Couple of FO's

Thought I'd go ahead and post a couple pics of things I've finished recently - the PINK things Chloe picked out.

Here's the skirt. Truly a pleasure to sew, very little thought went into it, it fits beautifully and I'm happy with it. And I really, really love this picture.



Here is the Dress From Hell. :oX Truly, this pattern sucked. I doubt I'll ever sew anything from this pattern again. Not to mention - pin tucks, folds, pleats and a zipper - and there are supposed to be buttons too but I did away with them. I think I'll add decorative buttons down the front and possibly a few rows of ribbon above the hem. And I haven't hemmed it yet. Thankfully, she loves it, and that is all that matters. She said she's going to wear it when she gets married. :o)


Stay tuned for tomorrow - I took about a zillion pictures today plus some video that I will (hopefully) be sharing.

G'night!

and... the AI results

This is the last one today, I promise!

Did I not totally call the girls? Ha! I'm cool. :o) I was happy with those results. But what's with David A. and Alexandrea? He was totally bawling, and they were hanging all over each other while Robbie sang. Wierd.

As for the guys, I'm glad Mr. Blonde Tuft guy went home, but Robbie, I'm disappointed with that. He was SO much better than Luke. I think though that teenage girls with their cell phones are very powerful in this competition, and Luke looks like the guy from Dawson's Creek, so he's probably got a fair chance, unfortunately.

Do y'all read the BuddyTV commentary about AI? I read it after each show. It's often hilarious, and he usually says everything I think, only he has way more writing talent than I could ever hope to possess.

the AI Girls

Yeah, lots of blogs today. And there'll be another after this.

I know, I know, you all know who got cut already. But I'm a slacker and I tape them and watch them when I have time, so I just watched the girls. Here's my take:

Brooke and Kristy (sp?) both impressed me tonight. I am actually really starting to like Kristy.

Amanda and Carly were my faves... Amanda disappointed me, and Carly did too. I still like Amanda though, I hope she makes it past this. I'm kind of bored with Carly.

I really would like to see Alexandrea, Kady, and Alaina go home. Alexandrea... something about her I just don't love. Kady has the personality of an eggplant - did I say that already? I think I did. Alaina comes across as a ditzy blonde, and that's not my favorite type of person. Syesha doesn't really do it for me either, but I know a lot of others like her.

Who else is there? I dunno... I guess they didn't make enough of an impression for me to really remember them. :oX

Now I'm off to see who goes home tonight!

Chloe-isms

"Awww, Mexican cats are so cute Mom."

(The next door neighbors are Mexican. Apparently their cats are too.)

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I was wiping down all the doors in the hallway. The basement door in particular has lots of dirty fingerprints about 3 feet up. Chloe was helping me clean.

"Geez, what dirty little kid was going into our basement?"

She was serious.

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Spelling with a kindergartener

Thank you = than q

Cavity = cab d (she says b instead of v)

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So, my sweet little girl is turning into a liar. Please, please tell me this is just a phase. She's lied a couple of times to try to get herself out of trouble, and a couple times just for the sake of lying, I swear!

She came to me and said "I can't find the lid to my marker." I asked her to please make sure Cora didn't have it. (I was on the toilet or I'd have looked myself. LOL) She came back and said "I found it!" When I asked if Cora had it she said "No, it was under Milo." She handed me the lid. It was covered in a clear, slimy substance - better known in our house as Baby Slobber. I told her I could tell Cora had it, why did she lie to me? Anyhow, I just gave her a time out.

The other one was the other night when she was playing with some of those shiny craft marbles. I told her not to get them all over, she did, so she got them taken away. Later that night, she goes "Oh! There's a..." and then she just grabbed it and walked to toward her room. I said "Chloe, please bring me the marble you just found". About that time you could hear the 'plink' as she set it on her shelf in her room. Then she came out and said "I didn't find anything, Mom."

Another time out.

My goal with time outs is to make her realize that lying is wrong. She's obviously experimenting to see what she gets away with. I just hope I always catch her in her lies to prove to her she won't ever get away with them! I'm pretty certain she understands now that it's not okay to lie. I just don't know the proper way to discipline this!

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!

AI Week 2 - boys

A quick note about my AI opinions...

David Archuleta is seriously just a doll. His performance tonight was by far the best. I LOVED his song choice, and he sang it so beautifully. He's not a guy I'd probably ever buy a CD from, but I think he is my fave in this competition after tonight.

Another favorite was Jason Castro. He didn't wow me tonight like he did last week. I was kind of disappointed. I did however find his pre-performance interview to be absolutely adorable. David Cook (is that his name?) I thought did alright. I disagree with Simon, I love any man that has a love for words. :o) He's up there on my list of faves. And the Aussie, he didn't thrill me much.

Chikezie (sp?) blew me away - I didnt' expect that. He was on my list of least favorites last week, but that's changed after tonight's show. David Hernandez was the same - I was so surprised by those two performances. I'd like to see them both stick around awhile if they keep pulling off stuff like that.

I really wish Luke and the Jason with the blonde tuft would go home. They bore me, they aren't spectacular, and I'm done with them. :oX

"Multi-tactic entertainment technique"

Dani asked how I manage to get any knitting done. I employ what I like to call a "multi-tactic entertainment technique."

I start by getting Chloe doing some worksheets or any other project that requires only verbal participation from me. She's easy.

I've come to realize that 6 month old babies are a lot like kittens. If it flops around and they aren't really supposed to have it, it will entertain them for quite some time.

There's nothing so tantalizingly floppy as the ball of yarn attached to whatever it is you are currently working on. Baby will be happy to knot and twist and mangle the yarn, keeping you extra busy trying to untangle while squeezing in a few rows' worth of knitting time.




The ball of yarn tactic is generally good for 10 or 15 minutes, especially if it's got some shiny threads in it or appears to taste particularly good.

Once you hear the "ahhhhhhhhhhh" that signals the end of this round, move on to tactic #2: the cell phone. Another one of those fascinating items they aren't really supposed to have, good for at least another 5 minutes. Just make sure you're not too attached to that phone - I've heard baby slobber has been known to render a cell phone battery completely useless.



By this time, hopefully you've managed to knit a few rows. When you see this face:

... you know it is time to hurry up and finish that last row before you reach 'baby meltdown phase' which is to be avoided at all cost.

Do that a few times a day for 6 weeks, and you just might be able to finish a sweater! :o)

Monday ramblings

Andrew's back to work again, so it's another start to two weeks of him being gone alot. Poor guy - he didn't feel real good for this whole week off (which was actually a short week off) and I was kind of crabby... I don't think it was the best break. It just kind of felt 'off'. And his next week off we're going to Kansas City, which really is quite a lot of work too. Ah well, come hunting season he'll get plenty of quiet time away from us! :-P

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I made a couple pairs of pajama pants for Chloe yesterday. Isn't that rainbowy one the most gaudy thing you've ever seen? LOL Bubblegum pink and rainbows - her perfect combination. Actually, it looks like something Dani would like too. :-P I almost finished the skirt she picked out, and then I have a dress to make. I look forward to having these finished. I've sort of challenged myself not to buy any fabric, scrapbook supplies, or yarn for a month. In all honesty, I could probably go a year. LOL I have so much stuff. I'm trying to clean out and organize the craft/computer/play room though, and I'm realizing that I might actually have TOO much stuff. I should take pictures. You would all laugh at me.

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I think we're staying home all day today. I hope we're staying home all day. I have a lot to get done. My floors are filthy and need some serious attention from a mop. (I try. I honestly do. But with a big dog and lots of rain, you just can't avoid dirty floors sometimes.) I'd like to get more done on the craft room, get a bunch of stuff put away in here so it doesn't look so awful. I need to organize a bit of Chloe's school stuff, and make some plans as to what we're gonna learn from here - we've got a good track laid for math and reading, but I need to pick out some good social studies and science subjects to work on.

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Cora has reached that stage where she doesn't fall asleep easily unless I'm snuggling with her, and doesn't stay asleep for long unless she's in my bed next to me. It makes it hard to get much done at night or early in the morning. Chloe went through the same phase. Sadly, she still hasn't really left it....

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Wow, today isn't looking good so far. I just got up to refill my coffee, dropped my cup on the floor, cut my finger while picking up the pieces, and I'm still bleeding. How's that for the start of a day?Maybe I should just go back to bed!

W00t! CPH is finished!

I don't take good pictures. And I hate having my picture taken. So please look at the sweater, and not the goofy expressions on my face.

Isn't it gorgeous though? Ahhhhhh I'm SO glad it's done. My first 'real' grown up sweater. I've knitted a couple of sweaters in Wool Ease Thick & Quick on size 13 or 15 needles, but those don't really count.

Stats:

Central Park Hoodie, 36" size
Yarn - Vanna's Choice, Olive, 7 balls, only used about 1/10 of the last one. For a super cheap acrylic, I like this yarn. It's soft and it knits up nicely.

Needles- size 9 and 10.5

Took about 6 weeks, but that was with lots of slack off time.

I'm so thrilled with it. It fits perfectly, it's comfy and warm. only thing I'd have done differently was maybe graft the shoulder seams. I did make it about 2" longer than called for, and the sleeves are about 2" longer too, because I like sleeves that hit my fingertips. They fold back if I want them to. Super easy pattern, but very satisfying. I totally recommend it. :o)

:::squeeeee!!::: I'm SO glad this is finally done!

Pretty outfits - sew fun.

"Chloe, where is your other sock?"

---"Cora ate it, Mom."

:::sigh::: "Well if you'd stop sticking your feet in the baby's mouth, she wouldn't eat your socks."

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I finally finished the outfits I was working on for the girls.





Yesterday Chloe and I went to Joann's and picked out a couple of patterns for dresses and some fabric. Lots and lots of PINK. We're gonna start cutting today, and I told her she can help me sew. That should be fun, if not challenging.

And my CPH hoodie is almost done. We're talking 8 more rows - half of a button band. And a whole lot of loose ends to tie off, but oh my goodness, I'm so in love with this thing! I want to finish it today, but Andrew's going out hunting coyotes so I probably won't get to until tomorrow. We'll see. I'm very excited to see it finished though.

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Alright, my man wants breakfast, and my baby is fussing. Guess that's my cue!