Fuzzy Love

The 100 Species Challenge

We've started a new long-term project around here called the 100 Species Challenge. The idea is to "collect" 100 different species by identifying plants that grow in your little corner of the world, but we've expanded it to include animals, birds, and bugs, mostly because I don't think I can keep my interest level up through one hundred plants, let alone the kids'. But who knows? We'll see where this idea takes us.

We went to a favorite local park on Friday that has a trickle of a stream flowing under a bridge. Is there any place to play better than that? The kids gathered up handfuls of acorn hats, perfect for little boats, and floated them down the "rapids." The bumpy oak leaves were interesting as well, and Liam held up the leaf to lots of other nearby trees, hoping to find a match and, therefore, more acorns. Our first species!

Two handfulls of acorns came home with us and Liam immediately sat down to draw them and the tree they came from. I supplied the name (and the spelling).

And Olivia put some acorns out for our squirrels (who, I imagine, were pretty surprised).

Through this project I'm hoping we'll all become a little more aware of the diversity around us, learn some new names, experiment with pressing leaves and flowers, make bark rubbings, and go for hikes with the binoculars and our notebooks. And hopefully we will figure out some names other than "hawk" for the many birds of prey we frequently see gliding above us. That would be nice too.

On Bathrobes and Bellinis

I am a very lucky woman. Once in a long while I get to leave my lovely and beloved family and go away for a weekend with friends. My two very good girlfriends, Jenn and Kelly, to be specific; the kind of friends who know all about me but like me anyway. We could have fun anywhere, we could talk forever, and last weekend we did just that in Scottsdale. Actually, what we specifically did was eat a lot, drink a lot, lounge around in bathrobes at the spa, lounge around the pool, and generally feel luxurious a lot. While talking, of course. It is a lifestyle to which I could easily become accustomed, if given half a chance.

But, by Sunday evening, waiting for my suitcase in DIA, I was aching for my family. Oh, to sniff my babies' hair! But now that they're sniffed and cuddled, and I've had a Mark hug and kiss (and even a - gasp - conversation), I'm ready to lay by the pool and have another bellini.

Ah well. Soccer practice is nice too.

Again With the New Stuff

Well, first of all, I felt this site needed a little change (Stacy's new look got me thinking). Something a bit more exciting and a little less....homemade. I still can't figure out how to replace the banner with my own though...

Anyway, I did some phone canvassing last night. It was new to me, but I figured it had to be less terrifying than going door-to-door and it was. Plus the experience came with oatmeal cookies and lemonade, which always makes things better.

If you've ever considered volunteering on a phone bank (for anybody), it works something like this: a largish group of volunteers met up at a house not far from mine; lots of people also met last night at the county's Democratic HQ, but only so many people can fit in there, so volunteers open up their homes for the overflow (and, thankfully, make cookies and lemonade). The volunteers were from all walks of life: college students, SAHMs, working moms, a retired man who drove up on a Harley, thirty-something men. We were each given a cell phone, a short script, and a list of numbers. The phone numbers belong to Independents, and the point is to see if they need any additional information, the most detailed of which is sent to them through the mail.

Even though I was not the only newbee, I still felt self-conscious enough to search out a spot outside. Watching the sun set over the mountains was beautiful and certainly calming (I love that time of night when everything glows), but I need not have worried; in this day and age of caller ID, few people pick up unless they want to talk. That means I had some interesting and mostly very positive conversations.* But I wasn't alone for long; as more people arrived they were forced out onto the deck with me until we occupied every corner.

The highlight of the night was a long conversation with a man passionate about alternative energy solutions (about which I know next to nothing) that turned into a philosophical discussion about the role of government in our lives. I could have talked to him all night. Not bad at all, really. And I only forgot my name once.

*Although the most surprising was probably when I asked for someone and the woman on the line yelled, "That son of a bitch hasn't lived here in almost two years!!" Oops. Then she calmed down and explained that they were divorced. (No way.)

Bunny!

I've never been able to master the French knot, so her poor eyes are misshapen, I mixed up the arms and the legs, and I could not get her to smile, but Olivia's bunny is a success! Success measured by I don't know what...Olivia's pleasure? Liam's participation in her creation? My desire to make more? Because she looks a bit Franken-bunnyish, what with all my mistakes creative changes.

The pattern is from The Cute Book and it took under an hour to make. Once a person got going she could probably whip them out in half that time, but I spent some time on those unfortunate eyes; the felt of the face is now seriously perforated. But the kids love them - they've both spent some time "reading" the book - and now it is Liam's turn for a little mascot, as the book calls them.

And did I mention the materials for that bunny cost $1.25 (I even got the book from the library, although I'll probably pick it up) and I have enough left over to make, oh, at least ten more? Bunnies for everyone!

A Total First

I canvassed this weekend. Let me just say, never ever before have I felt compelled to get involved in the election process.

I won't lie to you: it was terrifying. My mouth was dry and, at that first door, I was really hoping my voice wasn't shaking (I swear, I almost forgot my name). The neighborhood I was visiting was an expensive golf-course retirement community, which is not exactly Obama territory, but at least they were all high on the politeness scale. Most people were not home, but I did have some encouraging talks, like with an elderly lady who whispered to me that her "husband is voting McCain, but [she's] going to cancel him out." I also found a new volunteer and got someone registered to vote. All good, especially in a county of CO that used to be all red, but is now considered a battleground.

I read that door-to-door talks are one of the most effective ways to reach people that might otherwise not bother to vote, so that's why I got waaaay out of my comfort zone and volunteered in that way. I gotta say, I was on a total high after I was done: it sure beat sitting home and fretting (now that's my comfort zone).  I'm going back on Wednesday.

Making Some Magic

Have you guys seen The Cute Book? After seeing a cute little finished kitty over at Balkan Style, I immediately put the book on hold at the library. There are some adorable projects in there, and they're quick, easy, and take about a dollar worth of materials each. Now both Liam and Olivia want a few little animals a piece (and I'm going to try to make progress on one tonight), but first up was magic wands.

Liam has wanted a magic wand for a while now. Whenever we see sparkly, star-topped sticks in the store (the kind that will break in about two minutes), he starts begging. He is aware of Harry Potter (although I'm not sure how), but seems to think his wand requires a star on top. So I tell him we'll make one. And then we...uh....don't. So the last time I said that, Liam whined, "But we never do!" Ouch. Sorry, kid. So today we absolutely did.

I must say, I do love this sort of project. Liam planned it all out, I got the tools and gave him a little instruction, and he made it happen. Since I had a new pile of felt for The Cute Book projects, it was clearly the right thing to use.

The recipe: draw a star on a piece of scrap paper, hold the paper and the felt up to a window for tracing, cut two per star. Use matching embroidery floss (three strands) to more or less sew the two stars together. Break out the sequins and stick them onto the stitches every now and then. Cover the end of a stick with glue, poke it through the stitches (they were big stitches), and voila!

The pink one is for Olivia; Liam made that one for her. The red one is Liam's; I made it. Liam insisted it be this way so they both got a gift.

When the glue is dry, turn your mother into a sheep!

Baaaaa.

If Your Brain Hurts and You Know It, Knit a Hat

It's too much of the election. Have you seen the bumper sticker that says, "If you aren't outraged, you aren't paying attention"? I need a vacation from paying attention.

On the other hand, I did find some red yarn.

I touched every red worsted winterish yarn in the store, and came home with some Berroco Ultra Alpaca in color 6234; Superman red in sunlight and in the dim. It's no Malabrigo on the softness meter, but it's kid-friendly, I think. So I'm an inch into a new Seaman's Cap with it. And at only $8.50 for 215 yarns, I should have enough left over for a flock of little origami birds (I'm fancying a mobile full of them).

Have you noticed the huge numbers of great free hat patterns out there? That Ravelry search is GREAT! I've been working quite a bit on my massive Moderne Baby Blanket (Halleluja! Just the border left!) and I'm using hats to break up the monotony. First up: the Windy City Hat, designed by the lovely Jodi.

I totally bribed Olivia with that cracker so she'd stay still for just a fraction of a second. Anyway, I love this hat! The lace pattern reminds me of cathedrals. I emsmallened it by one pattern repeat to size this for a toddler, but it should fit kids five and up as written. Quick, easy, with a lovely spiral top. I do love interesting hat tops (and that's probably only something a knitter would say, huh?).

Then, with the remaining yarn (Malabrigo Worsted in Torero), I made another Foliage. This is the....fourth? time I've made this pattern and I think I've nailed it with 2.5 repeats. Three, which is what the pattern calls for, is huge even on my massive noggin, but 2.5 fits Olivia and me (gotta love lace for that).

Then I found a bevy of watch caps, such as the Seaman's Cap I'm making now, but I also love the Jacques Couteau Hat (in DK) and the Samaras Hat (worsted). And then the Inga Hat for colorwork and Frivol for cables. But I decided upon a little cap called That Chocolate's Gone Right to your Ribs Hat; it's a perfect boy hat in DK. In worsted there's The Boy Hat.

(Liam agreed to pose and quickly gave me that face, then turned to the right - pause - turned to the left - pause - and then turned his back to me - pause again. Poor kid has spent his whole life as my model and clearly he knows the routine.)

So that's what's going on around here. But today is a beautiful day. I'm going to walk away from the computer and the headlines, and take the kids to the park. We'll need those hats before we know it, after all.

Grrrr!

I am about to throw my knitting out the window. I was knitting a hat. A quick hat: a lovely little seaman's cap with a free pattern available here. The trouble is in the yarn. All I want is a soft worsted yarn in a true fire-engine red, but I can't seem to find it.

It is terribly difficult to photograph reds, so you'll just have to trust me that none of those yarns pictured are a true red. They are, starting from the right and going clockwise: Malabrigo Worsted in Sealing Wax (really an autumn, brownish-red), the same yarn in Torero (crazy-bright pink), and leftover Fleece Artist Blue Face Leicester Aran in some unknown colorway (I assumed it was red to black but is actually pink to deep burgundy).

Since reds are hard to photograph accurately, red yarns are difficult to purchase online. I didn't let that stop me, however, since there is a whole thread on Ravelry about Malabrigo reds, which is how I got those two skeins that aren't really red. Humph, I say, to dye lots.

Okay, then; I decided to dig deep into the stash and put together two strands of fingering to make the hat. I've had some Rowan 4ply Soft in 374 Honk (whatever) that has had no purpose for a long time, especially since I decided Liam was too big to have a whole sweater made in fingering weight yarn. Last night, in my basement, it looked like a lovely red with just a touch of blue undertones. Doubled = great red hat, right?

NO. I took the hat to Liam's soccer game and Mark said, "That's pink, you know." Heh. Yup.

So tell me, does Cascade 220 make a nice, non-itchy hat? And a real red? Because this stuff has all been balled up and tossed into the closet while I take a few deep breaths.

Everyday Math or Fun With Buttons

I have to admit, I don't see much point in some of the homework that Liam gets. He only gets it on Fridays, to be done for Mondays, so I can't complain too much, but I do have a hard time pulling Liam away from whatever he happens to be doing in order to sit him down and have him trace letters or color so many apples or whatever. Perhaps much of the value is in setting a routine of quiet work? I'm undecided.

But he does get another sort of homework that I'm in love with. It's called Everyday Mathematics. I was thinking of sharing some of the activities with you guys, since it's really pretty fun, and then I saw a post about the same darn thing over at Balkan Style and that got me on my butt and posting (thanks Nadine!). Anyway, the whole point of these activities is to, in their words: "provide a variety of playful mathematics activities for you and your child to do together using everyday situations and materials." They think that we should math with our children everyday, just like we read with them. You know how thrilled little kids are when you let them set the kitchen timer? Like that.

Okay, so the first thing we did was make cookies. For homework. (I was all over that). Liam did all the measuring, we talked about cups and half cups and quarter cups, teaspoons, half tea....you get the idea. He set the timer (seriously thrilling) and set the oven temperature. We measured out equal portions of dough and counted how many cookies we made. We talked about dozen. Now tell me that's not fun math.

Or this one: time things. Anything and everything (and I mean everything). If you give a five-year-old a timer you will soon now how long it takes you to get dressed, make breakfast, and go to the bathroom. After a bit, have them estimate how long something will take before they time it.

Then today we sorted. The book suggested laundry, but I need more reason than homework to do laundry (like I'm out of underwear), so we got out our giant box of buttons. There are many ways to sort buttons, and we tried a few, but by color was the unanimous favorite. Liam noticed that some buttons weren't quite this color or that color, but somewhere in between, so our piles turned into a color wheel. And that led to a discussion about how yellow and blue make green (and a little more blue makes aqua) and so on. Lovely! And that somehow led to graphing.

And none of this felt like work, for either of us! Liam came up with his own ideas and we happily followed him down whatever paths he thought up, just to see what would happen (well, not so much with the cookies, but you know). This is the stuff that will keep curiosity and love of learning strong, don't you think?

There are a ton of other ideas out on the Everyday Mathematics web site, if you are interested. They go right up to grade six. Do you guys have any fun homework?

Excitement!

IKEA is coming to Denver! I'm heading straight to the fabric department to pick up some of those prints I've seen all over blogland.

Plus, is there any better place for kids' stuff?

Then, the Fall Knitty is up! I feel that I must knit Versatility, although I'll need an alternative to three-inch ribbon right on top of my butt. And the Canadian in me just might force me to make Maple, especially since I have some yarn that will work in my stash (What? Malabrigo scraps? Me?).

Are there any must-knits out there for you? Or can you even get through to the site?