Housekeeping

dollhouse
Her room was put in beautiful order, to her closet and shoe-bag, and she even stopped to put a clean cover on the bureau and dust nicely, to show she had not forgotten a single thing. The halls and parlors had to be thoroughly dusted now, but as none of them needed sweeping it did not take very long, and there was still time to go to market.

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The mother looked around her. "Everything is very nice," she said. "The sink is clean, and so is the pantry, and so are all the dishes. The range is bright; the dish-towels are washed; the dining-room is in order. I noticed as I came through the other rooms that the bedrooms, bathroom, and parlors have all been looked after to-day, too. Margaret, I do believe you are as good a housekeeper as I am already."

dollhouse Feb 2012 dollhouse abbie web

Margaret laughed as she took off her apron. "But I just love to do things," she replied, as she went up-stairs.

A Little Housekeeping Book Caroline French Benton, 1906

Yarn Along – the pink hat

Behold, knitting project number two. : ) The hat was actually done but I didn't get around to sharing for last week's yarn along at Ginny's.   I so enjoyed making this little hat although the yarn I used was lighter than called for so the hat was smaller than intended.  That's ok, there are a couple of small heads around here.

 HAT

This was my introduction to circular and double pointed needles.  The circular knitting was a dream.  LOVED that you can get stockinette stitch without purling. No major errors, just a few stitches looser than the rest.  It seems my tension level isn't constant, much like in life…. lol.

The double points went alright but I did that part wrong.  I divided the stitches among all the needles and then began to knit so I kept ending up with too many stitches on one needle. Rebecca explained that part to me afterwards and I think I can do it right next time. 

HAT

I am stymied now for the next project. Trying to align pattern difficulty with yarn and needles I own has been impossible.  I think I am going to try to let go of the acrylic yarn stash I have and just find a pattern and the necessary yarn and needles for it.  Way too many hours on the net have not panned out. There is a fine line between thrifty and scrupulous.  A line I sometimes cross.  So someone have mercy and point me towards something small and pretty and simple.  I heard of a yarn shop not too far away and will be finding it next week.

Most of my reading has been aloud lately.  We found a Bill Bennett anthology we haven't seen before and have thoroughly enjoyed the renditions included.  The story about the young married couple and the fountain of youth nearly brought me to tears.  There was also a moving retelling of the Story of Ruth.  I see it got one glowing and one negative review on Amazon fwiw.  I like Michael Hague so it's thumbs up here. 

Another big hit was Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes.  It is all the more interesting since Sue and I have been working together at Snapshots Around the World this year.  We plan to exchange a box of goodies with their family.  This is the best sort of story stretcher. 

Continuing that WWII theme, Aidan just finished The Winged Watchman for school.  We are going to tackle the book report tomorrow.   We also coincidentally rented Sophie Scholl in German last week.  I didn't realize it was subtitled 'til we got home but everyone who watched loved it.  We agreed this story was much better with German actors, having lived here.  I tracked down the book version and hope to hit that soon. 

 

 

Birthday Table

I snapped this just before we sat down to Miss Moira's birthday dinner last week.  I really do enjoy a nicely set table and while we don't eat like this every night we do set things up regularly.  

There is nothing precious here. It has all been gleaned from flea market boxes and discount stores for a dollar or so a piece. Somehow it comes together, though it has taken years to gather enough for our family. It's been thrifty, but it has not been quick nor easy and probably is pretty old fashioned by today's standards. But at that moment after I lit the candles I felt so very blessed to be able to dine graciously with this crazy bunch of people I love. 

table

 Between you and I, the candlesticks were wedding presents and one of them has since been superglued together.  We folded the napkins by directions found here and now are experimenting with more folds for future dinners.  I am terrible with flower arranging, so much so that I was afraid to take the little bargain bouquet out of the market wrapping.  In the end I didn't!  I just trimmed the stems and set the whole thing into an old glass bowl.  

For those of you who weren't in on this conversation in the past – our table has a 1/4inch plexi-glass topper on it. I got the idea from another big family many years ago.  You can spill and wipe and bang forks with wild abandon. It's indestructible.  At the moment we have our runner underneath it.  It never gets dirty <g> And, while some days that plastic top drives me batty, the tabletop underneath looks exactly as it did when we bought it a decade ago. Probably right up there with clear vinyl slipcovers…. ; D 

Yarn Along – ribbed scarf

I learned to bind off this week which finished the ribbed scarf I began shortly before Christmas.  This is the first knitting project I have actually completed so I am pretty stoked. The first third of the effort was complicated by incomplete stitches and a nerve wracking needle pull by a certain 6yo.

Those bumps have been smoothed out and the challenge for the rest of the scarf was to pay attention.  There are a number of little knobby errors where I purled when I should have knit.  I have no idea how moms of many manage complicated patterns requiring careful counts!  I guess I would have to have a better attention span or knit when they are asleep.  But that is when I edit <g>

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My reading time is still spent meandering through The Coming of the Monster.  I read slowly – rather on purpose.  Especially with the final book of the series I am dragging my feet to make it last.  What will I do when the Masterful Monk is gone from my days?  Of course good characters are never really completely gone from our thoughts, are they? 

In other reads, Aidan picked up HG Wells' War of the Worlds.  I picked it up for a few pages and wistfully considered reading that too, much like I pulled Jane Eyre off the shelf, which caught Alannah's eye.  She still has it. 

I am rereading The Book of Kindness in small chunks as a devotional. It is a convicting read which really deserves annual consideration. Oh to embody those ideals….

 

more great yarns at Ginny's

at play

Brendan has graduated to our early readers.  Despite the bad press they often get these days we have always enjoyed them, at least our vintage readers.  The vocabulary is controlled, ensuring lots of success, and the illustrations are priceless.  Of course we still read higher level literature together.  These are great fun for independent practice however as well as a fond glimpse of a more gracious time.

At Play is one of the most charming old readers in our collection:

at play
Patent leather Mary Jane's, short pants, and a Scotty.  Doesn't get much better than that. : )
  at play
 at play 3

My, my. I remember those wonderful aluminum cake covers.

at play 4
Letter blocks and pull toys.  Obviously written some time before vibrating Elmo's. 

Hansi

It's been quiet here since I began the Christmas prep.  Since the hospitalization in the fall I am keenly aware of how catastrophe can strike when you least expect it.  I don't want the children's holidays derailed so am trying to get everything in place… just in case. 

Not much by way of pictures ready to share but in the general odds and ends doing around here I finally got those little Alsacian prints framed and hung in the schoolroom.  Very pleased.  

hansi

Inspiration lately

Just popping in for a moment today to share some lovely places I have visited lately. Google reader changed its format it seems and I haven't had time to figure out where the share button went.  I think my shared items are rather camoflaged in the sidebar anyway.  So first, 

My 50's Year Oh my!  I expect to spend some time digging through the archives.  This blogger chronicles a year spent living as authentically as possible as a 50's era housewife.  She wore only clothes from vintage shops or made from vintage patterns.  Used only appliances from the era.  Cooked from 50's cookbooks.  Fascinating all around.

Quotes for a Mother's Heart  Just wandered over to this one today.  You know I love my quotes.  

How Mom Did It  Another retro homemaking blog.

MidCentury Living  Great mid century finds coupled with scans of original articles and book pages.  

 Vivian Maier   Simply captivated by this woman and her art.  Thanks to Rebecca who discovered her work and shared with me.  

Victorian Trading Company  Such incredible seasonal items.  Sigh.  Probably closer to my era of choice though that would be a tough call. It all inspired me to take some vintage shots of my girls who very graciously humored me. : )  

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