Book Sharing Monday: Leaf Jumpers

Look, two weeks in a row might be the beginning of something reliable, but I doubt it so enjoy/put up with it while it lasts. ;) Seasonal book sharing: Leaf Jumpers.


Bright, colourful, and simple. Talia quite likes this one, but Rowan thinks it's boring, so I'd not put this firmly on a wish list for a child past toddlerhood. The illustrations are sweet and lively, though.




Autumn is, for some reason, the most sparse in terms of our seasonal book collections. My grandma kindly sent money to buy new books for the children, and I bought a couple of new ones with that, but there really aren't as many out there as I'd have thought. It feels like a good time of year to be pulling out a basket of stories, and Talia clearly agrees as she is bringing me bigger stacks of picture books every day (or at least it feels like that). Of course, I can't complain about not having enough Autumn books when the box I store them all in on top of my wardrobe contains so many Winter books I've taken to stacking some in my journal/ephemera/paper/collage basket... I should probably go through that at this time of year. I might be able to bear to let a couple go, and make some more room!

(Apologies for the extremely dark photographs! I'm rather lacking light here right now...)

Book Sharing Monday: The Little Yellow Leaf

Yes! A book sharing post! After, well, probably a couple of years? Anyhow, NEW AUTUMN BOOKS. This is pretty much my favourite story book in the entire house right now! The Little Yellow Leaf by Carin Berger.




"Not Ready, thought the Little Yellow Leaf as a heavy harvest moon bloomed amber in the starry sky."


Stunning collage illustrations. Hypnotically beautiful words, sweet simple story. Nice colours, gorgeous design, perfect layout. Cosy Autumn picture book reading. :)

Daybook of the Colourful Ordinary

Outside my window the willow tree is in full summer leaf and the apple tree is heavy with fruit. I can see the bright blue of the sky from here, latticed with the rippling irregular sunkissed greens and fine kinked grey-browns of the highest branches.

I am thinking about how to stretch our money far enough to go to London again soon... about amphibians and whether there are newts in any of the ponds we like to visit (because Rowan wants to see one)... of colour combinations and yarn designs (as always)... and also whether Talia is asleep enough for me to slip away and start cooking tea. My head is full of competing thoughts!

I am thankful for rose petals, my garden growing beautifully, coloured silks strewn on the floor, time for writing and contemplating, encouragement to be the best parent I can be, fresh bread, and music.

In the kitchen the huge yarn-soaking tubs are taking up every working surface right now, and a LOT of gorgeous yarn is hanging in the sink draining a little before I squeeze out any remaining damp and hang it outside. Yarn Club underway! The oven is preheating for a roast dinner. And rosemary soda bread is all ready to be baked.

I am wearing a plain blue tshirt and purpley magenta yoga trousers with a folded waistband. My rainbow amber necklace from the lovely Beads for Mamas. Bare feet, black-soled from padding about my lovely wild overgrown garden. Hair pulled back as usual, out of my face and out of my way. I prefer it down, but it annoys me so much making my face feel sticky and my head feel weighed down - I am one of these impatient people who loves having long hair and yet periodically gets sick of it being "in the way" and cuts it all of to a short quick cut-it-myself bob.

I am creating colourful hand-dye. I have some springy yellow merino on the spinning wheel which I haven't paid attention to in weeks. And I'm finally getting back to knitting Jenna's grey sparkly Low Tide again (slowly).

I am going to Hobbits and Elves playdate tomorrow, all being well - with cardboard boxes for the children to build with on the park.

I am reading Ladies of Grace Adeiu on the tablet, in short bursts - I love collections of essays and short stories when I'm tired and struggling for air. I haven't felt like reading much this week, but the therapeutic knitting has been prolific!

I am looking forward to seeing Ash's new flat and maybe helping her move house. It is SO exciting to have her living nearby again, I am really thrilled that it's so close now!

I am learning how to make better bread. It has been a long while since I was making bread for the family regularly, and I am badly out of practice. It's wonderful to start to feel closer to the food we eat again.

One of my favourite things is rainbow coloured bunting all over the house.

A peek into my day (oh, yeah, and I have no idea how they managed to decapitate a toothbrush!):

A list of things I have barely started:

I have a shiny new book which I have not made time to start. I enjoyed the previous two in the series, and still it sits here waiting for me to pick it up.

And I am blatantly still *not* working on Jenna's Low Tide (though I have finally made more than a passing attempt at starting: look! One Whole Pattern Repeat!)...

I am utterly failing to plan meals or fun activities. If we are still having adventures, it is largely because I don't prevent them rather than because I'm doing well at facilitating. And I am also not really making a start on tidying up (um, ever).

If there is a prize for PMT related crying, not complaining about listening to Christmas carols on repeat in May, wondering when a difficult-feeling month becomes depression (again) and what to do about it, general complaints about being tired (whilst not doing anything about it at all), and answering bizarre questions, often at length (about Minecraft, politics, Literature, Star Trek, how to spell "incredible", where diamonds come from, and why Pluto isn't a planet)... I should probably win something. Is it acceptable to make our own parenting medals, do you think?

Right, that's it, I'm awarding myself the Survived This Month With Humour badge AND the Children Thriving Anyway badge.

More Sunshiny Ordinary Days

Well, the weather has taken us outside for a lot of our time. I had a couple of days of illness, which I was relieved to find were not followed by any sick children! I've read a lot, and helped with Minecraft tech support, and done some baking with the kidlets. They have spent hours hanging off the swing frame and climbing the willow tree to admire a large colony of green caterpillars living up there.

I also managed to not procrastinate about spending money on myself this week (for once) and bought a decent summer dress for my friend's wedding. Yay! (Thank you Ashleigh for nagging me about it when she found I was worrying about what the children would wear and hadn't even thought about what *I* would wear!)



Jenna and I have both had hormonal shouty (her) and weepy (me) episodes. Toddler person boosted my post-illness milk supply by ever-so-kindly keeping me up all night again (every time I think she is sleeping more, we have another few all-night feeds)! What else? Oh, Tibs also cut a chunk out of her fringe. Lighting fires and toasting marshmallows have joined the list of current obsessions. The chickens are now producing five eggs a day, and spending many a happy hour dust bathing.















The same few precious, beautiful, new-every-morning blessings crop up on my gratitude list over and over. Family, friends, this beautiful crazy world, our health, so much freedom, time for creativity, food, laughter. The way the sleeping small imprints her blonde curls on my warm arm. The daily shout of "spider!" as they disturb a new specimen in the garden which I just *have* to go and see. Cups of tea. Sharing stories and ideas with the wonderful and inspiring people who live inside my computer (hi!). Colour. Light. Grace, every day, to try again and learn and live just a little more in love.

Book Sharing: At The Seaside (National Trust)

I know, it's been a long while since I felt the need to do a book-sharing-Monday type post! :) I just totally love this sticker book, and wanted to share.


It's a National Trust Shop find, considerably more expensive than I would usually consider worthwhile for a sticker book (which are used up crazy quickly when Rowan is in a stickering mood), but the illustration is just gorgeously stylish and at the same time simple and clean enough to actually identify the species mentioned.


The stickers are just as lovely. It's very rare I see a sticker book I think is actually beautiful - easily nice enough to keep as a general reference/reading book.




Loveliness! :)

Yarn Along - the holiday knitting and reading

Second hand book stores, and holiday time to actually finish books, are a dangerous combination. The pile on the left are what I came home with, and the pile on the right are those which I finished before we even got back.


I had read a few dismissive reviews of The Codex, but I enjoyed the first couple of Magicians books so when I stumbled across this earlier stand-alone story I picked it up anyway and loved it. It is disjointed, yes. Parts of it have no connection to anything else, and are just left dangling there tantalisingly. The writing is mostly deceptively simple, but entirely stunningly poetic in places. Lev Grossman certainly has a gift for writing fairly unlikeable young male protagonists (and I do love a book in which we are not *meant* to fall unquestioningly in love with the main character, and mainly would like to give them a good shake). The story is uniquely strange, desolate, beautiful, raw, and frustrating. I finished it in a couple of happy sitting-by-the-fireside grey and chilly evenings in the cottage. *bliss*

At least fifteen years after I read Maya Angelou's first autobiographical stories, I finally finished. A Song Flung Up to Heaven made me cry, as did every one of its predecessors. Maya Angelou's poetry has captivated me since my early teens, and her life story likewise is lyrical, devastating, wise, and perfect. I have so much admiration for this powerful beautiful woman. Her books really are a must-read.

Last but not least, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell took me a good deal longer than many other books of a comparable size. That is mainly due to its painstakingly furnished world and incredible level of detail; every paragraph is exact, and fascinating. No period flourish is ignored, no element left to chance. It is the kind of book that takes what would be in other hands merely an interesting fantasy story, and transforms it into the utterly believable. (But the footnotes drove me a little insane. This is not a book to easily read whilst constantly distracted by children.)

I also managed to finish the crocus-coloured Coffee Bean for Talia (though I cast off the sleeves after we arrived home):






I think she likes it.

Yarn Along - portable projects

When I'm going to be in the car for a while, I need knitting that does not require me to either keep my place or look at my working very often. So, another Coffee Bean it is. :) (Of course if I'm saving a project for our little trip to the seaside and then do more than half of it before we even get in the car, that's less helpful...)

But, well, Talia needs more cardigans, right? ;) (It's my Arwen Makes hand dye as usual. Experimental colourways which definitely deserve larger batches next time. Also, the tropical blue/orange is going to become socks.)





Also, I REALLY love this book. :)

That plus planning beach walks and adventures, well, I'm a very happy mama right now! Oh, also, I have new project bags, look! Dark Star Designs and The Yarn Tree obliged with pretties, and now my projects don't get tangled in the change bag. :)

Simple Daybook - while the toddler naps

Outside my window the grey clouds are drizzling, leaving puddles on the grey pavements. The garden is muddy again, and the chickens are resenting the reduced dust bathing opportunities. The apple tree is pink with blossom, and the willow has its delicate green leaves back.

I am thinking of the to-do list without end, and basically ignoring it all in favour of knitting projects. There is laundry and more laundry waiting to be folded and put away. This afternoon has been a peause, a quiet in-breathing before we are off adventuring tomorrow. Almost none of the jobs I wanted to do have felt all that important after all.

I am thankful for a life filled with the laughter of children.

In the kitchen the shelves are a little bare, as we need to do food shopping tomorrow. I have something along the lines of tomato pasta planned for tea, but the children thankfully don't mind. They are in a hungry playing-in-the-garden-all-day phase and the happy side effect for me is that whatever I present them with at meal times is devoured with impressive speed. The down side is the cost in fruit and cereal!

I am wearing purple trousers and a green tshirt, with the thick squishy red lace cardigan. Hair pulled back out of my face, as always. Rainbow-and-amber beads.

I am creating another Coffee Bean, because Talia has grown out of so many smaller knits recently. I'm only making size 12 months, but she just about fits the 6 month size still so the extra room in the arms will be just fine.

I am going to see the sea! Really soon! (I can't wait. True soul food for me, and fun for the children too. *happy sighs*)

I am reading Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell - I just started it in fact. It's really very good so far.

I am looking forward to a few days with the whole family together, nobody rushing off to work, and perhaps time to finish my book (and my knitting).

Some of my favourite things; a scruffy little willow star hanging in my window, puddle jumping with a delighted toddler, broken egg shells used in collage, bright floral skirts on a skipping five year old, and cups of tea on a chilly afternoon.

A peek into my day:

Yarn Along - Stripes, Fairytales, Sleep (lack thereof), and Sick Days

Knitting: these blue organic hand dye scraps were begging to be used for something lovely. I turned them into a Little Coffee Bean cardigan and am now on the hunt for the perfect buttons.

Another Coffee Bean required casting on right away to make a cardigan for Talia in some lovely pink, turquoise, and mint green, dyed just for the purpose. I won't be striping this next one, as I just wanted an extremely easy no-brain-power-required piece of aran weight car knitting for a jaunt to the seaside! How could I have left it so long before knitting this cardigan again? I'm starting to realise that between patterns I want to knit someday and patterns I love and know I want to knit again, I may never finish all of my imagined future projects in one lifetime.

Reading: Some Kind of Fairy Tale. Well, wow. I finished this today and it was another intense, lyrical, resonant, dark story with a lot to say about family and love, and the nature of the mind, and human kindness. I wouldn't say I *liked* this book all that much, but I found it compelling and it left me feeling satisfied and uncomfortable at the same time. More adult than The Book of Lost Things, but similar in themes. Similar to the Golem and the Djinni in the ambiguous but pleasing resolution in the final chapters. More positive and affirming than The Magicians, but more believeably nuanced and shadowed. (I am on a distopian fantasy binge... Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is next on the list!)

Shall I write another, "I am so darn tired," post for you all? No? Go ahead and fill in all that with your vivid imaginations, empathy based on your own parenting experiences, and randomly chosen phrases from previous posts whinges mmkay? ;) Oh, also, we're ill again. So you can imagine some whining about that, too, if you like. I'm starting to feel a little better today, so throw in a little something meaningful about life still being sparkly even when we don't feel so much like noticing.

Aw, thanks, look at that - you practically wrote the rest of my blog post for today for me, in your head. :) Here's an illustration of my day, in the form of Morgan with a cold pack on her hot little head (this seven year old spent almost the entire day asleep).



I think while this illness plays out I might get a lot more knitting done...

Joining in with Ginny and friends to share another glimpse into our current knitting and reading.

Yarn Along: sunshine and fantasy fiction

I cast off the improvised gradient shawlette. Next time I dye this colourway I need to remember that if I want the yellow in the middle, I need comparatively little, and a lot more of the gradient needs to be in the blues. (Oops.) Oh but it does make a very pretty shawl. :)

I finished The Golem and the Djini towards the end of last week, and then loaned it out to my mum. She phoned us on the second day of her holiday to confess that she's been walking around with it because she can't put it down. It's a good read - intriguing, grown up, dark, funny, culturally rich.

I ran out of books again. I wish I lived nearer to the library - and that the library got new books in more often...

Oh, I also crocheted Rowan a quick little Berry Delight hat. Great pattern, and especially fun to make because I won the pattern in a giveaway. :) Thank you, Charmed By Ewe.

Joining in with Ginny and friends for a weekly round up of knitting and reading.

Yarn Along - when exhausted from 2am wakings

Plodding on with the improvised shawl. So so tired. Remind me, toddlers do eventually sleep, right?

New books - always a highlight. The Book of Lost Things is brilliant, quirky dark fairytale, I seem to be working my way through a pretty similarly-themed list here.

*yawn* This too shall pass, this too shall pass. And in the meantime, I have books and knitting.

Joining in with Ginny and friends.

Yarn Along - light and dark

I'm working on a crescent shawl using some gradient hand dye that a small child accidentally marked. I'm improvising, and hoping that my maths works out further down the line.



Book-wise I just finished The Magicians and am halfway through The Magician King. These are dark, smart, interesting, twisted, adult books. Distopian fantasy; bitter and wry. Even the cover compares these novels to Harry Potter but really these are grown up Narnia, with more than a passing dig at the allegory and easy answers of that convention. I am thoroughly enjoying them, and I say this as someone who is still extremely attached to my C S Lewis. (Sex and drugs are mentioned more than in passing, so you might not wish to read these aloud to children. ;) )

Joining in with Ginny and friends for a round up of this week's knitting and reading.

Yarn Along - some solid coloured merino knits, for a change

So, on an otherwise pretty stressful day earlier in the week (grumpy toddler induced), I finished the black garter stitch slouchy. :)


And then cast on chevrons (fingerless mittens, without much of a plan except to enjoy using some bright solids, and to evade the horribly delayed second Low Tide which I'm still procrastinating over):


I am also desperately looking forwards to a peaceful few minutes when I can finally make a start on my new book! So far this week I haven't been getting much reading time (but in the evenings Martin and I have managed to watch a couple of the Avengers movies since we're SO behind). We're starting to get some evening time together, and Talia is sleeping longer - but still getting up crazily early of course. *yawn*

Joining in with Ginny and friends again (early, for tomorrow!), for a weekly round up of our knitting and reading. :)

Seven Days - Springing!

1. Daffodil love
2. Hueys and odd socks
3. Fierce debate over Minecraft
4. Grandma to the rescue with tiffin!
5. More dye days
6. Carcassonne
7. Community gathering fun

(Yes, I am indeed going to bed very late. Again. Talia is still waking up very early and then grumping/clinging a lot of the day. So I am mostly staying up until midnight to get work done and just sit knitting WITHOUT being needed and touched and talked at by the crowd of lovely small people. And then when Talia wakes me, I curse the staying-up-late-ness and vow to go to bed earlier. Like, earlier, when she does. Yeah. Watch me do this craziness again...)