From My Bed I can See..

When I lay in bed and the curtains are open this is the sight I see.  

I watch this large tree with the changing seasons as though it is my guide.  

Sometimes I escape and lay down and watch the happenings of the tree if only for a few months.  

Somehow I feel better after having a moment, maybe her deep roots ground me as well. 

I have always needed a bed with a view. Setting up the room with the best angle for me to see out the window and have the sun shine in my face as I awake from slumber or if I need a moment to recharge. From the other side of the bed the view is different and of course not the same for me.  I want my side and my view.  

What do you see out the window from your side of the bed?

I am the Right Brain

Left brain: I am the left brain. I am a scientist. A mathematician. I love the familiar. I categorize. I am accurate. Linear. Analytical. Strategic. I am practical. Always in control. A master of words and language. Realistic. I calculate equations and play with numbers. I am order. I am logic. I know exactly who I am. 
Right brain: I am the right brain. I am creativity. A free spirit. I am passion. Yearning. Sensuality. I am the sound of roaring laughter. I am taste. The feeling of sand beneath bare feat. I am movement. Vivid colors. I am the urge to paint on an empty canvas. I am boundless imagination. Art. Poetry. I sense. I feel. I am everything I wanted to be.

Sweaters for Two Birthday Girls

I while back I decided that I would knit Lily and I sweaters for our Birthdays.  I already had knit myself the February Lady Sweater and I had knit her the Tiny Tea Leaves, so I thought what a better gift to each other if I knit the smaller and bigger versions of each sweater.  We would have two sets of matching sweaters.  She is after all my only girl and I have to make the most of this!  

 For Lily I knitted the Baby Sweater on Two Needles by Elizabeth Zimmerman.  It was the first time I had knitted a EZ pattern and it was amazing!  I did it with Koigu Kertsi and the yarn was beautiful to work with.  

 Here is a picture of my February Lady Sweater

 For myself I knitted the Tea Leaves Cardigan published in Madelinetosh and I used the Malabrigo Merino Worsted. All I can say is that this yarn is so amazing.  It feels great, it knits up fast and easy and the structure and stretch are both equal.  I have not taken it off since I finished it on Saturday.  

 The pattern has this great texture around the yoke and the makes the whole thing.  

Here is Lily's Tiny Tea Leaves that I knitted for her at Christmas.  Since then I have pulled in the neck line more and changed the buttons to square black ones, oh and she has grown a lot and it fits her much better.

We are two girls ready for the spring weather. 

With those sweaters done it is now on the next project waiting for me in the project bag. 

Turning 2

Today my not so baby girl turns 2 years old.  

She and I have travelled a journey together unlike anything I could have imagined.  She has taught me more about myself and the world than I think I have taught her at this point.  She loves and challenges me everyday and I love her more and more for each moment that we are together.  

She will be my only girl and therefore hold a special place in my heart.  As soon as I figure it all out, I hope to teach her everything there is to know about being the woman that she wants to be.  

Until then she is my little firecracker who has us all marching to the beat of her drum.  

Welcome to the Third Decade (#35 ~ Have a Birthday Bash)

I stumble from sleep this morning and for a brief moment I am startled as the house is quiet. I then remember that the kids are with Dad having a special sleep over.  I also then remember that yesterday was my birthday and it is official I am now 30.  Yes for some strange reason this fact nags at me.  I can not pin point the exact reason for me feelings around turing 30.  Everyone who has passed this milestone continues to tell me that the 30's are the best.  I feel like I am no longer in a place where I can shrug life off and later say 'Hey I was in my 20's, that did I know, of course I made mistakes, I had lots of time to figure it out'.

I sometimes feel I have crossed over a river and when I looked back the bridge is now gone.  I try and look at the new landscape and see the things that have come there with me.  My beautiful children, my amazing husband, my friends and family that had supported me through so many things.  I look a little further and I start to see other images emerging in the distance. Myself as the artist I want and long to someday be. The Mother who in one moment is standing cheering her children on and in the other is holding and comforting them.  Paul and I standing in a moment of love, another moment of standing next to the sold sign of our first home.  I also see the faces of friends, some I recognize and others are friends I have yet to meet, but they are all laughing and smiling and I can feel their support and love.  Further in the distance I see myself as I am today.  I stand with my arms open welcoming myself into them. With trust I step forward and take my hand and as I look back across the river one last time and I see my fear standing there.  I turn back and take one step forward and know that with myself by my side there is nothing to fear.

With each step forward I smile into the sunshine

Knitted Gnome

A friend in my circle of friends recently had her fourth babe and I wanted to knit up something cute and special for him.  When looking through my Ravelry favourites I came across this cute little gnome pattern that I had added many, many months ago.  I thought that it was the perfect thing.  

 I had some left over organic cotton from Rowan and thought it would be great as I wanted to make sure that the fiber was something that could loved and used as well as being safe for babe to put in his mouth. I stuffed him with some natural roving that I had left over from my attempt at learning to spin. (I will try again in the future, maybe take a class this time rather than reading in a book or watching youtube videos)

He turned out amazing and so super cute.  I am thinking of all the little people that could use or want a gnome family.  For sure my little guy is getting one of these made (maybe putting bells in the belly) and I am thinking that Lily must have a gnome family for the wooden play house.

The Equinox Moon

What else can you say except simple beautiful and amazing. 

Spring Equinox

To celebrate the the first day of Spring today we decided to take a walk in the forest.  What a better way to celebrate the change of the season than to be a part of nature if even for a brief moment.  

 When we got there we noticed that they are doing some thinning of the forest.  My Mom was very concerned about them cut down healthy trees.  I was a little excited to be able to put to work that Geography Degree I obtained and explain to Paul, Mom and the kids the reasons for what they are doing.  ( I will save you all the geography lesson and just say it is to maintain a healthy forest)

 The great big pile of logs did make for some great climbing as well as photos. 

What did you do today to celebrate and welcome Spring? I know that here we are very excited to welcome Spring and all the renewal and rebirth that it brings. 

Raindrops = Snowflakes

No sun today, but I am o.k. with this as I know that with each raindrop another snowflake melts.
Do you think that they match equally one for one?   Does that mean by the end of the day there will be no more snow?

I am excited and feeling alive with the possibility of spring.  I have told a few friends lately that I would rather have to bath the kids a few times a day to clean off the mud than feel stuck inside with the snow.
It helps that bathing is something that everyone loves here.

I am excited yet the kids are restless with a rainy day.  I am going to have to pass some of my energy to them.

Any rainy day suggestions?

Maple Syrup Festival

Today was a beautiful and amazing day.  The weather is getting warmer and the sun shone all day.  I am literally starting to see the light of Spring around the corner!  

To celebrate Sam's first March Break we have planned a few special trips and today was the Maple Syrup Festival at Bruce Mills Conservation.  

Watching them boil the soon to be Maple Syrup.

Lily's taste of pure sweetness.  

After taking a group shot Sam's head bumped the bucket sending syrup flying everywhere.  I think this was the most exciting part for the kids. 

Big Sam and Little Sam.  Can you tell which one is which? 

Feeding the sheep

Lily wanted to get right in the pen with the animals.  I think being at Nana's farm she thinks that we always get into pens to see animals! 

I was so great to get out with the kids and friends today.  Almost feeling free and alive again.  

Sun?

I woke up to the sun shining in my face for the first time in what feels like forever.
This week they are calling for lots of sun and warmer weather.

Maybe Mother Nature has been listening to all my pleading.

Painting

With the forecast calling for lots of rain and some more snow (yuck!) for the next few days we have had to find some more inside activities to help starve off the crazies.  

Painting with my old Watercolours seems to be the biggest hit. We have tried using kids paints but I find that the Sam and Lily really enjoying using my old Watercolours so much more.  I am not too sure if it is the vibrancy of the colours or the ease in which it paints on.  Either way it makes for a longer and less frustrating painting session.  

Even Paul has gotten involved in a few painting sessions.

The next night after the paintings had dried Paul and I went to bed to find a painting for each of us next to the bed from Sam.  He said it was just a little present.  Yup, this Prego Mama tried a little.

Hoping

It is now nap/quiet time at our house.  Today was one of those days in which I felt time this time was a) never going to come or b) couldn't come fast enough.
I am now sipping a hot coffee, thinking about it is that I want to eat, while I scan the endless pages of knitting patterns on Ravelry.
We had the glimpse of Spring on the weekend, it was taken from us, and as I look out the window I see that the called for snow has begun to fall.  The winds make the house creek and the gate that was not latched this morning bangs against the fence.  In March this weather makes me slow, sad, and sleepy.  I want to stay in bed, do nothing, and wake up when Spring comes.  This does not happen as I am lifted from sleep to the sounds of Lily saying 'Morning Mama, time to wake up' my glasses are waiting in her hands.   
I think we are all tired of Winter, restless and need to connect to nature again.  This makes for some difficult days here at our house.  Today all I can hope for it that the called for rain this afternoon will wash away all of the snow and I will see grass again soon.

A Space with a Door to Call my Own

With the closing of the studio and converting the once basement studio into a basement apartment for my brother I have had to move and create new space for myself in other parts of the house.  

In our room we had a huge walk-in closet that had up until now been used as unproductive storage (really just a place I could throw stuff without having to really deal with it).

One afternoon last week I had a huge brainwave and realized that if cleaned out and a few other things added that it was the perfect size and location for a craft space for me.  

After some cleaning, organizing, and sorting through the crafts supplies I wanted/needed/used this is what we ended up with.  It has a very bright light (even better than the one in my old space really) and the perfect amount of space.

I have an organized space for all my yarn and craft books. I am actually down to only yarn that I am using for current projects.  Yes, that means I have really no stash to speak of  meaning that with every new project I start I get new yarn!

I have a space for my sewing machine instead of the kitchen table and all my usable fabric stashed under the table.  I was also able to put up my vision board as well as the cork board for added space for inspiration to be stuck.  I have found myself in the last few days just sitting in there realizing that even though it used to be a closet that I have a small space (with a door) that I can call my own.

Weekend Weather

Saturday we played in the rain and ran around sliding on the icy driveway. 

When I looked out the front window I saw grass.  

Sunday we woke up to this:

I was just getting hopeful that spring was on its way! I am not too sure how much more I can take of this snow and cold.  I want and need Spring to come.  For no other reason that I am getting too pregnant to pull the sled or push the stroller up the snowy hill to get Sam from school.