Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Spare Time

Our days are busy and full around here.  Although Papa Pea and I are both home most of the time, we actually don't see a lot of each other during the day as we've both got our own separate responsibilities and chores on which to focus.

We have breakfast together to start the day, touch base at lunch time, and then again at dinner.  After that last meal, we're both off in different directions to tie up the ends of whatever we've been working on that day.

If all goes well, we end our day in the living room catching up on what's been happening and discussing the plan for the next day.  I'm settled on the couch with either some kind of handwork or a book (usually a novel), and you'll find Papa Pea most often going through old files of his, reading, tossing, or updating (doing this was a big goal for this past winter, but it seems to have seeped over into this summer, too) or reading.  He's a voracious reader in his quest to gather knowledge, learn and satisfy his innate curiosity.


It takes about fifteen minutes (sometimes considerably less) for one of us to start yawning (which, as you know, is highly contagious).  In my case, these huge, uncontrollable yawns cause my eyes to go blurry, then tears start running down my face with each succeeding jaw-cracking yawn.  (It's so bad I actually have to keep kleenex in my robe pocket for mopping up.)

Nine times out of ten, I'm the first one to say I cannot keep my eyes open one more minute, I say good night and shuffle on back to the bedroom.

I tell ya, it's an exciting life we lead around here.  And goes to prove that at least for us, once we stop moving, it's all over. ZZZZ-zzzz-zzz . . .

However, all that being said, I do have proof that a few minutes spent each night sometimes produces results.


This is a soft, soft, oh-so-soft knitted baby blanket I recently finished.  The yarn is machine washable (a must, I think, for a baby blanket that will be used).  It's that chenille-type yarn that's on the market now.  I knit it in a simple basket weave pattern and it turned out a bit larger than I had envisioned.  (But that's what happens when you don't have a pattern and wing it.)  It's more of a crib-size blanket, I think, measuring about 32" wide and 40" long.


So often when I give a baby quilt or blanket to a newborn, there's a two or three-year old sibling that I like to have something for so he/she doesn't feel left out.  I found a pattern for these little knit "kittens" that were fun to make.  Only about 7" tall, soft and easy for little hands to grasp.  I fiddled around with different embroidered yarn faces for them but couldn't come up with one I liked so decided they would be "Amish kittens" with blank faces!

15 comments:

DFW said...

Totally agree about the yawns. Same for us around here. Very pretty baby blanket & cute Amish kittens.

Michelle said...

Love the kitties! Can you share where to find the pattern?

Rain said...

Those kittens are cute :) Mama Pea, not only is yawning in real life contagious, just the mention had me yawning...not to say it was your writing lol ;)...I usually have a tiny glass of red wine after I have dinner, it's wonderful for digestion. But I also call it my "sleeping pill". After a big day of keeping busy, I'm down for the count about ten minutes after dinner. Alex and I always joke around after he does the dishes, he says "bedtime?" and we laugh every time (easily amused as we are!) We start a movie or tv show but inevitably I conk out after my "sleeping pill". I blame it on the need for beauty sleep. :D

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

The kittens are adorable. So thoughtful to think of siblings when someone has a baby. Yeah, I know what you mean about the yawn. We don't get much done after Hubby comes home from work. He is so tired from work alone.

Susan said...

I usually start yawning at 4P and it's downhill from there. What a nice thing - those adorable kittens for the sibling that has to step aside from the limelight after a new baby enters the picture. Yes, yes! Can you share the pattern? I love the colors in that baby blanket!

Mama Pea said...

DFW - Thank you! If only we all could keep from STARTING the yawning at the end of the day!

Mama Pea said...

Michelle - The pattern is in the book "Crafty Creatures" by Jane Bull. I got it from Amazon reasonably priced.

Mama Pea said...

Rain - How I wish a glass of wine would put me out for a good 8 (or more!) hours, but that doesn't seem to do it.

All my growing up and teen years I consistently got 10 hours of sleep a night and seemed to need it. Sadly, I don't think it ever turned out to be "beauty" sleep. ;o)

Mama Pea said...

Kristina - Yes, it's extremely hard to go from an outside job to coming home to work on the homestead. We gals who are home all day need down time at night, too, but that's sometimes hard to come by, isn't it?

Mama Pea said...

Susan - See reply to Michelle up above for the pattern book.

The colors of the blanket didn't come out totally true. The yellow is actually more of a spring yellow than tending toward gold. The blue and green are very "spring-like" also.

MrsDuncanMahogany said...

Such a common theme, the post dinner yawns! I have trouble sitting still, but on the nights that I do finally rest my carcass not long after the yawns start. Or I just simply fall asleep on the sofa. We start work early (645 am for me) so bedtime is early in our house. I do knit in the evenings, but its usually for a very short period of time.

I love that baby blanket! Such wonderful colors!

Mama Pea said...

MrsDM - I can't sit still without doing SOMETHING whether it be handwork, reading, whatever. Even so, that "something" fails to keep me awake after a certain point at night.

Thank you for the nice words regarding the baby blanket. As soon as I saw the yarn, I knew I wanted to make a baby blanket out of it.

Sandy Livesay said...

Mama Pea,

Beautiful baby blanket and kittens!!! Girlie you're just so talented :PPP
I've found working outside on your property in the fresh air will just totally relax you. When you come in,and slow down it's hard to keep your eye's open.

Hugs,
Sandy

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