Clearing the Decks

Our weekly schedule feels packed -- and it's not so much the things that are on the list, things like drawing, piano lessons, schoolwork, sports practices -- it's the unscheduled things. I know Thing 4 will want me to read to her, I know laundry will pile up, I know that food must appear and be cleaned up after at regular intervals. Heck, I know the poultry need watering now that our automatic waterer seems permanently on the fritz and that spills and breakage will occur in the house.

So it seems appropriate to clean out some space, mentally as well as physically, to help us negotiate our responsibilities. It's also important to have fun.

So this isn't just a series of children playing the charmingly-named "Butts Up," it's also an acknowledgment that a series of weekends coupled with a lot of effort from both Eric and me made a huge difference.


Here's the "before" shot -- it was a lot like knitting a sleeve.
No movement despite frantic effort, no movement, pile as big as it was before, wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow, sneezing, shoveling, sweeping, and then, like it meant to do this all along, it was gone.

Now our back yard is almost completely mulched, although we could have done with either a few more wheelbarrow loads or me not piling it on so thickly. I hope it will cut down on the tracked-in dirt, but that's probably a vain wish, really.

I had fun, too. Eric and I try to get out for a run or walk on weekend mornings and have coffee alone. This morning, Thing 4 came -- early rising will get you treats, sometimes -- and we decided to have coffee right by my friend's yarn store. And hey, she just happened to be having a morning sale!


This is meant for a shockingly pink sweater for Thing 4 -- I sure hope she wants to wear it more than the yellow tulip sweater I made for her. The color is, alas, accurate on my monitor.

And this will be a sweater for me.

I think the silk will give it a lovely drape and I'm excited about tweed now, since working with the yarn on my sister's sweater. I'm really looking forward to it. Thing 1 has made "I'm stealing that" noises, but she'll probably have moved out of the house before I get to it! All I have to do now is decide what shape to make. I tend to wear rectangular ready-to-wear sweaters, and I'm not at all curvy. I could copy a favorite,rectangular, wearing-out zip cardigan, but I think it's the color of that one, not the shape, that is the selling point.

Any suggestions for a sweater pattern that gives the illusion of a waist?