GROUNDSPEAK LOGO CHART

Here's the chart for the Groundspeak Logo! Unsure how to add this to your own project?


For the hat, I made a swatch with the needle and yarn I wanted to use, and did a little math to work out that 6 repeats of the chart fit around a man’s size hat. I fudged and worked with the number of stitches between the charts to make it work out just right.
For the brown and white hat, I used the regular guy beanie pattern which worked out well for six repeats of this chart, with little rivets (2 stitch by 2 stitch blocks) added in to anchor the floats on the backside. I used worsted weight yarn and either a US7 or US8 needle, or maybe both.

For instance, if the chart swatch equals 3" across, NOT including any margin stitches, and I want a hat with a circumference of 20", I'll make six repeats (makes only 18") of the chart around and add in a few stitches between repeats to make up the other 2", plus a few more for 'ease'. I found with intarsia and stranding on hats it's very difficult to get the tension right, and the stretch involved with putting a hat on can distort the stitches and make the strands of the backside show through.

Mia's First Birthday

2 Years plus one week

We skipped over posting her third birthday pics... here is probably the reason why. 

Mia Chan wa yon sai deshita!

and

This year. 

I have been posting pics over on facebook, if you haven't 'friended' me yet, you can easily find me as user name 'jaxlewis'.

You don't need to be a facebook user to check out these picture albums recently posted.

Simon's Birthday Party

and

A Day at Torii Beach

Yummy Lunch

This morning, I cooked (on 'auto') in my japanese rice steamer:
1 cup pearl barley
1 cup chicken broth from the carton

For lunch I threw that into a skillet with:
2 tbsp garlic (to taste)
2 tbsp butter
1/2 (or so) chicken broth
broccoli, cut rather smallish, enough to cover the bottom of the skillet
two 1/2" slices of a large onion, coarsely chopped
black pepper to taste

cook until the broth is almost gone, and the broccoli is still a little crisp. Serve and top with shredded cheddar cheese.

The boys and I loved it. Mia says she prefers her broccoli separate. Chas pointed out that it was grain, veggie and protein all in one bowl.

Math for Breakfast

Ten sausage links divided four ways is 2 and a half each. Chas got it right away and thoughtfully explained to the others how he figured it out. As they were dividing up the links and breaking them in half, somehow Simon was left with a few pieces and was near meltdown. Mia stepped up to explain 'Simon, you don't have two and a half, you have 1, and 3 halves!' He was so delighted by her show of advanced math that he happily took his serving and ate it up!

The kids do math like this everyday. I'll whisper to them, wide-eyed, that they are doing math.

'Awwww mom! You tricked us!'

Now they catch themselves doing it and it's become a family joke. In this manner, we have even found that Mia has an understanding of multiplication and division. Once, I took a week to watch the kids from a distance and wrote a journal of all the things they were doing that involved learning something (I know, a busy week for me!) and translated it into 'curriculum speak' just for fun. It may be time to do that again. I have to pick just the right week to do it, because sometimes their play is simple and sometimes more obviously academic.

Other Lewis news, in no particular order...


We have a new kitty named Snips. He is very young, apparently abandoned at around 3 weeks old. He is probably about 6 weeks old now and is very active and playful. We are having to socialize and discipline him in the absence of his mother and littermates. The kids are having a little trouble waiting out this kitty toddlerhood. He is playful sometimes, snuggly sometimes, and very tenacious - he has actually turned and attacked the spray bottle we were using to train him off the foot-attacks.

And our neighborhood candy store had to close a few months ago, but this week it reopened as an organic vegetable market. It's small, but close by, a block and half, in fact close enough for the kids to go by themselves on their bikes - no busy roads to cross! They were closed yesterday when I went by for our first visit, I'll try again today - if we get a break in the rain and thunderstorms.

Next week we start swimming lessons, every day for two weeks, at 5pm for the boys, and at 6:15 pm for Mia. The following two-week session, I was able to get them all at 5pm. It is going to be intense, and I'll have to call on my best organizational skills to get through it.

We are still bowling every Monday night, and doing the Family Night thing at the club on base. Tim's shop moved to a closer base which provides for at least 5 hours more family per week that he isn't commuting! It's a huge blessing for our family.

Chas had an unfortunate accident on his bike this afternoon. He has a huge 'strawberry' on his elbow and has been nursing his wounds all afternoon. Right now he is chilling out in the guest room side of the tatami, reading to me the poems he likes from A Light in the Attic.
Like this one.

How Many, How Much
`
How many slams in an old screen door?
Depends how loud you shut it.
How many slices in a bread?
Depends how thin you cut it.
How much good inside a day?
Depends how good you live 'em.
How much love inside a friend?
Depends how much you give 'em.

shel silverstein
`

fast chicken and rice.

$1.48 for 4 chicken thighs, sliced thin and cooked fast and hot on a skillet, without oil or butter

$.50 for 1/2 cup teriyaki sauce

$.65 for 1 cup of frozen peas

$2.48 for 2 pkgs of Uncle Ben's brown rice in a pouch

total $5.11

Next time I will probably use a whole crown or maybe two of fresh broccoli, steamed a few minutes in the microwave, and brown rice from my steamer instead of from a pouch (will cut down the cost a lot) and less teriyaki sauce (this was a strong taste and almost too sweet.) I think they liked it though.