This week’s Think Write Thursday prompt is to write about a tree house hideaway.
I am not sure if any of you have seen any of Treehouse Masters on Animal Planet, but I have watched occasionally. Pete Nelson is a creative soul who brings to life a person’s dream tree house.
And, really – who did not dream of a tree house when they were a kid? I sure did! There was a sassafras grove in the woods behind the house where we lived and my sister and I spent hundreds of hours there. I wished for a tree house in that very spot! It would have been perfect!
However, if I was going to have Pete Nelson’s team build me a tree house today – I want it to be modeled on those childhood dreams but with a modern amenity reality that really would make it an oasis.
I know that space would be at a premium in a tree house, so an annex for crafting would be necessary – I mean I am not going to my tree house to get away from the things that relax me most!
But, in the main house, I want there to be windows… so many windows! I want to see the view that the birds and the squirrels see! And, it would need a small kitchen because happy hour and snacks in the tree tops might be the best thing ever.
A loft with more windows and a bed would make it the perfect ‘camp out’ place, don’t you think? Oh… and it would need a bathroom, thank you very much!
A hideaway in the trees might be the best place in the world to spend time!
What about you? Would you like a tree house?
You can see what others have to say about their hideaway in the trees here. If you would like to join Carole and me in these Think Write Thursday journeys, we would love to have you join us! You can sign up here!
Well, it is a week where lots of unraveling is happening here. My sweater that was so close to having the body finished, has been ripped back again – good thing my yarn can take all this knitting and ripping back!
So, why am I ripping back? Simple aesthetics – I don’t like how it looks! The problem is centered around the very thing I liked about the sweater… the line of increases and decreases on the sides. The pattern for my size calls for completing them every 4 rows. However, imo, this was too rapid because I began to worry that the sides would be too big and the front would be too small. (Does this make sense?) So, I tried doing no more increases and decreases but that did not look right… at all. So, I ripped back and tried doing the increases/decreases every 8 rows (and I forgot to do them on one round and did not catch it until 5 or 6 rounds later – so that meant more ripping back.) So here I am ready to do the band at the bottom of the sweater and I look at my knitting and I am really not happy with how it looks. So, I am ripping back, again…all the way back to the point of picking up the stitches at the armholes. Yeah, that far back! It has taken me all week to get to this point, ripping out hours of work is never something to take lightly.
But, this time I have a plan. I will do the decreases less frequently, which I think will give me enough movement on the lines that I like but in a more gradual pace and hopefully the front will still be the front and the sides having some movement forward, but not too much. Does this make me happy? Honestly, no. But, I would be less happy with a sweater that I did not like (which would translate to something I would not wear). It is silly to put so much time into a project and not be happy with it. That is why, sometimes, unraveling is the best solution. It is not painless, but the finished product will be better.
My reading has been usurped by a new book, which I found via Bonny and her suggestion of Netgalley. I am reading The Mountain in My Shoe by Louise Beech. I have a deadline but I am about a third of the way though. I hope to have the book finished by the weekend (well in advance of the deadline!) I will be sharing my thoughts on the book when I have finished it – however, I can tell you this; it’s a mystery and I have no clue who “did it” yet… (which is usually a good thing!)
Some weeks the unraveling is painful – but somehow starting again never is. With determination I am moving forward, even if I had to take some pretty big steps backwards!
I hope your Wednesday will have nothing to unravel but your blog post! And, as always, I am so happy that you are joining us!
Since I told you yesterday about my Rhubarb Dilemma… it has gotten much bigger. Transplantation.must.happen.today.
The Sweater (apparently from hell) is on the verge of rip-back…again. I am very unsatisfied with the way the increases/decreases are looking. Currently, there is an internal debate raging about whether to frog back and re-do them at a different pace…. Yeah. Excitement for this sweater is nil right now.
Some weeks this is the truest statement ever: The faster I go, the more behind I get….
We went from spring to summer in 2.4 seconds, apparently. Now, here is the kicker…. Neither Steve or I were dying from the 80 degree temperatures. We joked about no AC until we went to bed and Sherman was panting and miserable. Perhaps AC and flannel sheets will be all the rage this summer….
I feel like I have this great cloud looming over me… you know, when you feel like you are forgetting something and have absolutely no idea what it could be? I have triple checked my calendars and journal but I find nothing. Yet, the feeling persists.
Speaking of persisting…on April 23 I am attending a Tattoo Fund Raiser and yes… I am getting “nevertheless she persisted” tattooed on my person! I am super excited for new ink!
There you have it, a nothing Tuesday post with somethings. I hope your day is filled with more somethings and absolutely no nothings!
My dear little lilacs are hanging in there, despite some frigidly cold temps at the beginning of the weekend. And, then came Sunday… and it was just glorious!
We actually did yard work and I loved every second of it! Sunshine. Birds. Working in the garden!
My Rhubarb needs to be divided and I fear I might have waited too long. Anyway, I want to put it in a container as they show in this video. I don’t have a container yet. But, it is on my list to get done this week. Hopefully, this does not harm the Rhubarb… but it has to be done.
Also, the raspberries are going crazy! And, spreading like mad! Raspberries should be in abundance this year – and last year was not bad either, I was picking enough berries in one day to make a pint of raspberry jam – so, I am really excited!
Outside of that it was a pretty quiet weekend, although we did go and have lunch with friends at Café Dehli (it was my first time there) and holy crap, was it good! So, when they rolled me out of there after we were done…. Yeah, I am not looking forward to weigh-in this week, lol!
There was some knitting this weekend as well, I will share that with you all on Wednesday.
Hope your Monday is full of good things – mine will be more outdoors than in! And, I could not be happier about that!
Oh, the snow… Yep, s-n-o-w. Crazy how that white contrasts so intensely with the new greens.
However, I immortalized my fragile lilac buds in my stitching yesterday because I fear after today they will be gone. It makes me so sad but I am hoping that it does not get as cold as they are predicting (or, frankly, that we get WAY MORE snow to insulate the tender buds so that they won’t just be a memory stitched into April.)
Stitching has become an obsession for me – I am stitching for my #The100DaysProject but, beyond that it is that thing that rattles most frequently around in my brain. I wake up at night with ideas and inspiration to stitch. It has expanded (??) or perhaps unleashed my creativity and I am eager to get to my stitching every day. With three months of work complete – it has gone from habit to passion. I also love the slowness of the process – a little bit each day and each day builds upon the last. I do not map out anything at all for the month. No drawing, planning, plotting, nothing – just pure inspiration. Somedays, I am really uncomfortable with that days stitiching, but I leave it and come back the next day and build on it. By the end of the month, I am surprised by this: that which made me most uncomfortable is what I like best about the piece. I am learning so much from this process which is always a very good thing!
Now, how about some links?
First up, PAKnitwit shared this gem with me and I simply had to share with you all. I had never heard Carole King sing this, but I love it!
Mary Lou Egan has a new baby sweater from sock yarn! (P.S. She writes excellent patterns!!)
Speaking of sweater – Tegan is the perfect weekend friend. (and more fingering… sorry about that!)
Finally, Calliopsis is Bonnie Sennott’s latest cowl – and she is having a sale on cowls through Sunday. (Who is up for a KAL with this one? It would be the perfect summer cowl!! I think Mary has already started….)
That is all I have for today! Have a great weekend and I will see you back here on Monday!!
This week’s Think Write Thursday topic is to tell you about a book I wish I could read again for the first time.
Well…. really? Where do I begin. Perhaps at the very beginning of my reading life. I would love to go back and experience anew that incredible sensation of the words on the pages making their way into your brain, making sense, and drawing you into the story. For me it happened in first grade – we moved from the City of Holland (and Holland Public Schools) to the “suburbs” (and West Ottawa Public Schools). In Holland, they were using a phonetic reading approach – sounding out the words, which did not work at all for me. I struggled mightily with the process (as curiously did my Heidi as well as many other children around the world).
So, new school and all my class mates are reading and me??? Not so much. Enter Mrs. Hayward – she gathered me up each day and off we went to a little room by the gym and together we would sit and read. I believe the method West Ottawa was using at that time was the “look and say” approach. Where phonic did not work, having someone tell me what a word was did. Soon my reading memory held dozens and dozens and dozens of words. But, I would love to go back in time to feel that excitement that first time reading Fun with Dick and Jane became a story I read that made sense!
Maybe Dick and Jane was not the best book I have ever read even if it was first! Perhaps, the best book would be to go back to Little House in the Big Woods – my first introduction to Pa, Ma, Laura and Mary (and Jack the dog!). The Little House books most certainly hold a special place in my heart. They filled an entire summer reading program’s worth of reading! I devoured them voraciously and read each more than once.
Perhaps, the best book would be Night by Elie Wiesel. I read this in high school and was horrified by man’s inhumanity to man. And, as painful as the reading of this book was – I could not put the book down. Elie’s words made an incredible impact on me and through the reading, I understood that being silent is not always the best thing. Making the right decision is not always the easy one. Powerful lessons for a hopeful teenager…
Perhaps, the book I would like to go back and read for the first time is Mario Puzo’s The Godfather. This was a passage book for me – the first truly adult novel I had ever read. I had graduated from Harlequin Romance novels and moved in the world of meaty reading. It was gritty and descriptive and evocative. It opened my eyes (and mind) to reading that grabbed you and carried you along to the end and left you wanting more!
Or maybe it would be any of the dozens of Dr. Seuss books I read to my children – books they loved so much and were part of our daily lives. Were they my favorite reads? Perhaps not on the millionth time, but the words on the page brought reading alive for my children.
So, you see, I really cannot pick just one book I would like to go back and re-experience – there are far too many to choose from!
But, how about you, Gentle Reader – what book would you go back and read for the first time?
If you would like to see what others had to say about reading you will find them here. If you would like to join Carole and I on this fantastic writing journey, you can sign up here! We would love to have you!
