How about another one?

I am knitting, among other things, another Henley with striped sleeves, similar to the one I knit for Jean earlier this year.  I knit Charlie a sweater when he was one, and now that he is two, he needs another one.  I love this pattern.  The stripe pattern is not exactly the same as the previous sweater, and I think I am going to stripe only one sleeve, since it is fourteen days before we leave and I have some other knitting to do, too.  (One child will not be allowed any luggage; his suitcase will contain yarn and needles.)

I am now also sewing little things, like this little pouch.  It is surprisingly stylish, and also surprisingly small.  When I started out I thought it would be big enough for a ball of yarn, but, alas, I think I could fit a couple of stitch markers in there.  The idea was from  Last Minute Fabric Gifts.

This bag is less stylish, but very useful.  I wish I could claim the idea, but I saw something similar in Crochet Today!

A little heap of blue fluff, so soft and sweet.  It is one of the Woolly Wormhead Designs, a hat for a newborn.

Was his head ever that small?

The weather is beautiful, with blue skies and cool temperatures most days of the week.  We are slowly getting everything in place; I even got my new camera today.  (And a laptop.  So that I can show you South Africa and Namibia, soon!)

The camera is a Canon T3i, with a 18 - 135mm lens.  I had a Canon EOS 350D before, so it is very similar, but I love that it can take better pictures in lower light, and I love the ability to get a little bit closer than I could with my 18 - 55mm lens.  I still have to study it a little more, but all the pictures in this post came straight from the camera and I am happy with them. (Usually I color correct the images.  Jacques did the new header.)  I shot in manual mode, but I think the camera adjusts exposure automatically even in manual mode.  Those who care about this probably know more than I, so I shall stop rambling now, I just wanted to talk about my new camera for a bit.

As it is still Wednesday, I join Ginny for yarn along, and I can even contribute to the book reading part this week.  I have listened to Hertzog while sewing. Moses Herzog is such a likable, tragic, flawed man.  I suspect the book will not have a comforting resolution, but I love it anyway.

Nature study: Pond life (and death)

Yesterday we went to the park, and saw a Great Egret.  It stood in the pond on one leg, and I made the very old joke: "Look, it has only one leg!"  Then it flew out of the water onto the bank, and we saw that it had only one leg.  For several minutes it sat motionless, staring intently at the water.  My friend did some quick research on her iPhone, and read in a hushed tone that they catch fish by spearing them with their bills.  The Egret then proceeded to spear a fish, about 6 inches long, with its bill. After shaking the fish, it swallowed it whole.  Moments later it flew to the other side of the pond, leaving a single feather floating in the water.

Nou's ons vyf!

Woensdag, 7 November, omtrent so 5 uur:

(Op die foto lyk Martiens se bo-lip vir my soos Pa s'n) 

"Is ons vier, Mamma? More ons gaan gonna be vyf?" (Ek weet, dis verskriklik, almal sal moet help on hulle sinsbou reg te kry!)

Donderdag, 8 November, 3h00:

Die Armykoek is klaar!

9h30:

'n Nuwe tradisie: sedert ons in Amerika is, eet ons wafels of plaatkoekies met stroop, room en aarbeie vir ontbyt as iemand verjaar.

Die Koek:

Martinus se kant was die Amerikaners.  Die tenk lyk meer soos 'n Sherman, en die soldate se wapens lyk meer soos die Amerikaners se wapens. Vat Jean se woord daarvoor.

Christian was die Duitsers.  Hy weet hulle was die bad guys, hy gee gewoonlik nie om om die bad guy te wees nie. "Dis net 'n game, Mamma! Dis nie real life nie!"  Die tenk aan hierdie kant lyk glo meer soos 'n Tiger.

12h00:  Kersies blaas

Gister was daar baie vriende hier, en omtrent 15 kinders om die koek te help opeet, maar Donderdag het ons net die familie en close vriende genooi.  Meeste kon nie kom nie.

 Martinus was baie versigtig om nie per ongeluk sy kersies uit te blaas terwyl ons sing nie.

Na die foto het ek sy hare gesny.  Kam sou seker ook gehelp het.

Donderdag, 8 November, omtrent so 5 uur:

Ek weet hulle is myne en ek behoort dit nie self te sê nie, maar hulle is darem maar verskriklik mooi.

"Nou's ons vyf, Mamma! Kyk, ons is nou so tall!"  Martinus het die hele dag geloop en kyk waar hy nou kan bykom, waar hy die vorige dag nie kon bykom nie.  

Nou ja, nou is dit ook afgehandel.  Sien julle oor 3 weke!

(A short account of our boys' birthday on Thursday, for family and friends who could not be with us.  The words really do not say much more than the pictures.)

Why so gray, today?

I do not really have time to blog, but then, if I don't, I fear that my family will forget us, or think that we have forgotten them.  We have not. I am thinking about what to knit for who 90% of the time.

Three weeks ago I posted about the Halloween hopes - most of it got done.  The boys looked very knightly, but I was still attaching buttons as we were driving to a friends' house to celebrate with them, so I did not take pictures on the night. Melva was a lady, but that is a whole different story for a different day.

 Martinus is modeling one of the three suits I made.  I made shields and swords too, with cardboard, duck tape and spray paint.  The night was worth it, I felt as if I had written my finals and it went well, and Jacques could say "Is it just me or are the (k)nights getting shorter?" several times.

In the end, I used the Modern Chaine Maille as inspiration only.  After following the pattern, I ended up with something that did not look like the picture in the book.  (You can see it over here.) Not at all, and if you look at the other projects on ravelry, they all have the same problem:  The yoke is too deep. And the V is too deep.

I tried to stay calm, frogged  lot of knitting, and eventually used the EZ formula to knit a bottom up sweater.  I feel quite happy with the final product.  One day I might write down exactly what I did on ravelry...

The suits of armor are from this book.

I finished the Linden Caps! I love it, but Martinus complained that he does not want to wear trousers on his head. I also finished a simple beanie, with a pretty aggressive looking sheep in duplicate stitch on the front, mostly to see if the pattern is true to size.  Thank goodness, it is. That beanie is meant for a 2-4 year old, and he will be 5 tomorrow.  I guess we should stop calling them "the babies", now?

I am joining Ginny, as I do on most Wednesdays.