Kiss My Knits!

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Today’s new words for my daughter: “noon” and “cannibal.”

She’d been doing really well in math for a while, but had been having trouble the latter part of this year. That’s odd, because really, she was definitely ahead of her age level before. We discovered at a meeting last week that her daily special ed time (she goes out of the classroom for help working on her goals for a short time every day) is during math. So when she gets homework, like she did today, with new concepts like “noon” then it may not be her complaining because she doesn’t want to do homework, it may honestly be something she doesn’t know. She certainly seemed like it was new to her.

It’s frustrating. While we work on things like following directions, listening, elaborating on stories, etc., she’s apparently missing out on other parts of school. Thank goodness she’s smart to begin with. We’ll just have to double up on how much math we introduce into her daily life.

Lest this be too much of a downer, “cannibal” was introduced because we were playing, and she was pretending to bite my nose off. This after an evening of pretending we were snakes and that her stuffed animals were mice to be chased around the bed and devoured. That’s my little weirdo!

Regardless of the flat tire, a good time was had by all.

This is the first year that Emily wasn’t sick on Halloween.
Judging by her expression, her attitude is:
“Come hell or high water, I’m getting candy!”

My daughter has class pictures tomorrow, and I had mentioned to her that we could go get a dress today for that. We ran out of time, so I went out and picked her up a cute skirt and shirt tonight after she went to bed. She really did need a new one, because she has grown four inches in the past year. I kid you not. She’s six years old, 55 pounds, and 4’1″ now.

The problem is, I got a size eight skirt (the correct size) but had picked up a size eight shirt, put it down, shopped around, then apparently picked up a size four before checking out. I think the shopkeeper straightened it back into the pile, and I didn’t notice. It was not her fault, though, it was mine, since I should have confirmed it was right before buying it. So now my daughter has a very cute skirt and shirt combo, with the shirt two sizes too small. I picked up some groceries after getting her outfit, so the shop was long closed by the time I noticed at 9:30.

Let’s hope she still fits into one of her two summertime dresses. I can’t believe I did that. I’m going to be kicking myself all night.

That’s right, my Boo is the babe with the bling. Thanks, Nana!

(Those are clip-on earrings, by the way. No pierced ears for my girl yet!)

…but I didn’t exactly help. It’s this baby hat pattern from Crystal Palace, calling for their extremely soft and chunky “Poof” yarn. It’s kind of like Berroco’s “Plush” on steroids with dark hair growth as a side effect. I realized last night that a friend was throwing a birthday party for her 1-year-old daughter and I had nothing, and I wanted to do something slightly different than the 50 bazillion Jayne hats I’ve done mostly in a row. The pattern calls for size 13 needles, so I knew it would be quick. Unfortunately, I made some basic mistakes.

And what were those mistakes, you ask? They, the pictures, and long-winded ramble are behind the cut.

Mark it down, folks, it’s a red letter day.

My daughter entered her first chat room.

At http://www.GroovyGirls.com you can create an avatar of yourself that looks like a Groovy Girl, then do stuff like dance, change clothes, etc. You can also go into a room with other kids’ (I’m hoping kids’) Groovy Girl avatars. You can ask preset questions from a list, answer questions with a preset list, create sentences with individual preset words, and so forth. It’s pretty kid-friendly and I don’t see a way someone could inflict harm on the kids, since they can’t actually say anything that isn’t already in the computer in some form.

So far my daughter has said “Tell me about the boy you like” and “Do you like parties?” and told people that she likes to dance. She can also invite the other Groovy Girls to dance, and take photos with them (little screen captures of your Groovy Girl and theirs making funny faces). She has done both of these things, as well as answered another kid who asked “How ya doing?” with “I’m feeling okay.” (She picked ‘okay” over “awesome” and “really good” so she is choosing her own answers).

I’m right there beside her for all this, of course.

It’s a bold new age, and I didn’t think we’d be in it for another eight years, at least. Shows what I know.

Jayne hat orders have slacked off some, although I’m still getting them. It’s all to the good, though. I’ve come to the conclusion that the only way I can fill gift requests is to start slotting them into the queue as if they’re paid orders. Otherwise they get pushed to the back and never done. I started Tyrathia’s scarf… when? April? Oy. It’s a little further along than this picture, but not much.

I’ve started offering knitting kits for the Jayne hats, with pattern and helpful tips, pompom, and enough yarn to knit a men’s hat. Those have been going like hotcakes this week, as everybody suddenly realizes, “Oh, crap, I haven’t made my hat yet!”

I’m contemplating setting aside part of wearwithstyle specifically to sell patterns – I’ve got some cute ones. And my daughter gave me an idea yesterday for something that I think would be quick, fun, and sellable.

Also, I’d like to knit her a sweater that looks like the shirt worn by JoJo of “JoJo’s Circus” on Playhouse Disney.

We don’t get anything but basic cable, but my father is so sweet and records the shows for my daughter. She loves clowns, and she wants to be JoJo for Halloween, although I think the Disney store costume may be too small. I had to drive my cousin’s family somewhere yesterday, and I noticed that my six year old girl is as tall as their ten year old son. She’ll outstrip me easily before long. Sometimes it can be tough to find cute girly things that aren’t all Brittney-fied.

Of course, for the sweater, I’d have to find the time to make up the pattern and then to knit it. If I did, I’d probably offer the pattern for free, since House of Mouse is notoriously touchy about people selling Disney-related paraphernalia.

Looking forward to some quality knitting time during “Lost” tonight. We’d better hear about the raft, or I’ll be very irritated!