And so it begins!

Today I'm sitting and knitting. But, not in the comforts of my home, cozy on a couch. I'm sitting at a cafeteria table in a noisy ski lodge. I'm entertaining Atticus by sending him to and from the garbage can with tiny pieces of paper over and over again. He is entertaining everyone between the garbage can and our table by his cute waddle, only mastered in a full ski suit with winter boots on.

Getting out of the home with four kids, plus all their ski gear, made me promise to sell all the equipment as soon as possible and buy an XBox, but once here, on the snow covered mountain, I understand why my parents did it year after year, and know I will do the same. Eli and C are both, after only a few hours on the bunny hill, cruising with their cousins like they've been doing it all their lives. Si is out with his dad, proud as punch to have mastered the pizza and the French fries.  Even Atticus strapped on a pair of skis for a jaunt down the hill.

So, despite the craziness of getting us all put together enough to be here in the first place, and the sacrifice of sitting in the lodge rather than "shredding" the hill myself,  I'm glad we're all here, and can't wait for a few years down the road (or maybe a little more than a few) when the whole Wiebe clan can be out there on the hill together.

Remembrance Day

Today is Remembrance Day in Canada, a day to remember all those who have fought for the freedom of those who can't protect themselves.

This past week we have been studying the subject, and the boys have worked at memorizing "In Flanders Feilds."  Silas is pretty sweet, isn't he?

While I didn't want to dwell on the horrors of war, I did want to be honest about what it was like for the men and women that we are remembering.  The boys decided that they wanted to do a poster to show what they learned.

Here's Eli's.  He cut out everything so carefully and thoughtfully.  He also copied the entire poem on a separate piece of paper to put with it.  He is so wonderful.

And, here's Silas's.  I have to tell you, it is very interesting to me to homeschool two different children of two different ages.  As we started off making the posters, I kind of wanted both of the boys' posters to look like Eli's did.  But then Silas started cutting and pasting, and he knew exactly what he was doing, and he was just so cute. Then, when he cut out the big blob in the middle of the page, I was about to put a stop to it, thinking he was about to ruin the whole thing, and he said, "No, Mommy, it's the poison gas!"  That boy amazes me.  We'd talked about some of the awful things that the soldiers endured, and poison gas was one of those things.  Sometimes I think Silas isn't catching a word, but he got that.  I love him.

Anyway, I just wanted to say, that I am extremely grateful to the people who have fought for freedom, and for their mothers who are left behind.  Bless them all.

Halloween 2013

If there were a holiday I could do without, it would definitely be Halloween.  I'm a total party pooper, but seriously?  I just don't like it.  Which is why, when Eli planned on being a mummy for an entire month, I broke it to him three days before the big day that he had to pick a costume from the dress up box.  And when Silas wanted to be a vampire bat more than anything, I convinced him he actually wanted to be a knight, which he may or may not have been the last two years.  I did get a little creative when Eli came up with a "Coon skin hat" and a musket, and made him a Davey Crockett shirt (out of a tunic and a old curtain I bought at Value Village).  He doesn't know who Davey Crockett was, and neither did anyone who saw his costume, but he felt cool all tasseled up.  And hey, they got to eat ton of candy, and the Halloween fairy and "Dr Evans" took care of whatever was left after Halloween night, so they were happy in the end.

Here they are in all their costume box glory!

Of course, on Halloween night they needed costumes they could wear their snow suits under, so here they were in their revised costumes then:

And this one, because Aaron is amazingly creative, and everyone needs a little Aang in their lives:

The Joy of Boys

My best friend is a firefighter. Her husband is also a firefighter. While this may seem like a perfect situation to most moms of boys, it actually poses huge problems in my home.

Typical scenario:

E and Si are playing firefighter. Silas wants to cut down trees with his firefighter axe. Eli insists that the axe is only to be used for chopping into buildings to save cats. This is where it gets messy. Eli insists he knows because Adrienne told him so.  Silas screams back, "Kevin told me it's for trees."  Now, I'm not entirely sure if Adrienne or Kevin have ever pontificated on the proper use of firefighter axes with my boys, but each of my boys is sure they have been given the authority by their favourite firefighter to declare what axes are for. 

Of course, mom is not an expert, and so no matter of explaining that axes may in fact be used for many tasks will make do.  And, Adrienne and Kevin are, of course, across the country enjoying the peace of the East Coast, while I am at home waging war over their mixed opinions. 

Eventually Silas gives in (since, in reality, his big brother knows way more than Adrienne or Kevin put together) and admits that he was just joking, and the axes begin saving cats the world over. 

And this mom finds some peace, for a few minutes anyway.

Cadence and Hue - A Knitting Pattern

Drum roll please....

Ladies and gentlemen, here you have it. The latest pattern from Jenny Wiebe Designs - Cadence and Hue!

This one is generously sized, ready for practically any child on your gift list from a preemie to size 10. 

It's knit with DK weight yarn, and can be accessorized with the most darling of buttons.  

It's seemless, it's knit top down, it's got fantastic striping possibilities!!!

So, what's stopping you?!?  At just $4, you really do need to just !

If you aren't convinced, check out all the projects made by my fabulous test knitters and others right here:  and check out all the pattern details on Ravelry: Cadence and Hue.

Walton Pullover - A Knitting Pattern

Last year I knit my dear friend, Adrienne, a monster sweater. I only say monster, because before that sweater I had only ever knit children's items - so anything in adult sizing, naturally, felt monstrous. With the remnants of yarn from that sweater I decided I needed a fun, easy project, and so came my Walton Pullover.

It's a super simple raglan pullover, sized for children from 6 months to 8 years old.  While my striping pattern is all laid out in the pattern, you can always get creative and come up with your own: its a great stash buster, or the perfect pattern to use up those yarn ends.

This one was knit in Malabrigo Merino Worsted, the most wonderful, soft, beautiful yarn.  But, any worsted weight yarn will do.

As always, I had a handful on knitters test knit my pattern.  I honestly couldn't live without test knitters! You can check out their projects and any others here:      They did such a great job of their sweaters.

This would be a perfect, easy, first project for a novice knitter, but an excellent template for a more adventurous knitter wanting to experiment with different colorwork designs.

The pattern can be purchased for only $4 on Ravelry, or you can buy it right now by clicking here: 

I'm back!

I don't know if there is anyone left out there who still comes here to my little corner of the interwebs, but here I am.  It's been over a year since I consistently blogged.  It's silly, but I've missed it.  This has been my little place to record and share. Perhaps if I kept a consistent journal, or an up to date scrapbook I wouldn't miss it so much, but I do.

So much has happened in the last year.  So very much.  Most of it I still can't talk about, but we are praying that soon we will be able to.  The rest of it is just normal life stuff.  Let's see if I can do an overview of the Wiebe life since last summer...

Eli was 5 and therefore could have started attending kindergarten, but we have decided to keep him at home and school here instead. I love it.  Last year we didn't do very much directed learning, but we kept very busy and had a whole lot of fun.  Eli continues to amaze me.  This is a picture of him the last week of August at his first ever day camp. He went to a drama/dance class and enjoyed it so much. He was the "lead" in the play they preformed at the end of the week, playing the convincing roll of the "Great White Shark."

The Calgary LDS Temple was finished and dedicated in October.  We felt very blessed to be able to go through the open house with our family, and many of our friends.  Having a temple in our city is a huge blessing that I am grateful for every day.

Also in October, Jared was admitted to "The Bar" and made a full-fledged lawyer.  It was pretty awesome.

And, at the party after his Bar Call, Jared didn't miss out on any of the festivities.

On November 15th, at just over 7 months old, Atticus got to experience what the rest of us enjoy every day: solid food.  His brothers enjoyed right along with him!

I'm kind of a bad mom when it comes to feeding my kids, since all of them prefer breastmilk to solid food any day, so bits and pieces of mushed up food is about all they get.  Atticus never seemed to mind.

Jared's folks left for Halifax, Canada, to serve a 2 year mission for our church in October.  We miss them dearly and pray for them daily, but are grateful for the good example that they set for us.  Before they left we did manage to get the entire Wiebe clan together for a nice family picture.

Okay, okay, we did take a nice one.

We spent Christmas at my parent's cabin in Idaho, where we bought really ugly turtlenecks...

Got new PJs on Christmas Eve...

Had tons of fun on Christmas morning...

 And the boys got their first pair of skis!!!

2013 brought tons of excitement, change, and lessons in patience (not sure if that lesson is learned quite yet...)


When we lived in Michigan I made two of the best friends a girl could have, Sarah and Irina. For Christmas their sweet husbands gifted them a flight to Sandpoint. So, in February, Atticus and I loaded up in the van and drove to Sandpoint to meet them. We didn't have nearly enough time to enjoy each other's company, but it was glorious and much needed. I love these girls and can't wait until our next holiday together.

Back home in Canada we enjoyed an extremely long winter. The boys had passes to Canada Olympic Park. and so got some good use out of their new skis.

In the spring we decided it was time to move from our little two bedroom condo to something fit for our growing family.  We thought about moving back to our old house in Ranchlands, but I couldn't bring myself to live next to the woman next door, so we sold it, sold our condo, and moved to a wonderful, detached little house just 17 houses down from my big sister, Alice.  We love it. Of course, less than a week after we moved in the floods hit Calgary and for almost a month all of our spare time was spent helping the people in Calgary and High River who were devastated.  So, it took a while to really put together our home, especially once summer hit, but we are getting there and love it so.

This fall we have continued on our homeschooling journey.  We are registered with a traditional homeschool board, which is just perfect for us.  Eli is taking drama, art and piano lessons, and Silas is doing art, a sport variety class, and a weekly playschool co-op with some friends from Church. Atticus will be 18 months in a week, and has just started talking, kind of. Until 2 weeks ago he flatly refused to communicate beyond grunts and screams. On Silas's 4th birthday he surprised us with about 10 signs and a whole ton of words. I couldn't tell you what his first word was, because he said them all on one day. He's an awesome kid and we are lucky to have him.  We are busy and tired and having tons of fun.

So, there you have it.  Our year in a nut shell. I will do my best to stay better caught up in the future, and even go back and fill in the gaps from the last year.

Until next time,

Jenny

Big Thom - A Knitting Pattern

After knitting Thom with a "TH" for Tommy, I knew I needed to knit one for one of mine. So, I sized it up and made one for my Si.

He calls it his "Rock Sweater" because of the buttons. I call it Big Thom. This one is sized for age 4 - 12, knit completely seamlessly from top-down, and would be so easy to embellish in any way you want. 

The best part is, if you like Big Thom and Thom with a "TH" , you can buy one and get the other for just a dollar!  In Ravelry, just add both patterns to your cart, and use the coupon code "onedollarthom." If you are just interested in this one, go ahead and click here >>> 

As always, check out the other sweaters knit from the Big Thom pattern.

Thom with a "TH" - A Knitting Pattern

Despite the craziness of my life, I have managed to do a little knitting. I know, you all are calling my bluff - a "little" is a bit of an understatement.

Anyway, I've put a few patterns out there, so I will be rolling them out on the blog over the next few days.

The first one is a sweater I designed for my nephew, Thomas Russell. 

I call it Thom with a "TH"

One of my favourite things to do as a knitwear designer is run test knits. For this sweater I had test knitters from across the world, as far as England, New Zealand, Australia, Belgium, Norway, Germany and Lithuania, and also had neighbors to the south, in Nebraska, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Utah, and two fellow Canadians, from Montreal and Sudbury. Check out their projects and more here: 

Thom with a "TH" is easy, and cute, and can be embellished in so many ways.

So, for $4.00 you can !!!

The Women in my Life

Lately I've been stressed. Really stressed.  I feel like I need to find reasons to be grateful, because I know I have a wonderful life, but through the piles of paperwork to go through, and the houses we need to sell, and all the other stuff that we are going through right now that we can't do anything about, sometimes it's hard to remember to enjoy the moments.

So, today I am going to remember the women in my life; the women who have shaped me to be the person I am; the women who I know have gone through moments just like I'm going through now where they felt that things couldn't get much worse; women whom I look up to more than they will ever know.  In no particular order, and for a myriad of reasons each, these are the women that I am grateful for today;

My mom and sisters, Cheryl Evans, Alice, Megan, Shannon, Joan, Holly, Chloe and Phoebe. Love them more than life. 

My grandmas, Edythe Jackson, whom we lost in 2010, and Betty Evans, who has blessed my life in so many ways.

The list isn't long, but my BFFs, the girls who are truly my kindred spirits: Adrienne, Cheryl, Sarah and Nicole.  I know that no matter how many miles and years may be put between us, these girls will always be my besties!

My sister-in-law Renee, who supports me in ways no one will ever understand.

My mother-in-law Barbara Wiebe, and the example of kindness, obedience and love that she is to me. And her mother, Granny Hudson. I don't know if other people love their grandma-in-laws as much as I do, but I do!

The women who for whatever reason have influenced and helped me along the way: Carmen Pearson, Marilyn Bennion, Diane Ryman,  Lizzie Ryman, Mindy Gallup, Irina Jamieson, Jewel Govern, Erin Wallace, Janine Zuk.

The list can go on and on.  I am so grateful to be surrounded by women of character and strength.  I am so grateful to know that I'm not alone in my struggles.  I love all these women and feel lifted by them today.

Rhymes with Shawl - A Knitting Pattern

Well, while I haven't been blogging much, I have been knitting.  This month I released a new pattern, Rhymes with Shawl. I think this is one of my favourites!

It is knit in worsted weight yarn and sized from 6 months to 10 years.  My favourite part of it is the endless possibilities of color combinations. Talk about major stash buster!

I am incredibly indebted to the 13 wonderful women from across the globe who test knit this pattern for me.  Check out their projects, and others that are being created, here:

You can buy this pattern directly by clicking here: , or heading over to Ravelry and purchasing it there.

Love Day

 I know Valentines Day is over, but I did want to share my cute wreath before I take it down and put it away for another year. I had my Christmas wreath still up at the beginning of February, so I decided I had better replace it before Valentine's Day. I went on Pinterest to find a brilliant idea and headed to Michael's with a vision of the greatest Valentine's wreath EVER.  The problem with having your heart set on something you see on Pinterest is that somehow other people have access to materials that no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to find.  I had three wreaths in mind and I couldn't find anything to make them with.  So, mustering all my creativity (not really), I bought a pre-made heart wreath and a wooden dowel and headed for home. At least I'd get something up before Valentine's Day was gone.  I painted the dowel white and while it dried I made the heart arrow and feather out of felt.  I cut out the heart, hand stitched with embroidery floss all around it, except for where the dowel would go in, stuffed in a little bit of polyfill, and squeezed in some white glue to stick it to the dowel.  Then I popped it on the end of the dowel and  jabbed the dowel through the wreath.  To finish it off I glued the "feather" onto the other end of it.  Perhaps not the masterpeice I had envisioned, but I promise that it was better than leaving the Christmas wreath on for another month!

Okay, this picture is only wonderful because of my sweet Silas hiding in the window.  Love that boy!