stitch marker

a playroom in the sky

Photo by Martin John Brown. Antique star window foraged by Mommy.

Sebastian's tiny playroom in the attic is finished.

Martin has been pouring his soul into this room, literally working day and night, learning the skills as he went. It's amazing what he's made.

I've always dreamed of Sebastian having a little attic room like the red-haired boy in Gerda Muller's Autumn. Now he does. He watches the sunset through his star window and tells us when it's evening, he sleeps in his hidey hole, builds great cities of the imagination, and we hear the proverbial pitter patter we never heard when we had just one story. The rain splashes on the room's many skylights and makes magical noises, as if you're in a wooden night boat. It's a dream room.

Go see the pictures and give Martin some love, y'all.

king lear learns to put on his own shirt

Why, thou wert better in thy grave than to answer with thy uncovered body this extremity of the skies.

being loved since 2007

My first (and so far only) quilt. Wow, look at how clean it used to be.

I made this in May 07 for Sebastian's second birthday. He's now a big 3.5 and loves this blanket so much. It's probably the most gratifying response I've ever gotten for a handmade anything.

I wrote back then:

Sebastian will love this quilt. It's got all his favorite stuff on it: letters, his letter (!), bicycles (calick-calicks), trains (enins), balloons (ballooms), snails (nails), and even a duck (duck).

I'm so lovesick over him and having pangs that he's growing up too fast. Today he says all those words correctly, darn it.

Although, at dinner he does say "May I be accused?"

duh, mom

A pre-7 am conversation, while I was making coffee.

"This kitchen is a tunnel."

"The table too?"

"You need somewhere to eat in the tunnel."

witch in the playground

Yesterday at "the green playground" Sebastian played with some bigger boys. One of them, 5 years old, started a game. There were pretend witches everywhere and they had to scream and run. Sebastian needed this explained to him. What is a witch? "She does magic, and rides a broom, and wears a scary hat, and she's green...Your mom is the witch!"

The boys dug up handfuls of magic dust, ordinary playground dirt. They threw it in my general direction with glee. I cackled and turned them into frogs. They ribbitted.

I rode a swing as my broom. Up and up. They played for a long time in the magic dust. The sun came down in long witchy fingers through the tall evergreens. And I rode and rode my broom, higher and higher, dreaming of red and white striped stockings.

the days

We're back from a most beautiful, gloriously colored, lovely, with lightning bugs and actual lightning, vacation. I have now knitted 16 squares for my friend's blanket, read 4 whole books, and watched Sebastian do so many exciting new things with his Papa Dan and Grandma 'Villa. He spent a lot of the vacation running laps around the house from screen door to screen door, digging in the sand, and riding a trike the 2 blocks to the beach (where he would solemnly park it) and back (always excited it was still there!)

Soon I'll load more of the pictures and have some knitting to show. I worked on my orange lady sweater and have half of one sleeve down. And those 16 squares. Somehow all the knitting photos got onto Martin's computer, and all the kayaking ones got on mine. Huh.

Martin and I played Scrabble on the porch and drank from dusty old bottles with contents like Grand Marnier. I think that was my favorite part.

When we got home I asked Sebastian, "What was your favorite part of the vacation?" He said, "The days."

new station wagon, or I lost 3500 pounds in one day (TM)

I can't remember - it must have been when I was a child, if ever - the last time I had this much fun on a bike.

I begged for it, proclaimed we couldn't go on without it, warned Martin they would all be gone if we didn't act fast (I was right, BTW), and gave all the encouragement I could to Martin's sale of our Miata in order to buy this. I even gave in to the fact that the bike that did everything I wanted was also the exact same bike as Sarah's. I gave up on that struggle and got the same darn bike. We're a gang now.

And I'm so glad. The bike is like riding on a cloud, even with 4o pounds of boy and 40 pounds of groceries in back. I ride it like a child, confident, bouncing happily over rocks and curbs. I was worried it would take me all summer to learn to ride with Sebastian on there, but this picture is the very first day I had the bike. The attitude adjustment is amazing. You just have to be willing to take an hour to get somewhere, and then it's a piece of cake.

The big board on the back is an Xtracycle. (That TM up there in the title is because that's a phrase of theirs.) The Xtracycle Free Radical adds length and stability to the bike, making it possible to do things like carry another bike, an adult, or a 60 pound bag of concrete mix.

I get teary-eyed when I watch their youtube video. I can't drive a car anymore, but this comes so close to the range and yet is so much more free, fun, and lovely. I can take Sebastian places without waiting endlessly for buses and trains.

We can GO! Slowly.

a short break on the walk home from the bus

"If you are walking? With your eyes closed? You have to watch out where you're going."

firm gauge

They look a little surprised to be finished.

These are Sebastian's "lellow, green, orange, red and brown socks." I think the ShibuiKnits Sock in Autumn covered those bases.

Now, can you see the mistake? It's a stupid one that luckily didn't cause much trouble so I left it in. Only the sock geeks among us could spot it. And Donovan, no fair guessing, you where there. ;-)

the many starts

So many things begun and not finished, and no sense of closure for me or for you. I imagine you must wonder, sometimes, about that...thing...I started a month or two ago that you never saw again. Or maybe that's pure vanity and you've forgotten everything no sooner than you surfed away. Most likely.

While I run I imagine I will blog captivatingly about it. About how my knitting charm on my bracelet is always bumping my hand. I keep sliding it back toward my wrist and like a Brazil nut it keeps rising to the top and bothering me. The knitting just keeps pecking at my hand, peck, peck, peck.

I miss my dog, and her bony yet soft head. I ran a 5K the other day called the Doggie Dash, and I had so hoped she'd make it to that run. There were a lot of dogs there, confused and lunging at one another at the crowded start line. What are we doing here?!!! Then we started running and it was even worse! But we soon evened out and the dogs calmed down. I wondered, as I passed people (mostly walkers or the infirm) whether I could count their dogs as a roadkill too.*

I'm knitting several things right now. Mostly Sebastian's other sock and the February Lady Sweater in some gorgeous orange yarn that Martin finds unspeakably ugly. Thank you, Pam, this pattern is making me so happy.

I have about 10 other projects sitting, and I guess you may be able to tell I'm both completely blase about them and would like passionately for them to be finished. I think it might be good to rip out everything I'm not really going to finalize. Start fresh. I hadn't thought of that until just now. I could have all my needles back! My room is a mess again, and that doesn't help my inspiration. I need help from an organized friend who will sit here and make me clean.

And finally, working on a book idea and pulling all that together. Wondering if it's absolutely stunning or totally stupid. And wondering what I'm going to do to survive the adorable but mind numbing "why"s. Why is this our house? Why does the earth turn to night? Why is the car locked. Our favorite so far was to Martin:

Why do you have that face?


* Note: Roadkill is Hood to Coast language for passing another runner. Teams put hash marks on their vans for how many other runners they pass.