Felting phase 1

I'm taking a felting class through community ed. It's been super fun. And turns out that the instructor is another Pioneer Valley grad (Hampshire). Don't find many around these parts so that's fun. The end result of our project will be a pair of slippers. I'll keep you posted on how that goes. We practiced the whole process and made a small piece of felt to start.

Raw wool. Yes, that IS sheep poop in there. I'm impressed you knew that without smelling it.

Washing the wool.

Clean(ish) wool. I washed it again after this.

We carded it, felting it and ended up with a finished piece of wool about the size of a sheet of paper.

A star cut from my finished practice piece of wool. Looks pretty good!

Thanksgiving Randoms

Pam and Brian came up to Duluth on Friday. We went to Bentleyville (I snuck away from work for a few minutes)...fun times. Let the Christmas season begin!

Reading with Grandma.

Reading with Dad. Wearing hats. Obvi.

Ryan carving the turkey he won at the Turkeyspiel. Nice work honey! It turned out great.

Really Dad?

No hands!

Here's what Lucy has been up to lately

Jamming out with Dad. The guitar is a huge hit right now. We're going to get her her own strummable toy one for Christmas. Shhh. All you babies out there reading this. Don't tell Lucy. Thanks. One of the great results of her being really into the guitar is that both Ryan and I have started practicing again.

Thinking and painting. I was hoping to get some good handprints to make Thanksgiving decorations. She's a pro at the ol' handprint. We were using watercolor paints that were mine as a kid. Turns out "washable" meant something different in the '80s.

Gobble Gobble!

Lucy gets her workout in no matter the weather. Here she is working on her one armed planks. Which may or may not have actually been her attempt to get as much of her body away from the snow as she could.

Head first or nothing! Luckily Lucy has an adventurous Dad that lets her try new things. AND a Mom that works at an indoor playground...

Watch your back. There are big fish in these parts.

This photo captures the essence of Lucy right now. Always moving.

Worldy girl

Snackin' and catching up on the week's news.

Mimi magic

My mom came to visit this weekend and there was lots of fun and laughing. She and Lucy seem to have the same sense of humor. We are lucky to have family that will travel to spend time with us. 

We went on a beautiful hike at Gooseberry Falls. 

Lu and Da - walking and snacking

Rocks!

Agate 101

If only we had more time and bigger hands...

Family photo

Family photo

Mom and I did a little shopping and came back with this gem. It's a favorite of many families I know and we have one at work. It was a hit. And our main living space screams "a kid lives here!". 

Peekaboo.

This makes me think Mr. Rogers. 

Helping with a little yard work. Notice her new snow boots. They seemed to work out pretty well (Thanks Mimi and Grandpa!). And the lawn mower courtesy of Grandma Erickson. 

Lucy at 2 months old in front of the clematis.

A year and a bit later. Different kind of challenge for this photo shoot.

Looking forward to sledding...