Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Errant Socks

Things have been busy.  I ordered and received most of the home school curriculum, we went on another trip to the Frio, and we finalized our tickets to fly "home" at the end of November! Suddenly I had to book places to sleep, arrange with family to make sure we coordinate vacations, and hear from friends when we could visit, all in a very short space of time.

(We will be traveling from Johannesburg to the Cape, back up north through Tsumeb on to the Caprivi strip, and then hopefully have a chance to see the Victoria Falls and the Chobe National Park.  I know.  It is such a schlep to visit family).

I knit only a little bit with my Madelinetosh Sock yarn (I decided on a shawl), but it is just a garter triangle at the moment, so I decided to show this instead:


Melva is knitting a sock.  The child that knew where her fossa poplitea was when she was 2, now knits socks with superfine yarn, using 5 double pointed needles and a cable needle.  And she taught herself how to do short rows too. Go figure.
While knitting, she is devouring all the books on knitting in our house, and there are a couple. Of dozens.
This week she read both the Mason-Dixon knitting books, and she has taken to the Yarn Harlot (Stephanie Pearl-McPhee). 

I am reading Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin.  I am also trying to wrap my head around some of the material by the Institute for Excellence in Writing, before I embark on teaching my second language as a first language to my child who is knitting sock.

Later I might explain why I am reading Calvin, and this year I want to share more about our homeschool, but for today I am just squeezing this in between VBS and swimming lessons to join Ginny for yarn along.  Happy yarn along!

7 comments:

  1. The sock(s) look amazing and what a great accomplishment. Hope y'all have fun on your vacation!

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    1. Thanks! I am quite proud of her (can you tell?;). However, she is already looking at patterns for baby blankets, so it might end up being "the sock"...

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  2. Great socks! I'm interested in your homeschool journey... What curric are you using?

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  3. Sock looks fantastic, and with cable and all, what an accomplishment - even if it ends up as 'la sock'. Does it get cold enough in Texas to wear socks?
    Your up coming vacation sounds amazing!! you must be very excited.

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  4. how old is melva? my goodness, proud? i can't even imagine! she's so accomplished emma, that is fantastic. she could be the next young designer, she's deffo creative and talented. wow.

    are you driving the entire trip? that's a long distance! do you have family in vic falls too? we were there three years ago, what a wonder, it's stunning. the river was running high and the falls were SO full, incredible. i can't wait to follow along emma.

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    1. She is 11, will be 12 next April. She is like a little race horse, I have not been able to teach her anything, she passes me too quickly :) I have been hanging on the reigns, she just wants to design and I keep telling her to first learn the skills!
      Yes, we are driving the entire trip. My sister and her husband are incredibly generous, and they are lending us their Kombi for the time we will be there. It is much more affordable to drive. We want to take it slowly (we have 8 weeks), show the children some of the places you only see if you travel by road. And no, I do not have family near Vic falls, just a brother who loves camping near the Chobe and we will probably travel with them for that leg of their trip. Vic falls is only an hour away from Kasane, they say. I have been close but have never seen it, I think this time it is time to see it. When I start to be realistic and worry about what this is going to cost us, I repeat your phrase that traveling is the only thing that you spend money on, that can make you richer. I am not sure if that is a good thing, but so far it works ;)

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  5. Dear Emma, so good to hear from you again! Your trip plans sound very exhiting, I hope you will share some more :-)
    I would love to meet Melva, she must be a truely amazing girl!
    Have a blessed new week!
    Gesche

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