Oh, I guess I should post something

This past month (as far as fiber goes) I hand painted a skein of sock yarn. A merino/silk blend.


I call the colorway Rainbow Sherbet and I bet you can tell why.








































I finished a sweater for Cay. He picked the pattern and the yarn. I knit it. It suits him very well and he looks so grown up when he's wearing it.

Lastly, I finally started Noah's sweater he also chose the yarn and the type of sweater he wanted. I'm in the process of knitting and designing as I go. Maybe if my instructions are coheirant, you'll see them in the fall or winter addition of knitty.com

Northern California life

I've been such a deficient blogger as of late. You might begin to think that I actually have a life other than sitting on the computer trying to think up pithy things to say. Well, maybe you won't.



Living in Nor Cal is a new experience. You can find yourself totally without anyone to talk to, or anything to do and then the next day you find that the next month is totally booked and you'll have to cancel a few things so that you can take a breath so you don't suffocate. This seems to be the way my life has been ordained.



We've had colds for the past 2 weeks. The kids finally ended their cold cycle with a raging fever. That was fun.



Gardening and Painting have also found ways of keeping us busy.



The California wild fires have had the entire state busy. Our friend has been fighting for the past month and hasn't seen his family. Right now helicopters with bucket of water dangling from them are racing back and forth from a water source to the out of control fire just 12 miles from us. I'm assuming the water is not coming from our river (South Fork of the Eel) because it's all but completely dried up.



The river, yes, our only water source. Living in a temperate rain forest means that it rains in the winter and doesn't in the summer. It didn't rain very much this past winter, so the river and springs didn't have a chance to build up enough water reserve for our summer needs. Lack of water is not an issue this time of year, come back in August and we'll talk about it then. Articles in the weekly newspapers highlight the water issue on the front page. We're going to lose too many of our endangered salmon as they try to make their way upstream to spawn.



Today 450 DEA federal agents showed up in Humboldt County handing out warrants and fulfilling the searches. They won't be done for a few days. Their target was commercial Pot growers. 215 is legal here. Legally, possessors of the card can grow a certain amount and use it. My suspicion is that the DEA is targeting the non 215 growers. (duh?) Our entire community is based on the commercial grower. Commercials for the local feed and garden stores highlight their ability to help you grow your pot the best.



If I had to pick an issue about illegal growing out here, it would be what it's doing to the local economy. Humboldt county is the most expensive place to live in Northern California. For being a country Podunk town prices on normal things have a mark up of 30-50% than that of 60 miles away. If you're not growing or trimming, you'll usually find it a bit hard to afford buying locally. Even with gas prices as high as they are, $4.80 here, you still come out ahead driving the 60 miles to Eureka to do all your shopping.



Enough of my tirade. We have a new family member. A kitten. She's so cute and friendly. Her name is Willow.

Life is good, even when it's bad

Life is a precious gift. It's something we take for granted, it's something we experiment with, risk, warp and abandon. What good is living if there is nothing worth living for? Are you looking for your kids to bring you purpose? What happens if one day they're gone? You're spouse? Your job? What gives your life purpose?

For me it is my God. He has shown me the greatest love, his son's death in place of mine.

Now, I'm His child. I want to live a life that makes Him proud to have me for a daughter. I will not earn His favor, He has given it to me at my lowest place. I live to thank Him for his mercy and grace.

I know too many people who are currently morning the loss of several loved ones.

I know of a young married woman with 2 little kids and expecting their 3rd who has to be delivered at 29 weeks, so she can receive intense chemo for lymphoma and a brain tumor.

I have an aunt who just came home from the hospital after receiving high doses of chemo for multiple mylenoma (blood plasma cancer).

My grandma and great aunt who have the same thing.

A grandfather who is in hospice.

The list could go on and on. I bet you could start one right now.

James 4:14 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)

14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

My life is nothing compared to eternity. What mark will I make? Will I use the time that I've been given wisely? Or will I flitter it away?

I will choose to mirror my God, though I be a dim reflection of Him. When it's my time to go, and my mist vanishes, I want the sweet smell of Christ to linger on.

Time for myself

In 10 days, I will be boarding an Amtrak bus at 8am and enduring the super long trip to San Fransisco. It usually takes about 4 hours if you just hop in the car and go, but on a bus, with multiple stops to pick people up and stop for greasy, nasty, make you sick fast food dinner breaks, well, it'll take me about 8 hours.

After that, I'll catch an actual train and then a shuttle to the airport. I'm flying into Cincinnati, OH. I'm taking a red eye flight so hopefully, I'll just sleep the whole way until I have to change planes in PA. When I flew into Cincy in August, I was very glad to have those little white bags that I'm sure everyone prays they won't ever have to use. Too little sleep mixed with too much turbulence leads to not a good outcome. Why I'm flying over Cincy to PA to change planes and then fly into to Cincy, I have no idea but I'll arrive about 9 am on Sat.

I have a lot of family things to take care of while I'm in town. First off my cousin is having a Bridal Shower on Sunday. My brother and his wife just had a new baby. He was born on March 11. His name is Alex and I can't wait to meet him and do a little baby squeezing. I so miss those days. Those are the days where they haven't learned to talk back yet. I never minded the up a million times a night, or the diapers, or even the spit up. As a matter of fact that's the way my first born let us know he was happy to see us.

When Cay was little, Mike was driving for a large machinery radiator manufacturer. He would be covered in lead dust when he got home. Immediately after coming in the front door, he would strip down to his skivvies and wash his face and hands. Then he would come in a say hi to me and Cay. Then he would shower. We found that this was the only way to avoid 2 or three consecutive showers. Between 6 and 9 months Cay compulsively spit up when he was excited. As soon as he knew Mike was home..blehh... Mike says hi to him....blehh.... Mike picked him up...blehh... well you get the picture. I think the record number of times Mike got hit was 8!!

My grandpa is in the hospital under hospice care. I really need to visit with him also. I also hope, but probably can't due to hospital regulations, to visit my aunt who is dealing with cancer. She's receiving intense treatment right now. Please pray for her healing. Her name is Rosie.

It's a weird feeling having been a stay at home mom for the past 8 years, to think about leaving your family for a full 10 days. The kids have stayed the night with grandparents a few times here and there. I think even 2 nights one time because Mike and I were celebrating our anniversary. But 10 days without my family will be really strange. Mike is awesome. He and the kids had an opportunity to possibly go along, but he thought that it would be easier on me to be able to visit with friends and family.

I'm taking along a knitting project. I think it will be the sweater Caleb asked my to make for him. I was thinking about taking the one Noah picked out, but being that it's full of cables, I think I'll save that for when I'm not going to be toting it around everywhere I go. With Cays sweater, it'll pretty much be a no brainer.

Gosh, with homeschooling, cooking. doing laundry for 4, cleaning, and running the House of Peace, I may not know how to be by myself.

Happy Birthday Caleb!

Today is Caleb's 8th birthday. I can't believe how fast time has gone. I can vividly remember being pregnant with him like it was yesterday. At eight years old, Cay has become very passionate about his beliefs. He reads like an adult and can remember everything he reads and almost everything he hears. He's quite compassionate and gets very excited about mercy outreach. He runs, jumps, climbs, skates, rides his bike, swims and is a very active kid. Cay is also quite helpful. I can always count on him if I need an extra hand.There's a lot more to Cay than meets the eye. He's a great kid and we're blessed to have him for a son. We love you Caleb!

I'm terrible at this

Gosh, I've not been a very good blogger lately. February has been a very busy month but notibly my birthday was the 28th. I'm 32 and I have one grey hair (which strangely happens to be my pride and joy). I've always getting carded when I try to buy a bottle of wine. Here I am, 2 kids in tow, a frazzled look on my face from trying to cut off the barrage of requests for junk at the checkout that covertly tease my kids in this commercialized world. Ughh. So maybe if I can earn a few more grey hairs, I'll not have to deal with the 3 to 4 glances and then a request for my drivers license just to buy that one bottle of sangria that goes so nicely with my homemade tortilla soup

I'd love to tell you what's happening in my knitting world, but alas, my front door is calling me. It's telling me that it wants to be painted barn red. Oh the things we do for inanimate objects!

I just love my husband

I love my husband so much. We'll be married 14 years in March and we've spent half of our lives together already.

Last night I was getting some spinning done and Mike was laying in bed with the boys. Noah was telling everyone a story about a strange dream that he had. After we tucked the boys into their own beds Mike told me that I was a good wife. He usually tells me that, but I wasn't sure why this time, being that all I had done was sit and spin and then we both tucked the boys in. He said it was because first of all he was very blessed to have good, loving boys. And second, because he has a very beautiful, talented wife and things could have turned out a lot different.

I asked him what sparked all of this, and he told me that while Noah was telling a story he could hear my wheel spinning softly and it just hit him.

There's so much to love about Mike, but when he gives me a compliment, he really knocks me off my feet.

I'm selling!

My handmade knits that is.

I just started an etsy site.

jadeturtlejulie.etsy.com

I've been selling a lot my word of mouth and doing custom orders. Just thought it was time to branch out and see how some pre-made things go.

Back on line

But now I have to think of something to say....be back.

Stay tuned...

I apologize for not being an active blogger here.

I promise to be back and intrigue you with more intellectual witticisms.