A tisket, a tasket...

...a handcrafted basket, made by me!


A company called Cherished Baskets teaches a basket workshop once a month at the B'ville library, and I finally got around to attending, this past Saturday. You pay a fee for the materials and the guidance, but you do the weaving.

This basket is called, for obvious reasons, a bandana basket:


The bandana can easily be changed out, since the corners of the bandana are simply pushed through holes in the corners of the basket.

We started at the very beginning, laying out strips for the bottom and weaving cross pieces, then adding the sides. The first side row was a bit fiddly, as was bending and tucking the support pieces at the top, but it was not as difficult as I thought it would be. There were seven people in the workshop, so getting the leader's attention and help was not difficult, and I enjoyed the company of the other participants. I don't know if I will make another basket, but I am quite pleased with this one!

Gone fishing

This past week was Aidan's spring break and, for the most part, it was a washout - cold, windy and wet. It rained every day except yesterday and when James saw the forecast, he decided to take the day off from work and take Aidan fishing. They left a few minutes after seven yesterday morning, bundled up in multiple layers against the mid-30s temperatures.

Aidan was eager to start fishing:


Here he takes a break to eat a snack:


When they returned eight hours later, they had three fish:


Aidan was quick to tell me that he had caught all three!

The fish are some particular type(s) of trout, but I just called them dinner:

I what? I won?

On Saturday morning, we went out to Beaver Lake to the CNY Wool and Fiber Frolic, sponsored by the Golden Fleece Spinners’ Society. It was a wet, chilly day and the event was held indoors, so thank goodness there were only a handful of vendors. Still, the room was very full and very warm.

I was not wowed by most of what I saw, which was both a disappointment and a relief. But I did enjoy wandering around and perusing the goods. Aidan bought a pottery coffee mug for me as a birthday present and James bought a beautiful handcrafted wood pepper mill.

There were a few items being raffled, and I was shocked to learn later than I won one of the items! I won a basket put together by Linda at Rainbow Acre Fiber Farm, and she delivered my basket of goodies on Monday.


The basket contains:
- 900 yards of hand dyed wool yarn
- a drop spindle
- 2 bars of goat milk soap
- 1 set stitch markers
- 1 jar lavender soft soap
- 2.5 ounces of French angora fiber


I bought the least amount of raffle tickets possible, so I was surprised that I won anything. Aidan immediately asked if he could use one of the goat milk soaps in the bath and I am pleased that it appears very mild and is not irritating his oh-so-sensitive skin.

The color of the yarn is gorgeous but I will be blunt: it is scratchy. The label only says "wool" so I have no idea what kind of sheep it came from. Aidan felt the yarn and said, "It's itchy." When James touched it, he said, "It is really rough!" Good grief, I have turned the whole family into yarn snobs! I think the yarn will be perfect for a felting project, so I will put it aside to make a bowl, basket or bag.

A delicious start to a great day

Here is the breakfast that greeted me on Saturday morning:


It was my birthday, and Aidan and James made breakfast for me - the smiley face out of food was Aidan's idea!

Spring Fever

Aidan drew this lovely picture last week:


I particularly like the smiling worm in the bottom left corner, the ladybug, and the spider, spinning a web.

Aidan wants me to send it to his former music teacher, Mrs. Schmidt, because he said that last spring, she taught his class the song "Spring Fever". Anyone know how I can locate a retired music teacher?

The MOST fun

What a fun weekend we had! On Saturday, James and Aidan participated in a Cub Scout fishing derby at Van Buren park and I went along to spectate and knit. It was a gorgeous day - temps around 60, sunny, light breeze.

While many of the Scouts were loud, boisterous and lost interest in fishing quickly, Aidan was a very patient fisherman:


He did not catch any fish, but he had fun and was able to practice casting, and he was casting much farther out by the end of the afternoon.

Yesterday was Aidan's belated birthday celebration. We gave him several choices of celebratory events, and he chose to take two friends to the MOST, Syracuse's Museum of Science and Technology. We picked up Ryan and Becket around 11, then drove to Five Guys for lunch where we all chowed down on hamburgers and french fries.

Then it was on to the MOST. The boys immediately got busy exploring the exhibits but the star of the afternoon was the Science Playhouse, which is described on the web site as "a giant climbing maze that illustrates scientific principles with a number of exciting activities within." Let's be real, people: it's a giant gerbil maze for children. Aidan told me today that he counted eleven levels in the playhouse; it is a McDonalds playland on steroids. James and I had no idea where any of the boys were in the playhouse at any given time.

Speaking of James, here he is sporting a giant brain:


We ended our visit with a presentation in the planetarium, which gave us all time to relax and cool down before driving home. I think all three boys had a great time:

On display

Aidan brought home a note from his art teacher last week, stating that his artwork was on display at Beaver Lake for the month of April. The exhibit is sponsored by the New York State Art Teachers Association, Central Region, and the theme of the exhibit is nature, either realistic or abstract. Aidan's teacher was allowed to submit only five pieces of student artwork from his school. Yay, Aidan!

We drove out to Beaver Lake yesterday to view his artwork. Aidan was very proud that he created his artwork on his own at home and took it to his teacher, whereas the other students from his school created their artwork as part of class projects.

Nature is creating some lovely artwork of her own; it is good to see signs of spring emerging. While strolling around Beaver Lake, we saw these lovely little flowers poking through the leaves:

Interview with Aidan 2011

For the third year, I interviewed Aidan using the same set of questions as in the previous years. Here are the questions, and the unprompted and unedited answers:

1. What is something Mommy always says to you? Go clean your room before you play computer

2. What makes Mommy happy? A Cuba Libre and steak

3. What makes Mommy sad? When I come home from school with a bad report

4. How does your mommy make you laugh? Silly faces

5. What was Mommy like as a little girl? Pouty

6. How old is Mommy? 47

7. How tall is she? Five feet, seven inches

8. What is her favorite thing to do? Knit and drink

9. What does Mommy do when you're not around? Laundry and work

10. If your mommy becomes famous, what will it be for? The most times saying “Clean up your room” in a year award

11. What is Mommy really good at? Hugs

12. What is Mommy not very good at? Being a waitress

13. What does Mommy do for a job? You stay at home and do boring things

14. What is Mommy's favorite food? Steak, onion rings and a hamburger

15. What makes you proud of your mommy? That you are nice to me and when I’m sad, you make me feel better

16. If Mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be? The Amazing Knitting Girl, with a sword made out of yarn

17. What do you and Mommy do together? Watch Wipeout

18. How are you and Mommy alike? We don’t like famous movies that other people like

19. How are you and Mommy different from each other? Hair color

20. How do you know Mommy loves you? You always give me hugs and kisses

21. What does Mommy like most about you? I don’t know

22. Where is Mommy's favorite place to go? Beaver Lake

In some ways he is insightful and in others, completely nine years old. If you are interested, you can read the interviews from 2010 and 2009.