Kiss My Knits!

I finished Emily’s doll, and it looks good. I put it in the car next to her seat so she’d see it when I picked her up from school. I was looking forward to seeing her reaction.

Unfortunately, when I got to school, Emily’s teacher was waiting in the car line with her. Emily got in and was entranced with her doll – or so I think, because all I really got was a vague happy and excited vibe and something about how her shirt was finished now, because I had to pay attention to what the teacher was saying. Which wasn’t good.

Apparently Emily didn’t wash her hands after using the bathroom on the way to lunch. The bathroom monitor reported this, so Emily was sent back in to wash them, which she did angrily, jerking her hands and doing a perfunctory job. Afterwards, she had a huge screaming crying fit that had her on the floor multiple times in the hallway on the way to lunch. The teacher had to call the vice principal to take the class down to the lunchroom while the teacher took Emily to her resource classroom.

She didn’t calm down there, but stayed upset for a good half hour of continuous full-on hysteria. During that time, the principal and the school psychologist were also called in, to no avail.

Obviously, we didn’t go to Starbucks, which is reserved for good behavior days.

Her teacher says that’s the first time something that major has happened this year. Which, considering years past, I suppose is progress, but it’s not as much as I’d like. I’ve put in an e-mail to find out what finally calmed her down, since I didn’t think to ask at the time. Usually it’s time and solitude that help, so if they were calling in more and more people, I can see how the situation could escalate. It’s understandable – I think anybody would naturally want to call in more people to help. I’m curious to see if they know what finally got her to break out of her cycle and relax.

I’ll post about the doll later. I’m a little discouraged at the moment.

Emily: “Why do you have to hold onto a bicycle’s handlebars?”
Me: “So you can control it. That’s how you steer the bicycle. Do you think you’d like a bicycle for your birthday?”
Emily: “Yes. Also, a can of snakes.”
Me: “What would you do with a can of snakes?”
Emily: “I would open it and they would fly out!”

She gets that from her Grandpa. No doubt about it.

This kid’s on a roll today.

In which Emily loses a tooth and is greatly relieved.

The snowman has finally melted away. There was enough last night for me to pick up a pinch of snow, make the world’s tiniest snowball and throw it at the house. It was a nice last hurrah.

And speaking of world’s tiniest things, my dad’s birthday was Tuesday. No, that’s not a “short” joke! A while back we were talking about this Charlie Brown sweater, and I said I couldn’t understand why the giftee had never acknowledged receipt. I figured any baby would love to have one! Dad quickly said, “Or any adult! I mean… I know I’d wear one. It’d be fun. You know. If someone… were to… make me one. You know.”

Hee hee! Okay! I think he forgot about it, but I filed it away. I didn’t have time to make a complete full-sized sweater by his birthday, and I didn’t have his measurements even if I had had time. Instead, I made this, put a tape measure inside it and presented it in a little bag. And that was his gift. I’ll be taking measurements later for the real deal.

I’ve finished up another project, this one for a baby. It’s too big, but I like to knit big for babies because they grow so fast. The parents get all this tiny stuff at baby showers, and then six months later the kid has outgrown it all. However, I have to mail it to its receipient, so I can’t show it just yet. But it’s really cute. It’s hard to hold off posting it.

The hubby has to work today. Emily says that I can go to the store and get bagels by myself and bring them back. I’m pretty sure Child Protective Services would have a different opinion on that. We’ll see if she wants them badly enough to stop lounging around in her pajamas and come with me. I may insist, because now that she’s mentioned it, a bagel sounds great!

Emily: “Let’s take that snowman inside.”
Me: “No, we can’t do that, it would melt!”
Emily: “I’ll give it an umbrella, so it won’t melt so fast!”

Heh. Sorry, sugar, a parasol won’t help. Answer’s still no, but I love the creativity.

SNOW DAY!!

Emily had to run around to all the windows to make sure it was actually snowing on all four sides of the house. And no school today! I’m not feeling that great today, but you know what? It’s all okay, because it’s SNOWING! Snow is magic; it makes everything better! YAAAAAAY!!

And today, what my daughter learned were the words “inhabit” from the sentence “the island was inhabited by cannibals” in Pippi Longstocking, and also the word “fart.” From… uh, never mind.

However, she did teach me about matter, mass, properties, and temperature. So I suppose that’s a fair exchange.

I just bought eight bras and six pairs of panties from Lane Bryant for $36.17. SCORE!

I’m sorry to share too much information, it’s just that this is my brand, and I really, really needed some but was having trouble finding the time to get away to the mall to get some. And lo and behold, makes this post about a glitch in Lane Bryant’s shopping cart, whereby it’s taking 30 percent off of the total order, including the free items in the “buy two get two” promotion. Hot diggity! So now I’m set for a good long while. I kind of wish I’d gotten more, but I suppose there’s a limit to how many bras and panties should arrive on one’s doorstep in one fell swoop.

As you can see, I’m personalizing my laptop properly. I need to come up with a catchy name for it on our internal network. “Diana Prince” seems a little obvious. Am considering buying Sims2 for Mac, now that I have this spiffy new laptop. I can probably find it reasonably cheap on eBay now that it’s been out for a while.


Christmas pics! Here’s my husband and daughter making the traditional Christmas ravioli. Every year my husband makes ricotta cheese from whole milk, parsley, parmesan cheese, and vinegar. He does this the night before and we use it the following day as filling. He also makes sauce from crushed tomatoes, etc., according to his mother’s recipe. Then we make the dough from scratch, and it’s a good family activity to roll it out, cut it, fill it, and seal the ravioli closed. Later we boil ’em up and they’re delicious! We brought some to my dad, too. Maybe it’s not everyone’s traditional Christmas fare, but it’s pretty kid-friendly and crafty, so it’s a good thing to do together, which is what Christmas is all about.


This year was the first year that my daughter not only bought a present for my husband that she thought he might like, but she actually looked around instead of grabbing the first thing off the shelf. And her thoughtful choice?

My dad is great,
My dad is neat.
My dad really
likes to eat.

Hee hee hee!

Hats up for: NY, IL, FL

Today was the 50th anniversary celebration for Park Road Shopping Center, which was marked by a little carnival in the parking lot with free games, snacks, music, and attractions. Since it was less than two miles from our house, of course we went. It also gave me a good background to photograph a roll brim beanie that a client requested for a six-year-old girl. I just happen to have a seven-year-old girl to model, so that worked right out.

The kid’s roll brim beanie on wearwithstyle is in a colorway of Noro Silk Garden that has been discontinued, which breaks my heart because it was GREAT for kid knits. My daughter loves hers and chooses it whenever I ask her to put on a hat.

Speaking of hats, there are now enough dinosaur hats in the queue to make it more cost-effective to purchase an entire cone of Christmas Green yarn.

Eiffel Tower for scale.*
The spines on the dino hats are a little tedious to do, but the result is so worth it. People order a wide range of sizes in this, from toddler to adult. Nothing says “I’m having fun and I don’t give a flying flip what you think” like a vivid green hat with orange spines running down the back.

I’ve been on a Fred Astaire kick lately, having watched The Gay Divorcee, Swing Time, andShall We Dance this week. The latter had a sequence in it that made me laugh so hard that I literally had to stop the movie to catch my breath and get a drink of water. I’m trying to see if I can’t dig up the sequence, or maybe even make a YouTube out of it. Holy moly, it cracked me up. I’m marking down Eric Blore and Edward Everett Horton as two of my new favorite character actors. By the way, check out the last paragraph of Eric Blore’s wikipedia entry. I think that fits the definition of “ironic.”

Up next on the needles: CA, CA, and CA.

*Note: Eiffel Tower statuette may be smaller than actual Eiffel Tower.

Apparently my courage in battling the monstera has inspired illiane to present me with some “yummy” “goodness” from Malaysia. illiane said that she thought the rambutan was “rude-looking,” which just shows you what a gutter mind she has. I’ll tell you this – no matter how sweet and delicious they are purported to be, I will not be opening the can of alien balls without full hazmat gear. Take “alien balls” how you will. I think we all know how illiane will be taking it.

I’ll report back when I sample these. Until then, they’ll be safely stored in a lead-lined bunker in the back yard.


Whipped up another little something, which I cannot show you in its finished form because it is a gift. These are the bits of it, though. I just need to put a finishing touch on it, then it’s off to its destination.

There are actually a fair number of non-Jayne items in the queue right now, which is always fun. I ran a reproduction of a felted purse past the client who asked for it, and she was very pleased, although it needs to be a hair wider. I need to knock another one or two of those out for her – she’s gifting her sisters with them for Christmas. There are a couple of Jayne hats that need to be ready by Flanvention II, but aside from that, most stuff is for Christmas. At this point, it’s too late to order a finished hat and have it guaranteed by the holidays. Kits are no problem, but if you’re not already in line for a knitted item, it may be January.


For Halloween, Emily said all season that she did NOT want a pumpkin. Next year, she’d want a pumpkin but definitely not this year. No sir, no pumpkin for her. Until 3pm on Halloween day. Great.

So we went to two grocery stores with no luck, then I thought I’d try a pumpkin stand I knew, and they had a few left. A few small, lumpy pumpkins. Emily quickly pointed to what we shall not call the worst, but instead “the one with the most character.” If there was a Halloween equivalent to the Charlie Brown Christmas tree, this was it. It was two dollars, but the guy took pity on us and only charged us a buck. We were very grateful.

We took it back home, and because I am one of Those Moms who sucks the fun out of everything, I had Emily draw me a picture of how she wanted the pumpkin to look so that she could work those fine motor skills. Actually, it was still fun, since it was part of the process of carving. “Triangle eyes, circle nose, squiggle mouth.” I’d never done squiggle before, but I gave it a shot. It may not be art, but it is, as my father would say, “good enough for newspaper work.”

Behold! The tiniest pumpkin! If ever the Great Pumpkin were going to visit a house instead of a pumpkin patch, he would surely choose ours, as our pumpkin was the most sincere in the neighborhood. The opening was barely big enough to fit a little tea candle inside.

I leave you with this belated image of Halloween. May your candy last exactly as long as you want it to.