I’m feeling so much more refreshed after an entire weekend spent at home. We were busy the whole time, but we were home. I needed to slow down, and take some time for self-care. I did a ton of laundry, cleaned around the house, made lots of lemon water to keep us hydrated in the heat, and spent hours in the kitchen making food (and cooking a few big batches of staples to freeze for the weeks ahead- something I like to do every few weeks if I can.) I read books with Bracken and went on a walk with him to pick berries, helped Jeff with some outdoor projects, and cleaned up around the yard. I took an epsom salt bath, finished up a knitting project, and cast on for a new one. (It never ceases to amaze me how even a very short period of time spent knitting can help me to relax as much as it does! We’ve all got to find those things that help us relax, right?)

Sunday night our family listened to an audiobook while we ate dinner. When we were done eating, we listened while Bracken drew and I knit, and Jeff got so relaxed he fell asleep (and I turned the audiobook off so he wouldn’t miss anything.) The weekend at home with my family regenerated my spirit so much, and I felt very grateful for it. As my breathing slowed and deepened throughout the weekend, it made me more aware of the tendency to take shallow breaths during times when I’m in a hurried swirl of errands.. and to-dos.. and deadlines.. and getting to places on time.. and non-stop running around.. and sometimes doing too much and still trying to accomplish just one more thing.

I put a lot of pressure on myself sometimes, and expect myself to be a superhero in how much I get done in a day. (Are any of you nodding your head right now, often doing the same thing?) Last weekend I let myself off the hook and decided to wait on a big project I’d been wanting to get to, and instead just focus on catching up on things and being with my family. It was exactly what I needed. Daily life is busy enough on it’s own, before anything else is added to it, and sometimes I need to simplify and get back to basics. (Like making snacks and meals for those days away from home that are especially busy!) During this week ahead, I’m setting my intention to be more conscious of my breathing and take slow, deep breaths. I can do that no matter how busy I am, I just need to remember!

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I wrote that yesterday morning when I woke up extra early and had some quiet time and space to write. I came to share a knitting project, but had other things on my mind. I’m smiling at what I wrote because by Monday evening I was feeling overwhelmed and exhausted again, not relaxed and breathing deeply. (But reading my words reminded me and perhaps tomorrow I’ll do a better job of slowing my breathing down again.) Now, the house is quiet for the night with the boy fast asleep, and I best get to writing about the knitting before it gets too late. I’ve been really looking forward to sharing this hat project! Throughout the winter and spring, I knit a hat for Bracken’s cousin and for some of his friends. During all the hat knitting, I also thought that Bracken was ready for a new hat himself and because of my current obsession with colorwork, I wanted his hat to include that. I found the pattern Anders on Top by Sorren Kerr and absolutely fell in love with it.

{Picture from last September at the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival.} 

I had a special skein of alpaca yarn (my very softest skein I had) that I had been saving especially for my boy, from Black Wolf Ranch & Fiber. I had a little bit of leftover green yarn from the hat I knit for him before, from Sincere Sheep, that was perfect for the trees. Brooke (from Sincere Sheep) suggested the blue yarn for the other parts besides the trees. I’m glad she did, and that I knit it with those three colors, because I love the way it turned out. I knit most of the hat during the yarn crawl in March, and finished it when we got home. I finally got some pictures of Bracken wearing it when we went to the beach weeks back. Summer time and wool hats don’t exactly go together, but it was a windy beach day so Bracken was fine with wearing it for a short time while I took some action shots.

I learned a few things while I knit this hat- the yarns I used were all worsted weight, but the alpaca yarn varied from the wool yarn enough that it made my knitting look a bit wonky at first. I was nervous about that, but when I blocked the hat it all smoothed out and looked fine. (I’ll have to keep that in mind with future colorwork projects- to make sure my yarns match really well in terms of thickness.) The other thing I learned during this project is that I have to knit more loosely with colorwork because the strands on the back were a bit too tight in some places, making it so the hat won’t fit him for as long. I have the yarn for another hat, though, and plan to knit him another one because I enjoyed knitting it so much. I love the trees and the look of snow falling on them, and of course the pom pom. I’ve knit many hats over the years, and of them all- his tree hat is one of my very favorites!