Field Trip to the Pumpkin Farm

My sister and I have been heading to a local pumpkin farm every year since I was pregnant with Andrew.  (Such a baby I was!)

Another October, another visit!  Quite a few more people enjoying it these days.

We made quite a crew, my sister and I!

Silly people!  You don't need to buy goat feed for a quarter!  Grass is free for the taking and much more enthusiastically received.

How wonderful it was to be baby-wearing with my sister once again! 

Chubby little Ineke posing by the obscenely large pumpkin was quite a juxtaposition to the tall and lanky boy that walked in front of it after her.  I remember when he was a chubby little fellow with toes pointed out, standing in that very spot.  

My favorite of the nursery rhyme pumpkin scenes and one I can relate to a bit.

Cousins taking great delight in who is taller than one another.

Ineke was SO excited to get her picture taken in the school bus...



...but as with any real bus-riding situation, the thrill was soon gone.

My crew:

  My crew again- because...INEKE!

Moses is wondering why I would plunk him in the middle of hard pumpkin stems.

It's all part of the pumpkin farm package, Little guy.  You'll learn.

Ineke said she wanted me to take this picture for Papa.  Apparently, she thought it would tickle Papa if she were a goat.

Samuel- you take a pretty great family portrait!  I could use you around Christmas time!

Crafting On...

Reading: Reforming Marriage by Douglas Wilson.  I just finished Dante's Inferno and the thing I took away from that, unfortunately, is how much it felt like I missed simply because I am not as familiar with the classics and history as I ought to be.  It felt like there was a wealth of layers I just knew I was missing.  And that was sad for me.  Maybe someday I will 'get' all that there is to be gotten.  

Someday when I am smarter. 

Working On:  I started this hat because I love it so much but it has been slow going because I am a slow knitter and I have had to set it aside for other, more speedy pursuits- like sewing and crochet!

A birthday skirt for a mermaid-enthusiast: 

I bought about 1 1/2 yards of the fabric a couple years ago on clearance because I loved how elegant the mermaids were.  It was perfect for the my nieces' 5th birthday and- because I used leftover contrasting fabric already on hand- there was just enough to use the leftovers for a matching skirt for Ineke.  Which I haven't done yet.  Pieces are cut... I just need to sew them together. 

I used this free pattern from Purl Soho.



Almost a dozen years ago (definitely before Ravelry and probably before the blog) I made a luxurious scarf for my sister in law for Christmas with the softest yarn I have ever felt.  The remnant was so small but SO soft, I couldn't part with it!  So I kept it in a little sandwich baggy for some day when I had an impossibly small project to make.  I'll admit right now how guilty I feel for holding on to that bit of yarn for twelve years.  But now I am happy I did because my sister has a new foster baby who happens to be a teensy little thing- and in need of a warm head!   I used this free pattern.

The yarn remnant was the PERFECT size- so perfect that the little tail you see in the picture below is all the tail that was left on both ends for me to weave in!   No trimming required!  Can you believe it?! 

I'll admit, I was sweating it a bit those last few stitches!

I crocheted a hat to fit Moses' big noggin in burnt orange colored yarn too...picture to come on that one.

Today, I was just told by my children that Halloween is NEXT WEEK and after a bit of a freak out (!!!!), I am resigned to set aside that green bonnet yet again for some costume crafting. I hope it will still fit Moses by the time I am finally done with it!

One of the things that really can't wait until the very.last.minute is this hat.  Unless a certain boy changes his mind.  Again.

 If costumes weren't SO FUN to wear, I'd totally quit.

~crafting along~

Matt's (Timberframe) Baby: Part I

Matt took vacation on the week BEFORE Baby and the week AFTER Baby- and he spent much of those vacation days across the road babying his OTHER baby... a new timber-framing project.

Building a Timberframe structure has been a dream of his since he was a teenager.  (Odd dreams for a teen, if I do say so...but good ones nonetheless!)

He logged the trees and sawed them up last year to dry.

And I had a baby in order to give him two consecutive weeks of vacation.  (You're welcome Mattie!)

Pretty much every spare second he has had of that time and all time since has been consumed by this project.

He disappears across the road every weekend.  He draws up graph paper plans and puts them in sheet protectors.  I see Rafter calculator tabs open on the computer.  There are fresh woodchip piles everywhere.  Matt goes to bed each night with his nose in Timberframing books.

He's fallen head over heels with this baby of his.  Moses is getting jealous!

It is a slow process- very time consuming, very precise.  I think that may be why Matt likes it so much.  It is almost therapeutic to have something you must go slow on when so much of his life requires fast decisions and overwhelming busyness.  It requires patience (for both of us, in different ways) and stretching (for both of us, in different ways) and is challenging (for both of us, in different ways) but I am so impressed with how he is DOING it!  

He is teaching himself to do something he has always wanted to do- despite what other people think of it- despite how difficult and daunting it appeared- despite not knowing what he was doing- despite the tedium and patience it requires.  I am also impressed with how well he is doing what he is doing... it really looks great!

A few photos to get caught up on his progress...

All those beams in the background, pieces to the puzzle.

And each puzzle piece still needs to be made!

Let's just take a moment to enjoy those arms...

a-hem.  Where was I?!

Tools of the Trade

Here is the spot.  Already trees have been cleared and footers have been put in place.  (I think they are footers...right, Mattie?) 

Handy to have children climb barn roofs for aerial shots!

Those holes get filled with wooden pegs that Matt makes as he needs them- often from locust branches cut and shaved to size.

And then comes the mighty Thor handle

Now we know where the arms come from!

It does my heart a little flippity gibbit to see three generations building this up together.  Fathers and sons, together.

The first side going up!

I'm not sure if every side going up feels as awesome but I know after that first side went up without a hitch Matt was practically floating around for a day or two.

He has since added a few more sides

And there he is, the happy fellow, right where I left him.  

And if ever I can't find him, I know where to look.