knitting bonnets and a colorful little quilt

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Yes, little Elsie now has a bonnet that fits, though you see it here still unfinished. Soon too I will cast on for another, I am having some more ideas for the pattern. And because this one fits, but only just barely. The yarn is so pretty, I am loving knitting with it.

This little quilt did not turn out to be quite what I had originally intended, and I think I am happy about that. I guess that's what happens when you start something one year and then finish it a couple (few maybe) years later. It is making a just right play quilt for Elsa though. She likes it very much.  It sure is bright, but that's what I do in the spring, pull out all the most colorful cheerful colors I can find. I decided to just let the quilting lines be not too straight or evenly spaced. Kind of a bad idea, cause I feel like it just looks like I did a messy job. I think next time I am going to have to go for perfectly straight. Yes. On all the lines where I was "stitching in the ditch" it is pretty much perfect though ;)

(Sorry, can't help it. I have tried to let go of some of my perfectionist tendencies, but when it comes to sewing I just cannot...)

Other happy handwork plans include a little teething doll (teething!), and we have birthdays coming up soon! So it's time to be putting more thought into that...

Oh, and the wooden doll. She is new to us and she was recently born in the forest, and she is Swedish (so I am told..) She does not have a name yet, so if you have any suggestions? Also, her head might still get sanded.

And hooray, this week I am finally once again joining Nicole for her Keep Calm Craft On!

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little things, and gratitude

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This evening, mountain bluebird on a tall dry mullein stalk.

This month.. sunny days, rainy days, snowy days. Yes, I will be grateful for the snowy days too. The forests were misty and grey, all so cozy feeling. It snows here in April, it's just how it is.

My yellow-y gold flowery vintage-y sheet. Not thrifted, it is mine from when I was little. It seems to always find it's way out when we are gathering extra sheets, blankets, towels, etc. for homebirth supplies. Other times it is put away for years. It makes me really happy. Even if it is making my blog look kind of funny cause now half my pics are on this yellow background.

And I love those little toes. And every little sigh, whisper, grunt, and giggle that comes from her. Those sighs. The soft happy nursing baby ones. Oh goodness.

Glad that she finally has a wool bonnet that fits to keep her head warm in the cool forest afternoons.

Forest afternoons.

How golden the pine needles were in the sun. How they crunched under her feet as she ran along. How pink and rosy her cheeks were. How brave she is there. In her forest.

And my eldest. And how she cares for us all.

Oh, and my husband. He is my prince. Our hero.


Friends too.

Chatting and smiling and laughing with Jules until way too late at night. (ha ha, "chatting", is that what it's called?, she is the only person I do that with, and I'm sure we are two of the most untechnological people there are...)

Good emails from good good friends that just happened to come on a day when extra cheer was needed.

And Lisa. I am grateful for her for all kinds of reasons. Including surprise phone calls that always make me smile when I answer. She is really good at these gratitude posts too. I always tell her I'm going to start doing them also. And now I am...


I decided that I wanted to take a little more time to stay in touch with my blog friends, post here, and even maybe read a few other inspiring blogs once in a while. (Those of you who know me more know that I really really really don't like to be at the computer. So by saying spend a little more time doing it, it just means a little more than the not much time at all I spend in general. So I think that could be okay...)

Anyhow, that's how I have ended up visiting Taryn and her sweet family and her neat wooly mossy blog. And she does nice gratitude posts too.

I'm all about niceness and gratitude these days. Well, always I am, of course. We just seem to need extra great doses of it lately, I'll take it wherever I can get it.

Hope you all have lots of nice happy beautiful days this week!


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yarn along...

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The bonnet is going to be way too big but it should fit her well next winter. So now I am picking up stitches on the hat that she has outgrown, if it is a little longer it should stay on her head just fine.

Here in our mountains a wool hat can be needed year round if you consider chilly summer nights as well. Do any of you have a favorite pattern for baby hats or bonnets? Or booties? She has outgrown all her little knit socks too..

Next up to knit will be another pair of pants like the ones she is often wearing in the photos here. They were a gift, the Elizabeth Zimmerman baby leggings, hopefully I will be able to work out the pattern and knit up a cute pair too. They are very versatile and super cute, I think I will be making them the same size, just lots lots longer. I am going to use this neat seamoss peace fleece yarn we just got from the waldorf co-op.

The other lovely yarns in the picture were gifts as well. Some so so soft grey alpaca from my dear friend Melanie. And some pretty green yarn, a color called Lark, which is appropriate since it came from sweet Ginny. Ginny sent the yarn last year when I was pregnant so I could knit something for baby. But without baby being born, not knowing if it was a boy or girl, I just couldn't commit to any specific project for it. I am still undecided but sure do look forward to knitting something special with it.


I have a few different books around for reading right now. I read Children at Play about 10 years ago and have wanted to re-read it because it is very sweet. We are lucky that one of the kind-of-local libraries has some good Waldorf books...


Elsa likes when we try her bonnet on her, needles and all still attached. But she likes sucking on her hands best...


Happy to join the join the Yarn Along this week!


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a day in early april

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It's her sister's bonnet. I may start sewing a little one for her this weekend. Sunbonnet. Even though we just had two days of snow. Lots of good blue sky days before that, outside days, cold fresh air, warm sun...


I will be here to visit again next week. Really I will.


Wishing a happy beautiful weekend to all..



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belated moments from march

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~ Pondering treetops and the sky

 ~ Pondering puzzle pieces

~ A (beeswax) royal procession

~ Sister love

 ~ Hard at work, play, rest...

~ And then there was the day they put her in the rocking chair

~ She was happy with this for quite a while

~ And then she became a little unsure of it

~ Love from big sister always helps...

~ Easter morning. Easter sewing.

To be followed by moments from the first week of april, cause I was just looking at our photos and kinda panicking at how behind I am getting with them...


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early morning handwork

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If I sense from the early morning sky that it is anywhere near 5 or 6 AM, I will quietly slip out of bed (or first finish nursing little Elsa, who then remains sleeping peacefully beside her daddy...)

I go about my morning kitchen chores, wiping down counters, setting dishes aways as silently as possible, sweeping usually waits as the familiar tap tap of the broom may wake a still sleeping family member. Breakfast for when the girls wake...

A few minutes of extra tidying, books returned to stacks or shelves, the library books live on the stairs now.

Some thought towards the mornings homeschool work...

All children still sleeping...

I sew. I knit.

Sometimes the sewing does not amount to much more than smoothing the fabrics that remain laid out on the ironing board, cutting a pattern, pinning some pieces. The sewing machine would be too loud for morning.

But many many rows of knitting can be accomplished in just one quiet morning hour.

When the girls wake they come sit sleepily on the couch,  when Elsa stirs I will set my thing aside and get ready for the next part of my morning, when chores can be done more loudly, food gets cooking in the kitchen, animals fed, laundry started...

There will be moments throughout the day to return to the handwork projects.


I am knitting another wool soaker for Elsa. Not enjoying the pattern (seems like lots of errors) so at first it was going slow, and now for the same reason I am feeling extra motivated to be done with it, that is what I will work on if I get a few more minutes when I am done writing here.

Lots of sewing happening in my head, a little getting done for real. We will pretend that I am not at all embarrassed to admit that I am only just now finishing this little quilt that I started two years ago.

(Okay, I may as well also admit now that there is a baby sock that has been sitting on the needles for a few weeks. I didn't start the toe shaping cause I'm sure it now needs much more length added, maybe it will never fit. or maybe I will finish it this week, but then there is still the second one to knit. goodness, it's not like knitting baby socks takes very long...)

Also, I kinda have a plan for sewing the girls matching Easter/Spring dresses. I realize that may seem crazy. But also I have a plan to cheat. One dress kinda done, a skirt instead for eldest sister, and a new little baby dress. Baby dress! Way too long since I have sewed a little tiny baby dress!

It was an early morning photograph too, so not much to see, I will try to make my post prettier next time.


Oh, also I wanted to tell you what book we enjoyed as a winter read aloud, Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates, I believe that is the full title. Somehow I had never read it when I was a child. It is a great book, full of adventure and the wonder of another country and time. We have all loved it, still finishing the last few chapters.

(So I will link to my dear friend Ginny and her Yarn Along...)


Now I hear Elsie stirring, she is such a happy one in the morning, I am looking forward to that smile which will greet me when I go say good morning...

And good day to you all!


p.s. I have had some questions about Elsa's baby knits, I will try to share more pics, patterns, and ravelry links soon...


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seasons, blessings, baby, family, love...

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December 2, 2012
The day she was born.

December10, 2012

December 22, 2012
And then she just grew, so so fast.

January 2, 2013

January 12, 2012
Little Elsie truly is happier than she looks. She adores, ADORES ADORES ADORES, her middle sister. You should have heard the giggles Chessa was getting out of her today! 

January 31, 2013
There was once a little girl named Elsa Willow, and she liked to play in the meadow, and she had so many little ladybug friends... So we tell her...

 February 15, 2013
And the little Elsa kept on growing...

 February 18, 2013
And I will tell you an interesting thing about this little baby... She goes to sleep in other peoples arms. Namely big sister Chloe's arms. (She doesn't really know any other people besides sisters, mommy, and daddy.) I have never known a baby to do this. For example, big sister Chloe, when she was a baby, never went to sleep anywhere other than in my arms. So this is new to me, and quite convenient I must say. This photo here (makes me laugh every time I see it!) shows you what it looks like when Elsa falls asleep in Chloe's arms, and Chloe then lays her down, but she is still holding on.

February 22, 2013
She's a really happy baby!

March 4, 2013
Such sweetness, such a blessing. How very grateful we are that she came to be with us.



When we imagined what this child might look like, we said maybe dark eyes like Chloe, skin more pale like Chessa, somewhere just between them. I felt those dark eyes, and that fair face. Of course we also imagined that the baby was going to be a boy. This was the first time either Jason or I had feelings of having a boy, both other times we just felt sure of girlness. I guess this time we should have know too, cause three girls, yes it just seems so right. But we just went with boy, there was even a probable name chosen. We said if it was girl we would be surprised, and that we would laugh. When she was born we actually didn't even look to see if she was a boy or girl for about 10 minutes or so. And then we really did laugh. And goodness we were happy. And then it took us almost two weeks to name her.


Thank you so much for all kind sharing of comments, well wishes, love, and for the welcome back to this space.


It is one year ago now that I became pregnant. We knew, we felt, for so long that this child was coming to us. We also knew that the first months could be difficult, since I had been so sick before with both girls for the first trimester. We sure did not expect though that I would be so so sick for so so long. Through almost every moment of every day for almost the entire pregnancy I was not well (and that is an understatement, cause really I was puking 3 to 5 times a day...)

There was concern for my health, concern over whether or not it would be safe to have a home birth. Every day we put great effort into making me stronger. And all the prayers and well wishes from dear friends surely must have helped a lot. We always kept faith that baby was healthy and strong. Midwife said not to worry cause babies are so good at taking just what they need from mother.

My midwife also suggested that when people commented on my belly saying, "oh, you're so little", that I tell them to go suck an egg. That is perhaps the only piece of advice I did not take her up on, though I'm not saying it wasn't kinda good advice. My belly was measuring up just right the whole time anyway.

At the end, instead of being born in the second half of November as we had expected, or perhaps a little earlier since both girls before arrived early, this little one waited all the way until December to be born. Which gave mommy more time to get iron up to safe levels for home birth, and baby time to do some extra growing. Such a good thing to have time for the extra growing, cause just 5 pounds 6 ounces, I would not have wanted her to be any smaller. (Chessa was actually a bit smaller though. We just have small babies. I had kinda had high hopes for growing this one bigger, but then there was all the puking...)

And, 5 pounds 6 ounces, perfectly healthy wonderful little baby. Perfectly healthy safe happy home birth.

And why am I bring all this up again? Because like I said, it was one year ago that I became pregnant. I was sick all spring, looking forward to the summer, which when it came I was feeling not better at all. I missed so many seasons! And now they are here again. And I feel well again. So so well. What an incredible blessing to have good health! And to have this wonderful family of mine with these three sweet girls to journey through this beautiful year with.

The feeling of promise that this coming season offers is so inspiring to me. My family has so many dreams, each day we will bring ourselves closer to those dreams, we will embrace the work and joy of it all.

I wish to you as well a beautiful good-bye to the winter (your summer?) and a blessed journey into the new season!


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this moment ~ when the sisters became three

Three and a half months, 300 photos, 3 billion kisses, or something like that.
She is of course much bigger than this now.
I will of course share much more soon. I am happy to be able to return to this space.
Wishing beautiful days to all...
With love, Renee


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here with baby...

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I have written on paper. I want to send letters to friends. If she stays alseep I will write here...  


p.s. 

Yes, a p.s. at the beginning. I can barely write this post. I cannot see more than half the post. We will just hope there are not too many typos at the end. I wonder what I wrote down there (cause it was actually last week when I wrote most of this...)
(The issue is with the old barely functioning computer, not with me. I am functioning just fine. Well for the most part anyhow...)
(I will just push publish now and hope for the best...)
(Okay, after publishing I could read. I think just a couple typos. Getting up, not betting up. Morning hours, not orning hours. You could have probably figured that out on your own. I still can't get to the bottom of my writing to edit...)


Thank you so very much for all the kind comments and emails (and phone calls and little packages!) for Elsa Willow. The love and support has been so felt and appreciated.

It will have to be okay that there are no pictures.
(Not even wanting to mention the computer (broken) troubles. And please just say yes, of course all of our pictures will be able to be saved...)

I do so wish you could see her!
(And can you imagine how much our familes are really wanting to see her? No pictures for anyone.)
(We are taking pictures, they are just having to wait stored on our camera.)

(And you see this is not what I might want to be writing about now that I am having a moment to.)

Hello! How have you all been?
Cold and wintery and sweet and still pretty newborn here in our home.
We can hardly believe all the sweetness that our little Elsa is.
Big sisters are just as wonderful as we knew they would be.
All just so so in love.
Baby and I are still just home. Not like we ever venture out much in the winter anyhow. Although Jason and the girls did just head out to near the lake to do some snowshoeing.

So cold here. We had a good snowstorm in December that left everything so good and wintery white. And it has been so cold since that much of the snow is still here.
It was supposed to be nearly 20 degrees below zero the other night!

We just stay inside cozy and warm. If I do not have a nursing baby in my arms, or a sleeping baby in my arms, or a wide awake super adorable baby in my arms, then I usually spend my time in the kitchen. Baking bread, cooking dinner as early in the day as I can get to it, having fun looking through cookbooks and doing some meal planning.

We have been doing some homeschooling in the morning. Chloe and I are still actually finishing Greece (never happened last year with all the pregnancy illness) and about to move on to Ancient Rome. Chessa and I are finishing some fables and then moving on to a saints block, which we are both very much looking forward to. It is nice to be all getting some work done together in the mornings.

Oh, speaking of mornings, I have been betting up between 5 and 6 AM. I thinkI should try to keep it around. 5 is kinda too crazy. But so nice in those quiet, dark orning hours, and then the sun beginning to lighten the sky...

Well, she sure has stayed asleep. I think I will have to go knit now. How nice.

Hope everyone is happy and well!


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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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