Ye Olden times

Isn't he just adorable. Or maybe it is a she. I'm afraid I didn't check. LOL

The family went to a medieval village this weekend and had a lovely day. The girls helped to crush apples in a cider making demo (sadly, no cider to be sampled). We ate at the Inn, although the girls only sampled the food Himself and I were eating. We watched a play, and that was where the girls found the sheep (there were two, but one was sleeping) and decided to share a bit of grass. The youngest was a bit nervous about getting too close to the teeth.

The oldest DD went in for some archery and did quite well for her first ever attempts. There were a few arcade type games; a cross-bow shoot-the-dragon game, a catapult-&-sink-the -ships game, a catapult-knock-down-the-castle-walls game and a fire-the-cannon-and-smash-the-towers game. They both played these several times and did very well. They seem to have better hand/eye coordination than mom, which is a good thing. However, I don't think I'll be getting them many toys that can be launched/shot at me in the future. They're too good.

The girls also made some candles. This was a lot of fun, something I would enjoy doing more of in the future. I'm not sure they would have the patience for this if it were an on-going hobby though. I think it was the crowd of other people trying it out and the novelty that kept them going. The wax was in a pot of water over a big fire, and that was cool too (as it were). Until the wood popped a bit of coal onto my youngest DD's foot. She wasn't hurt badly, but it stung a bit and she was mightily offended that the fire would do that to her. Her enthusiasm for the candle making dimmed a bit from that point. I would still enjoy it, but I probably wouldn't do it over an open fire sort of thing. The electric stove doesn't pop out sparks like that, so she might give it a try again.



Knitting-wise, not much going on these days. I need to get a photo of the slipper up, but it isn't quite completed yet. I've gotten part of the top bit done, but I've had to stop. I am crossstitching another quilt square for a wedding at church and I have a due date of Sept 5. I've spent maybe 45 minutes on it so far and I've got a looooong way to go. The quilt is all in various shades of blue and white, so it is pretty and a nice break from the earth tones of the last 3 or 4 quilts. I'm not saying earth tones aren't pretty, I'm just saying 3 or 4 quilt squares all in shades of brown, rust and cream get a bit old after a while. The stitch patterns are interesting, but not that interesting, and they don't compensate for repetitive color schemes. I'm enjoying the six shades of blue (although two are so close in color that I don't think the difference will be visible unless they are right next to each other in a good light).

Once I finish the quilt square I'll be able to get back to the slippers. I'm also working on a new website for myself. I kind of needed something professional looking for a position I am applying for this week. So, my evenings have been full of computery stuff and I've really missed the ability to sit down with the knitting and just go. Does that make sense? Crossstitch is fun, I love it, but right now I want the simplicity of the slipper project. One yarn & just keep going. The multiple threads of the crossstitch, trying to decide what shade of blue to use where, etc., isn't quite as relaxing. That's okay, I've got two weeks at most & then it will be finished. I wonder if I will have adjusted into a crossstitch mode by then? I've got a few of those projects I'd like to finish too. heh, heh, heh

Yep. I really need to take up candlemaking...