a special connection that I just had to share!

Hi,

I have recently made a special connection with a little friend of mine and I just had to share it with you! I live across the street from a very nice family: Kenny and Eden parents, Isabella 5 year old daughter, Oliver 2 1/2 year old son, 2 dogs, 3 chickens, 1 cat, and some fish. I have always liked hanging out with Isabella and, whenever she was out in her front yard playing I would walk across the street and play with her for a little while. A couple of weeks ago, I was over at Isabella's house, and she was trying to catch a bug of some sort then, when she couldn't find any she decided to look for snails and slugs, when we couldn't find any of those either I told her that snails usually came out at night when it was cooler. After that we gave up our search and she went inside to have dinner. The next night I was out in my backyard with a flashlight and I saw some snails, I decided that I would put some in a container and drop it off for Isabella to find in the morning, with the snails I wrote a note asking her to write letters to me and I would write back. I wrote a couple letters to her to initiate the correspondence and then I got my first letter! We had been trying to set up a date to get together when she could come over to my house as she wanted to learn how to knit and also she wanted to learn how to take pictures. When she came over my mom let her use her camera and I took her out in the back yard. I set the camera on auto and followed her along and helped her when she had a question. When we were done I made a CD of the photos and sent her home with it. The next time I saw her I went up to the park with her and her brother and her dad, when we were just about to leave I asked Kenny if it would be alright if I took some photos of the kids on the slide together, he said "sure," I got some really cute ones and have posted a couple below. I have also posted some photos of her letters.





Isabella's family owns a horse and they keep it at a ranch I went to the ranch with eden and Isabella and I let isabella use my camera and here is on of the pictures that she took.



as for projects:

oy! I am about 1/3 of the way done with my dad's sweater vest (better get working!) I am making a very nice pink and grey lace-ish scarf that by the looks of it is never going to get done! I have finished one neck scarf and one self fringing shawl though! I am going to be opening an etsy shop sometime in the next couple months so stay posted and I will let you know when it is up and running!

-Lily : )
sweater vest blob!
the never ending pink and grey scarf!
neck scarf this is one item that will be on my etsy
self fringing shawl
one big blob of sweater vest knitting!

Well Hello,

I am sorry I have not posted in a while, it is mostly due to sickness. On monday morning the manager of Petaluma Bounty farm (a local organic farm that me and my mom volunteer at) asked us to come out to the farm because, they were going to plow the cover crop under and, she wanted us to photograph the event. Unfortunatly it was somewhat rainy and the man with the tractor did not come. So my mom and I wandered around in the cover crop for a while. The cover crop was 7 feet tall at places! Since it was early morning and misting everything was covered in dew. I got plenty of good shots and have posted them here.

On Tuesday, my mom and I got together with a friend of ours for our living arts day which we have been doing for about 6 months now. Living arts is getting together and learning to can, make cheese, garden, ETC. But most of all our friend is an urban homesteader,so she produces most of what she needs at home in her back yard. She has been teaching us to be more sustainable. This week we made out first ever batch of mozzarella! When we were done, we put it on toast with green garlic pesto and sundried tomatoes. Everything except the toast was homemade. IT WAS SOO YUMMY!!!

Well, yesterday I made candles with my mom. We made dipped tapers, tea lights, and 3 molded candles. In the process of this we made a royal waxy mess! While we were making the dipped candles I really got a feel for how much easier electricity is! I mean, they used to only have dipped candles, and each one takes like atleast 1 hour! As I said "it's a pretty process," We used 100% beeswax with a tiny bit of green dye in it. After we did the tapers, we poured all the other candles and made a big mess. After we made candles we made another batch of mozzarella because my grandmother wanted to tase it and, whe was coming over today. there was none of the first batch left because it was sooo good, she loved it! (it WAS delicious).

And last but not least, EASTER IS COMING and hopefully we are going to make ukranian eggs this week! I will post if and when it happens!

-Lily : )

Candle making photos

Mozzarella making photos

Petaluma bounty photos

This past Christmas I gave my parents each a certificate for a hand knit sweater. I told them that Knitterly, our local yarn shop, was having a sale in February and they could come pick out yarn and a pattern then, and I would make it for them. So this past Saturday I took them into Knitterly and showed them a couple of options. My dad wanted a sweater vest so I showed him the store's only sweater vest sample (I had actually thought of making it for him) and he loved it! The vest is made of three different brown wools. The yarn is made of 100% undyed british sheeps wool. After we had finished picking out the yarn and figuring out the yardage etc., it was time for my mom to pick hers. My mom actually picked the same yarn in a different color for a sweater, we figured out the yardage, and got 14 skeins out of the bin. That afternoon I started my dad’s vest, as my mom had not picked a pattern and I couldn’t start hers. I casted on 216 stitches, “SNORE” that was boring. By the next morning the ribbed border was done, but unfortunately I had forgotten to write down the stripe pattern for the body of the vest, and could not continue until I had gone back to Knitterly and written it down. My parents were working on the house and did not want to stop and take me there, so I took my best friend with me, we walked downtown by ourselves and made a fun outing of it. After I had gotten home and continued knitting on the body a little, I switched to 40 inch long needles and tried the vest on my dad and --- IT FIT! Now I have my work cut out for me!

Pictures below!

Thanksy,

-Lily