Sugar Bunny Boulevard

A Spinner Is Born

Last week on Thursday evening I taught my first spindling class.  There were six students.  All unsure of themselves.  All wondering if it was truly possible to learn.  There was me, unsure of myself and wondering if I was truly capable of teaching other people how to do something that seemed to come very naturally to me.

Suzannah was permitted to come along.  I normally don't let her tag along when I'm teaching a class but it seemed okay this time.  Thursday night is always busy at Twist and I figured she would have someone to talk with since it was SnB night and she could always help wind yarn or might pick up some yarn and needles as she has been known to do when she doesn't bring her own.

Instead of mingling with the happy SnB crowd, she sat in on my class.  After a brief demonstration of how to make your leader, I was through with the spindle I brought for demo purposes.  Suzannah was just itching to try spinning so she picked up my spindle and wool.  She has watched me doing it nearly since I first began spinning, so she was no stranger to the mechanics.  She just hadn't tried it before.

Soon I had a room full of seven people, including Suzannah, proclaiming "Hey, I can do it!" 

Spinning, as I tell most every person that stands still long enough to listen, is the single most satisfying artistic pursuit I have ever attempted.  It brings me happiness that I can hardly describe.

Over the next few days Suzannah finished spinning her fiber, wound it off and plied it on Mothers Day.  A spinner was born and I couldn't be more proud.  She has even asked if she can take a spindle and wool to her dad's house this summer.  I think she really hearts spinning.

Everyone in my house, whether they spin and knit or NOT.... is a yarn sniffer.

The Pink Ribbon Sock Kits are doing well - only 41 remain.  If you're waiting until the last minute, don't wait too long!  If you already got one and you're not sure if you want a second, this is the moment because I probably won't do these kits again.  :)

Take care of every little thing and have a lovely week! XOXOXOXOX

Catching Up In Photos

We're busy.  All the time.  Not as busy as some people but still.... busy enough for us.  Having the babies adds a degree of difficulty for sure.

Mommy:  You know what I'm doing.  Knitting and spinning.  Thinking about charity stuff - doing some of it.  Easily distracted by the knitting and spinning.  Creating more new projects than I'm finishing.  More yarn coming in than coming off the needles = stash accumulation.  Imagine that.  heh  Thinking about the Estes Park Wool Market coming up in mid-June.  Oh my gosh that's not as far away as you think it is!  YAY!  This is 100g of wool I spun for the Dulaan knitting I want to do.  The more I think about it, the more I believe I should combine it with some stash yarn to make a little pullover or something.  It's hard to know what they need the most.  Of course the longer I think about it the less chance it'll become something this YEAR.

Daddy:  Working a LOT.  Trying to spend as many evenings at home as possible but of course it's never enough for us - we like having him with us.  The babies abuse him horribly - demanding that he hold them both while watching their favorite Elvis and Wiggles videos on youtube.  Emeline is often heard barking out orders like, "DADDY - PLAY!!" and gesturing toward the closet where her favorite blocks and legos are located.  Lila Pearl just screams DADDY DADDY DADDY until he picks her up.  Oh the torture. 

Benny:  Just finished up the season of Freshman Basketball.  Didn't play as much as he would like but they had a winning season and he states that he made a lot of new friends and learned a lot.  Still making awesome grades with what seems like minimal effort.  He's been planning to go out for the golf team but really hasn't played golf before.  Considering the level of competition and number of kids going out for golf, he might switch to baseball.  He's in a "woods" class this semester and brought home his first project last week:  a cutting board.  This thing is HEAVY!!!

Katie:  Making new friends at school.  Making good grades at school.  Still in full "self portrait mode" with the camera.  I'm constantly finding more and more pictures of her taken from the end of her own arm.  ha  Does an amazing job of making new friends yet maintaining her individuality and self esteem.  I like this girl a lot.  Still the manager of the 8th grade girls basketball team (was advised by the doctor not to play because of her broken arm in the fall).  Trying to learn how to budget her telephone air time wisely.

Suzannah:  Ditto pretty much everything that I said about Katie except for the cell phone because she doesn't have one yet!  Stuck in the middle between two older siblings who get to do *everything* and two babies who get to do nothing.  She went with me to the Knitting Meetup in Wichita on Saturday morning and took her own knitting.  Maybe I should be showing a picture of that - but we'll wait until she has a finished object.  She's currently brainstorming about what her next project will be (what she will think of as her first REAL project) and what kind of yarn to use.  I told her she could pick ANYTHING as her first "real" project and we'll find a pattern suitable for her experience level.  Any suggestions out there??  Like I said - she's pretty much a small version of Katie, so here's Suzannah's self portrait.

Emeline:  Talking Talking Talking!!!  Just finished seven weeks of swimming lessons - she loved it!  Just started seven weeks of "Nastics" - she loves it!  So far all she wants to do is run around the gym jumping but eventually the newness will wear off and maybe she'll slow down to jumping in place.  hehe  Favorite toys right now are blocks and legos and books but the biggest surprise has been how much she loves the plastic backpack full of pretend McDonald's food hat she got from Katie for Christmas.  I think this was $5 at Wal Mart and gets a LOT of play time.  She also loves to play with the backpack and.... Sorry Daddy.... gotta show this picture.  The first time she put on the backpack she headed for the front door and said she was going to school - at 8:00pm.  I took this one the other morning.  She just loves to play like she's going to school and doing homework.  heh  And it brings her Daddy to tears thinking about his little Emeline going to school.  *sniff*

Lila Pearl:  Talking Talking Talking!!!  If Emeline can say or do it, Lila Pearl wants to be saying and doing the same thing.  She's talking quite a lot and surprising us every day with new things.  She loves reading books as much as Emeline and will never be satisfied with being in the shadow of her big sister.  I've said it before.... Lila won't be ignored.  :)

A few days ago I was trying to take pictures of some glass for Jeff to list on eBay.  You cat owners think you have problems.  ha

What began as this.....

Turned into this...

And then this....

So in conclusion... Life stays interesting at the Bunny Hutch.  Still knitting and spinning and yes Adrienne.... even dyeing.  I have done a little dyeing for the shop but still need to list it... and will be doing more very soon.  VERY soon!  Just like all the charity knitting.  ha  Oh the plans I make.

Everybody have a GREAT WEEK!  :)

Birthday Girl!!

Yep - it was Suzannah's birthday on Saturday!  My little sweetie turned ten years old.  OHHHH I am so old.  She used to be my baby - now she's the middle child of five.  She's growing into a beautiful young lady and we had a wonderful birthday weekend with her.

Saturday she enjoyed a visit to the "Sprinkler Park" with Emeline and a break from her daily chores.  We had tacos for dinner and a rich yummy chocolate cake that I made.  And presents, of course.  She had fun.  And it's amazing how many pictures you have to take to get one really decent shot - thank heaven for digital cameras!

 

Then came Sunday.  A rainy morning.  Nice day for knitting on the porch with a cup of coffee.  The kids buzz in and out of the house and around me on the porch most of the time I'm out there.  This usually only goes on when Emeline is napping though sometimes the kids will take her for a walk around the block in the stroller or play with a ball in the yard.  Obviously here the stroller was being used as a table.

Most of the time when I'm out on the porch knitting, Benny is by my side reading.  This is not really by his choice.  He is in "GT" classes at school (aka honors, advanced, whatever you want to call it) and the 9th grade English teacher is making all of her GT students read two novels (selected from a specific list) and do a 2-page written summary on each chapter discussing items she has specified - due the first day of school and worth four test scores.  Even though we hope Benny will be going to school here in the fall, he has to do this assignment *just in case*.  His dictionary is always present because he keeps having to look up the definition of certain items that must be included in each summary.  I told him to make up a vocabulary page for it but does he listen to his mother?  Anyway, this is the first of two novels.  There's a long story of how he and I eliminated his actual first choice The Invisible Man  by Ralph Ellison due to complexity and objectionable content for my 14yo son (should have been an "R" rated book).  He's reading Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe aloud to me, which he believes helps him to remember it better and we also discuss parts of it as he goes along which maybe he doesn't understand or he can use in his summary for that chapter.  We're both enjoying it - me: very much; Benny: as much as a kid doing homework during the summer for a class he hopes not to attend possibly can.

Calliope is now approximately 70% finished.  I love keeping up with the progress of my project like this (telling y'all the percentage I've finished).  It makes it feel like it's gone along so fast.  Really I've been working very diligently on Calliope so it's no wonder it seems to be going faster than any project I've knit before.  We've all been very preoccupied and distracted by waiting for my attorney to phone and anticipating court.  We practice conversations in our minds - the kids ask me millions of what if? questions.  Thankfully they've been helping with chores since they got here - baby play, dishes, laundry, floor sweeping, lawn mowing - and it frees me up to be able to knit more.  I feel like if I'm in the proper mindset to be knitting, things are okay.  When I'm too stressed I can't do it.  If I don't hear from my attorney this morning I'll be phoning his office this afternoon.

SOOOOoooo... Sunday night came an event I've been planning and waiting for quite some time.  Ever since this new restaurant opened I have wanted to take the children there for dinner at Suzannah's birthday time.  We took the babies to Jeff's parents house where they had a blast and we slipped out while Emeline was leading her grandmother to the toy closet.

When we got to the restaurant there was about a 30 minute wait so we went next door to an "Indoor Entertainment" venue.  With limited time we skipped the very fun looking go-carts and went to the arcade.

Then it was time to head back to the restaurant.  We had a BLAST!!!  It was the kids' first time to eat at a Japanese steak house and they really enjoyed it.  Jeff and I were slightly disappointed in the atmosphere and agreed that we probably won't be going back to this one.  There are about a million Japanese steak houses in Wichita and we've enjoyed others much more.  The food and menus are all about the same but you might be able to tell from the photos that the lighting was a little strange and made you feel like you're in a warehouse a long lunch tables rather than the more intimate atmosphere we've enjoyed at other restaurants of this type.  All of that, however, made no difference to the children - they had SO much fun and everybody caught a shrimp in their mouth.  :)

So my *baby* is ten years old.  She said it was a good birthday.  Here she is from a few birthdays past. 

Five years old - Eight years old - Nine years old

Ten Years Old