Warm hands

I don't know if I have ever told you this, but I am freakishly warm.  All the time.  I rarely have to wear a heavy jacket, even in the middle of winter (being in the South helps with that, too).  When I was little, my younger sister and I shared a bed and she would get so mad if my legs touched hers because they were so hot. I don't know if I just have excellent circulation or what.  The girls seem to have inherited it, though.  I have, on more than one occasion, checked their temperature when they got up in the morning because I thought they had fever.   It's not easy to get them to dress warmly.  It's funny... the one person in the house that was raised to endure the cold North Country (my husband is from upstate NY) is always the one to freeze around here. 

My hands are especially warm.  No one likes to hold hands with me for very long because I make their hands sweat in no time flat.  It's not always bad... I don't need a heating pad when Isabelle wakes up with growing pains.  In a matter of seconds, I can melt a freezer pop so that the girls can slide them up the tube without any trouble.  I would probably make a killer masseuse, if I could stand touching strangers that intimately.

But sometimes it's not so great.  There are times my hands are so warm that it's uncomfortable.  I will just sit and hold a cold soda can for a few minutes just because it feels so good to have something cold in my hands.  My fingers do get cold, but my palms are always so warm that gloves are just beyond uncomfortable.

I love fingerless gloves.  I wish like crazy I could wear them.  I might be able to get away with the more mesh-y patterns.  But I need something more like palm-less gloves.  I think that would look a little silly, but maybe I'll try it one day.  Because I'm just weird like that.  Anyway, I do love how fingerless gloves look and I jump when I get the chance to make them. 

One of my friends asked me to make her a pair, along with that silly chicken hat which wasn't supposed to look like a chicken.  Luckily she loves the hat.  I made her a pair of fingerless gloves last spring and so this time I asked if she minded if I tried another pattern.  She said she wanted them to be camouflage and the rest was up to me.  The only camouflage yarn I could find was Red Heart, aka Strings of Sandpaper.  I knew I could soften up the finished project, so I just went ahead and used it. 

I used a free pattern :  Gauntlet Style Fingerless Gloves  Now, I hate giving a not-so-great review about a pattern, because I've written a few and I know it's hard to write them.  But I wasn't crazy about the pattern.  It was slightly confusing.  Add that to the sandpaper yarn, and it took me a while to actually complete the set of gloves because I was so over it after the first one.  I finally finished them tonight. 



Now I just need to get my friend to give me her approval and I'll send them off.  I seriously need to work on my South Park amis now.... they'll need to be shipped off soon.  And 4 hats to make and ship off before Christmas.  I think I need to stop accepting requests now, if I plan on doing any crocheting for the girls for Christmas... and if I want to make any decorations.

PS... Exciting day!  My flight to get to the cruise was booked today.  Woo hoo!  Less than three months! I'm really excited and at the same time really anxious about leaving the girls for a week.  I'll be homesick before I can get seasick.

How many more teeth does she have?

Today was Olivia's regular dental check up.  My kids adore going to the dentist.  I don't blame them.  Our hygienist and the dentist are super nice and they are great with the kids.  Isabelle and Zoe's first appointments were actually just impromptu "hey, let me up in that chair!" situations.  I'm always hearing what good little patients they are.

Well, when we went in today, Olivia's remaining front tooth was really loose.... "just hanging in there by her imagination" as the hygienist put it.  Remember, Olivia won't wiggle her loose teeth and it's high drama when it's time for the tooth to come out.  The hygienist told me that she'd just go ahead and get the tooth out for me and I felt like flying across the chair to hug her.  I was envisioning this peaceful easy tooth plucking done by someone other than me.  I got the "someone other than me" part right.

During the cleaning, Olivia bit down on "Mr. Thirsty" with her tooth and it started bleeding.  Our visit went downhill pretty fast from there.  Miss Charlotte told her she'd put some "blue medicine" (topical anesthetic) on it for her so it wouldn't hurt.  She barely got to finish the cleaning and the dentist came in to verify no cavities.  Olivia was whimpering the whole time about her tooth.

Mind you, it's numb, OK?

So Miss Charlotte put a little more blue medicine on it, grabbed the tooth and yanked.  Apparently Olivia's imagination is stronger than Miss Charlotte thought, because the tooth didn't just yank out.  She had to grab on to it again and  pull.  Olivia is screaming and bleeding everywhere.  Dental employees come flocking to see what all the fuss is about.  Olivia is in hysterics, I'm laughing because the alternative is being mortified that my "model patient" is being so ridiculous, and everyone is just looking at us like we are insane.

I'm really glad that they told me that I should leave the other two in the waiting room and they'd watch them during Olivia's appointment.  (I told you, my dentist office rocks)  The girls are super protective of each other (they're the only ones allowed to hurt each other), so I'm sure it would have been pure insanity.



On the plus side, I already have Olivia's Tooth Fairy present (we do small - like dollar store - gifts instead of money) so we're set.  And I can go around singing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" to her!  Awesome.

Trick or Treat!

I just was not into Halloween this year.  I only made costumes because I was too cheap to buy them.  And felt that I would be failing as a crafty mommy if I didn't.  I feel like I have set expectations, especially after knitting three mermaid costumes last year.  I'm sure people would understand me not going that far this year, but I had to do something.

So, after much debate and having the girls veto every cool idea I had, plus me realizing I didn't really want to sew Jem costumes or a gnome costume, we went with fairies.  I just made some tutu dresses (basically long tutus pulled up to their armpits and cinched in at the waist), bought some wings and that's that.  The tutu dresses were super fast, because I used the 6" spools of tulle.

I wasn't going to  paint their faces, but Isabelle found the face paint from last year and insisted.  She was my first attempt at making a butterfly.



Ummm... it didn't go so well.  I offered to wash it off and start again once I figured it out, but she was completely happy looking like I shot her in the face with a paint ball gun.



The girls wanted their hair colored.  Until I started actually spraying it and they realized how awful it smelled.



They would have been just fine without all the paint and color, and definitely easier to clean up afterwards.  Which reminds me... I need to scrub the tub.  It's pink.



The girls waved at everyone who drove past while we were waiting on Daddy to walk with us to my sister's house.



She only lives a few houses down and is always our first stop for Halloween.  The girls insist.



That wasn't the first candy in their buckets this year, though.  Our across the street neighbor came out while we started out down the road to give the girls some candy even though they don't pass out candy.  I thought that was really sweet.  We also hit a couple other houses on our way back home, which was a first.  We don't go door-to-door usually.  We loaded up after that and worked a couple "trunk or treats" at local churches.  Their buckets are pretty full.  We somehow managed to keep them from eating everything as soon as they got it. 

And, up on my soapbox for a minute...  I swear if my girls ever try to leave the house in a costume that barely covers their bottom when they are teenagers, I'll be the scariest thing they've ever seen on Halloween.  We were at a church, for Pete's sake.  You would think they'd have at least a little respect.  I know it's "cool" to dress slutty for Halloween, I know I probably went overboard a time or two, but come on...  at a church?  Off my soapbox...

Anyway, now my kiddos are all scrubbed up, in bed (much later than normal - they are used to a 7:30 bedtime), and this Momma is wiped out.  I hope all of you had a wonderful Halloween!

After the afghan...

Do you ever feel the need for a break after a big project?  Now that my Stained Glass is finished, I have a ton of Christmas stuff to work on.  But what have I been doing all weekend?  Reading.  Except for last night when I got the urge to learn the crocodile stitch.  I did... I'm just making a triangle of stitches out of a skein of yarn that I bought for something else that didn't pan out.  So it won't be big enough to be a shawl or anything useful, but it looks neat.  Very fall colored... kind of reminds me of owl feathers.  I'll take a picture sometime.

I don't have time for all that, but I just need a break.  I need to work on my South Park amis... they're frustrating me though.  I have one fingerless glove finished and need to make the other one, but the pattern is pretty boring.  Then I'll have three sock monkeys and a mohawk, not to mention the things I hope to make for the girls.  I don't have time to read or experiment.

But sometimes you just have to.

I'm reading Eve by Iris Johansen.  I picked up the first of her Eve Duncan series forever ago and really liked it and read about half of them.  But I guess my tastes in writing style have changed, because her style drives me a little crazy now.  But this is like all the back story, and I'm too curious, so I'm trying to get past it to read this one and the two that follow.  You know, it's like some people can come up with great stories, but can't deliver them well.  I want to read the story, but her dialogue makes me cringe.  I don't care about the rest of the series that I gave up on.  I think one of her books was the second book I have ever just put down unfinished.  The first was The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway.  I detest Hemingway.  My teacher assigned it to me when I finished A Farewell to Arms early and I decided there was not enough extra credit in the world to convince me to finish that book.  It's rare that I don't finish a book, even if I don't really enjoy it. 

The most recent was one that I didn't finish of the most recent Sookie books.  I had to return it to the library before I finished it and I haven't even put myself back on the waiting list so I can finish it.  It's not that I didn't like it, but that I read some of Charlaine Harris' other series and they really turned me off.  I think she sold her soul to the devil for that series, because the rest of what I've tried to read of hers just was awful.  Or maybe she just finally figured out how to make a female character that wasn't totally unlikeable.  I guess I should give her some credit.

Stephen King has a new book coming out very soon and I'm super excited.  And Bag of Bones is going to be a miniseries on some network in December and I can't wait.  I know I loved the book, but I honestly can't remember much about it, so I might be able to enjoy the miniseries without comparing it to the book.  I have reading amnesia, I think.  I forget books almost as soon as I finish them.  I don't reread a lot of books, but I have been able to reread a few books and be just as amazed by them as the first time. 

I guess my brain just can't absorb much more than what's already in it.  Too many medical billing codes and song lyrics rattling around up there, I guess.  I can spout off colonoscopy codes like nobody's business and sing along with songs I don't even like, but I can't remember what the book I read last month was even remotely about.  It's kind of scary since soon I'll have to learn an entire new set of diagnosis codes when they switch from ICD-9 to ICD-10 (yeah, it's all Greek to me, too... don't feel bad).  My brain is going to short circuit.  They'll find me at work, under my desk, chewing on electrical cords or something.  I wonder if a nervous breakdown would be covered by worker's comp?

Stained Glass Window - the finale!

I gave myself a deadline of Thanksgiving to finish it.  I felt that it was a pretty generous deadline, but I'm always nervous of deadlines when it comes to my crafting because I tend to crack under pressure and flake out.  It turned out it was very generous.  I told myself Friday morning that I'd probably have it finished by the end of the weekend.  I finished it Friday night.  Almost a month ahead of my deadline!  Go me!



I began this afghan on our Florida vacation at the beginning of August.  So it only took me 3 months.  My other afghans have taken me 5 months each.  This one is quite a bit smaller, but far more complicated, so I think it's still impressive.



This is my third afghan... well 4th if you count the baby-sized one that I made last Christmas, but it was so boring to make that I always forget that I even made it.  It was shell stitch all the way... row after row after row.  I think that's why my others have all been squares.  They're not so monotonous.  It's also one reason I'm still a little reluctant to try a ripple blanket, I'm afraid I'll get bored really quickly.   That and I just can't get the image out of my head of the ugly, scratchy brown and orange chevron afghan my mom had when I was growing up.  I've seen such gorgeous ripple patterns lately that I am very tempted to try.

I digress.



Yes, I know my curtains are different lengths.  I didn't pay attention when I bought them.  Yes, I know I own a sewing machine and can fix that.  I'm too lazy and apathetic.

I really loved making this afghan.  It was definitely challenging, but not so much that it was frustrating.  The pattern is from a big book of patterns, and two of the pages from this pattern eventually just fell out of the book from me flipping back and forth.



Even though it's finished now, I will probably still hang on to this until Thanksgiving before I give it to my boss.

I really want to make another one for myself, possibly in a different color scheme and probably bigger... at least another row of three to fit across the end of my bed.  I saw a pink and green variation on Ravelry that caught my eye... not quite so stained glass-esque, but still very pretty.  It will be a little while before I can, though.  After my enormous list of Christmas crocheting, I have promised to make afghans for Olivia and Isabelle.  My plate is full, but I absolutely love it.

Not to freak you out or anything...

... but do you realize it's only 2 months until Christmas?  *gasp!*

For most people that's no big deal, but for crafty people who try to make a lot of their gifts, this is crunch time.

If you look over to the right, I've started a little To Do list for myself.  I'm extremely honored that I've had a few people commission me to make things for them this year.  So far, that's what's on the list.  There will be more.  I have to make stuff for the girls, and Zoe's birthday is right after Christmas, so I have to keep that in mind also.  (People with post-Christmas birthdays always get the short end of the stick, don't they?)  And I'd love to sneak in a few decorations.  We'll see how it goes. 

But today.... today I really need to make the girls' Halloween costumes.  I've been procrastinating because I am totally not excited about them.  They vetoed every exciting idea I had.  Now they're just going to be fairies (possibly wing-less) in tutu dresses.  Meh.  At least they'll be easy.

On a different note... we had parent-teacher conferences yesterday.  It always blows me away to hear how my kids are at school.  Heaven knows that at home they're crazy little goblins, but at school they're just everything I could ever hope they would be.  Sweet, patient, smart, helpful.  Olivia's apparently painfully shy in class, which she comes by naturally, but that was probably the worst thing I heard out of their teachers.  I am a very proud Momma. 

He's really just a softie...

When Bill's aunt requested that I make a Michael Myers amigurumi, I was kind of nervous.  I knew I wasn't going to be able to find a pattern and would have to wing it.  The only amigurumi I've ever improvised was my stuffed stick figure, which was pretty much just a ball and some tubes.  But I was determined to give it a try.

After getting really frustrated trying to improvise South Park dolls (I broke down and bought the pattern... I couldn't get the proportions right and was tired of ripping out my work), I grabbed a ball of light gray yarn and decided to take my frustrations out on the serial killer.



It took me a few tries to get the nose to not look too button-like.  Then I decided I would try to do this without having to sew on arms or legs, because I really hate sewing on body parts.  I've done this with legs before, but never arms.



The arms were almost more trouble to do this way than if I had worked them separately and sewn them on.  I should have made them a tad bigger to make it a little less fiddly, but I think they look OK.



I tied his hair on but, unlike Olivia's doll, I decided to not go overboard.  I knew the yarn I was using would fluff out enough to cover any bald spots.  I originally was going to use felt for the eyes, because I'm not really good at embroidery, but I didn't have any black felt.  Well, I probably do.... buried somewhere.  I was in my "I'm almost done so I must not stop for anything" mode, so I didn't do a thorough search.



I still need to make him a knife.  I thought about crocheting one... I have some sport-weight silver yarn that would work.  I thought about some lightweight cardboard.  A friend of mine suggested felt.  I'll have to see if I have any thing that will work.

I think he looks more cute than creepy.  I'm not sure I'll add details to his coveralls.  He was fun to make and I'm pretty sure I could make more like that.  I didn't write down a pattern or anything, but it wasn't all that complicated. 

Confession:  Until yesterday, I didn't even know what horror movie franchise Michael Myers was in.  I don't watch them.  If asked, I would have said Jason was the Halloween guy.  Now I feel a little obligated to actually watch at least one Halloween movie to know what I just made.  I have never seen a single Halloween movie.  You'd be amazed at the number of popular movies I just have never seen.  Netflix doesn't have the original on instant play, so I set the DVR to record it on Monday so I'll get to watch it Tuesday (maybe).  Unfortunately, my husband will not watch horror flicks (I've never minded... I'm not big on being scared myself), so I'm on my own here.  Let's hope I don't end up calling my sister and brother-in-law to check under the bed and in the closets before I go to bed.