fullofstitches.com Blog

My children love to draw. Sometimes, I have to ask what the drawings are, but they’re shown off with pride. LasT night (MisSC’S HELPING ME TYPE), I couldn’t sleep. SO, I thougHT ABOUt how TO add THE hair ON thE DOLl. THEN, I REMemBered A drAWing THAT’S bEEN ON mY DEsk since LAST summer. MissB drew it and when I asked about it, I was told it’s, “B– carrying an egg.” I pulled it out and taped the egg basket back to the body and started cROCHeting.

I came up with this:

With how round the character is, I decided on a ball for the body. Any drawing could easily be rendered in yarn as a flat pillow (make a matching front and back and stitch together) or as a handpuppet! The egg in the bag is an elongated ball, the basket simply chain 5 loops connected with sc. To keep the egg inside, the bag is closed with sc. And, to keep it becoming lost, the basket was held between stitches and is not removable.

It only took about 5 hours in all. T.J. got up this morning and pulled out his computer to draw me something to make him (he emailed it, I’ll have to see for sure, but I think it’s a dragon) while cheering me on to finish. I used the loop stitch for the hair and I think it came out well. I’m thinking of adding it to Ravelry as “Children’s Drawings” under the toys category. If you do one, send me a comment so I can check it out!!

I get sidetracked easily. Especially when I’m under the weather (and I have been since the 1st!), so I’ve been couch directing the children and crocheting. I’ve got an idea stewing for those chess pieces, just have to work and write it out..

Then I came across a doll pattern and have been focused on that to let the other idea stew nicely. She’s cute and cuddly, but I’d like to make a more pocket-sized version, so I’m working her in thread. I started following the pattern for the legs (but didn’t do her jogless stripes this time) and instead of making them smaller at the top, I made them wider. I mean, aren’t yours? Then, I simply joined the legs in the round and started in on the body. I was working on the shorts and thought since I’d joined the legs, I might as well join the arms.. But then I’d need to do the arms first so that I can just decrease with the body for the shoulders.. Then I thought, no, I’ll just start the head and continue on the body, increasing for the shoulders and split it in three for arms and body. That’s when it hit me that I don’t have any eyes this small (unless I want to embroider them), and that I ought to connect the hair, too, before I close off the head.

So, I started looking for hair ideas. I googled, I scanned the listings and came up with a few ideas. Generally, there seems to be the idea that latchhooking the yarn on is okay (though I remember my share of piles of yarn that I’d pulled out of simple knots like that). I read on a Ravelry page that a fellow Ravelrer’s doll has 8 strands knotted together with 2 strands pulled through at the hairline and 1 strand through the back (so with the knot in the middle, I figure that puts the hair going out a minimum of 8 holes?). NeedleNoodles.com has a page on how to add fringe hair (broomstick lace/chain style) to heads. Owly has an Amigurumi hair tutorial -heavy on the pics for us visual learners! As well as a link to a step-by-step of long hair on flickr! ClipClip has a tutorial on several styles of amigurumi hair. There are some that make wigs just of crochet, and others that teach a basic curling technique. And, that prompted a memory of a bear pattern I’d pulled out of a Family Circle magazine (11/2/93) that used the Loop Stitch to make the fur.

Well, that’s a whole bunch to try out! Maybe I should make a basic doll recipe to try all these out on!?

Loop st: Insert hook into next st, wrap yarn from back to front around left index finger, keeping it in front of work, yo; pull yarn through st; slip loop off finger; adjust size of loop by gently pulling yarn. Hold loop in place with middle finger, wrap yarn around hook; draw yarn through all 3 lps on hook.

I was looking at patterns and came across this utube video of a chess set a lady made for her father. Neat! My husband and son like to play and the pieces aren’t generally toddler friendly. Like that set is, what with the size of the pieces.. So I googled ‘pattern chess set knit crochet’ and came up with one that isn’t available any more. So, I picked up a pawn, a penny, a #5 hook, and some green #10 thread and started stitching.

Ben and the children got home and he looked at me sideways like and asks what I’m doing. ‘Crocheting.’ A little while later, he walked by and saw the half form by my hook and sweetly says, “Fou dans la tête.” Sure, but aren’t we all sometimes?

(update: found a knitted chess set)

I should be knitting.. Ben’s gift is 3/4 done and there’s still MissB and MissC’s to go. Today was not a knit-friendly day, though. MissC came down with a stomach bug yesterday and has been in diapers for the day! That got me to finish replacing snaps on old diapers and adding snaps to ‘new’ diapers (are they still new if I made them just before the last child was out of diapers and ended up not needing them till today?). A few days and she’ll be out of diapers again.. But, now we’re prepped for emergencies and maybe set for new baby.

Ben and I were reading where some of the Christmas traditions come from. We haven’t decorated much in the past. Maybe some lights and always the nativity scene. This year, we read the story of Christmas stockings. A few days ago, he told the children to make stockings. I had MissA working on the knitting loom, but I only had the mitten set and it was coming out the size of her foot. So, we bought a new set and started MissB on that. But, she has a minute attention span and the others were hoping she’d get her stocking done so they could do theirs. Needless to say, it’s Christmas Eve and we’ve no stockings.

Out came the handy tub of fabric. The children chose as simple/plain a fabric as there was. MissC took a lengthy nap, so we had time to make a pattern from a pair of Daddy’s socks (placed next to each other, traced, then evened the lines -seam allowance was considered included). MissB sat on my lap and pulled pins as I sewed hers. MissA pinned hers, sewed the straight lines, then pulled the pins as I sewed the curves. MasterT made his stocking himself. I added the hanging loop, otherwise it was his project.

I’ll have to put their names on them before I put them away!

I picked up a new book the other day, Potatoes Not Prozac. Ben gave me an odd look, like it was a funny choice to pick up when I went in the store for a knitting book or something. So, last night I started reading it aloud. I read the first 5 chapters to him. The first question in the book is If there was a plate of fresh warm chocolate chip cookies sitting on the table when you got home, and you weren’t hungry, what would you do? We both laughed. Well, what would you do?

Then there was a list of 10 questions, my “yes” was nearly twice his for the answers. There was a list of addictive behaviors (do you hide food, do you stash the wrappers under other things in the trash can so no one knows…), then there was a story of a girl losing weight. She’d given up sugary foods, even though she really enjoyed ice cream. One day, she had a truly craptastic day and ended up fighting with her boyfriend. She drove to the store at 11PM and bought ice cream and ate it with the plastic spoon in her glove box -Ben found this mind-boggling, she’s got a plastic spoon in her car? I explained that most likely she’d been to a fast food joint and used the fork in the little plastic bag, but didn’t want to be wasteful and kept the spoon in it’s bag (to keep it clean) for another day. Ben looks at me and says, “I’m going to check your glove box.” And I replied, “There’s a box of plastic spoons in the passenger door.” Of course, I got mine to be able to use for snacks on outings with the children - we’d picked up yogurt and spoons one morning.

The first step, breakfast, is interesting. Last year, a friend who gets horrible illness in pregnancy was pregnant with her fourth child and was making sure to eat protein every day, every meal if possible. Her ailment was only about half as bad as usual. So, I decided that I’d try it early on in this pregnancy. Making sure I ate protein curbed a lot of my sugar cravings and actually seemed to make me crave vegetables. I think I was driving Ben nuts when I would say something like, “I really want a salad,” when he brought home ice cream!

I’m going to try this program, it seems so simple right now. It gives step-by-step on what to focus on to change the eating behaviors and to work on balancing 3 key reactions to eating, all of which I seem to suffer from (aren’t genetics fun?) and am wanting to overcome and help pass down a new heritage to my children. Step 1 is not avoid sugar, it’s just breakfast. Let’s go check the fridge.

I’ve got to go, It’s already after 10AM the Saturday before Christmas… And, what he’d like is most likely at the mall. I told him I was heading there (after all, I want to give the bookstore a shot at having the knit book I wanted to look through) and he’s invited himself along! That’s okay, it’s just the whole load-of-children during psycho-Christmas-shopping time that concerns me. Ya just never know how those people will behave. Or not.

Sunday night, T.J. was goofing around on the bunk bed and smacked his hand pretty hard. He showed it to me and there was a scratch on one finger and slight swelling on his knuckle. He washed it, iced it, and went to bed. Next morning, he showed me a well bruised and swollen pinky. Dr didn’t open till 9AM, so we went to piano lessons as usual (he had one of his best lessons ever attitude-wise, go figure), and I arranged the appointment.

The x-ray showed a fracture at the very base of his pinky-finger bone, but the hand itself is just fine. He gets to wear a splint for about 3 weeks.

In knitting news, I’ve started on Christmas gifts. I made my first hat the other day (still haven’t taken a photo yet) and was happy with how quick and simple they are! I thought, “Wow, a hat every other day would get gifts done for our family,” and started knitting from stash. Then I came across the Shark Hat pattern. What boy doesn’t want his hat to look like it’s eating his head? I bought some Cascade 220 Superwash (in Blueberry, they didn’t have a blue-grey in superwash) and cast that puppy on! I followed the directions and it looked really weird. I looked through the Ravelry entries and found the problem, no plain knit rounds were indicated between the increases! As is, the tail turned out rather stubby and the increases left a line of almost-eyelets down the back “seam”! Also, I measured the depth and from the last increase to the bindoff of the red was 9 inches.. And, I’m using a lighter weight yarn. I’d already seamed the dorsal and sewn on the tail, so I ripped back to the last round of 10 stitches and reknit it, adding rounds to the tail, removing some from the body, and moving the dorsal fin. I’ve just finished to the gums again and have to get to bed.

When I get up, I’m going to bake the last couple gingerbread houses because the homeschoolers are coming over to put them together at 10AM.

MissA said to us, “The wind is cold, it’s a good day to stay inside and knit.” As I looked over her Daddy’s work. I smiled and agreed as I continued my crocheting. He worked away, checking on the Yarn Harlot video for speed techniques and picking my brain when he somehow increased nearly threefold in just 3 inches of work. I let him know of the “World’s Fastest Knitter” videos that I’d seen on youtube.

Friday night, I started and was working on a poncho for MissC when Ben got home. I finished it while he watched a couple TV shows. I tried it on her and it fits fine, a little loose, but I can’t find my camera. Again. I haven’t seen it since our Thanksgiving trip.

Today, I started a pattern, but found I was short on yarn (I’m trying to make presents from stash), and started the search again. I came up with the Cute Kid’s Ponchos from Crochet Fantasy (Spring 2005), -the pink one- and have the first 2 repeats done. Just four to go, then the short rectangle and sew two pieces together.

I also started a poncho for me. From Snappy Wraps to Crochet, the one on the front cover. We’ll see when I get that done with needing to make two more children and maybe the man a gift..

I’ve stopped going online most weekdays, which means that I get tiny snippets of time to actually read my email, let alone blog. School’s in session, I’m exhausted (if I’d realized how tired I’d be pregnant and driving like a madwoman to our regularly scheduled stuff, I’d have cut some out of the fall to spring lineup!), and everything’s a drive away.

I did a little sewing:

MissC picked out the fabric from stash. I’ll have to find the pattern again to let you know which it is.. I pulled all my craft things and other junk from where it didn’t belong in the bedroom and living room and piled it in the living room. Going through it has been slow and hard to get done! So, we’ll see if I remember it by then!

This weekend, I took TJ to Hunter Safety. Much to my chagrin, he’s been raised on video game violence. So, I started off with the safety class to drill in an understanding of not only how to handle weapons properly (always treat it as if it could load itself), but our part in this world and how proper conservation affects and helps maintain nature. I’d taken this when I was about his age and went with my Dad (many an early morning we headed out at “O-dark thirty”). This being his first real intro, he didn’t pass (and I told him that it would be fine beforehand), and is looking forward to taking it with his Dad again in the spring.

In the car on the way home from class, the children were discussing what we should have and do for Thanksgiving. When MissA said turkey, TJ piped up with, “Mom’s gonna get that, she’s the only one who can right now.” Hmm.. I think I need a little more practice first, or is it ‘all ya need is this here license and they just fall down dead when they see ya.’ Ben suggests I say, “Bangidy Bangidy!”

My MIL was able to come out for a visit this weekend. Her youngest has a school holiday this time of year called “Fall Break” and it seems to correspond perfectly at this point to a weekend near my anniversary. She arrived Thursday to a chorus of greetings from the children.

Friday we went to the Tech Museum to see the Leonardo da Vinci exhibit. Fascinating, I could have stayed there all day, but that the littlest children grew weary of Mommy reading them everything. TJ wandered by himself seeking what would intrigue him. MissA kept with me and tried out the models. MissB and MissC mostly hung out with Grandma. After a snack break (there’s a little cafe area within the exhibit), I held on to MissC and the older girls wandered with Grandma. We spent the rest of our time there in the Tech Museum’s lowest floor exhibits (art to go with Leonardo, electricity, tectonics, and some astronomy).

Saturday, we woke Ben up early -you know, before noon- and headed to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate MissA’s upcoming birthday. Then, at home, she opened her gifts and I made her a maple pudding cake.

While Ben napped, the rest of us walked to the local shopping center for ice cream. There’s a fish/aquarium shop on the other side of the supermarket that the children love to explore, so we headed there and discovered it was going out of business! (The owner simply doesn’t want to renew the lease, so he’s selling the inventory) For the prices, I bought 2 tanks: one for me to have some fish of my choosing, and a smaller one for the children to kill things off in (they’ll eventually learn not to saturate the water with food, I’m sure)..

Barb and the children started the cleaning while I cleared and cleaned up the places for the tanks. Once I had one of the spots ready, I joined them and we kept on until most of the basic equipment was in better looking condition (there’s still a bit of lime/calcium deposits on the smaller tank’s sides).

When all of that was put away, Barb took the children for dinner, and Ben took me out for our anniversary to dinner and a movie. There’s a nice mexican restaurant next to the theater where he texted throughout with a coworker about how to make a particular fish dish, the fajitas were tasty. We went then to see Burn After Reading -so funny! Then another coworker messaged about the project and we ’stopped by’ work. An hour or so later, we headed home.

Ben: “In my world, I don’t always feel the passage of time.”

Jenn: “Yes, when you’re sleeping, and when you’re awake.”

(Boy, did I ever deserve to get it for that one…)

This morning, Ben took his mom back to the airport, and woke me with a text message that he went in to work. After getting the children to church and back (I had to pick up my phone, I’d forgotten it), I was hoping to have lunch with him, but the idea was shot down because of the next Beta Testing being at 1PM. So, it’s lunch with the children and no hike today (which we’ve been doing the last 3 weeks), and I guess we’ll finish getting the tanks set up.