Kiss My Knits!

Bunny!

Pattern: “Lovable Toys” rabbit on page 104 of Last Minute Knitted Gifts.
Materials: Blue Sky Alpaca Sport held doubled for body, Valeria di Roma angora held double for inside of ears, polyfiberfill for stuffing, cotton embroidery floss for face.
Needles: 2 #6 circs

The bunny has reached its new owner, the lovely little girl in ‘s home, so now I can post it.

In spite of the name “Last Minute Knitted Gifts” this was not done last-minute. In the book, it’s under the “six to eight hour” category, along with a full-sized silk camisole and a cabled purse. I don’t know what kind of happy pills the designer takes to be able to knock these projects out “last minute.” This was, however, a good stashbuster since I already had the angora and a ball of the alpaca in my stash. I would have sworn I had two balls of alpaca, but I did have to snag another one at Charlotte Yarn when I was just at the neck.

I lengthened the legs and body a little, but really it’s pretty much according to pattern. I started out with very nice mattress seaming, then suddenly realized that half the niftiness of having a hand-knitted gift is that you can tell it’s hand-knitted. After that, I was a little more casual with the finishing.

This was the first time I’ve really embroidered, and it was fun. Fun enough, in fact, that I think I’m going to incorporate more embroidery in my work when possible. Special bonus: my mom is good with embroidery, so there’s my reference source.

This was an enjoyable project, even if there was a larger amount of finishing than I’m used to. All those bits had to be sewn together. The finished project was worth it, though, I think. I’m given to understand that the recipient is happily chewing on the ears. Mmmm! Angoriffic!


Bon apetit, Calla!

I e-mailed another mother to find out if she had gone to the Brownie meeting last night, and if so, whether it had actually taken place. She said she had assumed it wasn’t, so she didn’t go. She mentioned that she knew someone involved with scouting who said we should definitely report it, but said that she didn’t want to get the leader in trouble.

I responded that I sympathized, but I needed to worry about my child more than I needed to worry about the leader. She said, “I agree 100%, for the last 3 weeks I have had to console a crying daughter because the meetings have not taken place.”

Crying child? Mother instincts activated! My call’s already been placed to Scout HQ.

Last night, Emily was a little sniffly. She had some trouble sleeping last night, and even overslept this morning. Since she normally has to restrain herself from getting us up at 5am, that’s a big deal.

She says she’s too sick to go to school, and that her throat hurts. The thermometer doesn’t detect a fever, but my patented MomHands ™ say she may have a slight one. When told that staying home from school meant she’d have to stay home from occupational therapy, which she loves, she protested at first. When told it was an all or none proposition, she actually said she’d stay home from both, although she was sad about it.

She has a best friend at school named Tania. Best line of the morning: “Tania will miss me at school.”

It was a close call, but she’s staying home. Right now she’s lying on the couch under a blanket watching her current favorite video, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Thanks for recording this for us, Dad, it’s been a huge hit. It’s nice for her to have something comforting, since I think the photo to the left best illustrates just how Emily’s last couple of days have gone.

Good thing she got that perfect attendance ribbon yesterday at school, because she wouldn’t be getting it if the writing celebration really were next week.


Orders for: CA, CA, and CA.

While getting ready for bed tonight:

Emily: “Mommy, why didn’t you come to lunch today?”

I flash on that note that came home yesterday saying that there was a writing celebration on Wednesday, where the kids can have lunch with their parents and then go back to the classroom to show what they’ve written. Since the note said it was a Thanksgiving celebration, I had mentally filed it away as being NEXT Wednesday. Of course, now I realize it couldn’t be, since there is no school next Wednesday.

Me: “I didn’t know that was today, sweetie. I’m sorry.”

Emily: “Some of the other mommies came.”

Me: “I know. I’m sorry, sweetie, I didn’t realize. Would you like me to come and have lunch with you some other day?”

Emily: “Yes.”

Me: “Okay, sweetie, I’ll definitely do that.”

What was that I said about other people letting my baby down? Ugh.

On the up side, it’s pretty remarkable that she was able to express a sentiment like “some of the other mommies came.” And we spent a LOT of time together this afternoon, just hanging out by the swing out back, then later, playing like crazy.

Yeah, I still feel like crap.