a very good apple harvest, visiting various wild trees in our area. Sometimes we have plums, earlier this summer there were lots of apricots. We have never harvested peaches before!

Orchards are wonderful for so many reasons, so very beautiful, there is just something very special feeling about being in one. And they give us food.

Many bushels of peaches were gathered. Many peaches were eaten while picking, many peaches have been eaten in the days since. And so so many peaches have been put away into the freezer to feed us in the coming months.

We have never had this many peaches before, ever ever ever.
If you add up all the peaches we have ever had in all the last 15 years, this is still way way more peaches. (Organic peaches are so expensive, not something we are able to buy often..)

So our recent days have been all about peaches. And gratitude. And peach stained hands.
And peaches in our porridge, and on our sunday pancakes, and the best peach cobbler we have ever had.

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And while we were in the orchard Chessa and I were singing some of our favorite orchard circle time songs (mostly from Let Us Form a Ring, Acorn Hill Anthology). And early this morning when I started writing this post I had these verses and songs in my head. The girls were having some outside time before lesson time, and then they came in asking if we could have circle time. We started our homeschool year on Monday, slowly and gently, and there had been no morning circle time yet. Today Chloe told me she was wanting it so so much. So we all joined in with this orchard circle time which we have done every year since Chloe's kindergarten year, seven years in a row now. It was very nice and just right.

(And I really hope to be sharing some homeschool posts soon, it has been so long...)


The sun is bright,
the sky is blue
Let's go to the orchard,
you can come too... 


Happy new September days to you all!


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big sister knitting for baby!

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Do you see that adorable little baby bootie? Knit by big sister, who a couple days ago felt that she simply must knit something for baby right that moment. (I know how she feels!) Chloe has been knitting since first grade (and she is in 6th now, oh my goodness!) but she has never followed a pattern or gone much beyond knitting and purling. (Hens and roosters are her specialty, along with doll clothes and accessories...) So we spent some time sitting together and worked our way through this pattern. (Unfortunately the pattern had quite a few mistakes, I am gad we were able to figure it out.) So now Chloe has learned how to read a knitting pattern, how to increase with knitting front and back, how to make an eyelet row, and how to do short rows! She is going to start the next one today, and Chessa is going to braid little ties for them. Sweet big sisters, sweet little baby knits.

As far as reading goes, the stacks of books around our house sometimes seem to be taking over. I pulled this one off the shelf a while ago, The Incarnating Child by Joan Salter. I had this book when Chessa was very little, but not before she was born or when she was a baby, I am happy to be able to read it again at this time. Some people may find parts to be a little out there (anthroposophically speaking) but it really resonates with me. Such an important task we as parents have given to help these little souls gently incarnate on earth.

Thanks to Ginny for hosting these fun Yarn Alongs.
(And thank you Ginny for so much more!)

Happy knitting and reading to all!


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moments from the weeks

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These pictures have been sitting here for days, collected over the weeks. I have not been so good at taking pictures lately. I enjoy having this blog to collect our moments, our days, through the seasons... I need to try to be better at it...


Days have a soft glow to them, colors the pale yellows and greens of August. And some even brighter colors have been spotted higher up on the mountains! Not rushing to autumn yet though.

I have been out of the house more often, finally feeling a little stronger and better every day. We have our family outings to town, library, midwife, horses, farm.

I do my kitchen chores and am so grateful for the energy to do so. I cook, bake our bread, sweep the floor.

I knit. I think about sewing. I read and plan for our homeschool year, which we will start the first week of September.
 I'm almost done with Chloe's cardigan, kind of. I am winding some soft yellow yarn for baby. And lovely green yarn from sweet friend.

The girls and I organized some tiny newborn baby clothes!

We garden a little bit. I think about our gardens last year, all the food that we grew that fed us all through the winter. We do not have that this year. It make me sad, some. But mostly I'm okay with it. Been kinda busy growing a baby instead. And our potatoes are looking really good.

It has been such a rainy summer. I know that most people are not saying that. Even over at the farm on the other side of town it rarely rains. We are more up in the mountains. We feel blessed, and the cooling afternoon showers have been so enjoyed and appreciated. 

One day I put on a sweater. There has already been occasions for layers. And sometimes still it gets very hot.

The other night Chessa told me a bedtime story, of a little fairy living in the forest, in an mushroom house, with moss for a bed, wild strawberries and nettles for food.

I am obsessed with nettles lately. Me and baby need them. We made a yummy soup last week full of good veggies and lots of nettles. The girls say that is funny that nettles are not always nice to us (stinging!) yet they are so so good for us and we love them so much. 


It is late now. I get in bed early these nights. I have no book to read tonight though. The library does not have the last Anne of Green Gables book, oh no, what will I do. The girls and I together have started the first book. I had been saving it, they have never heard it before. They love Anne, of course. When I can find nothing to read I sometimes pick up one of Chloe's library books. I just finished one about a family traveling to Oregon, bringing along with them a wagon full of grafted fruit trees. I don't know if Chloe's wagon train picture above is from that story or not. She told me though that the picture is from a story she read, the book did not have pictures, but that was how she saw it.


Oh! And the bear! They sure have been coming around a lot this summer. This one had been visiting the night before, and the next day was right out in front of the house. Bear, you should go back into the forest.


I was supposed to get in bed. Okay. Goodbye!


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