out & about – Page 4

Apple tart and birthday celebrations

August 24, 2014 Marie Leave a Comment

Saturday we celebrated my grandfather’s 94th birthday with a little shindig. I probably wasn’t expected to actually make anything to bring, and I’m certain that I could have just ran through the grocery and bought a tub of potato salad or something, but that’s just not me. No, I had to go and bake something. Apple tarts from the Pioneer Woman, to be exact, mostly because I had apples that needed used up and the recipe is crazy easy and I had the itch to bake. The Mr took charge of the munchkin for the morning so I could do it, for which I’m incredibly thankful. This might end up being a new go-to dessert recipe for me since my time in the kitchen is going to be more limited.

I’m the very last grandchild to have a baby (only took me 30 years!), and I’m very thankful that my grandfather is still around to see his great grandson. This picture is, to me, priceless. I only wish my grandmother was still alive to see and hold him as well :(

It’s for the best, really

May 25, 2014 Marie Leave a Comment

I’m not quite sure the best tactic for a knitter at a fiber/yarn show, but I think the lesson for the day is that having a plan means coming home (mostly) empty handed.

This weekend was the Great Lakes Fiber Show, which we visited last year and I scored quite a haul. I was really looking forward to this year’s show, hoping I might come home with a few lovely items to add to the fiber stash. But as a knitter with a plan I was restricted on what I was allowing myself to buy. What I wanted was a few skeins of semi-solid sport weight yarn (or, as I later decided when that failed, semi-solid fiber to spin into my own sport-weight yarn). What I found was massive amounts of variegated sock yarn and fiber, both of which are too busy for the project I had in mind. Don’t get me wrong, I love some of the more variegated yarns for projects here and there, but I’m really more of a semi-solid/tonal kind of gal. And it seems like the majority of small/indie dyers don’t really go for those colorways much.

I ended up coming home with this lovely new necklace and a matching pair of earrings, which is probably for the best with regards to my stash. I have fiber still un-spun, yarn un-knit, and I keep finding more as I clean out the old craft room closet to make room for baby clothes. I’m supposed to be stashing down as part of my ultimate goal of minimizing my stuff, not buying more than I have time to spin/knit. Which means taking a cold, hard look at what I have now and facing the reality that I do not need buy yarn, even if I really do feel like I need to make this project happen right now.

No, the project can wait. The new yarn can wait. The old yarn lingers far too long, waiting to be knit into long forgotten sweaters and scarves and mitts. Perhaps, after I’ve knit through a few things here and there, I’ll revisit the project. Or, perhaps, the idea will fade and I’ll move on to something else.

We took to the woods

November 4, 2013 Marie Leave a Comment

Oh, the woods. That smell, fresh and pure and clean. That stillness – hearing squirrels rustling the fallen leaves, and the birds fluttering about, the tree branches moving in the wind – no cars to distract or intrude upon it. The pure and complete darkness that comes at night, with no street lights to brighten the unpaved road. Heaven for my heart and soul.

It was our 3rd annual knitting “retreat” – a weekend of food, wine, knitting, and movies. If you asked me 10 years ago if I’d ever have a group of girlfriends to go on a weekend trip with – not just once, but multiple times- I’d have told you that you were crazy. I’d never had real, true friends and I couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to be friends with me. But here I am, with 4 wonderful ladies that I call my friends. Truth be told, I still wonder why these ladies like me enough to spend time with me. I still don’t always feel like I “fit in,” and perhaps I never will. Perhaps I’m destined to be slightly socially awkward for my entire life.

There was LOTS of good food. Friday I made my family’s tacos and shared my love of corn relish with everyone. Lunch on Saturday was a delicious tortellini and spinach soup, baked potato, and cheddar biscuits. Dinner, homemade chicken and noodles over mashed potatoes. So much good comfort food for a single weekend. We never took our hike like I had hoped, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed about that. I spent a lot of time sitting on the porch looking out into the woods to make up for it. Not quite the same, and I felt like I was ignoring everyone a little bit, but it’s hard to explain my absolute need for quiet time in the woods to people who don’t feel it, too.

Our ‘usual’ yarn shop in the area had permanently closed (though, honestly, I wasn’t too sad about it – the shop just… didn’t have a lot and felt a bit run-down), so on Saturday we made a long trek about 45 minutes away to visit a different yarn shop. I wasn’t intending on buying any yarn, especially since I just received a new skein of lace from Knitivity last week (shhhhhh, don’t tell the husband!). I’m still trying to work my stash down in between projects that require yarn purchases, after all. But I saw this skein of Art Yarn Regal Silk and immediately fell in love. It was definitely a splurge, at $24 for only 163 yards. I didn’t realize until after I started going through the few pictures I took that the yarn matches the sky from Friday evening, with the subtle blues and grays. So perfect!

Family Photo Day

October 20, 2013 Marie Leave a Comment

Fall in Ohio. My sister, my nephew, and my niece. Perfect excuse to get outside and play with some photography. I think I came home with some good shots, and I know my sister will love them regardless. I’m far from a professional photographer, and I think Mother Nature makes all my photos 200x better, but I can’t complain too much honestly. They’re not perfect, and working with two bickering kids is a challenge. But we made it work, and I think the few hours I spent taking them and the subsequent editing are worth it because I’m giving my sister the gift of a family photo she’s never had with her children until now. ♥

Weekending in Yellow Springs

September 23, 2013 Marie Leave a Comment

Oh, how I do love that man I married! ♥ This weekend we celebrated our 6th anniversary and we spent our weekend in Yellow Springs. I have to admit, our weekend was less-than-stellar. And by that I mean that I was off-and-on sick all weekend. Bummer :( But it was still a weekend away, so I can’t complain too much!

Friday we checked into our rental, the Sunflower Cottage. It’s such an adorable little house and decorated in my favorite colors (my whole house is some combination of blue/green). There may have been a bit of day-dreaming about moving into a house exactly like it. I could just curl right up on that window seat on a rainy day and just read or knit the day away. I may also be drawn to how uncluttered the place is. Much like most cabins we’ve rented, the kitchen cabinets are lightly furnished, the refrigerator is empty for us, and the decor on the bookshelves is minimal. Coming from the chaos of my house (where I need to work on some serious organizing and de-cluttering), it was like a weekend in my dream home.

Saturday was Wool Gathering day, so we ventured north a bit to the dairy farm for yarn shopping. I only came home with one braid of roving, and two skeins of yarn. The roving is going to be spun up for a scarf for the Mr, and the two skeins were going to be gloves for my niece and nephew but now I’m not sure if I’m going to go through with it. Honestly, I wanted to shop for more. I had more money set aside than what I bought. I guess I just wasn’t feeling very… inspired? Don’t get me wrong, there were gorgeous yarns and fibers there. But nothing really jumped out at me screaming “BUY ME!” like yarn usually does. Oh well, I guess that’s what Etsy is for!

After Wool Gathering we stopped in town for food and then walked around the shops a bit. The shops were nice and fun to look through, but nothing there said “buy me” either. The downtown is beautiful, however, so it was a nice way to spend the afternoon.

Sunday found us up and out early, checking out the Glen Helen Nature Preserve. GHNP is home to the “yellow springs” for which the town got its name. The water coming out of the rock is beautifully clear and cold and tastes like well water (if you’ve never had well water then just imagine the taste of water with a very slight sulfur taste). It’s not the same as standing in front of the waterfalls at Hocking Hills, but it’s still lovely. And I still hold to my belief that nature is, to me, what religion/church is to others. As silly as it might sound, I wish I could have sat there for a bit by myself to close my eyes and just be.

So now we’re home and it’s time to ease back into the regular routine. I have a laundry list of things to do (including laundry, of course) so here’s hoping a weekend of relaxation results in a week of productivity.