baby bear beanie pattern

While little bit was napping this morning (still recovering from that pesky bug but otherwise chipper as usual), I whipped up a quick little baby hat pattern. Because apparently I write knitting patterns in my free time now. It's super cute, simple and would make a precious little baby gift, which is what this one is destined to become. Happy knitting!

baby bear beanie pattern

Newborn-6 months (6 months - 9 months) 9 months-child

Worsted weight yarn (Vanna's Choice, here) with size 8 needles.

CO 56(64)72 stitches. Join round and knit until piece measures 4"(4.5")5.5". Start decreases for crown:

Row 1: *K6, k2tog* repeat till end.
Row 2: Knit.
Row 3: *K5, k2tog* repeat till end.
Row 4: Knit.
Row 5: *K4, k2tog* repeat till end.
Row 6: Knit.
Row 7: *K3, k2tog* repeat till end.
Row 8: Knit.
Row 9: *K2, k2tog* repeat till end.
Row 10: Knit.
Row 11: *k2tog* around.

Remaining rows: k2tog on all round until 4 stitches remain. Thread tail through 4 stitches and weave in ends.

For ears:
CO8
Knit 8 rows garter stitch.
Row 9: k1, k2tog, k1, ssk, k1
Row 10: k1, k2tog, ssk, k1
Row 11: k2tog, ssk
Row 12: K2tog
Cut thread and weave in ends.

Attach ears in desired position. I attached them 1.25" down from the center of the crown, slightly towards the front of the hat using super strong upholstery thread which is my new favorite thing. It's so cute, the cat even approves :)

creating

This past weekend I had the pleasure of helping craft a cake to celebrate my dear mother-in-law's birthday. I jump at the chance to make a delicious vegan baked good and birthday's are no exception. This beauty was two layers of vanilla cake slathered in homemade strawberry "buttercream" frosting. It was lovely, just like the birthday gal herself.

Being that my MIL is an inspiring artist and devoted art teacher, we hit up the local art supply store while she was in town and I was finally able to stock up on watercolors and watercolor paper. While I am pretty prolific in the creativity department, I think illustration will always be "my thing". I love it so.

This last one was inspired by a Society6 print that caught my eye months back. I put a Kiddo spin on it. I think it will grace the walls of Juni's room, as a kid's room can never have too much real art. Granted, she won't get the reference to Moonrise Kingdom for years to come but that's fine by me. She seems to love these adventurous kiddos, reference aside. 

Poor babe was out for the count on Monday with a pesky stomach bug so much knitting was tended to. I finished up a market bag that will hopefully encourage me to stop leaving my reusable bags in the car for how could I possibly leave behind a bag I spent hours knitting? I love it and this pattern is fabulous. Unlike previous knit bags I've used that stretched too far down, this one stretches width wise which is just perfect.

A box full of boobie beanies also made its way out to Wee Sprout Naturally in Jacksonville, Florida. A local Tallahassee business will be carrying them soon, as well! Just doin' my part to spread the message that "breastfeeding is normal."

Here's to hoping this spurt of creativity lasts me through the week! It feels so good to get stuff done.

Operation "Let's Do This Thing" 2013

One thing about DIY - be it sewing, knitting, cooking, or home renovations - is that you will fail. There is no way around it. At some point, you are going to do something with the best intentions and you are going to fail miserably. If you are anything like me, you will proceed to sulk.

That is the sad reality that has fallen upon or pathetic looking kitchen cabinets. When we first moved in, I knew something had to be done about them. They had obvious water wear and were covered in gunked up old wood veneer. Way too ugly for our sweet Little House.

Last February, I mustered up the courage to refinish them. I read blog post after blog post on how-to's. In the end, I decided to follow this tutorial from Young House Love, and I followed it to a T. Lots of sanding and deglossing. It was hard, exhausting, frustrating work but I trudged on. YHL did their cabinets this way and they were gorgeous. Sure, mine weren't getting completely smooth, felt sticky in some spots and it seemed to be taking way longer for me to do it than it did the YHL crew, but I just had faith in the method and went through with it. Since we have only the back porch to dry the doors on, I worked a little at a time. I was in absolute love with the initial results!

... At first. They looked clean and perfect. Until a week later, when I noticed the first chip. I shrugged it off and said I'd just touch it up. But then I started noticing stain after stain all over the fronts! My heart shattered. All that hard work for nothing! While procrastinating and not working on a project all at once is usually a bad thing, it was a blessing in this case. I was bummed about the area I had redone (about 1/3rd of the cabinet fronts) but thank goodness I hadn't invested all that time in the whole kitchen for nothing!

Months and months and months went by. I was discouraged and felt defeated. In all my online research, I couldn't figure out why this didn't work! Every day I was reminded of this epic mistake. Half of our cabinets were white and looked nice from affair until you actually looked at them, the other half were just sad looking. I didn't know where to go. I threw in the towel for some time until I got motivated to start researching again. Some reading online revealed to me that you know you are ready to paint when you rub the cabinet with deglosser and your rag looks clear afterward. So I tried this. I would rub and rub and rub and an hour later, my rag would still come up reddish brown (from veneer) but it was working, just super slow. I got to thinking. This is working, just not fast enough. What if, just what if, paint stripper will strip the veneer?!

A quick look at my bottle of paint stripper and what do you know. Veneer can be stripped! The stuff that came off my cabinets was nasty. 50+ year old wood veneer that was thicker and stickier than molasses, and it resembled a bodily excretion. I was mortified and at the same time relieved: THIS is why it didn't work!

This is the amount of veneer stripped off of 4 cabinet door fronts using Citrustrip. This right here is why the paint was pealing, chipping and staining. After two applications of stripper, I had all the veneer removed and beautiful wood to work with. I then went on to follow the YHL tutorial and it was a major success. The only thing I did differently was I switched to an oil based enamel paint thanks to the recommendation of some friends who recently repainted their cabinets and could attest that the paint was holding up like a dream. I am love love loving the enamel finish!

This is how they look over a month later, whereas the first attempt, they were already stained and chipping at this point. What a huge relief - it worked!

So now that I'm back on the "kitchen cabinet painting" horse, I'm working hard to get these babies done. I volunteered to host a neighborhood egg hunt next month and that is my self designated deadline. Nothing like pending company to motivate you!

This past weekend I worked on a few drawers and I wanted to show the before and after of stripping. Older wood veneer was not near as sturdy as today's veneers so over time, contact with the oils in human skin would cause the veneer to gunk up around the knobs and pulls. Thus this nastiness.

Voila! All sanded and ready to go.

I could tell all the veneer was removed when everything looked matte and nothing had a glossiness to it. If I noticed any glossy spots, I would apply stripper to just those areas and remove it. The glossy areas would also be sticky, a dead give away that veneer was still there. So when everything was smooth, matte and not sticky, I knew I was ready to sand.

Of course, I had someone offer to help.

So that's where I am with my longest running home reno. What started off as "Project Paint the Cabinets 2012" has turned into "Operation Let's Do This Thing 2013". I'll share more pictures when progress has been made. I'm hoping to have my lovely white cabinets before the first day of spring!

In other news, the thrifting gods have been good to me. Here's just a peek at a recent find. I mean, seriously. Who can pass up on a creepy ceramic Indian Chief from 1974? Not I. I knew Chief was nothing a few coats of metallic spray paint couldn't fix.

He is now living happily atop the card catalog.

Have an awesome week, friends, and good luck on your thrifting and creative endeavors :)

the stocking 2 years in the making

Sometimes, life gets busy. Real busy. And things have to take the back burner. Like this quaint little space. Or knitting Juni's stocking. But this sweet place I come to share my thoughts and adventures is just like Juni's stocking: while I may have it tucked away in the back of my mind, spending zero time working on it, I still think about it and can't wait to get back to creating it.

So in the spirit of getting back to things I haven't had the creative time to tend to, here is the stocking 2 years in the making - finished!

This was my first attempt at color work and I cannot be more thrilled with how it turned out! The colors are so fun and it's completely unconventional. I think Juni's Great Grandma June, who knitted my green and red Rudolph stocking back in the 80s that I still use every year, would be proud of my knitting skills yet mortified at my color choice if she were alive today to see this. Sorry, Grandma June! I swear, you were my inspiration.

As seen on my Raverly project page, I started it November 17th of 2010. In 5 days, I had worked all the way down to the green and brown beetle band. Then life and a bazillion other obligations came up. Then the holidays past. Then my "to knit for the holidays 2011" list left no room to work on it. And on November 2nd of this year, I put my foot down and declared this to be the month I finish as many unfinished projects as possible! In 2 days, it was done. After 2 years. Ridiculous. But hey, it's done and that's the important part.

The pattern overall was really easy. Just simple knitting in the round and the toe and heel were a breeze. Keeping track of the color charts and different colors of yarn was the most difficult part. Not necessarily "difficult", more like "annoying and time consuming". Being my first color work piece, there was definitely some learning-as-I-knit that went on. But I think I got it good enough for a stocking that won't be a worn garment!

And just for fun, here is what the inside looks like! Please excuse the yarn ends that have yet to be woven in. Hopefully that won't take me 2 years to get to, ha!

I'm so thrilled November is here and December is soon to follow. Now I just can't wait to see how Juni's new stocking looks hung on the midcentury hutch with care! Huzzah for making creative time for those things that are important to me.

bring in the green

On Tuesday, while outside tending to the yard as Spence and Juni played some ball on his lunch break, my sister in Seattle sent me a picture. I couldn't help but make a PicFrame comparison.


With spring practically here in Tallahassee, I was reminded as to how lucky us Floridians are this time of year! So, in solidarity of my Florida born sis-turned-Washington-snow-bunny, I decided it was time to embrace the season and turn those veggie beds.

This, of course, required a visit to the lovely local garden shop, Native Nurseries.


This store is like a little emerald gem tucked behind some old growth oaks and towering pines, with hidden pathways filled with tons of treasures to seek out: colorful songbirds, the random water fountain, mossy bench swings, ivy covered cement gnomes. It really is quite heavenly and a great place for the young and old imagination to run wild.


Juni loved showing off her bird watching skills. She correctly identified a mocking bird, male cardinal and black-capped chickadee! I think I even spotted a yellow tanger. Having those bird feeders on the front porch really has paid off in more ways than one.

After playing a bit of real life "Secret Garden", Juni and I got down to business – that, being picking out some baby veg plants, finding some low priced tomato cages (because I learned from last spring's "stake mistake"), and shoveling fresh dirt. I was so thrilled to hear from some fellow front yard gardening friends that a hearty peet and mushroom compost mix could be purchased for $1.50/5 gallon bucket! While the price tag was prime, the best part of the dirt was how you got to shovel it yourself.


After some sweat inducing dirt shoveling we were set. We got 25 gallons of dirt, two cherry tomato plants, two red bell pepper plants, one Black Beauty eggplant, a dill plant, three cucumber plants, and two tomato cages – all for $35! We will easily get 3 times that (if not more) worth in produce from these crops so I was delighted. Especially those cherry tomatoes, red bell peppers, and cucumbers. I can't wait!


So there you have our spring and summer crop set up. Our kale and chard are still going strong so I left those for now. Our last broccoli plant from the winter is seeding and I'm going to take a jab at seed saving!


Leaving those few plants be, I went about weeding the beds which took some time as Florida betony wrecked havoc on two of the three beds this winter. I had no idea what the weed was until it showed up in our herb bed and, oh boy, did I have my work cut out for me. When people suggest putting down a good barrier layer of cardboard, don't just assume you can put down a thin layer of cut-up brown paper grocery bags. It won't work. Speaking from experience here! Florida betony is a tuber, so even if you pull the weed, if you don't pull the tuber that is buried deep underground, weeds will continue to keep popping up in growing numbers. It's also referred to as rattlesnake weed because the tubers look like a ghostly white rattlesnake tail. It's a member of the mint family and, like all mint, is incredibly invasive which is why many suggest never planting mint in the ground but in a container, instead.

Lucky for us, Florida betony is a winter weed so it won't bother our beds over the spring and summer. After talking with the folks at the garden shop, I've decided to wait to put down a fresh barrier layer until I plant the fall garden. That will entail shoveling out all the dirt from the affected beds, putting down a new layer, then shoveling the dirt back in. In keeping with organic gardening and not using chemicals to control weeds, I'm hoping this will keep the betony in check next winter.

The shop had some lovely brightly colored vinyl coated tomato cages that I was just swooning over but at $18 a pop, I just couldn't justify it when the unpainted ones were $5 each and I had a can of spray paint at home. So there ya go: the layman's painted tomato cage. I have no idea how these are going to hold up but at $5 each, I won't be heart broken if they will need to be repainted for next spring.


I learned a few lessons from last spring's garden that I carried with me for this spring. 1) Two tomato plants right next to each other is not a good idea because these plants get huge. Solution: One cherry tomato plant per box, in the middle. 2) Tomato stakes are good for stability, not so good for containing the plant in a small area. Solution: Cages. 3) We don't eat enough zucchini to justify growing it. They also take up a lot of space. Solution: Don't plant it and just buy it local when we need it, which isn't often. 4) We don't eat enough eggplant to justify three plants of it. Solution: Plant one eggplant. 4) Organic red bell peppers and cucumbers are expensive and if they were more readily available, we'd eat both more often. Solution: Grow them!


I can't believe the spring equinox is next week! I'm sad to see the cooler days behind us but I look forward to the open windows, backyard bonfires, return of our hummingbird friends, and watching Juni run through the sprinkles.

"me want cookie run! om nom nom nom nom!"

If rolling out of bed early on your day off to go out and run 3.1 miles with throngs of others doesn't deserve a cookies, I don't know what does.

This past Saturday, I spent the morning celebrating the 100th year anniversary of the Girl Scouts at the 20th annual Run for the Cookies 5K hosted by local G.S. troops and the Gulf Winds Track Club! Proceeds benefited the Girl Scout Council of the Florida Panhandle’s Travel Scholarship Program that assists girls in covering the costs associated with the educational experiences and adventures of Girl Scouting. Running to support educational experiences and adventures for li'l ladies? Sign this gal up!

Pre-race I filled up on a cup of coffee and a piece of toasted multi-grain oat bread slathered in peanut butter. When we arrived, the parking lot was full but I only saw a few runners warming up in the lot. I was prepared for 20 people to be there but once I walked around the building where it was being hosted, there was a huge crowd of runners, walkers and observers waiting. Pre- and post-race bagels and fruit, coffee and water stations, balloon animals and face painting. The hosts did an awesome job.

The weather was perfect for a run - overcast and a little cold - but once I got running I warmed up in no time.


Spence and the kiddo were able to come along to cheer me on! It is so awesome to start off a race hearing a sweet little voice yell out, "There she is! I see her! HI MOMMY!" followed by a loud squeal of delight. As you can see, it put a huge smile on my face. Huge smiles and knowing your 4 year old is going to scream her head off when she sees you at the finish line make for awesome running fuel.

The route was great and while I don't usually care for turn arounds, it was neat to be able to pass the fastest runners and cheer them on. I always assume these little 5Ks are going to be rinky dink but I'm pleasantly surprised at the number of legit runners that attend along with all of the beginners. It's really motivating to run amongst people whipping out a 17 minute 5K! I think when little races like this are USTAF (United States Track and Field) certified it appeals to the more serious runners because the distance is guaranteed to be accurate.

Overall, it was an awesome run and I got each of the 3 miles under 9 minutes! I tried to stay between 6.8 and 7 miles an hour. When on my daily 4-miler runs I tend to stay between 6.1 and 6.5 mph so I was really pushing myself the entire race, trying to stay at a steady pace without slowing down as I racked up miles.


Woohoo! Finish line shot! I was totally yelling to Juni here. 685 people ran the 5K and I finished in 251st place with a time of 28:05. (Race results are here. Due to a mix up at the finish I'm listed as 273rd place. Word to the wise: don't rip off the bottom of your bib before race day! That's for the folks at the finish line.) I love reading over the results and seeing people's ages. A 15 year old ran it in 17:24. A 50 year old ran it in 17:10. A 68 year old ran it in 24:48! My goal in keeping up with running: to eventually be that 68 year old who finishes a 5K in under 25 minutes.

The free G.S. cookies at the end of the race weren't vegan so we came prepared with some homemade strawberry jam thumbprint cookies! That made for some sweet post-race nosh and thank goodness I only brought one for me - I have little to no self-control when it comes to food right after I run.

Fred Deckert, the Gulf Winds Track Club's newsletter editor, took a ton of great pictures that really captured the event. Here is his photo gallery for the Cookie Run to get a better idea of the size and scale.

While sleeping in on a Saturday is tops, I am really liking this whole Weekend Warrior racing scene. I don't aspire to be that girl winning awards, I'm in it entirely for bragging rights. And the fitness... or something? Now it's time to start mentally and physically prepping for my second jab at 6.2 miles - the Thomasville Road Baptist Church 10K on March 3rd - woot!!

And for those who enjoy seeing the nitty gritty deets, here ya go...

our outdoor classroom

Ages ago I picked up a book from the Goodwill Bookstore and while I've yet to finish it, there are a number of things from Last Child in the Woods that still stick with me. As part of Juni's home education, I am making a serious effort to use the outdoors as her classroom just as much as the indoors.


I recently read a post over at Richard Louv's blog, the post titled "You're part of the new nature movement if..." A few things on the list really spoke to me and the community citizen, mother, and home educator I want to be.

"You hunger for authenticity; you believe in nature’s power to create a deeper sense of personal and regional identity."


"You want to reignite all your senses."


"You’re a nature-smart teacher who takes your students outside because you understand the power of nature to help them learn."


"You care about the human relationship with nature."


"You’re done with despair; you want to create a newer world."


This last one is big for me. I really need to abandon despair for the state of our natural world and realize that I have the power to do something about it. Even if that "something" is simply raising my child to appreciate, respect and take joy in her surroundings.

Juni played the entire time with nothing but a bucket, shovel and stick found on the trail. Apparently all a 4 year old girl needs to have a solid 3 hours of fun. There was a babbling brooke near where we were playing at the creek but when you walked a few yards away from it, you could hear the wind blowing in the trees. It just feels so good to get away and truly enjoy the spoils of nature, with no need to be anywhere but here and present.

We also brought along our rescued pup, Zsazy ("Zah-Zee") to join in on the outdoor adventure.


Watching your pup enjoy herself is just as rewarding as watching a little person wallow in pure joy. Zsazy sprinted up and down the creek, hopped logs, trampled through the surrounding woods, and nipped at bees and other bugs flying overhead.


It was nice having our spunky li'l pup there as a sidekick.



There are a number of spots along this nature trail that meet with the creek so after playing on the south end for some time, we hiked a few yards to the boardwalk that looks over a more northern portion.


Juni, of course, was most content under the boardwalk, plodding through the water and digging up the muddy bank.


We had planned on hiking all the way to the north part of the creek where there were springs and tiny waterfalls but we were all rather spent and grumbling bellies reminded us that a picnic lunch was waiting.


As a random side note, I cannot have enough woven straw baskets.


This one I picked up thrifting and I replaced the old straps with some new canvas ones. It has quickly become my new favorite go-to bag, second only to my large Bolga market basket. On this day, I used it to tote our lunch of sandwiches, fresh avocado, and apples. At the entrance of the park, there is a large open field that the creek cuts through. It was a perfect spot for the three of us to rest and replenish.


I snapped this picture of a very tired child while I was laying down on our blanket, looking about at that little pout. A true sign that enough sun was had for the day.

I look forward to picking Last Child in the Woods back up and using it to help guide me in my homeschooling journey. Activities such as these really help both Juni and I become more grounded with our surroundings and ourselves. It's amazing all the the resources we have in our communities that are free for the taking. The lessons learned in this outdoor classroom are price and timeless.