Tag Archives: crochet

Yesterday, overheard at the hospital

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So we were at the hospital visiting my mother-in-law.  My Farmer was on his way from the city after a parts run to our John Deere Dealership (swather breakdown) so he stopped in to see his mom.  He was standing in the hallway, looking into the window – walls of the ‘family room’ where two of my children had parked themselves to watch their favorite 30-minute PBS show (Wild Krats).  Two older ladies came walking by.  The following conversation ensued:

 

Lady 1: Look at that little girl, Lady 2.  Isn’t she *so cute!*

 

Lady 2: Ohhhhhh, what a sweet little…GASP!  Is she *crocheting?!*

 

Lady 1:  Good lawd!  I think she IS crocheting!

 

Lady 2: She IS, she IS!  How old do you think that child is?

 

Lady 1:  She can’t be very old…look how tiny she is.  She is just the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.

 

Lady 2, notices My Farmer, who is nodding in agreement:  Is she yours? (he nods yes)

 

Just then, enter Farmer Boy from Grandma’s room, complete with usual uniform of cap, t-shirt, pliers pouch, pocket knife, wranglers, cowboy boots.

 

Lady 1 (to My Farmer):  Is he yours, too? (he nods)

 

Lady 2 (to our son):  Well, look at you!  I bet you are a little farmer, young man.  (he nods)

 

Lady 1:  NO WONDER she knows how to crochet.

All the crafty ladies…

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And men – I have one friend who is a crafty gentleman -

 

I read about this idea for crocheting or knitting hats for people still struggling in Japan over at Aurie’s blog.  Aurie writes with me and some other awesome mammas at Growing Your Homeschool.

 

I’ve never crocheted a hat before – but this is a great reason to give it a go.  Here is a site filled with knit, crochet, or sewing patterns for hats, if you’d like to participate as well.

 

On a side note  - just like my overuse of the word ‘awesome’ – I have a problem with exclamation points.  I just love them.  And I really do talk that way in real life.  However, in a blog I don’t think it’s advisable to have every! sentence! end! with! an! exclamation!  Aren’t you glad I went back for another proofread and realized that I had used THREE exclamation points in five sentences.  Is there exlamatory

Hobby Sharing

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A terrific gal who reads the blog (here is her’s if you want to take a look) mentioned that her daughter wanted to learn to crochet.   Here are a few links for anyone who has a child (or is themselves!) interested:

http://crochet.about.com/od/learnbasics/ss/stchain.htm

That one is pictorial.  Here is a video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce03U8pk_5o

If you live anywhere nearby (you know who you are) I’d be glad to show you.  It is not as hard as it looks!  Most craft stores have all kinds of children’s crochet or knit kits.  Most recommendations will include starting with bigger needles, but in my personal experience it depends on your child.  If your child has more advanced fine motor skills a smaller needle would likely work better (think in terms of crayons – do they prefer the thick, chunky ones or the slim, regular version?).

If you know someone who knits or crochets then you could probably ask them for a tutorial, a borrowed needle or hook (most of us have a fanatic collection a few extras), and some scrap yarn.  This way your child can experiment (for free!) before you invest in supplies for a hobby that may or may not be picked up again.  Both of my boys have their own yarn and crochet hooks/knitting needles.  They keep them in John Deere tool bags.  It is a favorite winter project for them and their creations make fun gifts or holiday decorations.  Cowgirl is focused on bracelets right now – because they only take a few minutes to complete and she can do them with mommy’s hook and any scrap of yarn she chooses.

More harvest memories…

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We had a lot of fun together on the tractor, the kids and I.  It is completely without remorse that I will tell you, by the end of harvest, my children were politely turning down offers to ride with Daddy or Grandpa in the combine because, well, you know where the party was! 

The kids each brought something to entertain themselves each day, and a lunch box full of food an snacks.  It also makes a handy seat.

Farmer Boy, sitting on his lunch box, doing the predictable.

I taught them my favorite ‘passing time’ songs from childhood:  99 bottle of beer on the wall (we’re Catholic, remember?), Little bunny foofoo (thank you, Lisa and Ian), and Found a Peanut.

We played eye-spy, hangman (I almost got Shooter with ‘bracelet’), alphabet games (think of a word that starts with), language games (I’m thinking of a two-syllable word that starts with ‘t’ – “Tractor” shouts Farmer Boy), and listened to the radio.  Our favorite was “Car Talk” on NPR.

Shooter's action figure (It's NOT a doll, Mom) can climb walls!

Okay, also I was the most popular because I had time to let the kids sit on my lap and steer the tractor going to and from the field and trucks because combining is, like, fifty times more complex than what I was doing.  So there.  I wasn’t really cheating, but maybe it’s close enough.  I’ve admitted it now so this way the other drivers can make plans for fall – maybe brush up on their singing. 

That's a crochet hook in her left hand. Yes, she can actually crochet. She made several chains each day. I know, freakish!

Although, Grandpa did tell me that this wheat harvest was the first time he had ever sang “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” in June.  Thank you for that, Little Cowgirl.

Long time

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No blog!

I fell off the blagon there for a couple of weeks, peeps, but I’m back.  I’ll try to spend the next few days catching you up on what’s been happening here at our farm.  Starting with where we left off:

Wheat harvest 2010 is over and the children were sad to see it go.  They certainly did have a great time!  We thought they would be begging to get out of the field (to spend some time at Grandma’s, who was also busy helping but often at home for periods of time where the kids could play so long as we kept a truck full of car seats nearby), but instead they were begging to stay.  I must say we were all generally happy with how much fun our days in the field were.

The view from where I sat.

I drive the grain cart.  For those of you who are not as familiar with production agriculture, that means I drive a tractor pulling a big box on wheels behind it.  When the combine gets full of grain, I drive alongside it while it is still cutting where, using an auger sticking out from its side, it pours the grain into my big box on wheels.  Then I drive out to the semi trucks (tractor trailers, depending on your local lingo), pull up alongside their grain trailers and use my own auger (looks like a bendy-straw; I have this on good authority as farmer boy has bendy-straw-augers all over his toy farm) and pour the grain into the trailer.  The truck then hauls the grain to a local grain elevator (those tall, white, cylindrical-looking buildings on the edge of farm towns beside the railroad tracks) or to a farmer’s grain bin (tall, silver,cone-topped cylinders near farm houses). 

This is how I spent my birthday - it was terrific!

It is not a particularly difficult job and depending on the crop it can, at times, be slow, but it really helps cut down the time of your harvest since the combine never has to stop cutting.  And I’ve been doing it since before I had a driver’s license (thank you, Mom and Dad, for being the farmers who let their daughters work as well as their sons) so I know what to bring with me for the five- or ten-minute stints I am just waiting.  It used to be a paperback, my diary, stationary for writing letters, and bubble gum.  Now I take my cell phone and camera, a crochet project and sunflower seeds.  And a pen and notebook but it’s for playing hangman with my crew.

The best harvest workers around.

From the question box

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I had someone ask me how I make time for blogging.

I’m going to be completely honest with you – I cut into or give up other things.  I haven’t crocheted since I started blogging.  I haven’t picked up my guitar one time.  Sometimes the kids have whatever is in the refrigerator instead of a hot meal.  Sometimes I stay up late or don’t get the beds made or we don’t have clean socks because I haven’t folded laundry in days.

I started getting up before five in the morning three (or so) days a week so I still have time to get to the gym.  I keep scraps of paper everywhere and any time I have an idea for a post I scratch it down.

And sometimes I post things without taking time to edit them carefully.  Or at all.

Sorry about that.

But I’m totally turned on to the ‘carpe diem’ life that homeschooling has given my family.  Some families have it naturally, some families home school and don’t like the ‘bull by the horns, do it now’ approach, for some people it is some other experience that triggers this lifestyle change for them. 

But I only have today, and I better make the most of it.  So I sleep less, clean less, worry less and run farther, read more, drink a bit too much, type fast and sometimes post things that are embarrassing or TMI and probably I’ll wish someday I hadn’t.  Or maybe not.  But it’s been really fulfilling for me to do this writing.  If nothing else comes of it than that, it’s close enough.

Veggie Power

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Last week My Farmer came in to the room where I was crocheting with the boys while they fell asleep.  He said “You’ve got to come and watch this!  This guy is saying all the things you’ve been telling me for the last five years!  Get a variety of fresh, raw food, eat it, and you will be healthy.”

The Show was Jaime Oliver’s Food Revolution and I cannot wait to see what happens next week.  It caused an entire evening of discussion at my house about healthy eating and I hope it is effecting households everywhere in a similar way.

Hold your breath…

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Don’t forget that today is the last day of the dish-cloth contest! ;)

Comment on any of the posts in my blog before midnight tonight and I will put your name in a drawing for one of these cotton cloths I crocheted all by myself, while killing time waiting for kids to fall asleep who wanted me to sit in their room.

One of these could be yours! Be still my beating heart!

I am giving away five – one for each day this work week.  Your name can be entered for each single comment you make…the bigger blabbermouth you are the better your chances!  I will announce the winners on Monday.

Thanks for reading everybody!

Ripping off the bandage…

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Well, I’m going to do it.  I am going to open this public blog to the, er, public.  As you can see, I’ve been blogging for several months, but ”behind closed doors” for the most part.  Last week I told two friends, who both had positive and constructive comments, and though I felt nervous to tell them about it, it helped prepare me to finish the job.  It’s less painful if you just do it all at once – My dad taught me that as a kid and it’s a lesson I’ve learned well for the most part.  Get the hard part over with.  The ending is the same but the agony of anticipation is lessened.

This feels very personal.  But it is, in fact, the reason I have been doing all this writing…to share it.  Life is short and I would like to share myself while I can.  I am a prototypical middle child – lots of concern about offending people, wanting to keep peace and be well-liked. 

And yet the middle child always wants attention.  Lots of you have met me in real life…and if the shoe fits…

So here we are.  Welcome to my blog, everybody.  Please don’t hesitate to disagree, I like discussion.

I thought it would be fun to have a give away for the first week, so I am going to enter everyone who comments on ANY of my posts (recent or past) into a drawing for your choice of these crochet dishcloths (I’m assuming you guy readers also help do dishes and clean counters.  If not – shame on you).  I will announce the five winners next Monday (comments posted after midnight on Friday don’t make the proverbial hat).  And yes, I will enter you once for each comment you make.  The more thoughts you share, the more chances you have to win!  Try to contain your excitement…Yes, I realize it is a dishcloth I crocheted, not a product or service.  But for now, it’s close enough.

Thanks in advance for reading.  And if you like it, or know someone who might, please send them the link.