String Theory

This Moment- Slarb's Defeat (Alternate)

Water from The First Well inadvertently splashed on a passing baby; an abrupt plot twist for On The Edge Of The Dark Sea Of Darkness.

 

Tammy's 2011 Wrap Up

Projects to look forward to:

• the Cherpumple a la Charles Phoenix.  i love his blog.  it's so much over-the-top retro kitsch that i can hardly stand it. i 100% plan to bake one in all it's processed glory sometime this year.

 

• sew vintage McCalls 5410. my obsession with the wrap dress continues.
  
•  try screenprinting my "practical" logo onto chalk bags using this lady's screens.


Favorite Movies of 2011 (two are "new to me" as opposed to "newly released"):

• Jane Eyre -the  only thing i would have changed was more screen time for Pilot (best novel dog ever!) and i think they should have messed up Rochester's face more at the end.

• South Pacific- i can't believe i never watched this before.   
• Midnight in Paris- need to watch it again because i was too busy trying to catch all the references the first time. 
• Bill Cunningham New York- documentary from 2010. he's quite the interesting man. 


Favorite Music (again, some just "new to me"):

• Kate Rusby- on the scene in the late 90's, but i just started listening to her this year.
• The Civil Wars- the just sound so beautiful together.  "Barton Hollow" is a great album- good songwriting.  here they are singing at the Tin Angel in philly.
• listened to A LOT of 80's pop music this year- mostly from the UK or Australia.  it's all so singalongable and good background music for work: The Blue Nile, INXS (yes, it's true), The Cure, Men At Work, Crowded House
• "Christ is Risen" by Matt Maher- listened to this one about a trillion times this year. 


Media Miscellany:

• Podquiz Podcast- a well-done weekly trivia podcast with an odd musical intermission run by a Brit named James Carter (whose wife, i just learned, passed on Dec. 22- so sad).  dave and i load up on these on long car rides.
• Girl Walk All Day- and end-of-the-year find. a story told through dance that is being put out in installments on the web.  just an FYI- the backing music is a mash-up called "all day" by girl talk and it's definitely R rated.  my favorite piece so far is #6 "the creep takes new york" where you catch a glimpse of the aforementioned Bill Cunningham.


• "Homes For xyz" feature in the Real Estate section on the NY Times website- usually changes about every 7-10 days.  it's a slideshow of houses for sale around the country in a specific price range.  dave and i sit together and flip through it, critique the homes, pick our favorites and usually say "i can't believe they're asking xyz for that!".


Blogs I Started Following in 2011:

• Gertie's New Blog For Better Sewing
• Rachel Held Evans
• Imagineering Disney
• Retro Roadmap

I had a rough year with books.  Had four or five disappointments followed by times of re-reading favorites to cleanse my palate.  So you're only getting a Books I'm Looking Forward To Reading list: 

• Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James
• My Song: A Memoir by Harry Belafonte
• The Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food, and Love by Kristen Kimball
• Wildwood: The Wildwood Chronicles, Book I by Colin Meloy

Advent!

We have a couple of new, and hopefully not overly ambitious, resources for Advent this year. One is called Truth In The Tinsel, and it will take us through the Christmas story with a verse and an ornament-making craft each day. The activities are very easy and don't require my purchasing of any supplies, which I really appreciate. Each of the crafts reinforces the scripture reading of the day, and they are preschooler appropriate. I really like that too, as it means the kids will pretty much be able to do the projects on their own, and I'm sure the bigger kids will be more than happy to participate too.

 

Our evening devotion time will involve this new book:

I haven't really gotten a chance to preview it, so we'll see how well it goes over with the kids. I think it's going to be good!

There is a sample of the BTLOG book here and it can be purchased here, if you are interested.

I think we'll be able to handle just these two advent resources, and I hope it leads to lots of thinking and discussion about Christ. It's good to keep the gospel fresh on our minds. And if we have time this month, I'm hoping to add in some Hanukkah activities with the kids too. That might push us over the edge of too much going on, but at least I have a week or so to consider it.

The Last Few Pages

I just re-discovered these photos from our trip to Tennessee this past September. We finished reading On The Edge Of The Dark Sea Of Darkness by Andrew Peterson to the kids while we were at Mike's Parents' house. If I ever imagined life with kids before I had any, I'm sure I saw images like this in my mind. 

Stillness.

A good book.

Father-daughter time.

I'm so happy that these scenes happen, at least occasionally, in real life.

The Poet

I discovered yesterday that the little girl has a sense for rhyme, and she gave me two poems to share with you. I believe it is Sandra Boynton who deserves the credit for it. And maybe the Berenstains too.

I added the titles, of course:

What's Next?

Ummmm

Ummmm

Bubble Gum!

To Little Brother 

Baby Bro

Sweet Potabo.

 

Yarn Along Deja Vu

I'm pretty much in the same place as last week with knitting, only with a whole new shoulder-warmer for Tangle. It's the same pattern, only a size smaller.

This one got a button from the stash I collected when my favorite yarn shop closed several years ago. Yup, I like to plan ahead. 

The timing is terrible, but I had to open my big mouth and suggest to a friend that we read 1984 together. Of course she agreed and now a few other people have joined us too. I really do want to read it, but can't imagine when I'll finally get through it. I'm also not so sure I want to read anything heavy with so little time until this baby makes his appearance. We shall see, and I'm going to try not to add it to the "things to accomplish or else get stressed out about it" list.

The new knitting project that I really don't expect to finish anytime soon is this little Gift Wrap Romper in Dream In Color - Classy "Happy Forest". I'm hoping the little guy will be able to wear it this winter, so there is plenty of time to finish it. 

Oops- forgot to add the link to the yarn along here.

Knitting And Reading

I almost finished this little shrug last night. It is the "Little Girl's Shrug" from Knitting Pure & Simple. It's the first time I've used this particular pattern, but that Diane Soucy hasn't let me down yet. I hope to make shoulder wamers for all of the girls by this fall, and this pattern is just lovely so I'll probably use it for all of them. 

The yarn is also one that I will use again. It's Malabrigo Rios in "Glazed Carrot" and it really is as orange as it looks in the picture. I love it. It's also very nice to touch.

I'm in-between books at the moment, so I don't have much to say about this one. Hopefully I'll get to read some of it today. It looks like it will an entertaining and light read, which is what I could use right now.

If you want to join in, here's a link to the yarn along that I'm following.

felt alphabet for (tween) nerds- tammy's version

after studying heather's wonderfully nerdy and academic list i came to realize that my list may have a slightly older audience in mind.  a few of these things i think people should be aware of by age 13, but maybe not by age six.   my list also leans a bit more toward pop culture in places.  i was having trouble choosing just one person/place/thing for each letter so i decided to try and focus it by choosing only from movies, tv and books and leaving out references to objects.  (in case you are wondering why "j" is not for "jeep" in this list) i did, however, cheat with "v", but his music is used in movies so close enough.  i'm a little surprised that only two of my items are on heather's list, but we certainly overlap on reference sources. 

i will also use heather's format of  Letter- Word (picture)

• A-  Aslan  (lion)
• B-  Bond, James Bond  (swirly Bond movie intro graphic)
• C-  Captain Nemo  (sea captain hat)
• D-  Doris Day  (blond hair in a bob)
• E-  Elizabeth Bennett  (Regency-era gown)
• F-  the Fonz  (two thumbs up)
• G-  Gandalf  (wizard hat)
• H-  Hitchcock, Alfred (profile of AH)

 

• I- Isengard  (tower)
• J-  Jimmy Stewart (rabbit wearing a bow tie)
• K-  Kermit (Kermit)
• L- Luke and Leia (floppy hair and giant buns)
• M-  Mowgli (dark skinned little boy)
• N-  Neverland (arrow pointing to second star to the right)
• O-  Oompa Loompa  (green hair)
• P-  Picard, Jean-Luc  (red Star Trek shirt)
• Q- Q (tall tri corner hat)

 

• R-  Ramona (bowl cut)
• S-  Steven Spielberg  (E.T.)
• T-  Tie Fighter (tie fighter)
• U-  Uhura  (communication receiver)
• V-  Vince Guaraldi  (piano)
• W-  Walt Disney  (Mickey)
• X-  X Wing Fighter (x wing)
• Y-   Yoda (Yoda)
• Z-  Zaphod Beeblebrox  (stick figure with two heads and three arms)

Books referenced:

• The Chronicles of Narnia- C.S. Lewis
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea- Jules Verne
• Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austen
• The Lord of the Rings-  J.R.R. Tolkein
• The Jungle Book-  Rudyard Kipling
• Peter and Wendy-  J.M. Barrie
• Ramona Series-  Beverly Cleary
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory- Roald Dahl
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy- Douglas Adams

Movies and TV referenced:

• Bond Series- various directors, based on the novels by Ian Fleming
• Star Wars Series-  created by George Lucas
• Star Trek: The Original Series & Star Trek: The Next Generation-  created by Gene Roddenberry
• Happy Days- created by Garry Marshall

 

Craft Along

My current reading and knitting projects. G wants her own Milo Vest since one sister and one brother already have them. I have a feeling I'll be making at least two more after this if I can figure out how it might look good on a 3 year old boy also.  I love the yarn for this one, both because of the color (teal always catches my eye), and it is very nice to work with. The yarn has been sitting around for years waiting for the perfect project, and I think this is it!

The Monster in the Hollows is book 3 in a series by Andrew Peterson. It is as much of a whirlwind as the first two books, and I mean that in only good ways. I really get into a good adventure story, especially when it also comes with a healthy dose of silliness, as this one does.

Here is a link if you would like to participate in the Yarn Along too. 

Yarn Along

I am playing along with Ginny today to share what I'm reading and crafting. Apparently following prompts from other blogs is the only way to get me to post these days. I think I'm okay with that.

I haven't actually started The Chosen yet;  I'm waiting for a quiet moment. My Name is Asher Lev is one of the best books I've ever read, and I'm excited to start another novel by Potok.

The knitting is Twenty Ten Cardigan done with Cascade Eco-Wool. The yarn is being reused from a failed sweater I tried a year or so ago. The Eco-Wool is so nice it deserves to be made into something pretty.