camping with small people

Late August, I went camping with all the boys.  We decided to rent one of the smallest RVs on the market to see if that was something we wanted.  We have been thinking van and after a week, we agree a van is best.  The layout of most RVs do not work very well.  The best was in the 1963 trailer we had.  Too bad it went kaput.  But we do not wish to tow. 

A van is what we will work best.  A place to get out of the rain and wind.  A mininmal amount of cooking.  We can park it places.  Now finding one and slowly converting it to what we want.  I have ideas for the end layout but that can be something the takes awhile.

The smallest boys loved the camping.  There was working with axes, playing with fire, and protecting the trees.  The adventure bus was a true hit so it will be interesting to see how they like the van.  Part of it was Blue could see out better.

We had the plan of doing a hike with the short people but then realized it was really too far for Blue.  Koda Bear would have made it but not Blue.  Maybe next year.  We went on a much shorter hike and he still had to be carried most of the way.

Since there was so much less hiking, I actually finished this sweater while we were camping.  The inspiration was knitted sweater.  It looks nothing like it but that is okay.  I made up the pattern as I went and it fits well.  I use a lot of sweaters traveling but I also do not wish my backpack to damage it the first time I wear it.  Which has happened.  Especially since it is heavy because it is the only bag I carry.  I am just waiting for it to cool off enough so I can wear it.  Maybe at my Dad's.

My Dad is doing better.  Healing slowly.  But the Tall Short person caught COVID.  I have Bear and Blue during the day.  My Beloved helps morning and night.  She is vaccinated and healing slowly.  It hit her very hard but not so badly she needed to be hospitalized.  I had a nurse friend who gave breathing exercised that I think are helping.  She also tries to move a little bit every day.  I will be glad when she is better.  It has been a very slow heal and she wants to be back with her boys.  It is going to be more days.

celestial sweater

I feel like I have not been home.  Because I have not.  My Dad's surgeries are done but he is healing slowly.  I spent an extra week with him.  When I am there, I walk when I can but he needed someone just to be there.  I did run an errand for my Beloved's business, went to a museum exhibit, and looked for yarn.

I was running out of yarn to work with because I finished this sweater while I was there.  It is a Lion's Brand kit for the celestial sweater.  Arcylic yarn which I usually do not work in.  It was very splitty and I cannot compost it.  But this is a great sweater to travel in.  I flew in it home and was warm.  I also had silk on underneath it.

I will say I do not read crochet patterns well.  I do not think I pay attention enough.  But then I really do not follow patterns when I sew anymore.  I use the pattern shapes but do not read the process.  So this is the celestial pattern but it is not at the same time.  I used a different size hook.  I made up the counts.  It did make me realize I need to take out another sweater I am working on and make the arm holes smaller.  That sweater will then fit better and be more the length I want.  

I am at the point of leaving yarn at my Dad's.  I will put a lace weight shawl in my bag but I will always have a project there.  I took the extra yarn and started to play with granny squares.  I am going to make those into lined bags and put them on my Etsy site just for fun.  It has been awhile since I have done that.

I actually washed a bit of fleece today.  I want to make more ribbon.  I am coaching a friend once a week.  I just want to be home more.  Maybe soon.

vest? tunic? i do not know what to call it

I was watching skateboarders on Instagram and I saw one of the skaters wearing this sweater thing.  It covered the body but left the arms free.  I really liked it.  

I then saw it again in a Chinese drama I have been watching on Netflix.  That got me to look on Pinterest.  I saw so many ideas for sweater type garments without sleeves.  Not really vests.  Not really tunics.  Not really sweaters.  But I thought the shape would work well for my life.  No sleeves in dough or in the way but keeping my back and front warm.  Between my shoulder blades does get cold.

I had some skeins of Lion Brand wool that I had been gifted and I thought why not.  Especially since it was black yarn.  I did not have a pattern which means I ripped out the start how many times!  I also connected the sides how many different ways until I was happy with it.  

But now?  This is a go to garment.  I wear it almost every day and I am waiting for it to dry when I wash it.  With a small velociraptor and a Bear in my life, I am not the only one who gets it dirty.  I am making one in an olive green for my best friend but I keep thinking I should make another.  I have green and red yarn that would work.  If I want black, I will need the yarn and I just might do that!  I have to make yarn for the sweater I am working on for my best friend anyway.  It just slows down production!

quarantine shawl

I found this last month and the start of this month to be hard.  I am missing my Mom.  She would do Thanksgiving and Christmas.  25 people at Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner were not unusual.  And the number of nativity scenes!  Oh my gosh! 

I was at my Dad's for Thanksgiving and so was my brother.  5 at the table was not normal.  We were all a little bit sad.  I am finding that I am wanting more quiet and less words.

I have taken to working in my garden more.  I am trying to walk everyday, even if they are short walks.  I have been skateboarding at my Dad's.  I am trying to learn how to dance on a skateboard.  Being outside helps.  Creating helps but is hard too.  I have so many works in progress it is not funny!

At the beginning of the stay at home orders, I started a shawl.  I have been calling it a quarantine shawl.  I finished it at my Dad's during Thanksgiving week.  I sent it off to my best friend, which is why it is not fully pictured here.  I want her to be surprised!  It is a lovely weight and is cozy.  Cozy is huge.  She lives and moves around in states that actually have winter.

Now I need to work on another project now.  I have multiple shawls, sweaters, and one vest in the works.  Which one is the question.  Which one too that will travel well as well.  I am off to my Dad's again soon.  More doctors.

and back again

I am back again after being at my Dad's last week.  The doctor's anointment went better then we expected so that is good.  He still has more tests to do mid-November and I will be there for those.  Then, maybe surgery?

We got the walk behind tractor to the mountain.  It worked well but we already broke the front shielding off the brush hog.  But there are lots of blackberries cut down.  

And we actually have a field again!  This is very exciting.  The walk behind tractor is smaller then our large one.  We also do not have the brush hog for the big tractor.  The small one gets into places the big one cannot go.  It is almost too big me to run but I can run it for a couple hours and get more done in then I can in a whole day.  Though I still sleep very well at night!

The sun in the two previous pictures was much of the sun we got.  It sleeted once and snowed once on the mountain.  At my Dad's it rained.  I brought a piece of silk with me so I could play with ecoprinting.  I let it soak in a pot of dead tea leaves, and then a pot of Epsom salts.  I wondered around my Dad's yard and picked up leaves and berries.  I found a stick to wrap the bundle up.  I tied it all up with a piece of string and left it in a bush.  I will see what it looks like in February or March.

I may take a light colored dress up with me next and do the same.  I really do not wear light colors.  I have some wool dresses from when I worked corporate jobs that could use some darker colors.  One is in a dead tea pot with a scarf and silk skirt currently.  I treated myself to dye and blanks.  It could end up very interesting.  But it is making me feel creative.

I find when I spend all my time working for Serenity Knives or making face masks, I just stop feeling creative.  I need some making of my own.  I have a dress wandering around in my brain that I will make soon, even though I do not need a new dress.  But it will be the only way to get it out. 

Spinning helps.  Crocheting helps.  I am currently trying to decide on colors to make the shawl I started during quarantine larger.  I stared with skeins of yarn that I did not use for another project and the shawl is just not big enough.  I am looking at other skeins and leftovers and trying to decide what I do next.  It will be an interesting creating when it is done.