which one?

we are lookng at buying a new (old) van.. we want diesel so we can run it on biodiesel/veggie oil..our choices have been narrowed down to a toyota and a mitsubishi .. they are similar in most regards (both 91', have 7 or 8 seats, diesel, right hand drive, very low mileage and they have skylights!!!...) the mitsubishi is a 4X4 with a truck chasie and is said to be very reliable and well made. the toyota has seats that swivel and fold up in all sorts of ways and is also said to be a great family car... there is about $2000 difference between the two.
im partial to the toyota, timothy to the mitsubishi..how do we decide? money is an issue, but we want to make a good choice as it will probably be our car for the next 10 years. timothy even did a tarot card reading last night.. it said that the toyota is the more practical choice but he still wants to get he bigger fancier one.. okay yes..it has a cooler box that makes ice or heats things up and has a pushbar and winch..it is a very manly van. but, it costs a lot more and it is pretty much the same van..how often will be be going off roading in our family car? well, not that often..
the biggest thing for me is that the toyota is a lot better on gas mileage and until we convert the engine to veggie oil it is still going to be quite expensive to drive - as biodiesel is still around $1.oo~ a liter -
this is what they look like.. the delica we are thinking on is all white with skylights (crystal high roof).. the toyta is the one that we looked at a few days ago..


toyota townace..

mitsubishi delica..



how do we decide??

rajani in her new hat..

oOoOH! i want this book!

books!

these books are on order and hopefully will be arriving soon! i cant wait. im so so excited!

food for thought..

our new playkitchen..and some food to go with it!

my first try at doll making..

i decided today that i had to make a doll.. so i found some fabric and hair and such and its coming together really well.. im hand sewing, not my best talent, but its working out and the yarn i am using for the hair has me giddy with delight. she is going to be a faerie doll for ngaio. the body is blue cotton velour and stuffed with wool batting.. her face is some stretchy cotton in a cream colour (an old shirt of mine). she will be simple but sweet.. im not usiang a pattern, just an idea in my head of how to do it, so she will probably be the first of many.. im already hooked.

im thinking of making her clothes from felted wool sweaters.. and wings as well! im so happy when im making things!

her hair is only stitched on in the center part so i have some major work to do there and her body is still needing some adjustments. im not sure if i want her to be able to sit or not. right now she is just sort of stuffed to see what her shape will be like. no arms or hands or feet yet and her head is just pinned on.

noah's longies..finished at long last!

these look lighter than they are in true light...

Happy Birthday Baby!

november the 28th 2006... a whole year past. a whole amazing beautiful revolution around the sun!
thank you ngaio, for bringing us so much joy, so many blissful moments..and for inspiring my knitting in so many ways!

noahs longies take 2..

for some reason these were really giving me trouble.. i knit and frogged them several times and nearly gave up altogether.. but everything is going swimmingly now and i should have them finished, blocked, lanolised and in the mail by wednesday.
They are turning out really beautifully and my worry about the yarn being too different is no more. the colour contrast is there (between the body and legs) but it is subtle.
HPY is lovely, but it really does vary from skein to skein..
i hope you that like them michelle and noah!

the winter fair

yesterday was the winter fair at the waldorf school..it is always so beautiful!
elwynn, ngaio and i had a really lovely time. we went through the winter woodland, all magical and wintery. elwynn ate a special cookie from the cookie house, had freshly poped popcorn, and we devoured a caramel apple! we played in the snow, made a yule log and a snowflake christmas ornament ( we will have the most incredible christmas tree this year!) and wandered the fair in awe of all of the beautiful people and festive surroundings

The craft market was just amazing this year. i bought some christams and birthday gifts..ngaio found a doll that she has yet to let go of and elwynn has a new favorite toy..a carved wooden beaver by jalu (a local wood carver. ..www.jalutoys.com) i met and talked with a local momma who makes waldorf dolls, the most lovely ones ive ever seen! and she said she would teach me. im so so excited! her website is..http://www.bamboletta.com/bamboletta_dolls.htm

as always i saw many folks that i rarely see elsewhere. it is always so special to reconnect with everyone. they are people that i think about often, but see only once or wtice a year.

it began snowing while we were waiting in line for the cookie house. what a special gift!
ngaio was born the day after last years fair, born on the first snow of the season.
it made me feel all sad and amazed at the same time. i can hardly grasp how fast time passes and how much can change in such a short span of time.

she has almost completed one whole revolution around the sun!

the snow is still falling heavily and im blissed out at the sight of it.

i love winter!

winter has come early this year!

not knitting related, but still really cool!!

we got elwynn a new big boy bed and its so rad! it is a bed, a play area (above) and a play house (below). im so happy that i finally decided to get him this. it's an early birthday gift, because how fair is it that his birthday is on december the 26th?! He doesnt like sleeping in it - yet! but he can finally play with his lego and playmobil without his baby sister getting into it!
want to see?


and here are the playsilks that i dyed being very well loved.
they are probably the most used toy in the house now!!

coffee mandala

its funny how something that you really love becomes harder when you have to do it..

ive been knitting madly trying to complete hats and longies for sale and trade and gifts for birthdays and christmas that is fast approaching...but all of a sudden my desire to knit has gone south with the birds and im left plugging away reluctantly and guiltily.

i want to love knitting right now.. i need some solace from my everyday craziness, but now that its just another thing i have to do and on top of everything else, im stuggling. maybe i took on too much. but on the other hand.. i want to be making things! because i really do love and enjoy everything to do with yarn and knitting. and maybe it has to do with the baskets of beautiful yarn that are now sitting waiting to be knit up.. its too much pressure!

usually i find a patternand then i think.. "i dont have the yarn to do it".. now i have so much that i can't decide what to do. i actually hid my yarn in my closet for the first time in my life the other day because i just didn't need the reminder that it was sad just sitting there..

anyways, along with that sad story i have completed yet another hat..and tomorow it will be in the mail on route to its new home (along with brynn's hat and scarf)..and hopefully it will be loved and in return keep a small boy's head toasty warm this cold winter.

faerie trinket bags - for the winter craft swap

these are not the actual swap items..

the green one is my son elwynn's, knit by me when i was only 3 or so months pregnant and a very new knitter! the other one is my own, but my daughter will probably adopt it, when the time comes.. it was also knit while pregnant with elwynn..

i will costom make the bag and fill it with treasures to suit you or your child...
yarn, bells, buttons, silk or velvet lining is your choice!

here is the yarn!

in progress.... a sweater for ngaio and a scarf for me...

and this is the dark earth yarn for noah's longies!

my karma yarn..

i just started working (full time daycare.. 10 hour + days. waking up at 5 am!@) after 4 years of being a SAHM with a very tiny income.. but a very calm, quiet, lazy life...
so i decided that i deserved to reward myself with something! i really love chocolate but it just makes me fat, so it had to be yarn..wool..bamboo needles.....

anyways! i made an order at HPY.. 4 skeins of this.. 4 of that.. it added up to quite a lage order. i was so happy and excited to get this yarn in the mail but the day after i ordered the yarn a momma friend of mine asked me if i would knit her little one, Noah, some longies. so i emailed HPY and asked would they please add on some "dark earth" yarn to my order and... a few others as well!
i never got a response so i just made a second order through the website, payed the money and wasn't really sure what was happening.

i got the first order 2 days ago and oh my mother earth goddess!! it was and is just incredible.
i wanted to throw it up in the air and dance around singing.. but i made do with petting, smelling and then knitting something with a few of the skeins. Each colourway is totally unique and some of the yarns are softer than butter...some are perfect bulky single ply goodness..some are a bit thick and thin but still perfect for soakers, longies, mittens, hats, scarves.....

anyways.. i went through the order and realised that he had either forgotten my request to merge the orders or was sending them seperately.. except that if that was the case he had sent me too much or not enough... i sent an email to him asking what was up.. and didnt hear back.
but today i got yet another large package in the mail.containing not only the 4 skeins of dark earth that i had ordered, but 3 others of another colourway.. im really not even sure what it is.. so, a long story short.. i have a lot of amazing yarn to keep me very happy and Very busy all this cold winter long.

i belive that my kindness in offering free knitwear to some mommas/babes in need (despite our still being very low income) has brought this extra lovely yarn to me..
or maybe it was the soo yummy apple turnover that i gave to the man sitting in the pouring rain without an umbrella on commercial drive the other day..either way.. im so excited to finally have a good sellection of really nice yarn to knit lots of beautiful things for everyone i love, and even some folks ive never and probably never will meet.

now i just need to find some more time.. maybe i should forgo sleep altogether.

bunny my hunney

i knit this hat for someone and i really really hope she likes it.
she wanted purple and bunny ears, but the ears were a challenge for me. i was trying to make them short enough to stand up and not be too heavy but still look bunnyish. i also ran out of the light purple so i had to use some contrasting darker. i like it, but im not totally convinced it looks like a bunny hat. next time i'll do it in brown or white or black... *sigh* i guess im my own worst critic...
and elwynn was NOT a co-operative model tonight either...

a hat for brynn

i knit this hat for brynn!
i cant wait to see her in it.

i also made a matching braided icord scarf.. my own design! i hope she likes it!

black cashmere wristwarmers..

these are a birthday gift for my sister but ive only done one so far and her birthday was in october... maybe they will be a christmas gift instead!

sock yarn!

this is kid aran, hand dyed. its hard to see here but the colours are just incredible.. so subtle but magical. i cant wait to see it knit up.my favorite autntie annie came to visit me today and brought a great sock pattern for me.. so im going to attemp to knit a pair this evening. wish me luck. i have about 12 projects on the needles and its hard to choose which one to work on. do you think im addicted to knitting?

yup..more hats!

they still need Icord ties.. but im lazy..
these hats need homes or heads rather.. if you fancy the the colours let me know!
they are both toddler sized.

my first sweater.. or attempt anyways!

im knitting with this amazing dark blue hand painted yarn from urugay.
its really lovely to work with!
as you can see, im just starting.. but i have high hopes. this is what the sweater will look like when completed.. it is from the debbie bliss book "special knits"

undersea longies

i actually knit these for elwynn when i was pregnant with ngaio. he wore them a bit but outgrew them fast and now ngaio fits them! she is so big! i love these colours.. it is fleece artist yarn..hand painted. not super soft but very durrable. it hardly pills at all.

Something for me! my first of many panta's!

this was really easy and fun project to knit and my head feels ever so happy in it!
the yarn is exquisite..it is manos, hand painted yarn from uruguay in the autumn forest colourway.. i think ill knit some fingerless mittens to match!








the pattern is here..

http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/en/visoppskrift.php?d_nr=86&d_id=10&lang=us

ngaio meets a goat..and i love some sheep~!

it has been sooo beautiful and autumny here, so to celebrate we decided to go on an adventure to maple wood farm.. a local small farm/business. there, ngaio met her first goat(and a very sweet one too!) elwynn practiced being one and and i got to "ooh" and "ahh" at the beuatiful sheep. i guess loving sheep comes with loving wool..we also saw "daisy" the cow being milked(though i was kind of sad when the farmer told the kids that cow milk is for humans, not baby cows.. yeah, i know that cows make a LOT of milk.. but isn't it kind of creepy to milk the cow then give her baby a bottle? i think so..) all in all it was a fantastic day on the farm.
oh how i wish i had a farm of my own..