Firstly lets address the nakedness… anyone else have a child who just seems intent on NOT wearing clothes? It’s not an unusual thing in our house, this is naked child number two… but it’s freezing!!! I’m walking around with tights under my leggings, and layering tops until I look like the Michelin man, and he’s strolling around with it all out!
On the topic of being cold, we’ve had a serious drop in temperature this past week. On Wednesday I was surprised (and slightly excited) to see our first snow of the season! R said “it doesn’t usually snow before Christmas does it?” He’s kinda right.., the last few years our proper snows have come late January into February.
E is taking this as a sign we might get a white Christmas… possibly wishful thinking.
Moving swiftly onwards to something that makes me feel much warmer… knitted sweaters! I’m on a mission this year to knit jumpers and vests for my boys. It’s been a bittersweet process because for as long as I can remember we’ve had grans to knit for us. M’s gran used to make the boys jumpers every year but sadly she passed a few years back, and my gran has developed Parkinson’s and can no longer hold her needles to knit.
Back in October I was sat looking through old photos, and thinking fondly of those lovely warm sweaters my boys used to wear, and the many knitted projects my gran made for me. My mum knits, and will often make a jumper or hat when she has time, but it occurred to me that other than her, we no longer have anyone in the family who knits. Who will keep that tradition of knitting lovely cosy clothing for all the family kids? I decided it was time to step up…
Knitting has never been my strong point. For some reason I’ve always found it slightly tedious and incredibly frustrating. All those stitches to drop! Crochet on the other hand was my first love… can’t drop much when there’s only one stitch! So up until now my knitting has been confined to hats and small projects like dish cloths. So I’m sat there thinking to myself “you can knit a hat for goodness sake, you know how to read a pattern, and you can look up any stitches you don’t know on YouTube… Just get on with it!” So get on with it I have!
My first attempt was this little vest for O. It fits neatly over his wool tops and under a wool jumper as an extra layer for winter playtime, and for forest school. I adapted the pattern slightly as I wasn’t keen on the thick ribbed arm holes, so just omitted the ribbing and left the arm holes rolled. I also added a little pocket for treasures with surface stitched acorns. I’m putting this away for Christmas… shh
My current project is a knitted jumper for E complete with colourwork yolk. It’s worked top down which means less sewing up at the end (winner!) but a whole new style of knitting for me to learn. I’ll post a picture once it’s done.
In education news this week, we’ve been doing a “Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone” book study. This is partly in preparation for a surprise trip to the Warner Brothers Studio Tour we have planned for December, and partly because I needed something the boys would engage with for language arts. R is definitely finding his teen emotions at the moment, and getting him to engage with anything other than sitting in his room with audible is a struggle. He loves Harry Potter though (he’s listening to them all again for like the fifth time) so it seemed like a good detour from our usual work.
We’ve been creating a magical devices field guide, using galleons and knuts to practise our maths, writing with a quill and ink, researching Brazil and Boa Constrictors, tracking fictional shooting stars across the UK and learning some new places along the way!
Our favourite literary themed activity this week was definitely recreating the knickerbocker glory that Dudley had at the zoo. The boys had great fun going mad with the syrup and sprinkles, and they were all defeated by them (mummy snuffled the leftovers). On a side note, why can’t I find normal wafers anywhere?!?
This is my fave kind of learning, but it does take more planning time than following something pre-made. I’m debating wether to carry this on in the new year… but do I finish the rest of the Harry Potter books, or switch to something else?! Hmm need to think on it. The nice thing about doing topic based learning is it can be nicely adapted to suit any age group, which is handy with a spread of ages between 12 and 5.
We rounded things off this week with a walk with friends. Was one of those lovely wintery type walks where it’s nippy, but sunny all at the same time. We walked around a quarry pond and stopped to feed the ducks, swans, moorhens, and of course the seagulls who were sat greedily eyeing us up as we arrived.
Of course the kids had to name all the ducks with a bit of character! Their particular favourites were a shiny black duck that looked part Pekin, and a duck with a fluffy head that they called Gerald. The two swans got nicknamed Bob and Bobbie. I have to admit this cheeky white one was my fave… he enjoyed posing for the camera haha!
I hope you’ve had a lovely week wherever you are, and that next week will be full of fun times too!
The Wildling Within 
Leave a comment