October Snowstorm

I’m writing this post from the warmth and comfort of my parents’ house, but my family is still suffering from the October Snowstorm.  It came on Saturday morning, taking our power by 1 p.m., and with it, our hot and cold water, our heat and our ability to cook. 

Things started out fine—we dug out the candles, got out our flashlights, started a fire in the fireplace and cooked our dinner, steak and potatoes, on the fire.  We kept our cool.  We played in the snow.  We made shadow puppets.  We read books.  We played with toys and knitted by candlelight.

 

Our master bedroom gets ridiculously cold, even when the heat is working, so T.J. and I slept by the dwindling fire while Nathan was layered up in his crib.  (Since we’re not a co-sleeping family, Nathan doesn’t know how to sleep anywhere other than his own crib.  Plus, it didn’t seem safe to let Nathan sleep by the unguarded fire—we don’t have a gate around the fireplace yet because we didn’t plan on using it this winter!  Silly us.  More on sleeping arrangements later.)

So while everyone else slept, I worried.  I worried that Nathan wasn’t warm enough in his crib.  He had woken up a few times, but I think from nightmares, not from the cold.  I worried about our trees—our poor sweet gum tree lost four of its seven main sections, all on the same side.  I didn’t even check my beloved Indian Cigar tree recently—there wasn’t time, and I was afraid of what I’d see.  I worried about how many more toilet flushes we’d have left and how we’d wash our hands when the water already in our system ran out.

I'm sure the story is the same up and down the east coast -- about a foot of heavy snow fell on top of leaves that haven't fallen yet, dragging down tree limbs (and whole trees) and powerlines everywhere.

The next morning, we still had no electricity and the house had dropped to 55 degrees.  Before you gasp, this isn’t the coldest our house has ever been—51 is the record low.  We thought it’d be best if I took Nathan to my parents’ house, about an hour away.  We’d have warmth, comfort, running water and hot meals, but T.J. would have to stay behind at the farm to clean up the mess and be in charge of things.  He would live on fast food and convenience store coffee—even though both aren’t nearby and the nearest town still doesn’t have power.

What’s worse, our local cell phone tower is also without electricity, so I have no way to reach my husband and he has no way to reach us—or anyone else for that matter.  And the three batteries he has for his phone are almost all out of juice.  He has just enough signal strength to send and receive the occasional text.

I feel terrible that we’re here, comfortable and warm, and he’s at home, in the dark and all alone with no one to talk to.  UGH.  This feels lousier than I thought it would.  I know he misses us, and we miss him, too.  I tried to convince him to come with us, but his job is just too important.  It doesn’t overrule the importance of sticking together as a family… so does that mean we should have stayed home and toughed it out?  We made this decision because we thought it would be the best thing we could do for Nathan, plus it could be days before we get our power back, and with it, flushing toilets, baths and warm beds.

T.J. is tough and resourceful and I know he can get through it alone, but it’d probably be easier on him if we were all together.  It doesn’t feel good to be apart at a time like this and I’m on the verge of regretting it, despite all the comforts and company I have at my parents’ house.  I can’t wait for my little family to be together again.

P.S. A side note on the sleeping arrangements:  Since Nathan can climb out of the pack-n-play, we set him up with a cushy place to sleep on the floor of my parents’ guest bedroom that spans the whole floor and is surrounded by couch cushions.  It’s pretty great, only he had trouble settling down with me in the room.  And he woke up about a billion times.  Today we bought him his own big-boy toddler bed with the hopes that he’ll be more comfortable tonight and will stay asleep for [much] longer periods of time.  I can hope, anyway!  Wish me luck!

{this moment}

Happy weekending!

Yarn Along

This morning I was really excited to write this Yarn Along post, and then I looked at all my knitting-in-progress and realized a lot of it is Christmas knitting and I can't exactly blab about it on my blog.  So.  I looked at my Ravelry projects and realized that I have knitting ADD, with so many unfinished projects.  And then I looked at my queue and realized that it's worse than I thought.  If you're on Ravelry, please friend me so we can have knitting ADD together.  I could always use more knitting friends.  : )

Here's what I'm reading and what I want to cast on as soon as I get help from my husband winding the yarn into a ball:

That's Gift from the Sea and a hank of Knit Picks Stroll Handpainted in colorway Hayride that will soon become Multnomah, a little shawl that I can't wait to wear later this fall.

Gift from the Sea is so relevant and moving because it talks about the unique situation women find themselves in (as compared to men) and all the things that pull us away from our families -- and this was written back in the 1950s.  And she actually said "gadgets" -- did the author know about the iPhone before we did?

Author Anne Morrow Lindbergh also wrote about women's desire to do meaningful work, and by that she meant work that's appreciated by others.  Do our kids appreciate that we've washed and folded their laundry?  Do our husbands care that we've swept the kitchen floor every day this week (and why does it need sweeping so often?)?  Doubtful.  We do these things for our families, but also for ourselves, and in order to get the same satisfaction men might feel when they accomplish great things at work, Lindbergh suggests that women look for other, more outward ways to gain this kind of satisfaction. 

It struck a chord with me, and I agree.  Maybe that's why I started blogging and creating my own knitting patterns.  Even though I have a "real" job, I still feel a pull to do something creative, something just for me that gives me a type of satisfaction that I can't get from the other parts of my life, however much I love those parts and find them satisfying in their own ways.  Lindbergh was a mom and a writer and a pretty awesome woman.  I recommend this read and will soon start reading her other books.

As always, I'm knitting along with Ginny at Small Things. Hopefully by next week I'll have more knitting to share with you.  Until then, knit on, with confidence and hope, through all crises.  (Can you tell which pattern book I'm using right now?)  : )

The Best Pumpkin Cookies Ever

These pumpkin cookies aren't the Best Pumpkin Cookies Ever just because they're giant enough to put a jack-o-lantern face on -- but they're also rediculously cakey and moist, full of chocolate chips, and did I mention that they're gigantic?!

My mom found this recipe on an M&M's magazine ad in the 1980s and we made them every year since as I was growing up.  Food (especially deserts!) is a great way for me to remember my childhood and pass on and create traditions for my son now.  Even though Nathan is too young to really participate in a meaningful way, I love making the things I made with my mom all those years ago.  These are one of my very favorites.  The recipe is below, including some tips of my own. Please enjoy!

Pumpkin Cookies

2 cups flour
1 cup oats (uncooked)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup solid pack pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (you can even add a little more, up to a cup and a half total)
Assorted icings, peanut butter, raisins, M&Ms, candy corn

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream butter and gradually add sugars, beating until light and fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla; mix well.

Alternate additions of dry ingredients and pumpkin, mixing well after each addition.  Stir in morsels.  For each cookie, drop 1/4 cup dough onto lightly greased or parchment paper-covered cookie sheet. Spread into a pumpkin shape using a rubber spatula and add a bit more dough to form the stem.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until cookies are firm and lightly browned. Remove from cookie sheet after 1-2 minutes and cool on racks.  When completely cool, decorate using icing or peanut butter and affix assorted candies, raisins or nuts.  Variation: Substitute 1 cup raisins in place of chocolate chips.

Cookies should be cake-like and moist.  Be sure not to over bake!

P.S. I'm eating one of these cookies now!
P.P.S. They freeze very well after baking, so you freeze half the batch and enjoy them at your own pace.
P.P.P.S. I wonder how many people still have this recipe from the original 1980s ad (if that even is the original one).  Whoever sold this recipe to M&M's or the marketing company who made the ad, I can guarantee they didn't get paid enough.  It's abosolute GOLD!

Get to Know Brambleberry Yarns

Hey everyone!  I know you'll help me welcome Creating a Family Home sponsor Brambleberry Yarns.  Owner Cynthia sells the most beautiful naturally dyed yarn you'll ever see in her Etsy shop, Brambleberry Yarns.  Earlier this month I introduced her to you and she offered readers a 20 percent discount in her shop -- so generous!

Cynthia is an amazing woman after my own heart -- a longtime gardener, knitter, lover of family and a homeschooling mom -- and she's incredibly gifted and interesting.  Her craft and her perspective is so unique and refreshing.  I recently had the chance to get to know her better through her interview, below -- and now you can, too!  (I'm sure you'll also find her charming and delightful... I mean, she's a gardener and a knitter and she combines the two in her craft.  How can she not be?)

Read on to get to know Cynthia and please visit her shop to see more of her beautiful yarns.

1. Tell us a little more about Brambleberry Yarns.

            Brambleberry Yarns came to be as sort of a spin-off from my blog Brambleberries in the Rain. I have been blogging for over four years now about using natural dyes. Over those four years I would occasionally sell some of my yarns online and at various bazaars just for fun. I was never sure if I wanted to make selling yarns a full-time endeavor or not. I finally decided to take the plunge on selling my yarns through Etsy a few months back and am now enjoying it so much!

2. What inspired you to begin dyeing yarn, and what keeps you motivated today?

            First of all, I have always been a gardener. My gardens have always been a true passion of mine. Then I became a knitter roughly 10 years ago and not long after that I learned it is possible to dye yarn using plants -- plants that I already had growing in my garden! I was head over heels in love with knitting and the thought that I could combine this new craft with my lifelong love of gardening was too good to be true. I dived into the world of natural dyes and have never looked back! Staying motivated is easy because there is always something new to learn or a plant I have not tried dyeing with. The world of natural dyes is huge! It is always so fascinating to me to see what color one can achieve from a particular plant.

3. How do you balance being a creative, a business owner and a homeschooling mom?

            It is not an easy feat that is for sure! I am constantly working on finding a good balance with where I focus my time. There are days when I feel pulled in a thousand directions and never enough of me to go around. I keep my head on straight by doing small things for myself (like taking a half an hour nap when I need one or making sure I put in a few minutes a day to work on my knitting) that keep me feeling motivated. A lot of my time spent dyeing yarn is at night when the younger children are in bed and not needing my attention. This works out really well for me as long as I remember to get myself to bed at a decent time!

4. What do you love most about using plants for dying—as opposed to using traditional dyes or even plant extracts?

            This is an easy one to answer! :) Plant based dyes are simply fascinating! Just like with growing grapes for wine climate, soil, and water affect the colors a person will achieve with dyes from natural plants. A plant growing in spring will yield a completely different color than it does during the fall. That is just so amazing to me. In fact, we just recently moved and I am a little concerned (and excited!) to see how the change in water is going to affect my colors.

5. What are your favorite plants to use for dying and why?

            I really do not have a favorite (although this year was definitely the year of goldenrod for me as it was growing everywhere!) I find them all to be my favorites depending on what happens to be in my dye pot at the moment. I have a love for growing herbs and using them so they are always favorites of mine in the dye pot.

6. What are your favorite colorways to dye?

            I do not know if I have a favorite because I seem to love them all! Every skein that comes out of the dye pot is a new favorite. Each and every one is like a baby to me. Lately though I have been really enjoying the more soft and earthy tones.

7. What do you enjoy most about knitting, gardening and putting the two together in your craft?

            There is definitely a rewarding feeling when it comes to growing the dye plant, dyeing with it and then knitting the yarn into a garment to be worn. I love to be able to look at a knitted item from my yarns and remember where that color came from -- be it my garden or a hike with my kids.

8. And finally, onto the knitting.  What do you love to knit most, and why?

            Just about anything! Although I do love to make items for my children: hats, longies, cardigans, mittens, etc, etc! I have been trying to work on making more items for myself though lately. In fact, I am just about ready to cast on the Shalom cardigan for myself with some yarn that I dyed using logwood. Too much fun and too addicting!

{this moment}

A Hayride

<< Yarn Along  |  Main

Over the weekend T.J. and I took our orange-wearing boy on a hayride with a friend and some “big kids.” 

They hayride took us on a tour of our local farm, the one where we bought our pumpkins last week and picked our strawberries in June.

We got a nice view of the Delaware River, which gives the farm its silt-y, fertile soil and only sometimes devastates their crops when it floods badly enough.

We saw freshly ploughed fields, eyed the strawberry patch we drooled in in June and checked out the flowers and some unusual crops for this area, like broom corn, cotton and okra.

But really it was a great chance to photograph my two boys…

...and hold my precious boy close at a time when he was content to be held and didn’t try to wiggle away while he looked at the nature and wonder all around us.

It was such a sweet time.  And, no, I don’t remember what made me laugh.  But knowing I was laughing is good enough.

Yarn Along

<< Fall Table Lantern  |  Main  |  A Hayride >>

This is the first time I'm sitting down after coming home from my pottery class, so I'm keeping it brief tonight.  : )  (I'll share what I'm working on in pottery class soon... maybe next week when I get something back from the kiln!) 

I'm making good progress on the custom scarf, and I wish I had some more interesting details to show you this week.  But instead of finishing enough of the interesting bits last night to photograph, I picked up my August socks again because I needed a break.  These August socks (gah!) just won't go away.  I'd skipped to September and October's socks (both done, by the way) out of necessity, so now I'm coming back to August's.  And they are slow going.  I'm currently supressing the urge to cast on something new... Soon.

Forgive me for forgetting to include my book in the picture -- I'll be sure to get it next time, since it has a pleasing cover (yeah, I judged it, but not before knowing what the book is about).  I'm reading Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh and it's so good.  It's not my type, but I'm loving it and it's totally resonating with me.  I promise to tell more of the how and why in next week's Yarn Along post.

As always, I'm linking up with Ginny's Yarn Along today on Small Things.  Thanks for stopping by!

Fall Table Lantern

<< Giveaway Winners  |  Main  |  Yarn Along >>

Even if the days are still warm, the nights are getting chilly and crisp—what better time to be outside than an early fall evening?  If you’re not the bonfire type, maybe tiki torches and a table lantern will do you just fine.  Try my easy fall table lantern—made with pretty patterned paper and paper in fall colors, it looks just as nice during the daytime as it does in the evening!  (And, it uses a pickle jar, so you get to take delight in being resourceful and using things you already have around the house!)

Gather your supplies:

Glass jar

Scraps of patterned paper or paper in fall colors

Sharp paper scissors

Stencils in leaves and other fall shapes

Pencil

Modpodge (not pictured)

brush (not pictured)

Tea light  (not pictured)

I used plastic stencils my babysitter brought over, but you can download shapes to cut out and create your own stencils with lightweight cardboard (feel like reusing cereal boxes, too?)—here are some ideas to get you started.

Trace the shapes onto your paper.  For patterned paper, trace on the plain side.  Cut out your shapes, staying as close as possible to the lines.  (Remember that the backs of the shapes can be seen through the lantern during daylight, so we don’t want to be too messy here.) 

Sharp scissors specifically designed for cutting paper (such as these Cutter Bee precision scissors) will help you make really nice cuts and get some nice shapes for your lantern, or anything else, for that matter.  I had been using my sewing scissors to cut paper without much luck (or talent, so I thought), and I’m so glad I tried these.  Look at how nicely my shapes came out!  It’s all scissor.

Use Modpodge to glue the shapes to the glass, clearly, with the patterned sides out.  It dries clear, so you don’t have to worry about seeing glue through the other side of the lantern. Tip: Let the Modgodge goosh a little over the edges of your shape and use your finger to press the edges down.  For heavier paper like cardstock, you might want to pre-bend the paper so it has the same curve as your jar (it’ll make gluing easier).

Set a tea light inside and enjoy day or night!

Giveaway Winners

Last week was a fun and successful blogiversary week.  I enjoyed gathering these giveaways for you, and I'm still enjoying announcing the winners this week!

Here are the remaining blogiversary giveaway random winners:

Treasure Pouch Pattern and Knit Picks Simply Cotton Sport in Green Tea Heather goes to: Tracey

Treasure Pouch Pattern and Knit Picks CotLin in Cashew goes to: justjen

The needlefelted pumpkin, leaf and acorns go to: Lauren Kindle

Congratulations!  I'll e-mail each of you for your mailing addresses.  Happy weekending!

Pumpkin Madness

One afternoon after work this week, we headed to the local farm to pick out some pumpkins.  I don’t know about you, but I love pumpkins.  I mean, really love them.  They’re one of my favorite things about fall (along with gourds, crisp weather and colorful leaves), and I’ve been dreaming about becoming a pumpkin farmer since I first started gardening.  I love the way they look in my home and on my front porch, I love the way they taste in muffins, bread and cookies (recipe coming soon—you don’t want to miss it) and I just plain love the color orange.  What is there not to love about pumpkins?  (And don’t forget about roasting seeds.)  They’re even fun to chuck in the back yard when we’re done with them to see what seeds come up in the spring.

I had to laugh at myself when we pulled into the farm and saw all these pumpkins so gloriously lined up among mums, asters and bundles of dried corn stalks.

I actually exclaimed, “Whoa, lookit all those pumpkins!!!!”  lol.  Yeah.  I’m a pumpkin dork.

Nathan got to choose his own little pumpkin. 

Word.

But I left with the cutest little pumpkin of all.

 

Have a good and pumpkiny weekend!

Save $5 on Your Purchases from Bella Luna Toys!

If you're interested in all-natural, wooden and Waldorf-inspired toys, look no further than Bella Luna Toys. They've offered Creating a Family Home readers $5 off their orders before December 31, 2011.

When you shop at Bella Luna Toys, enter this code at checkout:

MRL5

Have fun shopping for the holidays!