FullOfStitches.com blog.A good laugh leaves me in stitches!

With a growing family, my extended family often feels lost as to what to send as gifts. My children are at an age where shareable gifts are a mainstay. We have toys, we have to go through and eliminate some on a semi-regular basis to keep sanity in the house. They love books and videos, and could always use some really special item of clothing. Things that I’ve come up with thus far that could be easy to order over the internet (note: I may update this list, or make a new one in the future):

Wooden ABC Sign language puzzle

ASL Phrase Book

Signing Time Videos (preferably VHS [have 1 & 13 on VHS], but DVD is fine – I’ll let TJ put the videos in, but the DVD is still parent-operated)
They also carry these at amazon: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and Practice #s

Video Camera (Ben’s getting this on sale)

What a fun idea!! Around the World With Mr. Putty is absolutely inspired! I think this could be such fun, and I may even have some sticky tack in the MoTH stuff..

As I was cleaning up last night, I came across the CHEA newsletter. I set it aside to look through, and today I found an ad for a piano teacher! I was so excited. I haven’t found anyone to recommend lessons in this area yet, so hopefully this will work out! We scheduled the initial trial lesson for Monday, and because it’s a bit of a drive for him, he said he’d be willing to come to give 2 lessons. So, I’ll finally begin learning to play! Yippee & Eek! I guess I should ask TJ to show me how to use the piano over the weekend… lol!

Last night, BB and I copied a t-shirt dress pattern so that I could make Rowena’s Twist Top. Today, I talked myself into serging it up instead of playing WoW with the boys.. Rowena, thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Because, thanks to you, I have a fabulous nursing dress that I can wear with this next baby and -hey!- it stretches over the bump even now!

I need to fix my pattern piece. Now that I’ve made the dress, I see that the curve should have been more rounded under the bust. The seam cuts right across my bust points and I was thinking that this would be worn with or without supportive garments (it’s a nightgown till I get ahold of some dye). edited to note: the underlayer protects, so the seam rubbing isn’t an issue!

The only issue I’ve got is that I don’t like the massive folds above my bust. I know that some are because of the twist design, but I’m pretty sure that gals with rounder busts don’t have that big of wrinkles/folds with this design. So, I may have to do a not-so-full bust adjustment -but just the type that takes out a pinch of unnecessary room above the bust points without taking out the room for the bust itself!

Wanna see my cute belly? I’m almost 30 weeks along!

My husband says I don’t look 7 months pregnant. I told him it’s because I refuse to wear tents and oversize sacks! This dress will probably be able to handle being stretched through the end of the pregnancy, but I’m really looking to make some postpartem items -hence I didn’t add the maternity room. If I get a nice wardrobe together, then perhaps I’ll shift to making a couple things for pregnancy.

I do have to make one maternity dress, though, for the Christmas party at Ben’s work. Maybe I’ll just find some nice velour or stretch velvet and make one of these!!

Today, I pulled out my copy of Hair by Anne Akers Johnson and tried out the frenchrope:

I think her instructions are great for working on someone else, but to do this to my own hair I worked somewhat differently. I started with a small portion on top -just like a frenchbraid- and crossed left strand over middle, then right strand over middle.
Then, I changed to frenchrope by:
1) adding some hair from the left side to the left strand and twisting it towards the right without crossing
2) adding some hair from the right side to the right strand and twisting towards the right and crossing over both the other strands (so it becomes the left strand), then adding some more from the left side to this same strand and twisting a little more. (note: always twist in the same direction!)

To continue, I repeated step 2 till I ran out of hair to add. The rope below is done without adding any hair, just twisting the right strand as it passes over the other 2.

Personally, I found it easiest to do just a little twist with the right hand and do most of the twist with the left hand because I’m right handed and the right was holding the hair more firmly than the left could.

Have fun and let me know if you try it out!

Funny topic for a stitching blog? Natalija mentioned it on her sewing blog last week and I went a little obsessive over the weekend. I finally bought some jojoba oil (generally pronounced ho-ho-buh) and started with that on Friday. My hair can go up to a week between washings -boy did that take years to get to! It was greasy after a day when I worked! (4.5 years ago)- so I put off washing it over the weekend at first and have gradually increased as worked in my ‘schedule.’

On the long hair boards, they have classifications for hair; mine’s about 1b/c (straight, but has body and in humidity can have waves) M/C (strands are medium to coarse, hinting at my caucasian/American Indian heritage) iii (thick – my low pony tail measures 5 1/4″ around- I washed it a few hours before measuring and allowed to air dry, so that may be volumized a little.. but generally I have an enormously thick tail/braid down my back -note: measured at end of day and the low pony was 5″ thick, slid my hand down to the ends and measured just above my hand at 4.5″). They like to measure from the forehead hairline to the tips (28″) and I checked to see what that is from the neck hairline down (14″).

So, what does one do with this much hair? Not much right now! That’s part of why I’m posting, to remind myself to care for it better. If I leave my hair down, it tangles. That’s not good for it. There’s too much for a bun, it’s heavy and pulls, and the ends stick out in all directions! I wore it in a ponytail, the underside started breaking off at the band (perhaps overuse of the one spot). I switched to a single braid recently to protect it more, but now after reading on the boards I’m concerned that’s not enough. My Mom’s hair was thigh length when I was little. She used to wear 2 braids. When I worked, I’d do the classic french braid (classic means there’s a braid on each side -like mirror images); I could do that and bun the ends.. I’m thinking of starting trying different up-do’s for a while -only problem is that the weight makes it uncomfortable after half a day. But, half a day up is better than all day continuously rubbing in the same location!! Some do’s I’ve found that I’d like to try:
Retro Twist would keep the tail from sticking out, but I’d probably have to split it into 2-3 curls because of the thickness.
Classic Retro Updo would probably spread out some of the weight.
This Padme-inspired loose bun would allow the hair to be back still (where I’m currently used to it), but still ‘thin’ out the bun to maybe work with fun hair things… maybe..
I’ll have to practice my Dutch Braid! Because with that I can make a “Crown Braid” which I think is gorgeous! I could do it with the French Braid, but the Dutch version is so much prettier.. Won’t look like I’ve got an armadillo wrapped around my head… (which was an issue when I first taught myself to French braid and was why I chose to go the ‘classic’ route).
The Double Pony could be a good base for a bun for me. Then it’s not all one thickness trying to wrap itself. I could bun the top tail then wrap the lower hair around to make one bun. I kind of did a variation on this in high school: separate the hair ear to ear and French braid up the back portion, join the two in a pony and bun it. That could help protect all the shorter ‘under’ hairs whilst they grow.
The Double Bun may work out (looks like her hair is almost as thick as mine), just not on a driving day Having all that hair between me and the seat pushes me into poor posture!
The Mrs. El Knot looks interesting, but I’m not sure it’ll work on my hair – will have to give it a go sometime.
This Y-Braided Chignon is just a slightly loose classic French tucked under. This could be so simple to make!
ooh… and here’s the Figure 8 Bun!(scroll down) This is advertised as helping spread the weight of the hair!
And, the Celtic Knot Bun
Can a French Comb work in my hair?

Must style hair…

My friend Becky called me yesterday – and they’re expecting!!! Yippee!! They’re due in July with baby #4 (it only took me 2 years of uber-cute BB cuddling to her.. and her children have been begging lately for another sibling). Dilemma: Becky gets uber-sick for about the first 5 months.. So, any day now she’s terrified of being couch-ridden until the spring! So, she’s looking into trying her hand at the Brewer’s diet for pregnancy to see if it will reduce or maybe eliminate her sickness. I wish I’d done more this time to see if it would have helped me, but being mildly allergic and majorly intolerant to lactose didn’t help me much – especially since I’d just moved and hadn’t found a new raw milk source yet. I’m so glad that the sickness is over and done with for me this pregnancy and will be super happy for her if the Brewer’s diet works for her! Maybe I’ll be able to work up to a more ‘healthy’ eating style by the time I’m next expecting! lol!

A month ago I was hardly showing and headed to CO/OK. It was so funny in OK, the pastor’s wife at our old church said that when I walked in she couldn’t tell that I was pregnant and was trying to come up with something comforting to say about my loss (sweet soul!). She was very happy when I turned and she could see the mini-bump and heard me talking due dates. Suddenly over the 2 weeks I was there, I gained 5 pounds and the bump popped way out.

I’m in the last trimester. Only 12 weeks left till my due date. For some reason, I’ve got Jan 28 in my head (due on the 30th), but that’s got to do more with the fact that all 3 of my children have been a couple/few days before the due date. Won’t it be strange if I actually have to wait for this one?

Ben and I banter about what we’ll be having this time. We opted out of the ultrasound scan and are just waiting it out. TJ wants a brother. AJ wants a sister. BB doesn’t want the bother. Ben said last night, “I’ll keep calling it a boy until she’s born.” Names aren’t an issue -already have them picked. I just don’t know what color baby’ll wear -mostly blue it seems, as I’ve had 2 nieces in the past year and given clothes away somewhere, *and* others have given me boy baby clothes (perhaps hinting to the wee hidden one what s/he should appear as).

This week I get to run off to the midwife to get a shot of Rhogam -I don’t feel I need this during pregnancy any more, but am not sure how many children we’ll be blessed with; also, my grandmother had 6 children without Rhesus issues developing before this shot was being administered. Ah well, better jabbed with thorns than sorry later, right?

Me? Forget? Often.

Tonight I was moved by Denise’s hats and decided that I will use my Magic Stripes leftovers from socks to make some of those hats! I do admit that mine will not be near so pretty this way, but I’m on a tight budget and personally like a lighter fabric with tighter stitches to a thick one with larger holes. If I get through my Magic Stripes, then I may see what other washable yarns I have to give either weight pattern a go. I’ve made 3 so far. The pattern is *here*.

Also, we had picked up some “Lion Wool” (2.75oz per skein, one skein per child) for mittens whilst visiting in OK, but I hadn’t looked for a pattern yet. I remembered afghans for Afgans (which I have yet to do anything for.. I may this year!) and using their links found a mitten pattern for the children. I used the preschooler size (which has it’s own page) to start a pair for BB. The first mitten is crocheted and the second is started. I’m thinking that the children’s 5-7 will be AJ’s size (she has Looooong fingers) and the 8-12 size for TJ. These mittens stitch up so quick!! I’m thinking of fulling them slightly for fun and to see if that closes some of the holes crochet has. I’m sure that they don’t really need it, but they’ll full up with use anyway, right? And, perhaps I can get a Preschooler size out of what’s left that I can send off to A4A?

I’m crabby. BB decided to sleep in my bed last night and I ended up squashed in the middle between her highness and his hotness. Maybe I should have waited to turn on the heater! I woke a couple times, most notably at 4am for a drink and pee (something about being 6 months PG sends me to the bathroom at night). I should have gone to the couch, but crawled back in my bed. She woke at 6am and wanted “mill.”

After a short while, I gave up and got up. I started breakfast around 6:30am. Turned on the light in my bedroom for his hotness to wake and opened the blinds in the children’s rooms to begin waking them. I’m thinking of getting some blackout fabric for curtains to keep the streetlight and moonlight out of their rooms so that her highness sleeps better. I’d also like some drapes as the profusion of large windows lets in the chill.

I fed his hotness and her highness and woke the other 2 around 7am. Eggs, bacon and toast: mmm! Fed them and myself and took care of BB again.

Ben hopped in the shower, the children were happily busy, I plopped into bed again. Apparently, I was such a thorn this morning that Ben didn’t want to ‘risk’ waking me to snuggle or say goodbye. I arose around 9am and he was gone.

I had such a good time back ‘home’ in OK. I’ve missed my friends and the children have missed theirs!
Becky has a new calf, the naughty dog has a new home so the chickens are once more safe, and they’re working toward child #4!
Stacy’s husband is considering a new job- so they may move- and they’re expecting #5 in early summer.
Nancy’s so much happier with having her DD at home for school! And, she started quilting and got me into it! (I made a quilt in a week, it’s in line at my MIL’s quilter and will probably come out here with the Christmas gifts in Dec.)
I didn’t get to see Renee, she’s begun working again and her boys are in school -most of our free time was during the week.

We ate out entirely too much. MIL has a scale at her house and I weighed myself for fun – I gained 5 pounds in the 2 weeks I was there! It may all have gone to my middle, too, because suddenly I look pregnant! My last baby was 9 pounds, at 5’4″ and normally 120 pounds, that’s *huge* -last weight at MIL’s house I was at 131 pounds.
(note: I do normally gain most of my pregnancy weight in the last trimester, I just know I need to take walks daily and I usually don’t get them!).

We flew home on Tuesday. What a blessing to be able to avoid most of the influences of that day! The children were tired by day’s end. Next time, I think I’ll take a hotel room to avoid the afternoon/evening flights! BB screamed because she had to have the belt on for landing, but both girls were asleep by the time we arrived home.

Home… (sigh) wasn’t as it was left. I had hoped that Ben would be able to do the basics of housework and get to his games when done. I know he checked the garden and weeded it a bit on weekends…
But, the squirrels ate it. I’d noticed before we left that they were getting into it. I thought a cage-type thing maybe on hinges at the back with a simple lock on the front would work, but it wasn’t attempted. The only things left are the snowpeas (which is badly mangled) and most of the broccoli plant. If he’d been able to make the covers, then maybe we’d be enjoying fresh salad of mixed salad greens and radishes now. Ah well, such is life.

The cupboards were practically bare. Yesterday, we had oatmeal for breakfast (still have one more variety pack, then it’s on to the old-fashioned type), sandwiches for lunch and pasta for dinner. Today, we polished off the eggs, bacon and bread and had to walk over to the store. I’m hoping that Ben made it to the DMV, but I don’t know when he plans that. The little stroller fell backwards in the store as I was putting bags on it. Thankfully, it’s a short trip – TJ and AJ each had to carry a bag. BB fell asleep in the stroller on the way and is still napping. I need to nap, but think I’ll just postpone sleep indefinitely. After all, who wants to wake up crabby?