Author: Marie Haigh

I started knitting 15 years ago right around the time of my marriage and the birth of my niece.

Painting with a 2 year old

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It wasn’t my plan to let Elly help me prime the dining rooms walls. She was just that insistent. Even my pulling out the trump card, a Tinker Bell movie, didn’t hold any sway. Elly didn’t want to watch a movie or any TV show for the matter. She wanted to help me paint.

And so she did.

It didn’t matter that Elly dripped paint all over the rug because the rug is ugly and way past the date when it should have been tossed in the garbage. In one corner, we are holding it down with duct tape. In another spot, the carpet is unraveling. And in several other spots, the carpet crackles when you walk on it. It’s that old. Goodness knows, you don’t need me to elaborate on its ugliness. Just look at it, would you?

I kept Elly in front of me on the wall we were working on. That way she could draw ‘c’s, ‘o’s and dinosaurs to her heart’s content. I followed with a paint brush and evened everything out.

It also didn’t matter that Elly dripped paint all over herself. It was easy to just toss her in the bath afterwards.

Though if your 2-year-old offers to help you paint and you just happen to own a shower cap, put it on her. Even after a long bath and a thorough brushing, Elly still has paint in her hair.

Bicycle for Two

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I fell in love with it the moment I saw it in Tri County Bicycles shop’s window.

All John, the owner of the bike shop, had to say was “yes” in response to my question about whether Elly’s bike trailer could be attached. I hummed the song Daisy all the way home.

Much to my delight, Dan was equally excited about it when I gushed about it over dinner.

I ordered it Easter weekend.  We picked it up Saturday. It’s a Sun Biscayne tandem bicycle.


Here we are in front of Tri County bike shop on High Street.

It’s so much fun to ride!

Elly loves it too. Well, she’s always been a fan of her trailer, but now “Daddy and Momma ride bike together. A family” says Elly.

War on Weeds

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Last year we had our Colorado blue spruce tree cut down. Unsure what I wanted to plant in its stead, I let the spot lay fallow. Boy, that was a big mistake. Weeds took over.

These aren’t the sort of weeds that you can grab at the base and pull out. These weeds are evil. They are common milkweed, I think.

Their roots are similar to a dandelion but longer and riddled with rhizomes. Like a dandelion, if you don’t remove the entire root system, it will grow back. Ask me how I know. grrrr.

I found the best way to remove them was with a shovel. I would insert the shovel directly in front of one of the weeds and without pulling the shovel back out of the earth, I pushed down on the shovel handle just until the earth was loosened. Then, I searched through the loose earth for the roots of the weeds. Grabbing each weed by the root, I was able to slowly clear the land.

Afterwards, I planted 3 fast growing coreopsis flowers. More flowers will be planted when I divide up the day lillies.

I wish I could announce that I was done, but alas no. There are more of these evil weeds in front of my lilac bushes. Plus, the lily of the valley, another  invasive weed plant that grows through the use of rhizomes, needs to be eradicated from the bed next to my veggie garden.  I have dreams of an herb garden.

Casting on for the Final Hexagon in

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Noro!

Noro won the poll last week.

I have more than enough of the Noro to finish the blanket. I’m not sure I would have enough of either of the handspun. So, it works out. I wouldn’t want to get halfway through the last hexagon and realize that I have to reknit it. Not only is the warm weather almost here (It’s supposed to be in the 80’s this week), but my hands have been hurting after just a few rows of knitting. I’m powering through this blanket to get it finished, but I might take a small break afterwards.

The small break would give me the time needed to sew up the seams and weave in all the loose ends.

Trashing the Old Curtains

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Goodbye formal pinch pleated curtains in a much too dark and too floral fabric.

Though the rods were trashed quite quickly because they were falling apart, the frugal side of me couldn’t bear to part with the Waverly fabric. It has been washed and added to my fabric stash.

Hello sheer curtains.

They are simple rod pocket curtains with a 1 inch header. This style can be purchased from Target for a few bucks. So, why did I purchase 15 yards of organza from Fabric.com? It wasn’t to save money. The price of my fabric was comparable to the ready-made drapes. No, I opted to sew curtains so I could get exactly what I wanted.

Case in point, I didn’t want curtains to open in the middle of these windows. Rather, I wanted the curtains to be one continuous panel that could easily be pulled to one side and out of the way of the AC or the incoming breeze.

It does feel a bit formal which concerns me because Dan and I are so not formal people. It takes a momentous effort every Sunday to get us out of our pajamas. You do that too, right?

The fact that I love everything else about the curtains keeps me from getting the feeling that I am living in a stuffy magazine. The shine of the fabric, the ability to see right through the fabric and the oodles of sunshine pouring through the fabric makes me smile and twirl in delight!

This isn’t the complete window treatment for the living room. Come winter we will need another layer of heavy home decorator fabric to block out the cold, but I have yet to fall in love with a fabric. I was trying out the square of yellow fabric that you can see taped to the mantle, but I don’t think it’s quite right.

Of course, I still have the large picture window in the living room to make sheer curtains for, but I couldn’t resist showing off what I’ve already accomplished. Plus, I have to boast that I hung the hardware for the curtains to the right of the mantle. It’s the first time I have done so. Dan has always done it. But after waiting 2 evenings for Dan to hang the hardware for the right curtain, I just couldn’t wait any longer. I wanted it up now. Tell me, my side looks better, right? grin.

Ready, Set, Knit!

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Today is the Knitting Marathon.

My goal is to finish knitting the hexagon I started working on 2 days ago. If I succeed, it will leave me with only the last hexagon left to knit. Unfortunately, I am still unsure which yarn to use in the last hexagon. The poll I put on my blog is virtually tied. Here I was hoping you would make my decision easier, dear readers. Ha, ha!

Since Elly’s favorite thing to do with yarn is to rip it apart and wrap it around her body, I’ll be doing my best to keep her preoccupied.

In the morning, we’re headed to our local McDonald with the Mom’s Club of Pottstown. In the afternoon, I plan to make full use of my Disney movie collection as the forecast is calling for rain. With a little luck, she’ll be too busy having fun to care about what her Mama’s doing.

A Week with Elly

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As promised, “A Week with Elly” will be published weekly. Enjoy watching the funny things she does; we sure do!

First, she piled all her toys up next to and on top of Daddy. Then, she climbed up next to him and watched TV together.

Running after the kite that Daddy was trying to fly (not enough wind).

Building a sand castle in her sandbox. She prefers wet sand to dry.

Elly struggled to hit a croquet ball the typical way, so she opted to whack it like a mole.

“Hello, Mama Bird, are you home?” asked Elly while she knocked on the tree with a rock.

Because standing in front of a table filled with water is not nearly as much fun as sitting in a pool of water.

Yes, she climbed up here all by herself to sit in her chair. And ever was she proud!

Getting Serious About Knitting

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My goal is to complete the hexagon blanket in 3 weeks. Well, just the knitting portion; I’m giving myself a whole month to seam all the hexagonal pieces together.

I have 2 1/3 hexagons left to knit. The dwindling supply of yarn had me feeling anxious, so I took a road trip yesterday with Elly and my neighbor to my LYS, Yarn Gallery. While Elly snuggled with the resident dog, the owner found yarn to match my dye lot. What luck!

To aid me in my knitting goal, I’ll be joining Cheryl Marie of CherylMarieKnits.com in a Knitting Marathon on April 25th. I won’t be dedicating as many hours to knitting as Cheryl Marie because I’ll have Elly by my side, but I hope to make a serious dent in the remaining hexagons all the same. Elly should enjoy her movie time if nothing else.

If you have any unfinished knitting projects that you too are desperate to finish, you should join us!