Yarn Along ~ Lepidoptera

A post of my current read and what is cast on my needles ~ Inspired by Ginny over at {Small Things}

I finally feel like it's that time of year to pick up knitting needles again and found this great lacey sock pattern called Lepidoptera :)

I had bought this soft alpaca yarn earlier this spring thinking it was going to make a great baby sweater for my sister but alas she had a little boy and the pink was definitely not going to do! So into the yarn stash it went until last weekend when I finally found the perfect use for it. A soft pair of socks for my daughter. 

And she is just itching to get her feet into them! We are constantly having little 'try on' sessions and I haven't even got one sock half finished yet LOL. It's a super easy pattern though. Nothing tougher than making a few extra stitches and it has my all time favorite heel to... short rows. Yay!! If I can avoid doing the regular heel flap type sock heel I will and in this pattern she simplifies the short row process even further by taking out all of those yarn overs that you normally find making it faster than ever and there is a video tutorial to go along with it so you can follow along if you happen to get stuck.

For my book I'm reading Eating Dirt: Deep Forests, Big Timber, and Life with the Tree-Planting Tribe by Charlotte Gill and it is a must read!!  It's the true story of her life as a tree planter here in BC for 20 years and was absolutely fascinating to read about areas right here in my backyard and get a peak at what their lives are really like as we see them so often around this neck of the woods and I must admit I've always wanted to know more about them. Her writing transports you instantly into the thick of the BC rainforest and leaves you wanting more :)

I'm looking forward to seeing what you all have been knitting and reading this week to!

Happy knitting,

Rosina

NaNoWriMo Is In Full Swing

The novel writing bug has bitten all three of my children this year and each one of them has taken on the personal challenge to compete in the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).

My oldest son is creating a sci-fi story full of aliens and spaces ships and has set his word count at 12000 words total. He's been spending the first couple hours of each morning so far writing furiously as he works towards his goal of 400 words a day. He isn't a huge fan of writing stories so when he shows me the four pages of double spaced writing it takes him to get there I can't help but smile from ear to ear and cheer him on :)

I know that he's going to need a lot of cheering as he reaches the middle of the month and starts to feel tired of all the writing but he has both his younger brother and sister to keep him going to. They are in a bit of competition with him *grin*. Their word goals are much lower resulting in lower word counts for their days and they have been surpassing their numbers at least three fold and it really bugs big brother that their word graphs on their NaNoWriMo pages are way higher than his LOL.

Are any of your children participating in the youth NaNoWriMo?

Hugs,
Rosina

Yarn Along ~ Bambino

A post of my current read and what is cast on my needles ~ Inspired by Ginny over at {Small Things}

I am so in love with this little baby sock pattern :)

I had to temporarily put down the baby sweater I was knitting as I'm missing the necessary circular needle for the next step so in the meantime I decided to use up the leftover yarn from the shawl I finished last week and make a pair of these adorable socks.

There's just something about sock knitting that is so darn addictive! For me it's when I get to the heel, working the rows and watching as the cup of the heel emerges. From that point on I just can't put down my needles as I can't wait to see how it all comes together *grin*. This particular sock had something new to me. The heel and toe were both constructed from the same identical 'short row' stitch pattern and then as the toe flipped up it was finished off with the coolest zig zag stitch of slipped knits and purls to create the finished seam across the toes in the above photo. There is absolutely no bulk inside the sock to bother delicate little baby tootsies *grin*.

The only tricky part I found was getting used to the little size 0 DPN's. Those suckers are tiny!! They flexed quite a bit as I knit and I was a little worried that I would snap them but it all worked out great and I've just about finished up the second sock so that I can go back to my little baby sweater for next week :) I'm still reading Deeply Rooted to. I just haven't had enough time to read this week and I'm dying to find out how it ends!

Can't wait to see what you all are knitting up this week :)

Hugs,
Rosina

Shawlette Success ~ Yarn Along

A post of my current read and what is cast on my needles ~ Inspired by Ginny over at {Small Things}

I just loved knitting this little shawlette.
It was amazingly easy and a great little foray into the world of lace knitting and it knit up so quickly :)

I haven't blocked it yet and I'm having second thoughts as to whether or not I actually want to. I sort of like the rippling wave along the bottom where the lace pattern is. What do you think?

I was also going to give it to my daughter right away but now I think I may keep it as a gift for christmas *grin*. So much indecision LOL. We were in the little yarn shop in the city together the other day and she was fawning over pretty little shawl pins and I thought it might be special to buy a nice pin for her and give it all as a gift. Oh and that is my little guy in the photos :) I paid him a quarter to model it for me and to keep it a super secret *grin*.

Now that I'm falling back into my knitting groove I wanted to get another project on my needles right away and I've chose a little baby sweater called the Tummy Warmer and it has the most adorable little honeycomb stitch in it that my grandmother used to knit all the time. I'm going to put it away for when my sister has her baby in the spring. I don't know if it will be a girl but I'm going with pink anyways because I couldn't pass up this soft baby alpaca yarn :)

The owner of the yarn shop in the city that I go to must find me quite amusing to watch as I shop for yarn. I never have a specific yarn in mind when I go in so she can never really help me find anything and I don't shop by color either. I actually go around and around petting all the wool LOL. Yes, I really did say petting and when I finally find one that feels the best I pick a color. Strange I know but it works for me *grin*.

This week my book is Deeply Rooted: Unconventional Farmers in the Age of Agribusiness by Lisa M. Hamilton and I can't put it down so far. The author writes about 3 farmers that are incredibly small scale in relation to todays super farms but they choose to stay the way they are. Her writing paints a picture in my minds eye so vividly that I swear I could nearly smell the cow manure LOL.

I can't wait to finish reading it and I'm looking forward to seeing what you all are knitting this week!

Hugs,
Rosina

And The Winner Is.....

It's time for the big giveaway for the super duper sweet copy of One Hand, Two Hands by Max Lucado :)

As you can see we have a really high tech system of drawing names to *grin*.

And the winner is....

CHRISTINE (ossmcalc) !!!!
Hooray and congratulations :) Keep checking your email inbox because I will be contacting you shortly so that I can collect your address so that I can get your book on its way to you :)

Thanks everyone for entering and making this so much fun!
Rosina

Giveaway ~ One Hand Two Hands by Max Lucado

As you know I signed up to be a book reviewer for Booksneeze a few months back as I thought it would be a great way to feed my reading obsession without spending any money *grin*. In return for receiving free material I have to share a quick blurb about each one on my blog and this time I'm going to share with you and at the end of this review you will have a chance to win my copy of this adorable book One Hand, Two Hands by Max Lucado!!

One Hand, Two Hands
Oh, the ways we can help with our hands!
~ By Max Lucado

Max Lucado has created another wonderfully sweet book for children all about their hands. In a fun sing song rhyming way he describes our hands, what they can feel, do for ourselves and most importantly how we can use our hands to help others.

The story wraps up with a great little poem thanking God for our hands and asking Him to put them to good use again :) I must say this is a fabulous book for younger children and something every parent will enjoy reading and using as a great tool to discuss how to make the best use of our hands.

Now for the giveaway!

We enjoyed this book so much that I really want to share it with you. I can ship this to anywhere in CANADA and the US only please just to keep the shipping costs manageable for me :)

Here's how to enter:

1. Simply leave me a comment below for one entry into the draw and if you want more than one chance to win keep reading below :)
   
   
2. Become a follower of my blog or let me know that you already follow in a comment below (you can find the follow button towards the bottom of my right hand sidebar). Thank you so much to those of you that already follow me, you're the best ♥♥
   
   
3. Become a subscriber to my blog by clicking on the 'Subscribe to Rosy~Posy by Email' button towards the top of the right sidebar and each and every one of my new blog posts will be emailed directly to you so that you don't have to worry about missing anything fun *grin*. Don't forget to leave me a comment to let me know so it counts as another entry!
   
   
4. And finally if you want to help spread the love you can "tweet" about my book giveaway on twitter or share about it on "Facebook". Make sure you let me know your twitter name so that I can come by and add you as a friend and make it count as another entry :) Unfortunately I don't do much on facebook but just in case you don't twitter I didn't want to leave you out *grin*.
   

Good luck and I can't wait to pick a winner next Friday September 17th!!

Hugs,
~ Rosina

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Update and New Crochet Book

Thank you so much everyone for all of the wonderful comments, thoughts and prayers :) My sisters biopsy went well and now we just have to wait for the results to come back sometime over the next 3 weeks. There was no visible signs of any cancer or pre-cancer which was a blessing in itself but unfortunately that doesn't mean she's in the clear and they're hoping that the biopsy will tell more. So for now it's just a waiting game!



On my way home I stopped by the library to pick up a couple of books that were waiting for me and one of them was this really great crochet book, Beyond the Square Crochet Motifs by Edie Eckman. Wowza! She wasn't kidding when she says beyond the square :)

There are 144 different patterns to drool over and there is a really great step by step intro on all the crochet basics so you don't have to be an expert by any means to use this book.

Oh my... total hexagon love *grin*

There is even a section for some really unusual blocks like intertwining rings. Think paper garland chains and you'll know what I mean :)

And of course there are the standard granny squares which are pretty amazing to and just the inspiration I need for my granny square blanket that I have half finished.

This is definitely a great crochet book if you're looking for a new twist on some of the standard blocks so check out your local library and see if they have a copy or maybe you need to treat yourself to an early Christmas present *grin*.

~ Rosina

Recreating The Flying Cloud

K just finished reading a really great novel called 'All Sail Set' by Armstrong Sperry which is a fictional story peppered with the true facts of the famous clipper 'The Flying Cloud' built in 1851 by Donald McKay. It is a beautiful ship with all of its billowing sails and K being completely obsessed with any kind of boat has set to work recreating it :)

Throughout the book are quite a few diagrams showing the layout and shapes of each of the sails....

as well as all of the intricate ropes that covered each of the masts.

Using scrap wood, wool from my yarn stash and scraps of muslin fabric he started building.

Each of the sails he carefully cut to fit and then hand sewed them onto the ropes :) I just love watching him work on it and I can hardly wait to see it finished. He's taking a bit of a break though as I think all of the hand sewing was a bit more work than he had anticipated *grin*. At least he knows his way around a needle and a thread! LOL

If you know of any great novels about ships that would be appropriate for an 11 year old I would love to know :)

~ Rosina

Webcast: Richard Louv ~ Last Child in the Woods

I can't believe the amazing weather we are having!! Finally, after flooding three times in 3 months, enduring endless weeks of torrential rain and not a glimpse of sunshine in what seems life forever we are basking in some pretty darn nice days :)

To top off the great day we were having I found out that there was a live webcast of Richard Louv who wrote the fantastic book 'Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder'. It's a look at how we've gone from you and I spending endless hours outdoors creating our own fun, playing in the woods, building forts or exploring nature to the current generation of children that are completely disconnected from the outdoors and spending more time inside with electronic gadgets! He shares how engaging with nature can be extremely beneficial for children with ADD, Autism and more, and how we need to be reconnecting our kids with the outdoors!

I'm not saying that everyone has this problem as I know there are many of us that still make sure that we're getting as much outdoor playtime as possible, but I still think that this book is a must read :)

You can still watch today's webcast by visiting the Blank Family Foundation's website and enjoy the presentation :) The first 5 or so minutes are of the audience talking and getting settled so don't turn it off! You can use that time to get a nice cup of tea *grin*. Richard shares some of the statistics between nature and children, now and in the past, stories from the book plus more, and has an open Q&A at the end. I think I'm going to watch it again as there were a few 'mama I need you' interruptions during the live feed LOL.

Do you have any other book recommendations that you could share? I'd love to add some more to my reading list :)

~ Rosina

Fantastic Book ~ Crochet Blocks

I want to share with you, especially for my fellow Granny A Day participants this fabulous book, 200 Crochet Blocks for blankets, throws & afghans by Jan Eaton that is jam packed full of fantastic blocks to make :)

This is just a sampling of what is inside!! There are different sizes and styles, sample blanket layouts using the blocks and photo instructions if you are a beginner and need help. Another bonus is that for each of the blocks there are a couple of different color combination photos as well to help out the color challenged individuals like myself *grin*.

I've been trying out a few of the blocks and here are two different ones that I have made so far :)

I've got such an eclectic mix of blocks going on so far that I'm not sure how I'm going to connect them all together for a blanket yet! LOL.

How about you? How are your squares coming along and do you have a favorite crochet book on blocks that you could share with me? I'd love to find more :)

~ Rosina

Valentine Paper Bag Books

We're seriously obsessed with Valentine crafts this year! Today we made super easy paper bag books and filled them with little love notes :)

If you have never made a paper bag book you've got to try it and they can be used for scrapbooking, homeschool projects, personalized for special gifts like our Valentine's book and so much more. Basically all you need is standard paper bag lunch bags and a stapler. After that it's up to you as to how fancy or simple you want to make them.



We took 3 paper bags, stacked them all on top of each other with the open ends all at the same end and then folded them in half like one giant paper from top to bottom creating a little booklet. To secure them together I used my stapler and put 3 staples parallel to the fold down the length of the book.



I really cheated for the front of the book *grin*. The pretty red heart paper that it is covered with is actually a napkin! We picked them up at the dollar store for our upcoming Valentine's party and I opened one fully and cut off a square, gluing it on for the background. Worked out fabulously layered with the little red & white heart for the title of the book!!!

Gotta love cheap crafting *wink*.

Making heart templates using one of our cookie cutters we traced 5 hearts in white cardstock and 5 hearts in the red cardstock. I made sure to cut the red heart out about a 1/4 of an inch larger than the tracing line so that it would create a nice color contrast behind the white heart.

We glued in each of the layered hearts only on the left hand side of each set of open pages so that it created fun little spaces to draw happy pictures :)

A paper bag book made with 3 bags will create 3 little pockets on the edge of your book for hiding little notes or trinkets inside. Since ours is a Valentine booklet we decided to use the little pockets for love notes *grin*. Taking a sheet of white cardstock I cut it up into 3.5" x 4" rectangles and then we stapled on bright colored ribbons to the narrow end of the rectangle creating a little pull tab for our notes.

I just love how cute it turned out with the staggered ribbons hanging out the side of the book. And if I think it's cute then you know my 6 year old is over the moon with how it's coming together! LOL

The final touches were for her to actually write her little love notes to be tucked inside :) I helped her by writing down the sentences she wanted to write and then she copied them herself onto the card stock.

You'll have to wait to see her finished drawings on the little heart frames inside as they are 'top secret' and mama is not allowed to see them until Valentine's Day *grin*. Have fun making a little booklet of your own!

~ Rosina