Dusting off the old blog...WHAT!

 After some recovery emails and password resetting I found my way to this old blog! 

Not sure what I will do with it. 

There is a new school year... There will be three homeschooled Wiedz... There will be two public-schooled Wiedz... There is a college-aged Wiedz...

It has been almost 5 years since my last post...so much has changed.

I am different. I have learned so much about myself, my goals, my identity, my parenting, my relationships. 

The world is different. Progressiveness, politics, culture, social media. 

My hobbies are the same. My worldview is the same.

Maybe not much has changed, after all.

Nice to know Blogger hasn't changed much either...maybe there will be blogging as part of my 2021 and beyond.

A Birthday Mara

Mr. Wiedz's mom's birthday is at the end of the month and since she will be back in the sun in Arizona and I had completed the gift I was making for her we had an impromptu/surprise birthday time this past weekend with the family surrounding #3 and #4's soccer tournament...

Mara shawl using some wonderful yarn I had found at Desert Vista Dyeworks, the color way is called "Arizona Sunrise" which is what led me to *having* to purchase it and it *having* to become a shawl for her in the first place. I loved how the fabric of this turned out. It is so light, yet when it's on it creates such warmth! The drape is lovely and the fiber was dreamy to work with. The colors so vibrant...I'll be stalking their store for more!

New project...new blog post

I've done something I haven't done in months...maybe years! I'm blogging!

I'm going to try to post weekly (yarn along anyone)...maybe more if the mood/inspiration strikes.

I also have a new project going. My beautiful three skeins of Soft Donegal I picked up at VKLive Chicago was calling to be a sweater for #6. Children's Neckdown Pullover pattern and we've got ourselves a project. (Revelry notes here)

Project :: Wedding Gift Pillowcases

Mr. Wiedz and I attended a wedding last September of some dear friends. I brainstormed quite a few options for gifts...can't even remember them now but I do think I was thinking KitchenAide mixer at one point.

Mr. Wiedz suggested our traveling to Alabama for the wedding was gift enough. But I couldn't really go to a wedding empty handed.

I thought a compromise would be a hand-made gift. Some of my most favorite wedding gifts are the embroidered pillowcases we received so I decided to go that route and started brainstorming designs.

The groom was from Colorado and the bride was from Alabama so I decided to draw the two state flowers intertwined. Columbine and peonies. 

It took longer than I thought it would to embroider the design so we did attend the wedding empty-handed. And it took a really long time for me to decided what kind of body fabric I wanted and to actually purchase it. Then it took even longer to sew the pillowcases together (the sewing took a couple sessions one day but the fabric sat in a pile on my desk for awhile then washed but hanging for a few more months). Finally almost a year after the wedding I was able to get these hand-made beauties in the mail for the happy couple.

I love how they turned out and intend this to be my go-to wedding gift in the future.

Someone is 13!!!!

My sweet #1 is 13 today. Everyday with her has been a gift. I am so blessed to be on this journey with her.

She wanted a float down the river with her dad this morning. So we (I'm the shuttle driver) were up before sunrise so they could float and see the sunrise on her 13th birthday.

Later this afternoon we will pick up her friends, the set from her old school meeting the set from her new school, head to the mall for good old fashioned mall trolling and a movie. Then we'll come home for pulled pork dinner and cake. (#6 helped with cake decorating this morning.)

Happy Birthday to the gift that made me a mother.

:: Yarn Along ::

Joining Ginny at Small Things for Yarn Along again today...

Sorry I didn't take a cuter pic this morning...treadmill time beat out "stage a cuter yarn along picture" time. You understand.

On the needles :: That above my friends, is the back of Mr. Wiedz's sweater! All bound off and waiting for the front and sleeves to be done. It was a complicated bind off (what part of this sweater isn't complicated) but I finally stole the last few minutes I needed yesterday afternoon and got it done. I cast on for the front last night. Ribbing. 110 stitches of 2x2 ribbing...but ribbing isn't complicated so I'll take it :).

On the nightstand :: Still reading The Maze Runner . It's good and I think I'm finally to the start of major action. My book club picked Don't Waste Your Life so I've got to try to get that downloaded and started soon.

:: Yarn Along ::

Joining Ginny at Small Things...

Mr. Wiedz went to the Vogue Knitting Live show in Seattle a few weeks ago for work and amongst the mounds of yarn he brought home for me was a swift!!! I had been wanting one for quite awhile and LOVE the one he got. It's the Super Swift II (ball winder too!)from Paradise Fibers...it's dreamy.

The downside of a swift is now that I have the ability to ball my own yarn so easily I find myself balling and then starting new projects...

On the needles :: right now there is too much on my needles. I've picked Mr. Wiedz's sweater back up. I took a new knitting friend to the yarn store the other day and while there picked up all the yarn needed to finish Mr. Wiedz's sweater so I won't have dye lot issues again. I'm working on my first Milo for #6. I wanted it a little big so it would fit her next fall so cast on for the 3T size. My yarn must be not worsted like the label said because the vest will fit her sometime between 4-5...maybe she'll wear it the first time she goes to kindergarten! Found yarn I know will be the right weight and will be casting on another one...they are great to knit! I started a hat for #4 yesterday...all mama-made beanies were too small for him the other day and he's desperate for a soccer practice hat. #3 will be after that. I also gathered all supplies necessary to make a mason jar cozy for a birthday coming up. Hmmmm, I must have cast-on-itis!

On the nightstand :: Got The Maze Runner (affiliate link :)) on my kindle after seeing the trailer for the movie coming soon. So far great book but I don't allow a lot of time in my day for reading so it's going slow.