Monkey In The Middle

I just finished the monkey square for youngest's "monkey in the middle" knitted afghan.  The square is actually intended to be an 8"x8" dishcloth but I increased the size a bit by using a much larger needle (size 7 US) than what was called for in the pattern so my square ended up being about 10"x10". 

The square is super cute but the pattern, which you can find for free here, is not one for mindless knitting.  If you intend to make a square while watching some super exciting movie on TV then this is one you'll want to skip.  The stitches are easy, no lace or eyelets, just plain knit and purl stitches so if you have the time and quiet to be able to focus just on the knitting for awhile then this is definitely worth it.  It took me about 12 hours to complete the whole thing and that was with the usual distractions that come with three kids, although some things, like my sink full of dirty dishes, got pushed to the back burner for the sake of this monkey. 

The plan is for this to be the center square (hence the monkey in the middle moniker) surrounded by plain, solid squares in this blue and a complimentary green.  I'll have to make about 34 plain squares if my calculations are right but those should work up pretty fast since they are going to be just stockinette stitched squares with a popcorn border to match the monkey square.

P.S. In case anyone is wondering, the monkey is symbolic.  DH and I affectionately refer to each of our children as Monkey #1, Monkey #2, and Monkey #3 due to their climbing, jumping, running, and general tendency towards wreaking good natured havoc.

Adventures in Homeschooling

One of the things that I appreciate the most about being blessed with the opportunity to homeschool my kids is that we can take "field trips" whenever we feel like it.   The freedom to go on outings spontaneously is a wonderful thing and we took one such outing a few days ago.

While I was going over Middle's preschool lessons about nature I decided to take all the kids on a scavenger hunt at the nature preserve a few miles down the road from us.   I gave the older two kids a list with different items that they should look for (eg. pine cones, acorns, pond, snake, etc.).   When they found an item they got to take a picture of it.   They had so much fun taking pictures that they didn't want to stop so they continued to snap away long after they had finished finding everything on their list.   

Oldest took this picture of the path that we were walking down.

Middle took this one of a field off of our trail.

Middle took this one of some fallen trees.

He also took this picture of the pond which you can just barely see beyond the overgrowth.

Oldest took this picture of the bald eagle that is part of the center's animal rehabilitation program.

The Title Well is Temporarily Dry

This is the face of a dog who didn't know when to quit.   It was a good 95 degrees out a couple of days ago and Cocoa here spotted something in the field while I went to pick peaches.   She chased the thing and barked at it and just generally had a fit until she finally collapsed from heat stroke.   Not heat exhaustion, full blown heat stroke.

Now, by the grace of God, I got a hunch to stop picking and head towards the barn to check on her.   I found her, collapsed, panting like mad, about 10 feet from her water bowl and the shade of the open barn where she usually hangs out when we go to the field.   I hurried and hosed her off, brought the water too her, helped her lift her head enough to drink it and then managed to get her up and into the car so I could take her back to the house and get her into the air conditioning.   Unfortunately, her back legs weren't working properly so it was a struggle for me (weighing in at 130-ish pounds) to get her (weighing in at 75-ish pounds) to the car.  

We then called in the vet who told me that I was lucky to have found her when I did because had it been a couple of minutes longer she would've probably died.   He then gave her fluids and basically said that it would be a waiting game from there.   Fortunately, she came out of it and to look at her now you wouldn't be able to tell that she had been so sick just a couple of nights ago.

That particular picture was taken just after she threw up all over my brand new rug, hence the fact that she is laying on the non-slip mat instead of the rug itself.   And for all the animal lovers out there, do not worry, that little box by her neck is not a shock collar.  It's a spray collar that shoots a mist of water or citronella (depending on what you fill it with) everytime she barks, although it was empty on the day of the incident.

I did get a fairly nice (albeit small) bushel of peaches out of that trip.   Tasty too.  

Fiber Festival

"Mooo"

Today started out pretty busy.  We went out to the farm to feed the cows in the morning.  We weeded in the flower beds and got those mostly cleaned up.   Then I spent much of the afternoon cleaning off the back porch and doing laundry. 

I was really hoping to hit the fiber fest by 3pm.  BUT, we didn't even make it out the door until 4:40pm.   I thought that today's booths were open until 6pm but they actually closed at 5pm.  We got there with 10 minutes to spare. 

I didn't manage to get a chance to pick up any yarn which bummed me out.  BUT, the trip wasn't a total bust.  The kids found some really cute knitted finger puppets.

One is an alpaca and the other is a sheep.  This picture doesn't do them justice. 

I also managed to find a few size 3 and 4 circular knitting needles which our local JOANN's doesn't seem to carry.   I searched for them online but they ranged from $8 to $12.   I found these for under $2 each.   I couldn't believe it!

The fiber festival continues through tomorrow so I just might make my way back there, depending on if I can justify spending more time away from the household chores.  We may even be able to catch some time at the arts and crafts show tomorrow if we head over there.    I'm kind of looking forward to seeing the afghans and such at that so hopefully we'll get to take a little time without cutting too much into our schedule.