Crafting On: Woodland Animals

Joining Nicole at Frontier Dreams for Crafting On...

A gift for our Waldorf summer camp, some wee knitted woodland animals. They were easier to knit than I thought they would be (being so small). The patterns are all from the book Mini Knitted Woodland.

Quelques petits animaux de la forêt au tricot pour notre camp d'été Steiner-Waldorf

Happy Crafting On!

Lately - Dernièrement

lots of walks in the woods

and on the beach

We were sorting through our fall woollens the other day and the kids (youngest) couldn't wait to try them on again. They bundled themselves up to go to the beach, though it was totally unnecessary!

It's wild lingonberry time! I made lots of jam over the weekend. There is nothing like freshly baked bread with (still warm) lingonberry jam! Heaven!

Making progress on S's blue sweater and just finished reading a very powerful and beautifully written book by Beth Powning.

Knitting and Reading

Joining Ginny at Small Things for Yarn Along…

I'm currently working on my second (love this pattern!) Pretty Basic shawl and just finished reading Remarkable Creatures, a fascinating story that I very highly recommend. 

Another book that I finished reading not long ago is The Last Midwife by Sandra Dallas. I thought I should mention it here as well, since I would also highly recommend it, I just couldn't put it down (as is the case with many Sandra Dallas books!).

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Lately - Dernièrement

Our new puppy!!! 

Notre nouveau chiot!

Loane recently finished her block on north american natives

Loane vient de terminer son bloc d'étude sur les amérindiens

doll made by Pippa

une poupée fabriquée par Pippa

neck  warmers made by the girls using yarn that they dyed themselves

des cols en laine fabriqués par les filles avec de laine qu'elles ont teinte elles-mêmes

our Pippa elf turned 11!

notre elfe Pippa a fêté ses 11 ans!

little horse sewn by Loane

petit cheval cousu et brodé par Loane

Advent has begun and we are currently reading Jakob Streit's beautiful book on the birth and childhood of Jesus Christ with the big girls 

cette année pour l'Avent, nous lisons le très beau livre de Jakob Streit La naissance et l'enfance de Jésus avec les grandes filles  

Yarn Along

Joining Ginny at Small Things for Yarn Along…

I recently finished reading The Light Between Oceans, a very moving story.

Currently on the needles, another Holden shawl and Claret cowl.

Bringing Spirit Into Matter (and homeschooling)

I'm back from Bringing Spirit Into Matter summer workshops at the Rudolf Steiner Centre in Toronto and feeling very inspired and energized to start a new homeschooling year (hoping to start lessons again once our summer camps have ended mid-August). My friend Jan and I attended a workshop designed especially for homeschoolers. Our teacher (Marg Beard) was wonderful! She helped us to better understand Waldorf pedagogy, child and human development, identify our needs and our children's needs (and find ways to meet them), work on our homeschool rhythm and goals and she shared many ideas and tools to help us better organize our home environment and teach our children. We even learned some great new songs and games to try out with our kids! Wow! I'm amazed at how much I've learned and how much useful help I've received in one week! I also attended a Eurythmy class and silk and yarn dyeing workshop, both equally inspiring. I came home with a suitcase full of colourful silks and rainbow yarn and feel confident to keep working and experimenting with plant dyes at home, on my own or with the children. As a homeschooler, I felt very welcome at the Steiner Centre. I met many amazing Waldorf teachers and early childhood educators as well as other homeschoolers from all over the world. Everyone was happy to share their experience, exchange ideas and teaching material with others. It was interesting to be in the classrooms of the beautiful Toronto Waldorf School for our workshops and Jan and I were lucky to be able to stay on site at Hesperus (watch the video, it's interesting!).

beautifully lazured walls everywhere...

and stained glass...

the farm, hard to believe we are in Toronto!

plant dyeing workshop, so nice to do outside!

I also brought home some interesting books...

Ancient Greece - Grèce ancienne

Here is work from Lucie's block on Ancient Greece:

Voici les travaux de Lucie pour son bloc d'études sur la Grèce ancienne:

Painting of/peinture de Gaia and/et Ouranos

Painting of/peinture de Persephone

Helpful books to plan or read together for this block:

Les livres utilisés pour ce bloc (pour le planifier ou pour lire ensemble):