The Hullabaloo of Oni Wolda

Welcome to my blog!

I’m a stay-at-home Mom who writes about knitting, spinning, my two amazing little boys, and sci-fi shows and movies such as Doctor Who and Firefly. I also do a fair bit of whining about housework and ill-timed construction projects, but please don’t let that scare you away.

As any stay-at-home Mom of young children will tell you, sometimes we feel isolated. Contact from the outside world, with someone who’s got more on their mind than the Very Hungry Caterpillar and when the next episode of Dora is on, is pretty exciting. It would really make my day if you'd comment.

So, please check out the most recent entry below, and enjoy your visit!

Oni Wolda



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Back in the 70's there was a club called Fad-of-the-Month. It was a craft club with a little project that came in the mail. My Mom subscribed to that, and I remember her sitting at the kitchen table, on some very hot summer days, glue bottle in hand, assembling small school desks with tiny pencils, rulers and apples - gifts for our teachers come December. She looked forward to these wee packages in the mail. It was a treat to a house-bound Mom trying to survive the long summer vacation.

I certainly don't have it as hard as my Mom did back then. I have a car. I have a pool. I have (praise be to the inventors of such a device) air conditioning! My kids are rarely bored, but when they are, we simply plan a playdate, go to the library, or shop the thrift stores (okay, the last option is when Mommy's bored!)

Even with the kind of luxury and freedom I'm blessed with, I still get an enormous thrill out of seeing a certain small square package arrive in the mailbox.

Yay! Spunky Fiber Club!!!

Each month, I get a sample, usually about 4 oz, of a uniquely dyed fiber. I've received some fibers I'd never even known existed! One thing all the fibers have in common, however, is that they usually turn into yarn before the end of the day.



After a soothing break of spinning and listening to my favorite podcast, I can return with renewed energy to my Mommy duties. Who knew such contentment could arrive in a small cardboard box? I'll bet my Mom did.

See... I keep my promises! I finished sorting through the Pennsylvania pictures this morning and picked out a few more treasures.

First, I have to mention how disappointed I am that the Amish are not fiber snobs at all. These were the only sheep I spied the entire trip! This sheep was actually part of an "Amish Tour" and when I asked the guide whether anyone spun on a real Amish farm he chuckled and said that that was an "English thing" and that the Amish buy their yarn at Walmart. Geesh.



This trip really wasn't about Hershey Park or Amish Village, though. The most amusing sights I saw on this trip was my little niece, who I hadn't seen since she was a baby...



...the boys playing with their little cousin...



...and their Uncle Bill...



...and the whole family being together again!

It may appear that I've been doing nothing but lounging in the shade with a cool drink in my hand, but, really, it's been a busy summer!!

Eli still has services four days a week, so I'm spending as much commuting and waiting-room time as ever. We've enjoyed some playdates and have made some new friends. Oh, and we've spent hours and hours in the pool! (Owen has learned to swim underwater this year!) We've got a trip to Storyland planned, and tickets for the Monmouth Theater for next week.

Steve's taken the boys to Funtown USA, the Maine Aquarium, A Day Out With Thomas, and to a fancy digital 3D movie.

My yarn/fiber adventures have been few and far between, but I've raided the stash for several projects and have cranked out a few FO's I'm pleased with.

Socks have been my constant traveling companion.



I've done a little sewing, too, but nothing I'm satisfied with yet. This bag is very serviceable, but not quite what I was hoping for.





While rummaging for my sewing tools, I found a poor, partially finished teddy bear. I must have begun him over seven years ago. He looked so pathetic sitting in my sewing box with no ears! I made him some ears and then decided he needed a red sweater. The boys and I have been reading "Teddy Left Behind" and Eli declared my unfinished teddy looked a lot like the one in the book. So I found a generic doll sweater pattern and whipped one up for him.



For the past month I've been knitting and frogging another Forest Canopy Shawl. Some days I'd pick up the needles, knit one or two repeats, find a mistake, and take out everything I'd knit that afternoon. I was beginning to wonder if I'd make any progress at all. But one evening it all came together.



I'm particularly proud of this project, as it's entirely made of merino/silk yarn I spun myself!

On a recent visit to The Knitting Experience, I discovered a new pattern by Knitting Pure & Simple (my favorite pattern company!) for a Little Girl's Shrug. I'm still planning to make most of my Christmas gifts this year, and I thought this would be perfect for Baby Abby.



The yarn was butter-soft and I think it will look cute over a jumper or tunic shirt.

I know I still owe the blog some Pennsylvania pictures, but I'm too PhotoBucket-ed out for this morning to deal with them yet. Soon, though. I promise.

Hope you are all having a fantastic summer!

There's all kind of fun going on here in PA! The trains are awesome (more pics to come) Shoo-fly-pie is delicious, and we spent today in an Amish village.

I couldn't wait to show off this picture!



It's going to be hard to split apart the families again tomorrow as we each head for home....

Hershey Park was a hoot! The cousins, after some initial shyness, got along very well. I'm so proud of how protective Owen is of his little Abby.



Can't write more now, as we're heading out the door to go to the Strasburg Railroad! The boys are so excited for their train ride!

Tomorrow morning we're heading to Pennsylvania! We're meeting up with my brother and his family and are going to check out Hershey Park and the Amish country.

I'm bringing along the laptop, but don't know whether I'll have the opportunity to blog from there.

So, in case you don't hear from me, I'll leave you with the cuteness that is two very excited little boys!

The boys and I sat on the front porch gazing at this rainbow until it entirely faded away.

Meet our new friend - Toady!



He's a leopard gecko. Friendly little guy, too. Doesn't even get miffed by all the car insurance jokes.

His diet consists of meal worms, wingless fruit flies (I don't ask questions), and crickets.



I've already got my hands full with the furry pets, so Toady's living at Steve's apartment. That doesn't make me feel too bad. I've got to admit that the live bug diet grosses me out a bit.

Eli has re-discovered Caillou on PBS and is rather obsessed with the show.

One extraordinarily lucky day I found Gilbert the stuffed cat at the Goodwill. Another day, Eli said he wanted a teddy just like Caillou's, and in among my collection was a bear that exactly fit the bill.

But when he begged for a Rexy the dinosaur, I was helpless. No such toy appears to have ever been made, and none of the dinosaurs Eli owns resembles the very plain blue stuffed t-rex from the show.

I leafed through multiple toy pattern books and found what could be, if properly tweaked, a good Rexy-look-alike. I dusted off the White sewing machine, found my sewing notions box, and dove into the project.

Four hours later, Eli had Rexy in his hands.



Kinda makes me want to keep the sewing machine out for a bit. I got a free pattern for a tote bag while I was picking up Rexy's flannel. I wonder if I could figure out how to make it.....

Ain't she pretty?

I've been working on the Forest Canopy shawl for months. I'd pick it up, knit a repeat or two, sometimes make an error that would undo that little bit of progress and then stuff the thing back into the basket for a few weeks. Then, suddenly, last week, I dragged it out and the whole lace thing seemed to make more sense to me. I was tired of being afraid of making mistakes and just chugged along as though I had all the confidence in the world. Before I knew it, I was working on the cast-off edge!



This experience made me cocky enough to immediately cast on another shawl in a luxurious merino/silk yarn I spun myself.

I see the lesson this shawl has taught me. There are many such lessons to be learned from knitting. Who needs therapy? I've got yarn and pointy sticks!

It may sound like an ad, but I'd shout it from the mountain top - I LOVE Living Crafts Magazine! It's this perfect mix of knitting, felting and kids crafts that has me drooling over every project.

The kids and I had a blast making these beeswax snails!



The magazine recommends a beeswax modeling clay, but I found that a block of beeswax from the candle aisle at Craftmania, if left on a plate in the hot driveway, will soften and be pliable enough to roll into a snail shape.

I got a giant block of beeswax for $9 (and we only used about 1/4 for the project), black seed beads for .89, and two bags of shells for .99 ea. Not only did we thoroughly enjoy putting the little creatures together, but the kids have been playing with them nonstop since! We've set up a "snail school" on our kitchen table!

There are several other projects we're anxious to make, like wooden stilts and wool roving butterflies. And I have enough knitting projects in just three magazines (loved it so much I bought the back issues) to keep me busy all summer!

We'll now return you to your regular programming.

We spent an interesting evening at Owen's school painting, coloring and pasting. The event was very well coordinated and the kids had an awesome time. I tried dozens of times to post a slideshow right here in the middle of my entry, but it obviously ain't gonna happen. If you really want to see the pics, you need to do the clicky thing.

Q: What do you get when you pour hot water down a rabbit hole?
A: A Hot Cross bunny.



Q: And what do you get when you wake Mommy at 6:30 a.m. for an Easter egg hunt?
A: *edited due to sacred holiday* 

My little guy is 5 years old today!



We'll be spending the morning baking his birthday cake. I wonder if he can bear to part with some Godzilla action figures long enough for me to decorate his cake with them...

I'm sure I've mentioned that I have a very picky pair of eaters at my house. It actually goes beyond pickiness and is one of the boys' sensory issues as well, with gagging and fear of some textures. Not the thing one can handle with "you're going to sit there until you've eaten everything in your plate." We'd be at the table 24 hours a day.

Owen has gotten a little more adventuresome lately,though, and has asked to try some new foods. Some he nibbled at and didn't like, but others he was pleasantly surprised with.

Who would have thought Fantastic Foods brand Nature Burgers would come out on top!



Gotta admit, they were pretty yummy...



...for a moo-less burger!

The kids and I have finally begun to recover from this cold/flu thing that kicked our butts over February vacation. We still aren't back into the swing of things, as our routines keep getting interrupted with these weekly blizzards and school cancellations.

Our latest storm, thankfully, arrived on a Saturday so at least we didn't have to use another snow day. We got a whopping 12" to 16" inches. The kids could barely walk in the snow, and mostly waded around in the driveway where the snow was only up to their knees. There's too much snow for sledding! Can you believe it?! For those not living in the Northeast, here's a tiny example of our March weather (starring two snowy Godzillas).

 

Here's hoping for a nice normal work/school week ahead.  (I'm just going to ignore the prediction of snow/sleet/freezing rain for Tuesday and Wednesday.)

The nasty flu bug the boys and I have been dealing with these last three days didn't keep us from venturing out into the cold to witness the eclipse.



My fingers were numb by the time I had finished tinkering with the camera, trying to coax it into focusing on that dim, distant orb. In the forty pics I shot, the closest I came to something recognizable was this.



It was absolutely amazing. Makes me realize I don't look heavenward nearly often enough.