Mindless Wednesday ramblings

I previously compared 6 month old babies and kittens. My point finds itself being proven over and over again. I'm trying to cut out the Pattern of a Million Pieces. (My daughter and her taste in dress patterns, argh.) Pattern paper, if you've never had the opportunity to work with it, is basically tissue paper that comes in the size of queen-sized sheets, which you are expected to wrangle and wrestle and cut out just the pieces you need. It's great fun, let me tell you, especially when you have to locate 15 different pieces. Tissue paper - it makes that fun crinkly sound that is often found in infant toys. And apparently that crinkly sound is just as fascinating to kittens as it is to babies. And so I just spent the last hour not only wrangling three sheets of pattern paper, but doing it all while a small gray striped kitten wrestled amongst all the pieces. My favorite phrase these days is "Izzy, get the cat!" :o)

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Yesterday was Michael's craft class. Sadly, they are discontinuing classes at Michael's, so we'll have to find something else to do on Tuesdays - probably some crafting at home instead.

I struggle sometimes in craft class. I am a creative person and I intend to help develop the creativity of my children, in hopes that they will have the same gift I do. But it is SO hard sometimes! It's hard just to sit back and let them do whatever they want to do, and not try to tell them how it ought to look. Yesterday they were painting little 8x10 canvases. Chloe found a paint sponge roller, thought it was really cool, and roller-painted who whole canvas over and over again with several different colors. As a finishing touch, she smeared her finger around in the paint, then made a hand print in the middle of all of it.

I was really hoping she'd paint something like a cat, or herself, or whatever... sometimes she draws the coolest stuff. But no, she was more interested in seeing what colors mixed together to make something else, and how cool that roller was. :::sigh::: It does take a lot for me sometimes just to let her go at it, and not say anything about it.

Her drawing skills are kind of amazing. Compared to other four and five year olds, her pictures are very detailed - noses aren't just a dot or anything, they are actually shaped, with the bridge of the nose and nostrils. She counts fingers on hands, draws stripes and whiskers on cats, etc. It's awesome. She drew a picture a few days ago of our house, with Izzy and Milo next to it and me, Andrew, Cora and herself in front of it. Then she labeled all of us, and spelled it all right! I should take a picture of that drawing, it's a neat one.

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Blah, I stayed up till 11:00 last night. I never stay up that late. I'm tired.

I was trying to sew this dress she picked out. It's awful. Pin tucks AND pleats in the same dress, plus a zipper. I spent more time ripping out seams than I did sewing last night, finally got the bodice tucked, and now it doesn't match up to the facing, which means my tucks are off a little bit. Ugh. I'll try and fix it, but I'm annoyed with it. And it's rather dull anyway - she picked this hot pink fabric with butterflies on it (something I never would have picked) and refused to pick anything else to use as a contrast fabric, so it's going to be kind of.... pink, and butterfly-ey. Ah well, anything to please the little girl. :o)

I casted on and knit up to the crotch for some longies for Cora. It occurred to me the other day that I have a baby, in the winter, who does not own any longies. :::Gasp::: (longies are like wool soakers, but they are pants. And they are cute - very, very cute.) So I think they're going to be about big enough to fit a two year old. I may rip it out and start over, or I may just keep going and let them be big this year and fit next year too. We'll see. I'm not really using a pattern, just making it up. I'm using stash yarn, but realized I don't know where my 10.5 double pointed needles are, so I'll have to get some. So much for not buying craft supplies!

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I really shouldn't blog first thing in the morning when I'm so tired. All I do is ramble - blech!