Waldorf Co-op

This week we moved co-op to Thursday instead of Friday. Old Man Winter is threatening to visit us on Friday, and with Thursday being another 60-65F day.....

I didn't have my camera, so please hop on over to Erin's beautiful blog, Four Little Pixies, to see the goings-on of the day.

Peace,
Carrie

a warm, sunny day in january

Last week, after two previous weeks for bitter cold temperatures (for NC!) we had three days of sunshiny Sun and upper 60s, even to 70 degrees!

So what do you do on a 70 degree January day?

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You can dig in the dirt.

~ barefoot digging ~

Bask in the Sun.

~ Lela catching the Sun in her blonde hair and necklace ~

Sit on the ground and play without fear of getting a cold bottom.

~ Laurel ~

Create a game in the driveway. I drew gray stepping stones, castle, cauldron and several magical objects. The girls had to hop on the stones to collect items for their magic potion, then turn the frog into a prince. They were going to take the prince back to the castle, but decided he was too heavy. :)

~ magical adventure ~

On a warm day like this one, there is also plenty of time to be silly.

~ Lela catching Liv ~

Chalk outlines are so much fun. You can even make yourself a skateboard.

~ Liv ~

The backyard is good for (L-R) working on that hole, putting on "owl ears" to hear a hawk calling and mixing up a little herbaceous stew.

~ Liv, Lela and Laurel ~

Touching the Earth, reconnecting with the space were we all live.

~ bare fingers and toes - a special Winter treat ~

Hope you are enjoying this new year, no matter the weather.

Peace,

Carrie

WiP Wednesday - tiny, tiny dog sweater

This tiny little thing is going to my brother-in-law and his girlfriend's miniature chihuahua mix puppy named Savannah. My girls had so much fun playing with her on our holiday trip to Virginia. Here's a link to my Ravelry project page and this is the pattern. I'm knitting it on size 2 dpns to further reduce the size.


But even as life goes on normally for us, like so many others, my mind has never strayed from the souls in Haiti. We have been keeping a candle burning, to remind us of their suffering and desperation, to remind us to send energy to them, to remind us to hold our babies close.

It's a strange juxtaposition - something so frivolous next to something so important. That is how life can be sometimes, I suppose. I have struggled with how to respond to this tragedy in Haiti. Our home and hearts remain open.

Peace,

Carrie

december and january piece together peace

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Even though I haven't shared much here,
I still have been keep with my Piece Together Peace intentions.

I have a terrible pattern of procrastination.
I'm not even sure why, as it applies to think I would want to do as well.
I think it is really just that: a pattern, a habit.

So for December, my intention was to procrastinate less.

Even though the night before our family celebration,
my partner and I stayed up the entire night
wrapping gifts, putting out more decorations, getting the house just so,
cooking food, sewing doll clothes and cleaning up our messes,
I made enormous progress in the procrastination department!

I made each girl a Waldorf doll baby, from scratch.
I began around December 7, leaving just 3 weeks for a complex, tedious process.
But trust me when I say that my procrastination-self would have started about 3 days before.

Really.

And the irony that I'm posting my December intention to procrastinate less
a whole two months late
is not lost on me.

I have really enjoyed the time away from the computer.

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For some reason January's intention has not been clear cut.
Maybe because privately I'm deeply ashamed, and publicly I'm a bit embarrassed.
But since I am sure there are others who will understand,
I feel comfortable enough sharing here.
January's Piece for Peace: do not threaten the children.

Yes, these children.
And I'm talking about this sort of thing:

In response to someone saying 'no' and running out of the dining room
when I ask her to take her plate to the counter:
"If you don't take your plate to the counter, you won't be having snack today."

In response to the near constant pestering of the dog:
"If you cannot leave Zelda alone, she won't be able to live with us anymore."

In response to boots, mittens and jackets thrown carelessly on the floor
for the fifth time that day:
"If you don't take care of your things, I am going to throw them away."

Yuck. Disgusting. Wrong. Sad. 

I know this is borne out of the natural frustration that can occur
when living with three very young children.
But this kind of language is truly unacceptable.
I don't even know why I say it.
I would never not feed them, send our dog away, or put their clothes in the garbage.

Some of it comes from a part of me who wants children to just comply with my requests.
Some of it comes from being frustrated at talking all day.
Do this.  Do that.  Could you please do this?  Let's put on your shoes.  
A good deal of it comes from my completely unrealistic expectation
that if I put in a penny in your Emotional Bank Account,
I should see a dollar return on my investment.
Right away.
Even if you are many dollars in the red.


I'm just going to put this post out there,
but bury it in somewhere for the moment.
It is still raw, and I just posted some wonderful family stuff.

~carrie~

Beautiful Snowflakes

Singing is an important part of the Waldorf home. A song can bridge the gap between activities, making the rhythm of the day flow along. A song can quiet and center quarreling children. A song can signal the end of waking life and the beginning of dreaming life.

Though I can and enjoy finding the harmony parts and love to sing, especially in a group, I have never thought my voice was particularly nice. But like anything, with practice, even the voice can improve. I can now sing an octave above my previous "high" and the strength of my naturally alto voice has grown. And my love for song has only increased.

Please enjoy this brief video of my girls (L-R Lela, Liv and Laurel) singing Snowflakes from Sing a Song of the Seasons. Here they are singing to my mom, their Gran, on the phone.



I'm working to add to our collection of songs. In addition to Song of the Seasons, we also sing many Elizabeth Mitchell songs, with a splash of Grateful Dead and John Prine. ;)

What are you enjoying singing?

Peace,
Carrie

I love what Nicole just shared over at Frontier Dreams - please visit here!

warm toes

It's pretty safe to say that our lives are changed by the addition of layers and socks around the house and out of doors. For Lela, putting on socks in the morning is as natural as eating. Laurel and Olivia, only three, are still not quite able to know when their bodies are cold. However, with mimicry such a strong force in their lives, they easily wear them. For me, I am finally aware of my achingly cold hands and feet (!) and listen to the wisdom of my body.

~ Lela's self portrait ~

These adorable SmartWool socks were gifts from my parents, found by my sister, Rebecca. They have been keeping toes toasty and dry since Christmas.

Oh yes, and dressing appropriately and warmly has allowed us to meet one of our January One Small Change goals - to lower the heat to 65. It is now set there for both day and night, and all five of us are acclimated and comfortable at that temperature.

Wishing you warm toes and Peace,

Carrie

WiP Wednesday - January OFM armwarmers

My first project from Hillary's (Healing Hillary) One For Me challenge. These are the Irish Hiking Scarf Armwarmers, knit with soft Cascade Eco-wool. I found the pattern on Ravelry - you can find my Ravelry page here.

This was my first cable project and also my first project knitting continental for both knitting and purling. I was very pleased with learning this new method for carrying the yarn - this video was very helpful. Haley, you will be proud!

Happy Knitting!

Peace,

Carrie

dollmaking workshop

(This post contains pictures of Waldorf doll in various states of construction.)

Saturday, I had the amazing opportunity to participate in a friend's dollmaking workshop with other members of our co-op!

~ receiving instrution on forming the head ~

~ needle felting the head ~

~ having fun ~

~ making a head cover ~

~ head with stockinette ~




~ my doll ~

As I anticipated, getting the eyes, those soul-windows, just right was the hardest part! I was pleased overall with everything, but I believe I prefer more rounded eyes and a bit closer together, like the one below.

~ Tanya's doll in progress ~

~ women enjoying each other's company ~

I will be finishing up my doll in a couple weeks! What a beautiful day, in a beautiful home, with other beautiful women of all ages.

Peace,

Carrie

Waldorf Co-op

(Forgive the scrambled pictures - I'm having trouble moving them with my laptop's touchpad.)

~ hearing a story after Circle is done ~

~ rinka ranka rosy ray! ~

~ strong and powerful warriors ~

~ peaceful warriors ~

~ helping start the fire ~

Joyful learning!

Peace,
Carrie

WiP Wednesday: January One for Me

I decided to take part in Hillary's challenge of making one knit item for myself every month in 2010, called One for Me. Please read the One for Me post on her blog, Healing Hillary.


For my first project, I decided to make the Irish Hiking Scarf Armwarmers that I found on Ravelry. This is the first time I've done anything but bookmark patterns I have never attempted to knit. ;) Here's a link to my project page on Ravelry....right....here!

~ morning Sun on my WiP and Liv ~

This is my first cable project. Last night, I discovered that I prefer cabling with a dpn rather than a cable needle. And as I suspected, my lefthanded knitting makes the cables reverse (twisting the opposite direction).

I'm exciting about working on these AND wearing them.

Peace and happy knitting!

Carrie

p.s. I believe my new laptop will arrive here by the weekend!

One Small Change: January 2010

Interspersed in this post will be photos from December! Because I didn't get around to sharing!

Today I was directed to Hip Mountain Mama's blog where she's hosting a challenge - One Small Change. I don't know how I missed it before!

~ morning Sun through ice covered trees ~

It is easy to downplay the choices that we make each day and convince ourselves that one small act will not make a big impact on the Earth. While true, the collective impact of a globe full of individuals can and does have dramatic effect. Our family, compared to the average middle class family in the United States, is quite environmentally friendly. We compost, recycle, breastfeed, cloth diaper (or did!), reduce waste, buy local - however, we have so much room for improvement!

~ Daddy-made wooden kitchen ~

The challenge is to make one change each month until Earth Day on April 22nd. My family had already decided to do this as a family "resolution" and ours will be each month of the year.

~ busy hands ~

For January, we decided to further reduce our energy consumption. Here's the plan of action to this point:

1. Reduce daytime heat from 67 to 65. Wear an extra layer and socks in the house. Hopefully we can bump the heat down another degree as we acclimate. I would like to see if we can do 63 in the house over time.


2. Reduce nighttime heat from 68 to 67. This is a tougher one since my children are chilled easily at night, even in layers, since they kick off blankets. We have already added another blanket to the beds. I would like to get our heat down to 65 at night.


3. Be vigilant about turning off lights, opening/closing drapes, closing doors, etc. This is something the children can really be involved with. We are already very good about this, but I think the girls will enjoy "owning" this one. :)


4. Carpool to Waldorf co-op with Daddy. Limit driving during the week to grocery shopping on Sunday and one outing during the rest of the week.


5. Keep computer turned off during the day. (This will have multiple benefits!)


6. Reduce our laundry load so the washer runs less.


7. Wash large items by hand so the dishwasher doesn't fill up as quickly. Our old dishwasher uses a lot of energy and water, I'm sure! (Many thanks to my friend Cookie for the inspiration to do this one!)

~ on our drive to VA, we had to stop and play in the snow ~

There are plenty more! I am planning on updating weekly with how our changes are progressing.

~ marking the December New Moon with a fire ~

Thanks for hosting this, Hip Mountain Mama!

Peace,

Carrie