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Time has lost all meaning. I haven’t driven my car since Monday, and then it was just over 2 miles round trip. Since days are all kinda blending together, I don’t mind that I am home with the family. I’ve been somewhat productive with household chores that I frequently shirk (because I don’t have the “time”). I removed extra clutter from the hall closet, COATS can actually hang without hitting a box of kid created detritus (in the form of literal scribbled on sheet of paper crammed into a box).
I FINALLY tackled the space I keep extra coloring books, crayons, watercolors, and apparently educational workbooks. Between the closet (see above) and the storage bench (which houses the kids’ extra art supplies) I amassed quite a pile of said education workbooks. Both kids worked on books with stickers this afternoon for almost 45 minutes, without losing interest. My son lost interest first and wanted me to keep him on task, of course I obliged. My daughter did one of the short workbooks in its entirety; she didn’t want to stop until she completed it! She didn’t need much help, I’m very impressed with her reading ability and tenacity to complete her task.
I also decided to make soft pretzels with the kids today. They were a huge hit. I modified the recipe from Gather for Bread as follows: I added a teaspoon of salt to the dough so they didn’t rise out of control, filled my stock pot half way with water and added a lot of baking soda (that I didn’t measure, likely 1/2 – 3/4 cup), batch boiled 8 pretzels at a time for 2 minutes, brushed generously on all sides with a butter/egg/water slurry, sprinkled generously with course salt, “bagel seasoning”, or Fox Point Seasoning and baked for 12 minutes (the first batch wasn’t quite as browned as I like my pretzels). My shaped sticks were pretty shaggy/sad looking, as I made my dough a little too dry and didn’t try too hard to make them look better.
Shaggy Stick Shapes 
The baking soda bath 
All baked up
Regardless of how they looked, they tasted REALLY great! No need for sauce or mustard: they were flavorful plain. The kids did NOT hesitate to gobble them up once they were cool. My son had at least 2 and tried to snag a third! My daughter decided to eat the biggest one.
But lastly, what this blog is supposed to be all about: FIBER CRAFTS. I feel I haven’t made much progress this week. In order to be honest with myself on the amount of active WIPs I have going, I literally brought all the projects that I have worked on in the last 24 hours together. No wonder I feel like nothing is getting accomplished! I’m only working on each piece for a little while, bouncing between projects, dependent on where I happen to be in the house at any given moment.
Right?!?! No wonder nothing is getting finished “fast enough”. Disclosure: The dresser socks are from 2014. They will be a lost knits file feature in the coming months. I hope. Realistically, I can finish 3/5 of these in the next week at the scattered pace I’m working. Which means I can start on designing and knitting the fall sweater I’m dreaming about! I’m so excited!
In the midst of it all, I am getting some quality reading in. A couple months ago I purchased Make Your Home Among Strangers, by Jennine Capó Crucet. Honestly, I am really loving this book. It echos so many of my own experiences; it resonates with me in unexpected ways. I don’t want to put it down.
I’m curious to hear what everyone else has been up to. Tackling a backlog of chores, relaxed knitting/crocheting, reading that ever growing pile of books?
Miscellaneous Design Studio 