Santa Rosa plums. We planted our tree as an afterthought, an espaliered affair that hides behind our outdoor fireplace. But it gets lots of southerly sun, and it’s just above our bees so we got an unexpected bonanza this year. I followed a recipe for Santa Rose Plum Jam Conserve from local jam artisan June Taylor in The Pleasures of Slow Food. Divine! From here on out I will always leave the skins on my plum preserves because they add such twangy tart to all the sweet. (The secret: cut the pitted fruit into bite-sized chunks before cooking, so the skins aren’t too over-sized and off-putting.) Then Mr. T and I made plum ice cream. All the foodies have been blogging about David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop, and rightly so. It’s full of flavors that you know will be wonderful like Pear Caramel and Guinness-Milk Chocolate. Plus all sorts of mix-ins like Buttercrunch Toffee and Candied Lemon Slices. When I brought my plum ice cream to a dinner party, someone called it the bomb. I think he liked it. (Next up: Malted Milk Ice Cream with crunched-up malt balls. Yowza!)

knitting projects. This one still needs button loops, so I don’t have modeled shots or a ravelry update yet. I’d hoped to finish it before our trip so I could wear it; instead I was still working on it on planes, trains and automobiles. It’s Ysolda’s Coraline, but I’m calling it my Smocked In Sweden sweater because I started the smocking during the long drive from Stockholm to the south. There will now always be red farm houses and purple lupine looped into that smocking. The smocking was so fun to knit that I had to remind myself to look out the window at all that gorgeousness.

I’ve always wanted to knit a gold cardigan, and after finishing that one up there, all done up in alpaca and too hot to wear anytime soon, I looked for a pattern that would work in cotton. I stumbled on this version of the knitty pattern Que Sera, and I had to flat-out copy it. All that color! All that texture! And it is the most fun pattern ever to knit while watching swimming lessons. I’m not sure the color will flatter this dishwater blonde, but I’m hoping the sweater will be stunning enough that no one will notice.

honey! Speaking of gold, look what we got. Our first honey harvest, after two seasons of keeping bees. We hadn’t planned to harvest so soon. But we don’t use foundation in our frames (you can read about that here), and sometimes without foundation, bees will build wonky comb. In this particular box, the bees built the comb in perfect rows, but diagonal to the frames. If we hadn’t been traveling, I’d have recognized it sooner, and would have cut out the errant comb or two and refastened it properly with rubber-bands. But left on their own, the colony filled the entire box this way. You can’t pull the frames from the box when the comb is attached at angles, so Chris and I had to remove several frames at a time, destroying the comb and watching honey ooze everywhere. We cut them into a big cake pan, did our best to shoo away the bees, and eventually brought it inside and used the crush-and-strain method to extract the honey. You can see a video of the method here. Basically you crush the wax to release the honey from the comb, and then strain it into a big container.

Now we have about a dozen jars of honey with a very delicate floral flavor, and lots of beeswax for crafts. Since we have two hives and a hillside of blooming lavender, there should be more by the end of the summer. Thank you, girls!

farm city. I knew about this book by Novella Carpenter, about her experiences starting a small farm on a vacant lot in a seedy part of Oakland. You might think I’d have wanted to read it, since she’s local, but I’m not so keen on books in the look-at-the-fringe-thing-I’ve-done! genre. I’ve read 168 novels in 168 days! I dressed in clothing made from trash for a year! The writing in that sort of memoir doesn’t tend to do it for me. But one day I picked up a copy at the bookstore, and was drawn in by the first line: “I have a farm on a dead-end street in the ghetto.” By the end of the first page I was won over by the writing; reading on the back flap that Carpenter “attended UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism” gave some insight into that. It’s a fun tale–despite the fact there’s enough meat-animal killing to make a vegetarian like me wince. Carpenter’s mindfulness about the process makes it readable, though, and thought-provoking. (Quirky discovery: half-way through the book I realized that Carpenter is the sister of Riana Lagarde, whose These Days in French Life flickr photos I’ve followed for a few years. Small world!)

a new blog project. I have big plans for something here in September. It’s a secret for now, but my wheels are spinning.

an anniversary. As of today, I have been married to this man for 22 years. Twenty-two years! Either we are very old, or we married very young. Or both. In the photo, it looks like he’s leading me off to a lifetime of fun. We’re still going. (Happy anniversary, Sweets.)

So you know I’m going to ask: What has you all atwitter?

I haven’t done one of these atwitter posts in a while. Here’s what has me all worked up these days.

Knitting. Looky! Even though I haven’t posted here, I’ve been knitting. Hats!

This one (ravelry link) is my favorite, ’cause I can pretend it’s the 1930′s and it doesn’t smash my (already plenty flat) hair.

(updated the photo: I felted the hat a bit because it was too big. This photo is post-felting.)

This was my first foray into colorwork. Isn’t it a pretty pattern? I’m a continental knitter, and was hell-bent on learning how to hold both yarns in the left hand. I kept fiddling with ways of stranding the yarn across my fingers and finally figured a way that worked for me. Having both yarns on the same hand made my tension even, I think.

I also knit a pair of super-wooly socks for Chris to wear around the house, but he won’t hold still long enough more me to get a photo. Now I’m swatching for Ysolda’s coraline. 

The girls are back in action! Here in northern California, my plum tree is blooming, the rosemary is draped in blue and my bees are busy. I opened up the hive over the weekend and found lots of capped honey, and saw Queen Bee-atrice strutting around some glossy white larval bees.

Can you see her in the photo, the longer one towards the middle? Yippee! I think we’ll get honey this year!

new blogs: Danielsaurus is fascinating. Here’s a description from the sidebar: “Daniel’s been hardwired to the Internet since he was twelve and spends a lot of time on it finding nifty things to share. Mostly he writes about children, play, kids’ cultures, and the ‘bigger picture’ of childhood in society.” It’s a constant flow of thought-provoking links and wonderings.

Making marmalade. Last summer, stefeneener and denise gave a jam workshop that finally got me past my irrational fears of canning, and at Christmas my parents gifted me with some fine equipment. 

Our satsuma mandarin tree went bonkers with fruit this winter, so satsuma-vanilla bean marmalade was my first canning attempt. Fabulous recipe! It turned out so tasty that I have a big bowl of our last satsumas, ready to make a third batch. Favorite snack: this marmalade with almond butter on Swedish crispbread. Snarf.

New books. I’m still meaning to write a post on Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind, giddy as I am about the ideas in that book. I also read his newer book, Drive, about motivation. It’s also a fascinating book, all about how intrinsic motivation is much more powerful than external motivators, but this one didn’t knock my hand-knit socks off as much as the other book. Because, of course, as a homeschooling parent, I see the power of internal motivation in action every single day. I’ve learned the hard way, as many homeschooling parents do, that my attempts at motivating my kids have not a fraction of the power that their own internal fires do. So the ideas here weren’t new to me, but if you have any doubts about the potential of internal drive and want scientific back-up, or if you want hints for becoming a more internally-driven person, it’s a good read. And, in the section on kids and education, Pink gives a nod to unschooling! Pink’s TED talk on the topic is compelling–it gives you a sense of what the book is like.

And has anyone read 50 Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Children Do)? I haven’t, but am intrigued. Lots of interesting stuff from the author, Gever Tulley, at tinkering school.

So, what has you all atwitter right now?

A blogging mama meet-up. A while back I wrote about meeting some blogging friends in person for the first time. Well, we did it again, but this time there were seven of us. The photo above is what Mr. T came up with when I asked him to use my camera to take a picture of us lined-up mamas. That’s the back of my head–guess the boy likes close-ups. Tara.mama.wendy’s Finn got a much better one. Maya of Urban Organica did a fun write-up of the day. And Amy of Diary of a Domestic Animal wrote a musing that made me teary. I’m still amazed at how you can find kindred souls via computers. And I’m still feeling the magic of the day.

making mozzarella. Ever since reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, I’ve wanted to try making my own fresh mozzarella. I finally got a cheesemaking kit, and have made two batches. I’m still learning and tweaking, but it’s been fun! Good, local organic milk seems to be key. I’ve used full-fat milk in both batches, but I’m going to try lowfat for my next batch; the locally-made mozzarella that I like tastes like it’s from part-skim milk. And while our tomatoes haven’t gone gangbusters this year–note to self: plant favas and amend soil–we’ve had a steady stream. Perfect with homemade mozz.

new books. Spunk and Bite: A Writer’s Guide to Bold, Contemporary Style, by Arthur Plotnik is very naughtily tempting me away from my essayist for this month, M.F.K Fisher. The book was recommended by my writing friend Carolyn, after reading my E.B. White post, and the comments on Strunk and White’s Elements of Style. Spunk and Bite is the antidote to all the confining rules of Strunk and White. Here’s a quote, showing Plotnik’s response to a quote by White: “Stick to the standard, White decreed, because ‘by the time this paragraph sees print, uptight, ripoff, rap, dude, vibe, copout, and funky will be the words of yesteryear’. That was some thirty years ago–and, dude, those words are still very much around.” Funny. The whole book is written with that kind of wit. Good writing advice that takes its own advice.

making kombucha. Now I’m really going to be accused of going off the deep end of the earth mama pool. But I’ve developed a craving for the stuff. I’ve always been a vinegar fiend, and kombucha is vinegary, fizzy and thirst-quenching. Plus there are lots of purported health benefits, which you can read about online, or in books like Nourishing Traditions. But at $3 and up per bottle, I thought I’d try to make my own. You need a kombucha “mother” to start a batch, which means you need a friend with a working batch, or you can buy one (fairly expensively) online. I’m trying to start my own mother, using a store-bought bottle and this recipe from Paprika. I started mine on 8/25, and it’s just about ready for brewing a first batch. Of course, I think it’s developed especially well over the last few days, because my jar got a new cover. Isn’t it exquisite? It was crocheted by Molly, using thread from her husband’s grandmother. Looking at every tiny stitch in its pattern, I’m awed by the artistry and the fact that it’s been gifted to me. It’s really far too beautiful to be on a jar of kombucha; look at how pretty it looks on Molly’s pitcher. Then again, I kinda like having it over my pet project. Like I told Molly, it’s sorta perfect, resting over something that’s alive and growing and changing–like friendship.

knitting progress. This one’s coming along much faster than my sweater coat. One sleeve almost finished, one more to go. It’s in linen and cotton–perfect for the Indian summer weather we’re having, and I want to wear it now! My version is a bastardization of two patterns. Details here for you Ravelers.

So tell me, what has you all atwitter?

our lavender is blooming.

60 plants worth, on our front hillside, right beside our beehive. Can you spot one of our girls in the photo? I wish I could insert smells into my posts, because this Provence lavender is eyes-rolling-back-in-your-head fragrant. I really ought to film the flurry of bees out there so you’d believe how many there are–one morning I counted more than twenty on a single plant. This new little colony is taking its time building up comb, though. I’d assumed that with the abundance of lavender, the comb production would pick up quickly, but that hasn’t been the case so far. A beekeeper on the Beemaster Forum explained that despite popular belief, a new colony won’t build comb to keep up with a nectar flow; it will build comb as needed to keep up with its population, and therefore might not be ready to take advantage of a nearby flow. So I just need to be patient, and let Queen Bee-atrice keep doing her thing. But one of these days, I hope there will be enough honey for me to steal a frame. I know exactly where I’ll put it:

a pot for my honey.

Isn’t it perfectly splendid? Wouldn’t Pooh love it? I found it at, of all places, Anthropologie. (Actually, Anthropologie seems to be a bee-loving company: for Earth Day, they had a neat little online honeybee promo, with some art that inspired my kids. If you click on the arrow near the bees in the promo, you’ll be led through a few pages of honeybee info.)

a new book.

If you’re a plant lover with a dark sense of humor, then you must get your hands on Wicked Plants: The Weed that Killed Lincoln’s Mother & Other Botanical Atrocities by Amy Stewart. It’s a compendium of–from the back cover–”plants that kill, maim, intoxicate, and otherwise offend.” Fun stuff! It’s also a beautiful little book, with faux-aged pages, old-fashioned etchings and creepy drawings.  I photographed it in my morning glory vine, the seeds of which are, apparently, capable of producing “an LSD-like trip if eaten in large quantity.” (I find the vine to be more violence-inducing, as I am constantly ripping at it whenever it strangles my more tender plants.)

healthy cookies.

No, it’s not an oxymoron. I saw the recipe for Nikki’s Healthy Cookies on 101 Cookbooks a while back, and finally got around to making them. Yum! They’re not so decadent as your typical chocolate chip cookie, but they’re surprisingly tasty given their list of healthy ingredients. We like them frozen, which makes their texture a little nicer. Whole Foods’ Dark Chocolate Chunks work especially well in the recipe. (And you’ll have extras to nibble on and call them antioxidants.)

a new knitting project.

Don’t tell my sweater coat! This is the short, simple number I mentioned in my letter. It’s actually my own bastardization of two patterns that I like: the Jane cardigan from Custom Knits, and the Lacy Skirt with Bows from Greetings from Knit Cafe. Details forthcoming on my Ravelry page for you knitting geeks. (Sorry about those Ravelry links, if you’re not a Raveler.)

Spanish design blogs.

Back in June, I posted this photo of Mr. T with some of our ollalieberries to the Flickr group 100 Things to Love About Summer (’cause if ripe ollallieberries aren’t one of the top 100 things to love about summer, I don’t know what is.) A month or so later, I got an email from Spain, asking for permission to use the photo. Which is how Mr. T ended up on a Spanish design blog, under the heading 100 Razones para Amar el Verano. Which tickles me in an it’s-a-small-world-after-all kind of way.

And even though the kid doesn’t look Spanish, he’s a full one-quarter. ¡Viva la familia Zaballos de Macotera, España!

fun in the sidebar.

I’m adding a place in the sidebar that links to exciting stuff I wander across on my internet ramblings. Mosey on over to the tab that says ever-changing list of wondrous links. I’ve posted a link to the Healthy Cookies recipe there, to keep it up for a while, and also links to some fantastic writing by Michael Chabon and Pico Iyer. That spot in the sidebar will give me a place to share little bits of wonder–even if I’m not keeping up with these atwitter posts.

So I’ll ask yet again, what has you all atwitter?

the girls have arrived! We picked up our package of bees on Saturday, and introduced them to their hive that afternoon.

There are so many of them–approximately 10,000 at this point! I love to sit near the hive, on the terrace wall that Chris built, watching them come and go. I’m dying to get in there to see if they’re making comb, to see if the queen is laying, but we’re giving them their privacy for a week or so.

Surely bees don’t care if their hive is cute, but since this one sits in our front yard, I care. So it’s painted to match the house, with a totally unnecessary-but-adorable-anyway pitched copper roof. (Please disregard that temporarily unpainted stripe of a shim. You know I’m detail-crazed enough to be bothered by such a thing.)

bee art. Lulu, Mr. T and I sketched bees last week.

Then the kids became inspired to make a collage of bee art, which they later abandoned, but we did carve some rubber stamps.

Now Lulu’s thinking about making bee-themed greeting cards to sell at our Homeschool Fair in a few weeks. She spent all morning searching out bee poetry online–for lines for the cards–and I showed her some of Sylvia Plath’s bee poems. Plath wrote those poems upon keeping bees of her own for the first time, and when I read them a few years ago, I knew I’d have bees of my own someday.

learning about japan. We went to the Kabuki Theater in San Francisco’s Japantown on Monday, to see a San Francisco International Film Festival showing of Battle for Terra. (A perfect film for Mr. T as it tells the story of life on another planet which is invaded by earthlings. The planet, Terra, and its creatures are beautifully animated. The film’s director spoke afterwards, and it was fascinating to hear about his original ideas for the film, and how they developed over time.) Anyway, in addition to the film being wonderful, the location was ideal, as we’re just beginning a study of Japan.

We had a Japanese bento lunch.

We visited the Peace Pagoda.

We went to the Kinokuniya bookstore. I’d never been to one of these Japanese bookstores before–so big, so fab! There are books in Japanese, of course, but also many in English. They also have lots of those great little items that only the Japanese design, like Piperoid robot kits made up of paper rolls which are cut apart and assembled.

Mr. T put together both Goriborg and Dr. Penk with a fair amount of help from me.

The trouble is, of course, that he wants to play with them, which only makes their feet fall off.

I always hear knitters rave about Japanese knitting books. (I just listened to the Knitting Japanese episode on Stash and Burn.) Looking through that section in the store, I came across a few books by a young Japanese woman named Ayano Uchida. Despite the English titles and a few giggle-inducing, roughly translated English headings here and there, the books are otherwise written in Japanese, so I have no idea what they say. But they’re filled with photos of the author’s quirky, layered style, and I couldn’t resist buying one called Favorite Style for Four Seasons.

“Why would you buy that?” Lulu asked, offended at my foolishness. “You can’t even read it!”  I’m not quite sure why I bought it, except that I find the photographs charming. I think I find them even more charming for the fact that I don’t know what the writing says, which means I get to use my imagination. (I’m linking to Amazon’s Japanese page, in case you want to “Look Inside” the book. I haven’t been linking to Amazon these days, which you may have noticed–the reason for which is a blog post for another day. Go indie bookstores!)

Oh goodie–now it’s time for you to tell me what has you all atwitter…

beekeeping. About ten years ago, we planted our front hillside with more than sixty lavender plants. Every July the hillside is smothered in bees, and I’ve always thought we ought to have a beehive. Of course, I envisioned some other beekeeper maintaining the hive, and leaving us with a share of the honey. But several of my friends have been keeping bees themselves–Stefaneener, Susan and Kristin–so I’m encouraged to try it too. (My beekeeping friends are also bloggers–what’s the personality trait that draws people to both blogging and bees? What, did you say geekiness?) My honey is building me a terraced bee yard out amongst the lavender, and I’m reading The Backyard Beekeeper and Beekeeping for Dummies, planning to get my bees in April. And of course I’ve found some fantastic bee bloggers who are already convincing me to do things differently and be a beekeeping rebel: Backwards Beekeepers and Linda’s Bees.

spain, on the road again. I bought this book for my Spanish-blooded husband for Christmas, and we’ve been enjoying the accompanying PBS series on disc. It’s basically a show about Mario Batali, Gwyneth Paltrow and friends driving around Spain, taking in its gorgeousness, and eating delicious food at every opportunity. My kind of trip. They visit many of the same places we visited when we went to Spain in ’05, along with the kids and Chris’ parents. (Where I had the distinct pleasure of pronouncing my name Pa-tree-thee-a Tha-ba-yosh. And picked up that cute little olive dish pictured above.) We love Mario Batali around here–he’s such a happy hedonist. It’s hard to watch all the food talk without getting hungry, but watching with a glass of Spanish wine in hand helps.

learning how to make perfectly hard-boiled eggs. Just in time for Easter! Why is it that Americans don’t seem able to boil an egg without rendering the yolk grey and chalky? In Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone  (favorite cookbook ever), Deborah Madison writes, “When cut in half, the yolk should have a dime-sized moist dot in the center.” Yes! The yolk is so gorgeously gold and succulent when boiled this way. A while back, Clotilde from Chocolate & Zucchini gave directions for perfect hard-boiled eggs, and the instructions are spot on. Follow the ones for a 9-minute egg and you will not be disappointed.

studying india. We’re wrapping up our India studies. Mr. T is anxious to move on to Mongolia, and Lulu to Japan. But I sure loved learning about India and would be happy to linger there a little longer. I’m planning to listen to A Passage to India on disc (which might also be the motivation I need to work up some steam in my knitting and finish that dang sweater coat!) But it’s been fun reading Indian tales, visiting local Indian shops and restaurants and learning how Indians live. Check out this fascinating video on the complex Mumbai system of home-cooked lunch delivery, carried in tiffins, those stainless steel stackable food containers that are now all the rage amongst the green crowd. We finally bought our own, after insuring that the one we bought was authentically Indian.

a new blog. I really like Homeschool. Style. Bytes. It’s sort of a homeschooling blog co-op. Helen gathers beautiful photos and text about homeschooling from Blogland and makes a lovely bouquet of them. I keep meaning to write down our own homeschooling recipe and send it her way.

So, what are you all worked up about this month?

A Series of Unfortunate Events. I listened to several of these books on tape with H and Lulu way back when, and have only just started listening again with Mr. T.  I’d forgotten how brilliant they are. They’re hilarious, if you have the warped sense of humor that my family has inherited, for better or for worse. I wouldn’t even consider reading them aloud–not when Tim Curry does it so much better, Mr. Po’s hacking cough and all. And if, like I am, you are a wordlover—a term which here means someone who takes a slightly odd pleasure in the sound and meaning of words–you will appreciate Lemony Snicket’s tendency to employ words and phrases not typically found in children’s books, and also to explain their meanings. You would not believe how these words and phrases managed to creep into Lulu’s vocabulary when she was younger; now I have a seven-year-old son whose conversations are embellished with gems like, “with all due respect” and “dwarfed in comparison”. (Do I recommend these books for other seven-year-olds? No, I do not. As you can see in Mr. T’s drawing, they’re full of death and darkness and malevolent adults. But if you have a seven-year-old with older siblings who is twisted already–enjoy!)

It’s kumquat season. I love having these beauties sitting in a pretty bowl on the counter, and popping them into my mouth as I pass by. An acquired taste, I suppose, but I find them irresistible.

Studying India. Such a fascinating culture, and I’m enjoying every minute of it. We were lucky enough to start our explorations just as the fabulous Story of India appeared on PBS–hopefully they’ll replay it if you missed it. The kids have each come up with a project–Lulu is planning to make an Indian dollhouse, inspired by this stunning Frida Kahlo studio dollhouse. And Mr. T is thinking about making a model of a banyan tree out of Model Magic, with creatures in and around it. Should be fun…

Taking a break from an endless knitting project. So I’ve finished the sleeves and the back of my Sweater Coat with Lace Pattern.

I’m generally a ridiculously monogamous knitter, but I’m taking a break to knit myself a pair of Toasty mitts. I’m adding thumb gussets because I think they look nice and adapting the pattern is good for my math brain.

What’s that you say? It looks like the same yarn as I’m using in the sweater? No, Silly, the sweater is Sublime Kid Mohair, while the mitts’ yarn is Rowan Kid Classic. But it would seem that I’ve fallen into a slate blue, mohair rut and I can’t get out.

Making yogurt. This was my first try, inspired by The River Cottage Family Cookbook. Lacking a pilot light in my oven, I tried to make a “warm place” by putting my crockpot on low, and lining it with several cloth towels. That still seemed to keep the milk too warm, though. The finished yogurt tastes good, but is very runny. My Danish, yarn shop-owning friend–who ought to know a thing about making yogurt–suggested wrapping the warmed milk in towels and just keeping it in a cooler to insulate it while the bacteria develops. I’ll try that with my next batch.

New blogs. A couple of particularly beautiful ones: good + happy day and the habit of being.

So what has you all atwitter this month?

The Christmas tree is still lit. ’Cause it’s not just a day–it’s a season. There’s still some glitter in the air.

Time to play with my camera.  Taking photos of food is almost as fun as eating it. That was our monkey pull-apart bread on Christmas morning. Made by Lulu and H. Yum!

H is on break from school. And was even willing to hike with Mr. T and me yesterday. And while I’m a bit envious of all the white Christmases I’m seeing out there in Blogland–even in Portland!–living in California does have its perks.

New music. If you know my sweetie, you know how he prides himself on staying hip to new music. Well, each Christmas my dad does his darndest to surprise us with some music that will impress even Chris with its sheer hipness. (Now, I love my dad, but I wouldn’t exactly call him hip. His little secret is NPR’s All Songs Considered lists.) This year he gave us Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver. Pretty cool music coming from a 70-year old. Good tunes for thinking and puttering.

Making bubbly water. Yes, we are a simple people here on the wonderfarm. Making our own “bubble water” makes for big entertainment. You see, in addition to great music, my parents also gifted us with a soda carbonator. Oh, we’re having fun with this one! And this is another meager attempt to prove our hipness: the latest trend in Bay Area restaurants is doing away with bottled water. Because it’s wasteful. Restaurants are offering their own chilled and filtered water, both still and fizzy. When Chris and I ate lunch at El Dorado Kitchen on our anniversary trip to the wine country and were served some free bubbly water, we admired their snazzy glass water bottles with clamp-on lids. And shopping the next day, we found some of our own: 

I’m hesitant to admit how much I love serving chilled water from these bottles. And I just found some red ones online! So we’ll have blue for flat water; red for fizzy. Yes, I know: I’m a geek.

New books. When Chris realized he hadn’t got his book-loving wife a book for Christmas, he promised a trip to Diesel. We went, and I found–oops!–two books. The River Cottage Family Cookbook and this one:

That’s Custom Knits, by Wendy Bernard. How is it that I hadn’t even heard of this book? It’s full of knitting-in-one piece projects! Lots of recommendations for adapting patterns to your liking! Great schematics! I won’t put an exclamation mark on the fact that many sweaters are modeled with bathing suits–silliness. But I’m having a good time perusing and dreaming. The Jane (Ravelry link) sweater is calling to me–but without that ribbon bisecting the bustline. Who needs a bisected bust?

So, how are you entertaining yourselves this week? (Chris, that’s your cue to finally leave a comment. Something like: Well, I’m toiling away at the office so my lovely family can stay home and have all the fun.)

a new camera. Finally. Our camera broke right after I started this blog. I’ve been making do with Lulu’s none-too-fancy point-and-shoot. But when you read blogs with gorgeous photos like Uncommon Grace, SouleMama and sixoneseven, well, you aspire to more.

Chris and I have been debating for days about whether to go for a digital SLR, or whether we need something smaller and more portable. We compromised on a more upscale non-SLR camera with a nice telephoto lens and lots of manual setting options.

I figure I can fiddle around with those manual settings, and if it turns out I have a knack for photography, maybe we’ll buy an SLR down the road. Meanwhile, we’ll have a camera that’s reasonably portable. I just hope the photos I soon post will be more like the ones I picture in my head. 

writers on writing. I love this podcast. Barbara DeMarco-Barrett interviews writers on their craft. She’s been doing it for years, and there’s an abundance of past interviews on her website and on iTunes. The October 23 interview with Billy Collins was especially wonderful. I had to hit replay and listen twice as he described his theory on breaking open moments in poetry.  (Barbara’s book, Pen On Fire: A Busy Woman’s Guide to Igniting the Writer Within is also an inspiration. Lots of bite-sized little exercises to try.)

handmade holidays.  Now, I’m realistic. I’m the Queen of Taking On Too Much; there is no way I’m going to set myself up by taking on an all-handmade Christmas as Prairie Poppins at Handmade Homeschool is. But reading about her family’s challenge is an inspiration.  Surely I can make a few handmade gifts. Follow that link to Prairie’s site and check out the stunning list of handmade gifts ideas that she’s assembled. I dare you not to be inspired too. (Of course, if making handmade yourself is too much, buying handmade is a step in the right direction. Etsy’s got that covered. Check out these hand-carved stamps. I want one!)

blurb. Do you know about this online bookmaking company?  It allows you to make gorgeous, bookstore-quality, coffee table-type books, for reasonable prices. I’m using it to create a homeschool yearbook with a bunch of teens from our homeschool group. And if you’re a blogger, check this out: certain blogging platforms can be “slurped” instantly into a book! Wouldn’t it be cool to have a beautiful book version of your blog? (Apparently they’re having some problems with certain platforms just now; I’m hoping those will get worked out by next July, so I can make an anniversary book of my first blogging year.)

the gentle art of domesticity. Oh, how I love this book! The subtitle is Stitching, Baking, Nature, Art & The Comforts Of Home. All the craft bloggers have already sung its praises, but if you’re late to the party as I always seem to be, perhaps you haven’t heard about it.

It’s a book version of Jane Brocket’s very popular blog yarnstorm, with page after page of yummy-as-candy photographs and witty writing. It’s decidedly not a Martha Stewart-like bit of gloss, designed to make us aspire to an unattainably perfect life. Instead, it’s a call to have us look for creative inspiration in the homes where we find ourselves. As Jane writes, “When I started photographing the details of my domestic life, I was quite sure I would run out of material in a matter of weeks. But instead of exhausting all possibilities, I actually found myself unearthing more and more sources of inspiration, all within the confines of a quite ordinary, domestic life.”

Plus, to steal a phrase from Jane, the book is “terribly, terribly English”. So English that it includes a recipe for Chewy Flapjacks, those absolutely addictive oatmeal cookie bars that I fell hard for in London, and have lived without since. Just have to find me some Golden Syrup at the gourmet shop so I can make a batch and I’ll be in heaven. With a cup of tea at my side, of course.

So, what has you all atwitter? Pour a cup of tea, leave a comment and let’s chat.

Finished books. I finally got to this one. It’s the tale of Kingsolver’s family’s year-long experiment to grow as much of their own food as possible–and to eat locally-grown food when they couldn’t raise it themselves. Parts of the book preach to the choir if you already eat mostly organically, and you try to be a locavore. Still, their experiment was much more extensive than anything I could ever undertake, which made it an interesting read. And the writing itself often dazzles. This cheese queen especially loved the chapter on cheese-making: I’m inspired to try making mozzarella to go with our garden tomatoes.

The next book in the queue. I resisted this at the MOMA last week, which only forced me to hunt it down elsewhere when I couldn’t get it out of my mind. Doesn’t the subtitle–A Natural History of the Palette–thrill you? Maybe not. Maybe it sounds about as thrilling as an algebra textbook. But if you’re a color junkie like I am, it sounds like rainbow-colored crack. I hope I like it as much as I’m planning to.

My new planner. It’s the Moleskine 18-month planner and notebook, with weekly planning pages on the left, lined pages on the right. Moleskine touts it as the planner for both right and left-brained thinking, and that’s just what I love about it. My old planner was pretty much the Book of Guilt–full of things I had to do, ought to do, failed to do. This one gives offers just as much space for daydreaming, jotting, and ephemera-gluing. This week’s pages show my brainstorming for this blog entry, as well as a pathetic sketch of a romaine leaf from the garden, done in watercolor pencil. I’m trying to sketch nature with Mr. T–it’s not really my thing, but sometimes I’m surprised with what I come up with. (And I do love those watercolor pencils!)

Finished knitting. I’m really happy with this one. It’s Liesl, by Ysolda. It’s a fantastic pattern: quick-to-knit, and the complexity of the finished product belies the pattern’s simplicity. Also, Ysolda gives lots of options for customizing your cardigan. There’s more on my Ravelry page for you Ravelers out there.

The next project. The most exciting thing about finishing a knitting project–besides getting to wear it–is the thrill of the next one. I’m finally giving in to knitting this: the Coat with Lace Pattern from the Rebecca Special Mohair Issue. If you ever listened to my essay on the podcast Cast On, this is the pattern that tempted me into my knitting obsession. It’s taken me a few years to acquire the gall to believe I can take on a pattern with both lace and coat in its title. 

Links. This one is an article about the benefits of daydreaming. If homeschooling has done nothing else for my kids, it’s certainly encouraged their daydreaming skills! They’re daydream masters, all three. (Although they may have inherited those tendencies from their mother.) Thanks to Melissa at Here in the Bonny Glen for the link.

What has you all atwitter?