It seems an odd thing to me to be knitting mittens on my front porch in 65° weather in December, but such is life in East Tennessee- Weather is a fickle mistress.
In any case, I’ve completed 2 of 4 pairs of mittens, and am working on pair #3.
And my mentor was right! This is the single most indispensable knitting book I’ve encountered. It allows for literally hundreds of options with guides for multiple gauges of yarn, and sizes. It’s also an excellent jumping off point for learning basics for construction of various garments and playing with techniques like cabling, and different stitches. It’s out of print, but if you can find a used copy, I highly recommend it for all you aspiring knitters.
I’ve been amassing various materials for home improvement projects as I can squeeze them into the budget. The progress on pretty much every small repair/ diy project has been stalled due to my husband’s crazy work/training schedule. And I’ve just come to accept that as a fact of life with my particular man. I cannot count on him to be home on weekends, but I can count on myself to pick up the slack. So mostly that means I’ve been researching, reading, and watching tutorials on how to complete various projects.
I’ve made headway in our boys’ room, building toy storage, and minimizing clothing, purging excess, and really whittling down to the most necessary and basic things. Nothing like junk to clutter a space and render it unusable.
They’ve done a decent job of keeping it tidy. The next steps in there are patching wall holes, sanding, and repainting. I’ve lived with the electric green for long enough.
And because I tend to live with things until they absolutely annoy the everloving stuffing out of me before I finally do something about it, I’ve decided it’s time to update our master bathroom just a smidge. Now, I’m not tackling the 1970s powder blue tile or tub, but I think I can give the space a facelift by patching wall cracks, and replacing the broken floor tiles. I was gifted a can of paint a while ago that I’ve saved for the master bath and I’m just about ready to use it!
I’m pretty proud of my bargain flooring that was acquired on the dirt cheap. Less than $4 for 120ft².
So that will be installed after I paint, and I’m pondering what to do about the vanity/cabinets. I think they may just have to wait a bit longer, as I am only one person and I haven’t the time, strength, or energy to tackle it all at once. Which leads me to my next and final update…
We are expecting baby #5 to hit the homestead June 2022. After everything that had been going on with my health this year, the news was rather shocking. But, the novelty has sort of worn off and we’re making plans and adjustments necessary to make space for the new little one.
We haven’t any idea whether it is a boy or girl, and it poses a lot of challenges for us, like, where will baby sleep? How will we travel to church, or the grocery store, being one seat short in our minivan? How will we fund any refinishing/expansions in the house to have enough room? Where will I deliver?
I don’t have answers to many of those questions, but God does, and He isn’t surprised by the new baby. So, one day at a time. One thing at a time. Some days, it’s literally just one breath at a time as I stop to focus my attention on the Lord and not my circumstances. God is greater, Amen and Amen.
Wholly Holy Living 