Momma Me

Giving Thanks

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Ours was quiet, but oh so sweet and memorable. I love spending days and days of quiet time with my little boys and big one. It was hard to return to our normal schedule yesterday. The Inventor cried and I got a little choked up too. But once we got back into the swing of it, it wasn't so bad. He came home from school with a big smile on his face and lots of stories to tell. 

Using this random number generator, The Inventor helped me select the winner of our giveaway before he left with his Dad to go to school. The winner of our first giveaway is Gen! Thanks to everyone for participating. A big, big thanks to Natural Parenting Center for hosting this and for providing such a great product to families. Hopefully I can have another giveaway in the near future.

   

Our situation is still a little tenuous and stressful, but I am hoping we have it all behind us in the next week or so. I will then feel like myself and can get things back on track.

In the meantime, I am working on one of the biggest and most important projects I have ever worked on. I am assembling squares for afghans. The squares were knit by members of a pregnancy loss support group that I founded and moderate online. They were sent from all over the United States and even Australia and Hong Kong. The were knit with the most amazing love and I can actually feel it when I am working with them. We have squares for a blanket for baby and a blanket for mom. I have a lot of work before me, but I think I can get some help from our local LYS on SIt 'n Stitch nights on Thursday. I am going to try t put panels together first and then turn to them to help stitch those together and add the borders. Focusing on trying to put these together has been of great comfort to me, when I start to feel anxious. I think of all of the amazing people in the world, all of the strength that each of us has, and the bonds that connect us all. 

an awesome hat

via cocoknits.com

When I will find the time to knit, not one but two of these hats for the boys, I have no idea. But I love the pattern. It is calling my name. Trina, knit me. Hear it?

i think he's got it

About a year ago, The Inventor asked me to teach him to knit. We didn't get very far. He didn't have the dexterity or the patience at five. A few weeks ago, he began to ask again. I'll admit. I hesitated because I remembered the tears from our previous attempt. Then on a recent trip to Michael's, while he was in school, I saw the most adorable pair of kid's knitting needles. Not necessary of course, but they were certainly cute. They were also different colors, which I thought might help. I grabbed a ball of bright red yarn and surprised him when he got home. 

Now, nearly every evening, we sit for a few minutes and knit together. It is one of the highlights of his day (and mine). Last night he chose to knit over watching "Phineas and Ferb,"and I watched him, for the first time do a entire row of knit stitches on his own. He was really excited about it. A lot has changed over the past year. He has grown and matured so much. He is no longer as easy to frustrate. It is wonderful to see him tackling challenges and I love his perseverance.

I think he's got it!

And no, knitting is not just for girls, not that I ascribe to our society's rigid gender expectations. My father knitted me a scarf a few years ago, after my mother taught him how to knit. In fact, historically knitting was often done by men. You can click here for a brief history, if you're interested.

What do you think about boys and men knitting? Personally, I think the world would be a better place, if more men knit. But that's just my opinion.