Kiss My Knits!

First off, check out the article to the left. Click through to the big size. It’s a 1943 Better Homes and Gardens article about low-cost ration-friendly things you can do for Halloween. I pity the poor child who got a head of cabbage made up to look like a clown. It’s just sad.

Second, who has the coolest online buds in the world? Me! Pictured at right is the surprise package that sent! Spoooooky soap! In addition to looking cute, these smell really great. Em was very excited to get mail, and since we skipped her bath last night on account of Halloween, you can be sure these will be used tonight. In fact, I know I will have to keep an eye on her so she doesn’t use them all. Thank you so much, ! This was so thoughtful and sweet!

Now if you’ll pardon me, I have to “help” my daughter eat her candy. It’s my motherly duty!

Okay, at this point, everybody I owe a package to should have one – except Bubba. Sorry, Bubba, bear with me.

Anybody out there still waiting for a swap package from me?

The week in mail.

You remember I posted a few days ago asking for suggestions for moisturizers? Well, took matters into her own hands. Look at what I got in the mail! It’s a Burt’s Bees Hand Repair Kit! Yay! It comes with Shea Butter Hand Repair Creme, Beeswax & Banana Hand Creme, Lemon Butter Cuticle Creme, and a pair of cotton gloves with bees on them. Too cool.

So far I’ve used the beeswax and banana creme and the lemon butter cuticle creme. The beeswax and banana creme really does smell like bananas. I felt like I was slathering pudding on my hands, in a good way. The smell quickly vanished, and it really does feel great. I love the way the lemon butter cuticle stuff smells too. Mmmm… lemons.

Thanks again, !

I was zipping along confidently on the Shedir hat without bothering to look at the pattern. My overconfidence was my undoing, as I apparently purled two stitches together at one point when I wasn’t looking and didn’t notice it for four rows. D’oh! I did a passable fix with a crochet hook. Unfortunately, passable isn’t perfect, and it was bothering me, so I decided I had to rip back and fix it properly. Let me tell you, with all the cables, this hat is a pain in the neck to un-knit. I’ve gone past the mistake and am ready to starting knitting forward again, but I’ve lost a lot of enthusiasm for this project. Doesn’t really matter, though, it has to be done, so I’ll suck it up and keep going.

Yesterday’s hair got more and more questionable as the day went on, finally degenerating into a Peter Tork style pageboy by bedtime. Today it looks like… well, it looks like I need a haircut. Back to square one. I want my 2006 hair back!

On the other hand, perhaps complaining about my hair while knitting a chemo cap is a bit ungrateful. So I’ll live with it for now, and be happy for what I’ve got.

Look what sent to Emily! It’s chock full of Florida-themed goodies. A bicycle license plate, stickers, an alligator tooth (not pictured) and a cute little mermaid doll! Emily loves this doll. She particularly loves the hair, which I pointed out looks just like hers. This morning Emily cut off a little piece of “Aurora’s” hair and asked me to put it around the her tiny wrist as a bracelet.


Emily is so full of Christmas that she may explode. It’s interesting to see the way her mind works. While she’s super-excited about getting gifts, she’s also doing something a little unusual. She’s making little gifts for Santa and the reindeer. Last week she made a little sign, pictured, reading “Things for Santa” and stuck it on a cardboard box.

In the box are cookies (of course), gummis (I can’t believe she’s sharing these), and assorted things she’s made. I taught her to finger-knit and she made a little green bracelet for Santa. Also, she made Shrinky Dinks (I shrunk them for her, she can’t use a heat gun) that are name tags for the reindeer to have. Santa just gets cookies from other houses. He’s loading up at ours.



Emily had to miss the Christmas cookie bake this year, so we wound up making some today. It’s been busy all day. Emily’s clearly getting some energy back now that she’s on antibiotics. Combine that with it being Christmas Eve and it’s been hard to carve time out for non-Emily things. It’s been everything from “I want you to play Chutes and Ladders by yourself” to “I want you to paint fish on my wall to cover up the blank spots.” I need ten minutes to myself!

At left: Thanks again, !

Bertha79, who now maintains her blog at karmakitties.com, sent Emily the sweetest care package! She got a kick out of all of it, but of particular interest to her was the kaleidoscope. Neat!

Also, check out the windfall from Germany! This is a package from a Browncoat to whom I’m sending a hat. I’m pretty sure that Emily is set on candy for life now. Of course, she wouldn’t agree – you can never have too much sugar!

Not only did the box have all this candy in it, but you aren’t seeing the chocolate bar or the two bottles of German beer he sent. My husband, who homebrews, was very appreciative. He’s bottled up some American pale ale to send back, so now it’s just a matter of getting past the holidays so we can return the favor for this wonderful guy.

Emily continues to cough and sniffle, and now I think she’s picked up a little impetigo. We’ll be going to the doctor tomorrow morning, and I doubt we’ll make it to our annual cookie bake tomorrow afternoon since we wouldn’t want to infect any of her cousins. These care packages are a wonderful pick-me-up during a somewhat stressful time for her. Thank you all!

Jayne hats up next for: Austria, Austria, and California.

A big thank you to for her generosity! Emily was so excited to get this that she couldn’t wait until after dinner. Hence the pizza slice in one hand as she reaches for a package in the other. sent a card, a heart-shaped notebook, some Crayola twistable colored pencils, and some super-cute hair barrettes. Emily opted not to wear these this morning, because it is “Read and Relax” day and she said, “they might push into my head on the pillow.” However, I’m pretty sure she wants to put them on when she gets home. She wasted no time with the gummis, though. All in all, a hit. Thanks, !

Em’s still feeling a little sniffly, so she woke up a little later than usual and got her class about ten minutes late. She had to carry in a tray of cupcakes, so I came with her to open doors before her. Because of this, I got to see some of Read and Relax day. Some students were already going up the hall in PJs and jackets (it’s cold out there!) and the teachers were in bathrobes. Emily’s class was just starting to go to the bathroom in groups to change into pajamas when we arrived. I love seeing her in new environments. This time, I got to hear her go into her classroom with a breezy, “Sorry I’m late!” Hee!

Today, I’m making Fuzzy Feet for Emily’s teacher. Emily had wanted them to be yellow, so I made up a swatch out of the Berroco Ultra Alpaca I used for the Alpaca Jayne hat. Frankly, though, I was pretty sick of working with yellow, so last night I showed some of Creatively Dyed‘s Merino Twine (right) to Emily and asked her if she wanted stripey yarn instead. “Yes, stripes. That’s much prettier.” Yay! So I did a swatch out of the Merino Twine on size 9’s and it felted just fine. Swatch is below. It may be a little wide still, so maybe I should drop down from 44 stitches to 40. I dunno. Also, the stripe after felting has, we shall say, “a handmade quality.” I’m okay with that.



Got a couple more hats ready to go out today, as well as quite a few care packages which may wind up waiting a few more days. Time is not on my side.

I haven’t had coffee in a while, going for cocoa at my knit nights instead. I might have to go ahead and have a mocha today. But first, Fuzzy Feet!

Sick Emily, Jayne hats, and care packages

Eeeee! Look what sent Emily! You may know for her super cute ferret Jayne hat or her Vinnland socks (the green ones I’m making) but you may not have known that she makes soap. These smell fabulous. Thank you so much, ! Emily will be using one of these – or, honestly, probably more than one – in her bath tonight!

ETA: In Jayne news, am working on orders from Oct 20th. Still getting them out faster than the eight week delivery time estimate. Yay!

Thanks to everybody who responded. I want to reassure you that I know that the holidays are a busy time, and that I’m not telling Emily that she’s getting anything, so it will be a surprise when she does. This means that if you flake or have to drop out, you won’t be crushing the hopes and dreams of an eight-year-old child.

Today I sent all the foreign money people have passed along to Emily’s school. I’ll post about that later. But as I was going through my top drawer looking for the Spanish peseta from my high school trip to Spain, I ran across some items which are pertinent to the “mailing stuff to kids” conversation.

This is a letter that my mom wrote me. I was four years old, and she had been sent by the newspaper she worked for to a workshop at Columbia. She was the first woman editor at the newspaper, and she really did have to go. I was staying with family friends, and she very sweetly wrote me several letters. As you can see, they meant a lot to me and I kept them.

This is a card that my dad wrote me. I was fourteen years old and at music camp at Pfeiffer college. Like all of junior high school, it wasn’t exactly the time of my life. The music part was great, but my roommate was a holy terror. One day she stole my room key and claimed she didn’t have it. I stuck to her like glue, silently, not accusing, until she finally gave it back. My folks didn’t know all that – I imagine my parents would have been kicking some butt if they had known – but Dad knew I was away from home and not happy, and he very sweetly sent me this card. As you can see, it meant a lot to me and I kept it.


This is a return envelope that my mother sent with me so that I could write home while I was away at Girl Scout camp. Camp wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t choirs of angels singing either. It probably made me a better person, so I’m glad I went. As you can see, the stamp is uncancelled. That’s right. My parents went to all this trouble, and then I never wrote. Bad daughter, bad!

Anyway, sorry about that, Mom and Dad.

Point is, we all flake out from time to time, so don’t stress to much if you’ve overcommitted yourself this holiday season.

Today, finishing up a Jayne hat for Rochester, NY, then stamping boxes and other assorted Jaynework. My life is all about mail now!