Yarn Along

I knit two more pairs of mittens this week.  I like them.  They're fun.  These are my very first stripes.  I finally discovered that it's really quite easy to change colors of yarn while knitting.  I think I'll probably take a break from mittens for a little while, but I definitely plan to come back to them; they will make good Christmas presents, and I have several more pairs already planned.

As for reading, I finally finished A Mother's Rule of Life.  I found it generally an interesting and inspiring read.  It presents some interesting ideas, not all of which are applicable at this season of my life, and not all of which will ever be useful to me, but some will.  I'm glad I read it.

Yarn Along is hosted at small things.

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}

 {Pretty}

We got the curtains and tie-back up in the nursery in our new place.  I think they're pretty.

{Happy}

I managed to get enough boxes unpacked to clear off the top of this bookshelf.

It now houses some of our most-used books.  It makes me happy every time I look at it.

 {Funny}

Once upon a time there was a kit to make a gingerbread train.  The gingerbread train was supposed to entertain some children who didn't come to the party at Christmas.  It was sent home with me to entertain some other children instead.  It was then forgotten.  We moved, and the train resurfaced.  I decided we should eat the cookies, so I decorated them in a springy sort of way.  I am choosing to think of this as funny rather than pathetic.

{Real}

Baby likes to play with the washcloth after I wipe her face and hands after meals.  She like to chew on it, and, as you see here, she likes to test gravity with it ... as many times as Mama will pick it up and give it back to her.

A Prayer Book for the Baby

The baby is generally very good at Mass.  She's interested in what's going on.  She almost never falls asleep.  I almost never have to take her out.  But ... the periods of not much motion exceed her attention span, and we've exhausted the interest of the few statues and pictures in the back of church.  She needs something else to look at.

I made her a "prayer book."

Blogger insists on displaying the picture in this orientation.  I can't seem to prevent it.  Sorry.

It's cloth, so it won't make noise if dropped.  My husband and I picked out some pictures from his books of Medieval Art, scanned them, and printed them on iron-on-transfer paper.  I cut out fabric for the pages, ironed on the images, and sewed the pages and the cover together.

This has turned out to be enormously helpful at Mass.  It gives her something basically on topic to look at when she loses interest in the other things around us in the Church.  The book also serves as a distraction when she gets a little too excited about things and wants to start "talking."

Yarn Along

I haven't done much reading lately except reading board books to the baby (all of them, a couple of times a day).  She cries when I stop.  So ... that's why I don't have a book pictured on this post.  I've knitted a couple more dishcloths, and a pair of mittens.  I was really proud of myself when I finished those mittens, because they involved doing about a half-dozen things I'd never done before.

Yarn along is hosted at small things.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow, my sweet girl, it will be Palm Sunday.  Mass will begin with the blessing of palms, and a procession.  You will be fascinated.  You love processions.


After that, Mass will begin, and in a few minutes it will be time for the reading of the Gospel.  You will hear the story of the Passion for the very first time.  It will be read three more times this week:  Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday; the Passion narrative will be read once from each of the four Gospels this week.  It's a long story and you'll probably get impatient.  I'll take you to the back of the church and walk back and forth, but because we are in Passiontide, all the images will be covered in purple and there won't be much to look at.


This story, which you will hear for the first time tomorrow, is the reason there is a crucifix in each of the main rooms in our home.  Listen well, my girl; this is the center of our Faith.

Crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth by Marco Palmezzano.
Image from Wikimedia commons.

7 Quick Takes (Vol. 12)

I'm short on time today, so I'm going to share with you my seven favorite posts of the last week.

1.  The Reasonably Clean Bathroom.  After we get moved into our new place over the next couple of weeks, I'm going to get a handle on this and establish a routine that works.

2.  Everything you'll ever need to know about makeup.  As a non-makeup-wearer, and having never been happy with the results of my attempts at applying makeup, I found this very interesting.  I was inspired to add moisturizer to my grocery list.

3.  Handcrafted Candy for Easter.  Jessica's candies turned out beautiful.  Maybe someday I'll try my hand and candy-making.


4.  Yarn Along.  I love this hat.  I'm currently knitting mittens (which has required learning to do about half a dozen things I've never tried before), but maybe next I'll try my hand at a hat.


5.  Bluebells in the Rain.  Such beautiful pictures.


6.  {Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}.  Good idea.  After we are settled, I'll join in.


7.  Like Mother Like Daughter.  So cute!


Have a great weekend.
7 Quick Takes is hosted at Conversion Diary.

Yarn Along

I've been knitting washcloths the last few weeks, and since I've already talked about my Lenten reading, which is about all the reading I've been doing, here are two of the baby's favorite books.  She's currently learning how to open books and turn the pages.

Visit small things for more Yarn Along posts.