I can do it!

15 Factoids that Capture the Moment

2012-02-16T08:37:00.000-06:00

1. M refers to herself as "One-Minute Mimi" on a regular basis. I don't know why.

2. A sleeps with a pink stuffed bear named Cupcake.

3. M is struggling with potty-training, but making good progress. The key is to motivate her and keep the motivation fresh in her mind.

4. A is able to read regular picture books now, not just the "easy reader" books.

5. M's favorite pair of shoes is ruby slippers that I got at Walmart last year for $3.

6. A loves jigsaw puzzles.

7. M is still challenged by silverware.

8. A hates to wear jeans.

9. M loves Pinkalicious and Fancy Nancy.

10. A's favorite shoes are her Crocs boots.

11. M loves "hot bananas."

12. A loves broccoli.

13. M's favorite restaurant is Pizza Hut.

14. A is a master at using "I'm sorry" and "I love you" to the best effect.

15. A and M share a bedroom and chatter or sing to each other for an hour each night before drifting off to sleep.

January's Knits and Some of February's, Too!

2012-02-13T12:24:00.000-06:00

January and February, as is typical of winter months, were full of fun knits for the family. My customs order fell through for January, so I was left with plenty of time to work on things for us. Then, the winter crud crept in and with two full nights awake watching the children puke and a week of strep throat for me, there was PLENTY of time to finish even more than I had planned.

My current project is a sweater for myself. This is not the first time I have attempted this, but my first sweater turned out too small and I had to sell it for yarn money. Sigh... This time, it will not be too small. In fact, it may be too big. BUT big is okay when it comes to a comfy sweater, so I'll wear it anyway. Unless it looks ridiculous on me, and then I'll probably gift it to a sister-in-law, if it fits one of them.

The yarn is www.100purewool.com in their Aurora colorway. I had long-bemoaned the fact that this colorway was retired. Lucky for me, the brought it back! On the skein, I thought I might have made a mistake in purchasing it, but now that I'm knitting it up, I'm thinking it was a fine choice afterall. Unlike a lot of hand-dyed yarns, this one is not likely to pool and pattern up, since the darker blue patches of dye were sprinkled on randomly rather than painted in a predictable place. I still broke each of my 4oz skeins down into two 2oz balls and then alternated in an off-set manner to minimize any visual differences among the skeins.

I hope to be done with this project in the next week or two so that I can wear it!

I was fortunate, this month, to be gifted with some lovely yarn. I quickly turned it into this pair of pants for my youngest. This is the last winter that she'll want to wear knitted pants, so I'm living it up and knitting a lot!

I also worked on a sweater project for a fellow knitter. It was more than a little bit challenging. I generally don't think of myself as a novice knitter and can follow and figure out most patterns thrown my way. However, the first pattern I was sent was greatly in need of some tech editing. Even with a slightly smaller than required gauge, I ended up with a chest measurement that was more than 3" too large... on top of 3" of positive ease. I frogged it and reknit it with a pattern that I know and love. The yarn, however, did not love that pattern. I had to add 6 stitches, go up 3 needle sizes, add in a second skein, and alternate on irregular intervals to combat the pooling. It tried to become perfectly vertical stripes of color. BUT in the end, it was worth the fight and the sweater turned out beautiful. I made some buttons to go with it, too, but they ended up finding a new home with another knitting friend.

I worked up a pair of two-layer mittens for my youngest. she adored them until I added a string between them to keep them from getting lost. Now she won't wear them.

While my eldest had the stomach flu, i worked on a stuffed sheep. When I was JUST about finished with it, the dog found it and tore it apart.

Never fear, though. I put it back together and fnished it up right. My knitting group named it Clarisse.

Also on the project list was this little number. It's a modified version of the Tama is a Boy pattern available on Ravelry. I had bought the yarn intending to make my eldest a hoodie, but my youngest cried when I told her the yarn wasn't for her. So I knit a smaller sweater and have enough to do something for the youngest next winter. The up close picture is a much better rendition of the yarn's true colors.

I also worked on my mother-in-law's Christmas scarf. This was the second rendition of it as the first time, I chose a HORRIBLE yarn. This time, it was lovely.

AND... My husband got his R2D2 hat. Even though he told me not to out of frustration over the length of my to-do list. There were probably a few more projects mixed in there, but for now... this is a good review.

Projects List, Refreshed

2011-12-06T11:23:00.002-06:00

I've been working hard to get through a bunch of projects this month. It is the gifting season and everyone loves gifts!

I have finished:

stuffed monsters for the birthday party
A's birthday hat
my slouchy hat
longies for M with BBR's Joyce's Choice
a holiday gift for my knitter's group
a set of mittens for my nephew, which shrank in the washer and were turned into coasters
pink and black pants for wearing with M's favorite tutu dress
the last set of fingerless mitts for my farmer friends
two pair of longies for M, one with cestari fine and one with wool from my friends' sheep

Yet to do this month:

cowl for MIL
holiday elf doll
slippers for C
mittens for A
longies for M: KoolAid-dyed UFO pants, and my surprise yarn set.
stuffed toys for the kids' stockings
dog sweater
Christmas stockings for C and I

It's only a FEW more items than I can realistically finish.... snicker.... We'll see what gets done!

And here are the finished project pic for some of the above:

Woof Review

2011-12-06T07:56:00.001-06:00

Who We Brought Home

Who He Is Now!

Since Frank's first birthday went by in November without any fanfare or special notice, I thought I'd post this small photo comparison. He was 7lbs when we brought him home last January and is now somewhere between 35 and 40lbs. You can easily see the Labrador in him now, where as a puppy he looked more like a beagle. Now if we could only get him to stop chewing on things, live would be perfect!!!! This morning, I took away a plastic outlet cover, a wool coaster, and a Christmas ornament, all within about 5 minutes of him being out of his crate!

The Many Faces of .... um.... Squirrel

2011-11-18T16:28:00.003-06:00

True to my promise, I have been cooking up all the wild game that my husband has been bringing home from the hunt. True to myself, I have really been trying to like it. Mentally, I'm fine with it. Eating it, though, has been a bit more of a challenge. I've always been a squeamish eater. I don't like seafood. At all. I don't find it comforting to eat outside of my comfort zone. It's a darn miracle that I love tofu. But I was and am determined to gain a taste for wild game meat.

So far, I've tried cooking squirrel 4 different ways. My kids have eaten every single recipe without any more complaint than they give any meal, so I know it must be at least palatable. And yet I still find myself uneasy with the squirrel. So far, I have tried:

Squirrel Stew

Squirrel Crock Pot Stew. This recipe was edible but not delicious. Undoubtedly, it was recipe error, not user error. It was plain and basic and the little I did to perk it up wasn't enough.

Squirrel Curry

Tofu and Squirrel Curry. This one was sure to please, I thought. How can it not be good, chopped up and smothered in coconut milk and strong spices? WRONG! The tofu was great, but the boiled squirrel had a horrible texture.

Squirrel McNuggets. This one was a definite improvement. I deboned it, breaded it, and pan fried it up with chicken pieces. Served with a multitude of dipping sauces, my youngest found it irresistable and asked for seconds.

Squirrel with Pan-Fried Noodles

Squirrel McNuggets

Squirrel and Pan-Fried Noodles. Pan-fried noodles with green peppers, olives, garlic, and butter have long been a comfort food favorite of mine. This was, in my opinion, the best way to hide the squirrel. I'll admit it. I'll do anything for olives, butter, and garlic!

Still, though, I'm not quite there yet. I have to find a way to separate the critter from its bones in a way that does not involve either boiling water or 2 hours and a sharp knife. I'm stumped, I tell you. It must be time to return to the crock pot.

My husband says I'm not good at cooking meats to begin with, so I'm not to lose heart. Never-the-less, he's volunteered to cook up the next batch of squirrels that come home with him. I'm honest enough to admit that I'm relieved. maybe I'll find it more edible if I don't spend 4 hours cooking it.

The Toy Library

2011-11-18T16:23:00.000-06:00

One of my husband's perennial complaints around this time of year is that the kids have "too many toys!" It is true that we become inundated with new belongings this time if year, but can you really blame the 2 and 4 year old for having been born, respectively, a few weeks after and a few weeks before the big Christmas gifting season? It's not their fault that they're December and February babies and that they're so darn cute that people like giving them toys. That's ALL our fault.

Around this time of year, I try very hard to moderate my husband's tendencies to "toss it all! It's not like they won't be getting new stuff soon." I agree that we can easily get too many toys, but I also know that the girls get attached to certain toys. We always have to dance a careful compromise to not hurt anyone's feelings.

This year, the issue is compounded by my youngest child refusing to clean up her anything she has played with. It's like WWIII every night when it's time to clean up the playroom. Tears and tantrums, threats and ultimatums, it's always a hard road to get the room clean. Her sister and I usually end up doing most of the work, letting the little one out of most of her work. This week, we decided to put an end to it.

Enter: the toy library. We packed up all of the Little People, all of the toy dishes, the toy food, and dress-up gear. Left in the playroom is the toy kitchen furniture, the doll stroller, the Little People buildings, books, and anything large. Removed are all of the little pieces and parts that make the mess. We allowed them to keep a small volume of toys that would not drive us crazy trying to get her to clean up. Everything else is in the toy library.

If one of the girls wants to play with something from the toy library, all she has to do is make sure the toys in the playroom are cleaned up. If they are, she can check out a new toy. It must be returned before anything else can be taken out. At the end of the day, the child listed as responsible for checking the toy out is charged with returning it with all of its pieces. It's simple, really. I don't know why we didn't try it sooner. The playroom looks neater. The children are more excited about what they're playing with because they had to anticipate playing with it and earn it by cleaning something else up.

The best part of this whole deal is that when I refused to let the littlest play with a new toy this afternoon, she threw a fit, then quietly put every single toy away. When I went to check on her, the toy room was clean and she had accomplished it with absolutely no adult supervision and nagging. I'm definitely impressed with her effort and reminded once again, that kids are capable of more than we give them credit for.

The Never-Ending Project List

2011-11-10T14:23:00.002-06:00

As I come to the close of my current knitting project, it's time to decide what will be next. I like to think about this before I finish my current project because often I'll need a few days to wash, dry, and cake up the yarn for the next project. Planning ahead by 3 days means I won't have down time between projects unless I want it. This time, as I finish up a pair of longies for my youngest, I find myself conflicted as to what should be next.

As a way to calm myself down enough to pick a project, I decided to write out all of the projects that I've been throwing around this fall. In an old fashioned Pro and Con list, I came up with 14 projects and 4 UFOs to finish. It's no wonder I was having a hard time figuring out what needed to come next! Without further ado, here is the current list of projects that I'd like to pick from.

New Projects:

Mittens for A
1-2 sweaters for A
Longies for M out of Ellyl yarn
Longies for M out of Irish Meadow yarn
Stuffed monsters for A's bday bash
Dog sweater
Hat for C's client
Mittens for C
Hat for A (she only has balaclavas!)
Coasters for the living room
Dishrags (a gift truly for myself)
Mittens for M
Slippers for A (I have had the leather soles for 3 years, waiting for her to grow into them!)
Sweater for myself (I don't have ANY sweaters that I made for me.)

UFOs:

Turn M's pink footies into longies
Crocheted yarn bag (I have the squares all done, just needs assembly)
My cardigan (I stopped working on it when C told me the color was not good for my complexion.)
My mittens (horrible pattern, horrible fit. needs severe re-working!)

The question now is what to do next? I have the yarn on-hand for probably every single one of those projects. Which is most important? Which is most time-sensitive? Who's begging the loudest? I'm pretty sure I left something out, too....

The First Deer of the Season

2011-11-07T08:06:00.000-06:00

We butchered our first deer of the season. Aunt C shot it with her car. It's really a somewhat interesting story, if you care to read. If you don't like hunting, then please, move on to another post.

So the story all begins when we went out to dinner on Saturday night. Aunt C had some Culver's coupons she wanted to use and the husband wanted to stop at Farm and Fleet, so we headed north to the 'Boo (a city near us.) On the way home, we suddenly had reason to thank God that we were in the right lane, rather than the left as we came off the bluffs. Spread across the entire left lane was a HUGE buck that had been hit, very recently, by a car. This prompted a lengthy discussion on how we had all seen a seemingly large number of deer along the side of the road this season. This, then, spilled into a conversation about what a shame it is to see so many deer hit, killed, and abandoned by the side of the road. It seemed a waste of venison and antlers that could be put to good use of the carcass had been tended correctly.

After returning home, Aunt C headed back to her home. Less than 10 minutes later, we received a phone call from Aunt C. It seemed that she had shot us a deer... with her car! To be honest, the deer ran into the side of Aunt C's car as she sped past on the highway. It hit the side of the car, not the front. It's neck was broken and it died immediately. But, since we had just been talking about not wasting deer hit by cars, the discussion opened up of, "Can we take the carcass? Should we?"

The men in the family were uncertain. They knew they were going to have to do the field dressing. It was 8pm and already dark. My husband and I had a discussion that basically ended in me saying, "Personally, if I could be of any help to your dad with field dressing it, I'd go and leave you here with the kids. Since I can't, I'll defer to your decision." It seems he has an aversion to salvaging the meat because he considers it roadkill.

So he's okay with hunting and eating squirrels but venison killed by Aunt C's car was just too "redneck" for him. Thank goodness this blog is fairly anonymous, because he'd be unhappy if anyone he knew was informed that we processed a "roadkill" deer. Giggle.

The way I saw it, it's death was as quickly accomplished with the car as it would have been with a bullet during hunting season. We knew the "hunter," we knew when it had happened (10 minutes ago, so it was still fresh), and we knew from a first exam that the neck and hip were broken, but it wasn't smeared across the road. It was fresh, solid, and in one piece. The women of the family ended up making the decision to process the deer and the men in the family headed out to handle the field dressing, tagging, and police/DNR management.

The next morning, I upheld my half of the bargain and did as much as I could to help in the butchering and processing of the meat. It seemed only fair that I should do those parts that I physically could, since that was my excuse for staying home and knitting while my husband field-dressed the deer in the dark. In the end, we have 7 gallon-sized bags of venison now. We decided that because of the warm weather, we wanted to process the venison as fast as we could. In order to speed up the trimming and cutting, we decided that other than the tenderloins, it was all going through the grinder for jerky, sausage, and general cooking. No need to waste time cutting the perfect roasts and steaks. Cut it, trim off the fat and silverskin, bag it, and drop it in the cooler. Later this week, I imagine we'll wash it, chunk it, and grind it.

I think I've really acclimated to eating venison. Last year, I remember that the smell bothered me a little when we butchered the deer. This year. it just smelled like meat. A little beefy, and a little gamey, but meat all the same. For dinner, my MIL served up one of last year's roasts. It seemed fitting to eat venison after spending the morning processing venison.

When the Poor Get Hungry

2011-10-27T12:00:00.001-05:00

When the poor get hungry, what do they do? They go hunt squirrels. Well, that's what we did last week. After Governor Walker's budget cuts went through, we lost 40% of our grocery budget each month. We're now trying to stretch every dollar, every meal, every THING we can.

We are not a vegetarian family, even though we do eat plenty of vegetarian food. Choosing to be ominvores, we must accept the burden meat can place on our food budget. Let's face it, meat is expensive. Even good old ground beef, the least gormet meat available, is over $3.50 a pound unless you either find it on sale or buy it in such large quantities that you're afraid to open the freezer, lest a block of ground beef falls out and lands on your foot. I'll be honest. I'm not great at remembering to thaw meat enough ahead of time to get it into the recipe I plan on cooking that night anyhow, so stuffing my freezer is not the best answer.

My husband's family hunts. They hunt regularly, but not fanatically. He grew up hunting for small game and deer. Hunting hadn't been an activity he'd participated in for several years, but last year, when we moved closer to his family, he decided to get back into it. He brought in a doe and after the family effort to butcher and pack the meat, we had a freezer full of venison. We've steadily worked our way through the meat and are almost out, just in time for fall hunting to begin.

Now, I know that many of you are not meat eaters, nor fans of hunting, specifically, but in defense of our actions, I have to say the following. If I'm going to eat meat, I want the animal to live a natural, content life and I want its death to be quick. In my mind, no hunter whose main aim is to provide food for his family, is going to do anything to prolong the death of his prey. The point is to go out there, shoot dinner, and get home early enough to put it on the table before it spoils. Wild game, be it large or small, is a fine way to obtain meat in a way that allows the animal a clean life and a clean death. You may have a different opinion. I encourage you to have your own opinion, but this happens to be mine.

A few weeks ago, when the tightening of the budget became a reality, my husband approached me about getting his small game liscense. Yes, it would cost us money. No, he wouldn't invest in it unless I approved. Could we afford the fees if it meant meat on the table? Would it be cheaper than buying meat? Could I convince my family to eat small game? We had a lot of questions, but in the end, we decided that we would try it this year.

On Sunday, the hunter went out and returned home victorious. We had 3 squirrels to process! Mind you, I had agreed to this little experiment and would go about doing the work to support my half of the adventure, but I still had some trepidation. Squirrel? For dinner? I knew my great-grandmother loved squirrel, so it probably wouldn't hurt me, but would I like it? Could I get the kids to eat it?

We did let the children see the squirrels. We try to make a gentle point to them that meat comes from animals and if you are going to eat it, you have to understand and accept the sacrifice of the animal's life. All food costs something its life and we want them to accept this and make good choices regarding how they eat. We have no intention of making our children eat the squirrels, the deer, the rabbit, if they object to it. So far, they have accepted what meat is and where it comes from, even after seeing it and petting it's fur. I think they would have issues if the animal were to arrive alive, though, but I have no intention of having them face that situation quite yet.

I managed to clean the meat, cut it up, and prepare it. I was still feeling very awkward about it, though. It wasn't until I had slow-cooked it long enough to remove all bones, and thus all identifying characteristics, that I thought I might be able to go through with it. Once cooked, it really resembled pulled pork, stewed dark-meat chicken, and all of the other more generic meats that go into the stew pot. Okay, I could do this.

Dinner came and out came the bowls and spoons. Four hungry faces peered into their bowls. Four noses twiched at the smell of bacon and cabbage, potatoes and carrots. Yes, bacon was my secret weapon. Who can resist bacon? The stew smelled like bacon and bean soup. After adding salt, worchestershire, and tabasco, we all took our first bites. Amazingly, no one objected to the taste. There was no gaminess. There was no flavor to tell us that this was not, in fact, pork stew. Our eldest liked it enough that she tipped the bowl back and drank the broth. I liked it enough to actually fill up on it, rather than just eat enough to feel like I'd had a meal.

Next time, though, I plan on choosing a more adventurous recipe. The one I had chosen was mild and bland and really not that exciting. Is anyone up for barbequed squirrel sandwiches?

Doing the Potty Thing

2011-10-20T09:05:00.000-05:00

A week ago, I came across a potty chart on Pinterest. It was cute and I'd been kind of contemplating working one up, so I printed it off and took it home for M. I didn't figure it would do a whole lot for her, but I figured it might help her move from 2-3 potties a week to maybe 5 or 6.

I guess I was wrong. We were sitting in the dining area eating dinner while talking about the chart and planning out how we might organize the payouts when M say, "Mimi pee pee, yeah!" So, I got up and took her to the loo. Who knew what we were starting? Not us!

Now, a week later, she has earned over 80 stickers! Granted, she gets one for recognizing that it was time to go potty, one for peeing, and two for pooping, but that's still a LOT of trips to the potty. And for all of that, only 3 times has she been wrong about needing to go. Plus, she's only been using 2-3 diapers/trainers per day, one of which is for naptime. Go, M! I finally have a sense that we're on the road towards big girl undies. It's a relief!

For those of you interested in where I found my chart, here is the link. I finally started printing them 4 to a page because we were going through them quickly.

A Yarny Update

2011-10-20T07:41:00.002-05:00

Things have been busy in my knitting life lately. I've had a very full schedule and it's been a lot of fun. Well, for the most part. See below.

This month, I worked on finishing up the yarn-testing for Shady Blue Acres. I really enjoyed that project and look forward to working with more of their yarn when I take my payout. It was really great to find a local yarn that I think might work really well for bullet-proof longies for my little Princess Linebacker.

Also, I am working my way through a custom order that is so far out from what I normally do that the change of pace has been a real eye-opener. For this project, I'm knitting solid color longies with accent stripes at the cuffs and a duplicate stitch on the bum. I'm knitting with a wool-blend yarn, as the recipient is potty-training and doesn't need full soaker protection. While the wool-blend yarn split a little and caused me to have to drop back and redo stitches from time to time, I really do like the way it looks and feels once knit up. It's silky and soft and the stitches are really even in a way you can't get with yarns like Blackberry Ridge or Cestari Fine. Overall, other than the typical complaint of knitting with black yarn at night, it was a good project for me. Please overlook the lovely flash photography...

Also on the needles this month were M's "hoohoo pants." Last year I had knit her a pair of pants with owls on the pockets. She loved them and wore them a LOT. Sadly, this year, she no longer fit them, so away they went. We were all sad they were going, but agreed that the proceeds would fund a new pair of hoohoo pants that would fit her this winter. So I dyed up some yarn and picked up my needles and came up with this set.

My husband and I did a lot of online research while designing these. we wanted something cute, but different from the standard owl cable. I was fairly pleased with the results and ecstatic when I found the matching shirt in a box of hand-me-downs from her sister. Upon presenting the set to M, I discovered that while I loved it, she did not. After a bit of convincing, we got her to try on the pants only to discover that the child had grown during the three weeks I was working on the longies and they no longer fit her hips and waist. Good grief! So, they've been traded for $70 worth of yarn.

The last project that I worked on this month was a set of footed longies for a knitting friend. She was gracious enough to send to me as working yarn a Purewool colorway that has long been on my "lust list" but never in my shopping cart since it is a fairly boyish color. This is what I knit up for her:

It was great working with the colorway, Doni. I loved it and realize now, that with the right embellishment, it can totally be done for a girl. Yay!

Next on the needles will be a new set of longies for M, since I discovered that she only has two pairs, neither of which were knit by me! It's her last year in longies and I want her to have something that Mama made for her with lots of love. I recently traded her scrappy longies (the ones that Daddy didn't like) for a much sought-after set of colorway and trim to make her a new pair of longies. They're Mosaic Moon's "Ellyll" colorway and I think they'll be just right... if I can convince her to wear them!!!!!

This is probably not the best picture of the colorway. It seems a bit more orange than it is in real life. It's really a deep, dark purple with greens, brown, aqua, and lighter purple mixed in. Here is the picture from the dyer's gallery. Even that picture doesn't do it justice.

I also have Mosaic Moon's "Irish Meadow" sitting on my shelves that could become a pair of "hoohoo pants." I'm also leaning towards decorating the pockets on them with dandelion flowers. I think M would really like that a lot. If I can pull it off, that would give M 2 pairs of longies that I knit for her myself and I think I could rest happily then.

Listen Up!

2011-10-06T09:19:00.001-05:00

We had another follow-up hearing test for M this week. She finally passed with normal hearing in at least one ear! Hooray!!!!!

Now, to figure out what she needs to progress in speech therapy...

Ewe Need Darling Knits Hosts Little Poopie

2011-09-22T09:58:00.000-05:00

I've been asked to do a guest vendor slot on Ewe Need Darling Knits' hyenacart shop. I've been working very hard to make this a good opportunity for myself and as of tomorrow, the sales can start! I have quite a few things up for sale, from underwear to sweaters and hats. Please stop by and take a look!

Busy Busy Busy

2011-09-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

I am BUSY this fall! Goodness! A week ago, I was saying that I wished I had more custom orders for this fall and now I'm full up. Someone out there must have been listening. Thank you!

In addition to the sample items I'm knitting for Shady Blue Acres, I have orders in for two pairs of very creative and fun longies, one pair of footed longies, three scarves, and a doll. I think that will comfortably fill my time from now until December 15th just fine. And put a bit more food on the table and buffer into the Christmas account.

Additionally, A is in school 5 days a week, M still has her speech therapy sessions, I'm working 26 hours a week, and managing my knitting patterns. Oh, and let's not forget the guest stocking at Ewe Need Darling Knits, coming up on September 30th. Please take a moment to check out our listings at the end of the month. They're not posted yet, but I hope to have previews up soon. I will include both knitted items and toddler- and child-szed some boxer briefs for both boys and girls.

Testing, Testing...1,2,3,4

2011-09-19T07:31:00.009-05:00

This month, I'm knitting up some test swatches for a great couple of farmers out in Richland Center. This is there place, in case you'd like to know more about them. For those of you adverse to clicking links, here's the basic backstory:

Blue and Skye run an organic farm. On this farm they not only grow produce, but they raise heritage breeds of farm animal who are also fed organically. Recently, Blue and Skye started raising sheep. This fall, for the first time, they have yarn available from their sheep. The yarn was spun by Blackberry Ridge Woolen Mill, a local small business that uses antique spinning machines to produce high-quality yarns. I volunteered to knit up some samples for Blue and Skye to help sell their yarns.

Needless to say, we're all really excited about this opportunity! I went to pick up the yarn last weekend as I happened to have a small break in my knitting schedule that worked perfectly for this test. This is what I picked up from Skye at Madison's Farmers' Market:

From the left, it's Rambo/Romney cross undyed brown worsted, Rambo/Romney cross undyed white worsted, Jacob undyed grey (bulky), and Tunis undyed worsted. I took this picture after I had washed them with Country Soaps by Marlene's wool wash bar. (good grief, am I a walking commercial today? Seriously, though, I love these businesses.) I was hoping that the lanolin from the wool wash bar would soften up the yarn as well as scent it for me. I really like the feel of lanolized wool when I knit and the aromatherapy can't be beat. The washing, however, did not have much effect on the lanolin levels, as the yarn was pretty well coated with its own lanolin and for the first time ever, the scent didn't seem to stick around beyond the drying.

I hand-caked the Rambo/Romney yarns first as I have the most excitement for the project that I'm doing with that yarn. Blue and Skye have left the designs up to me, so it's going to be a fun ride. I love it when the client lets me just play with the yarn. The end results are always better when I have free-reign. After much pondering of various patterns, I decided to go with the Ivyanna pattern that I've showcased in other entries of my blog. It's a great little pattern in that it's easy to knit (which also means fast, which is important this week), uses little yarn (not much more than a skein for even the 18 mos size!), and allows for a lot of improvisation when it comes to colorwork and textured stitches.

I decided that I wanted to do a mushroom theme with the colorwork. At first, I was looking at things like pawprints, snowflakes, and celtic knotwork, but after seeing this sweater:

I decided that reddish mushrooms on the brown and white Rambo/Romney yarn was a must. I love the way the red pops on that brown, and the brown of the Rambo/Romney is very rich and lovely.

At first, I was worried that the yarns would knit up scratchy. They aren't nearly as cottony as merino, which is the most common wool I use these days, but after knitting up 6" or so I realized that while they aren't cotton soft, they are smooth and not scratchy at all. It's like comparing a rabbit to a turtle. Sure the rabbit is fluffy, but the turtle is warm and smooth. Both are really nice textures, but very different.

The other factor that I'm curious about with these yarns is whether or not they'll pill. The feel of the knitted yarn reminds me a lot of Gallway's Outback yarn, which I used for a pair of night-time longies for my older daughter. 4 years later, and they still don't pill. They wear like IRON and I love them. I'm hoping that this yarn will behave in much the same manner. Unfortunately, I won't be personally using the garments I knit for this project, so the final verdict on that feature will have to wait until I have a garment of my own from this yarn.

So far, this is what my Ivyanna looks like:

I've actually done a bit more work since I took this picture, but you get the basic idea. I had to futz just a little with the pattern to make the stripes work out on top, but it wasn't too hard and looks just how I pictured it. I took the time last night to draw up the chart for my mushrooms. They're much less complex than pictured above, but I intend for them to be much smaller, so that's fine. I also wound off about 0.5oz of the white Rambo/Romney yarn and set it to dye in Cherry and Black Cherry Koolaid. It came out a lovely red, but after drying, my husband I agree that it needs to be a deeper, more burgundy red. So, back into the pot it went. I'll see the end results after I get home today, as the yarn was still setting when I left before dawn.

As I continue to work on these test projects, I'll update this blog entry. Stay tuned for more!

SMALL CHANGE OF PLANS:
I'll be doing the colorwork in just the two colors, brown and white. I still think it will be beautiful and I'll have a great plan for my own project later! Now.... hearts, celtic swirls, paw prints.... hmmmm...... so many options!

UPDATE 9-20=2011
I have finished the knitting on the Ivyanna. It still needs some serious blocking, since it's colorwork, but overall I'm very pleased with the contrast of the white and brown yarns. I had to relearn to knit English style to speed up my knitting in the colorwork section, but I think that was probably a good thing. It's also a very good thing that I didn't knit it in a size that will fit either of my children, or it might just stay with me forever!

9-22-2011 UPDATE

I still need to weave in the ends of the sweater, but it is blocked and nearly dry. I also knit up a single fingerless mitt, which I really like. I"ll have to reuse the pattern. It's this one... I started the second mitt, but decided to wait until I finished the Jacob hat. It may seem like an odd decision, but I wanted to know if I needed a second skein of the Jacob to finish the hat. According to the pattern, I won't but it looks like it's really close. I can finish the hat by Friday for sure if I have enough yarn. If not, then I'll pick some up on Saturday. I already know I have enough R/R yarn to finish the mitts, so that's less critical.

9-22-2011 UPDATE at bedtime...

I had a frustrating start to my evening, what with having to frog the entire half of the Jacob hat that I had knit, but in the end, I"m feeling satisfied. What happened with the hat? Well, I was knitting along, using needles one size too small, and feeling like I had a pretty tight tension going. I figured I was doing a fine job with the size. Then I decided to take it off the needles and see just how big it was. It was huge. In fact, it looked like a beret. It was so funny-looking that my camera-shy 2 year old agreed to pose as Queen of the Funnies, with it perched on her head and a scrub brush in her hand.

So I frogged it and found a new pattern. I'll knit that one this weekend.

Feeling frustrated but motivated to do some profitable knitting, I finished up the second fingerless mitt. I liked the pattern enough that I'll make myself a pair of fingerless mitts, very soon, I think! I think that the white yarn will probably look dirty before too long, but the look of the white with the brown racing stripe is just so elegant. I like them and hope Blue and Skye will, too.

After knitting two different projects with the Rambo/Romney cross, I have decided that I really like it. It definitely has a different hand-feel than the merino wool I've been working with lately, but there is something very lovely about the Rambo Romney cross. It feels sturdy and yet not unpleasant to touch. I like it enough that I have an irrational desire to keep the scraps, despite the fact that I will need much more than an ounce or two to make myself something. It's great stuff!

UPDATE 9-26-2011

The Jacob hat is done. It was quite the adventure. Even with the second pattern and knowing that I was getting gauge, I kept feeling like the hat was WAY too big. So, I kept taking it off the needles and putting it on my head. Each time, it fit just fine, and each time, I didn't believe myself. But I finished it off and what do you know, it fits! It's actually a really nice hat. It's a big plainer that I was hoping to knit with this yarn, but I was afraid to put cables on it, since most likely Skye would wear it at market. I didn't want anything too feminine for him and no 3 people can agree as to whether or not cables are masculine enough for a man to get away with. So, no cables, but I do think next time, I will knit that hat with cables.

I did, however, modify the pattern to use K2tog tbl for the decreases and for the edging, I used the Rambo/Romney yarn and had to tinker with the crochet pattern to accommodate the smaller yarn.

Also, I think that this pattern would be great done with this yarn. If I thought I could justify spending that much on yarn for one project, I'd knit up that sweater for sure.

UPDATE 10-6-2011

I have finally finished the Tunis shawl. I knit up the Infinitude Scarf with 6oz of undyed Tunis yarn. At first I wasn't sure about it, because it reads as a bulky-weight scarf and the Tunis is worsted, but I think that the loose gauge actually helps the Tunis yarn feel less rough. It's more airy and fluffy. The scarf really grew when I washed it, though. It's definitely long, but since it's meant to wrap around the neck and head 2-3 times anyways, I think that's fine.

Of all three yarns, I can finally say that I think I liked the Rambo/Romney the best. It has the nicest feel once knitted up and I LOVE the brown color. It's so rich!

My New Space

2011-09-13T08:13:00.000-05:00

This past week we were blessed to have the company of my mother in law. She's a wonderful person who we all adore and her visits are always a whirlwind of fun and productivity.

This visit, we had three goals:
Set up my work room
Clean out the garage
Have a garage sale

Wouldn't you know, we managed all three? We are much lighter in the "random crap" department and have gained not only our garage sale profits, but also a work room in the basement and space in our garage! We are amazed at how much these projects changed our life for the better. I, of course, adore having a dedicated art space again and DH is already contemplating how to fill my half of the garage with his excercise equipment. Hmmm... Maybe I need to ask him where he plans on parking his car this winter.

Anyhow, here is my new work space. Not pictured is a child-sized desk for the girls, the spare TV and stand, and a china hutch with my Cabbage Patch softies. I didn't figure those things were all that exciting to anyone but us.

My lovely Miss A helped pick out the paper color for my bin labels (orange and purple) and I hope to get both kids involved in painting the walls and work benches. So far, I seem to be the only one who likes the big table, though. The kids fought over who got to use the little plastic child's desk and left me alone at the big table. Maybe I need to plan a big, messy craft and insist that we do it at my table to make them like the big table. Or do I really want to share?

I'd like to make space to move the children's art supplies over into my work room, but so far, I'm not sure how I'll do it. I need to keep the scissors, crayons, glue, and of course, the markers well out of M's reach if I want to avoid any more toddler body art, so I'll have to set it up with higher shelves. I think it's doable, with a little wiggling.

In other news, I have a guest vendor slot lined up for www.hyenacart.com at the end of the month. I'm really excited about this and have finished 2 of 3 planned projects. I'm about 99% done with the last one, but haven't found myself in the right frame of mind to make that last connection to finish it. It will be done on time, I'm sure. I have the second ear knit up already, I just haven't attached it. Talk about Lazy, with a capital L. I had originally thought I was knitting a 6-12 months size, but I think it's actually 12-18. Since it's for sale, that's just fine. I really love how it turned out, but I will likely NEVER do another. That loop stitch was a time-suck!.

Also on Hyenacart, my knitting patterns will be hosted by Apple Orchard Congo. They're still available for free, so it's not a wildly profitable venue for me, but building a good reputation for my patterns might mean that I will be able to charge actual money for any future patterns. Since our finances could use a boost, that is a good thing.

Pumpkin Seed Hat

2011-09-01T07:17:00.004-05:00

The Pumpkin Seed Hat is now live on Ravelry and will soon be available on The Apple Orchard on Hyenacart. Please feel free to leave me comments either here or on Ravelry.com.

Rah Ahn!

2011-08-25T09:17:00.001-05:00

The girls and I have been reading The Raggedy Ann Stories and The Raggedy Andy Stories at bedtime this month. They both really enjoyed Raggedy Ann, but M doesn't seem to have any interest at all in Raggedy Andy. I'd say it was an attention span thing rather than a sexist thing, but honestly, even I found the Raggedy Ann stories more engaging. They're a bit more fleshed out and entertaining.

When my mother let us know she was coming to visit this month, I asked her to please bring along my old Raggedy Ann dolls and so, just like in the story, A and M now have Raggedy Ann dolls that have been in storage for 30 years. And just like in the story, Grandma and Mama had to stitch and sew Raggedy Ann back to health and give her a warm bath. Needless to say, the girls loved it. M runs around asking for "Rah Ahn!" Thanks, Mom!

PS, can you tell which RA has had her bath and which one has yet to take the plunge?

Why Wool?

2011-08-23T07:36:00.012-05:00

Following up on my last blog entry, I thought that I'd discuss the reasons WHY wool garments are worth the expense. "Why?" you might ask, is it worth up to $400 in time expenditure to create a wool sweater or longies for a child who will undoubtedly destroy it or outgrow it in just a few months?

Let's start with the "they'll destroy it" argument. My children have actually never ruined a wool garment. Never. Granted, I'm conscious of their activities and change them into scrubby clothes when needed, but even with near-daily use, they've never destroyed anything I've knit for them. I have destroyed a few pairs through pure laundry stupidity, but the kids haven't. Yes, I've had to sew up a hole where the carseat buckle got stuck on the yarn and Daddy pulled a bit too hard to get the child loose, and sure, kids get grubby here and there, usually on the knees or butt. However, as long as I keep food, paint, and mud away from the woolies, we're good for whatever the day throws at us.

In fact, I have many pairs of longies that both of my children wore. Here, for example, are both girls in a pair of longies made from an old sweater. You'll want to notice that while my first daughter is only 2 months old when wearing this pair of longies, my second daughter is 8 months old.

Now, the "they'll outgrow it" argument against wool for children. Let's look first at wool pants, or longies, as they're called. You'd be surprised to learn that when you cloth diaper a child, their hip circumference and rise measurements don't change as much from early infancy through toddlerhood as you might think. In the early months, the all-liquid diet of an infant ensures that your diapers will be bulked up enough to fill an 18-19" hip measurement with only a little slack. By the time your child is potty-training, you'll find that their hip measurement, over those training pants, is STILL 18-19"! So the longies your young infant wore as pants the winter they were born:

Are still going to fit them as a toddler, 2 years later.

Sure, your child may be a summer baby and a winter toddler, but there will me multiseason overlap in their wardrobe if you invest in some capris or longies.

As for sweaters and multiseasonal use, you may be surprised to find that my 2 year old, who wears a size 2T, has a 20" chest where my 4 year old, who wears a size 5T, has a 21" chest. Here is the same sweater on both girls, who at the time of the pictures, were wore size 5T and 18 mos, respectively.

So if I knit up a short-sleeve, or sleeveless sweater, such as in my previous post, I can count on my duaghter to fit into it for at least 2 winters, maybe even three! The biggest difference is the length from neck to waist. In this case, the sweater can be knit long for the toddler and be just a tad short for the pre-schooler, OR I can be smart, save the leftover yarn, and simply undo the hem and knit on a few extra inches when the growth spurts come! Three seasons of wear for only $30 in yarn is NOT bad! And if you remember from my last post, that $30 of yarn actually provided enough yardage for TWO Ivyanna sweaters, so that's two children and 2-3 seasons per sweater, all for $30. This does assume, however, that I knit it myself and not pay someone else to knit it.

Personally, I knit, so my only investment in woolen garments for my children is the yarn and my time. If I look at really cheap yarn, the stuff that's only $6 for 4oz at your local craft store, you can make a pair of medium-sized longies for only $8 worth of yarn. A lot of people don't like cheap yarns, but personally, the fact that they felt in the crotch and bum never bothered me since it adds to the ability of the garment to contain diaper blow-outs. Cheap yarn isn't as soft and it often pills more than expensive yarns. I have found, though, that after a few rounds of washing and lanolizing, even cheap wool feels pretty nice on the skin. And as for pilling, I own a sweater shaver and for the once or twice a month that I have to use it, I actually find I enjoy the process. The kids even fight over the honor of being allowed to run the sweater shaver.

That doesn't mean that I don't have many woolen garments for my children that are made from expensive yarns. I do. For the most common expensive yarns used in children's clothing, it would cost me about $30-60 for the yarn for the garment. "Yikes!" you say. But let's remember that the child will wear the longies for up to 3 years. The yearly cost of that item is now $10-20. My child has non-woolen garments that cost me that much per season's use. Also remember that longies, shorties, capris, and skirties will double as diaper covers during the first two years (or more!) of your child's life. This means that one pair of $30 longies can replace 3 diaper covers which would have cost me $45.

And let's not forget resale value! Used woolen garments can often be resold online to other cloth-diapering families. Often, you'll find that you can resell the used garments for at least the cost of your yarn. So, in the end, a pair of longies that may have cost me $30 in yarn to knit, will save me $15 in diaper cover cost, and sell for $30 when I'm done with them. Essentially, the longies have just paid me $15 to use them for 3 years. Do you have any other clothing items that PAY YOU to use them? I don't!

The final component to why I would encourage you to use woolen garments on your children is the "easily recycled" nature of wool yarn. I can knit a pair of longies for my daughter, have her wear them for 3 years, and then simply take them apart, wash the yarn, and knit her something new! Maybe I'll knit her a hat and mitten set, maybe a sweater vest, maybe a pair of slippers... the possibilities are endless. Fro example, my youngest daughter has in her wardrobe a pair of longies that she wore from late winter to early summer last year and will wear again from fall to spring this year. I have been eying the yarn in those pants with a great deal of longing since they arrived nearly 9 months ago, just waiting for her to outgrow them so that I can have a new winter hat and mitten set!

What Does a Sweater Cost?

2011-08-18T09:38:00.000-05:00

After a recent discussion on one of my knitting forums about the costs of handmade clothing, I thought I would sit down and write up a "ledger" for the cost, in time, of a hand-knit sweater. Before I start detailing exactly how much time goes into knitting a sweater, I want to state for the record that I am, in fact, a fast knitter. My estimates for the knitting section of the process are likely more conservative than those of the average knitter.

Every sweater begins with an idea. It must begin with either a picture in my head of what style of sweater I want to make or an idea of what type of yarn I want to use. Sometimes I already have the yarn on-hand and it's only a matter of finding the right pattern. Sometimes I have the pattern all picked out and need to find a yarn to use. There's usually some sort of spark or inspiration and I move forward from there. To flesh out the idea, I usually spend time on www.ravelry.com, searching their pattern database for patterns that suit my needs. If I already have the pattern picked out, I will take the time to look through the finished sweaters that have been made from that pattern, looking for helpful tips and pointers that will make the knitting go faster. I will also look for color combinations, yarn choice, modifications that people have tried. Assuming that I already have either pattern or yarn on-hand, the rest of this process takes about 60 minutes. For this article, I had the pattern on-hand and had knit from it before. The pattern is the Ivyanna sweater, shown here on my older daughter.

If I have to obtain yarn for the project, I have to decide if I want to buy something from an online store, from a local yarn shop, from an online resale forum, etc. I have to decide if I want to buy yarn that has been dyed already or if I want to buy undyed and apply my own palette. Generally, I have some undyed yarn on-hand because I know that there will be a project that I won't be able to find what I'm looking for online or a project that would cost too much to buy the yarn I want predyed. In the case of this example, I had leftover yarn that I had dyed for a previous project, so I did not have to shop for yarn. However, when I initially dyed the yarn, it took me about 6 hours, not including drying time. If I purchase yarn, it will cost me about 30 minutes, not including any driving or shipping time.

Once the yarn arrives, I have to check it to see if it needs to be washed. Often, yarn suppliers will skein or cake their yarn tightly to allow more yards of yarn to take up less space in shipping packages and storage. In order to make the best use of the yarn, I will have to loosen up the yarn again and either allow it extra time to relax and fluff up on its own or I will have to wash it and allow it to airdry. Either process will allow the yarn to bloom and regain its elasticity and regularity. I generally opt to wash the yarn as the washing not only improves the yarn but also helps clear away any dirt or debris that may have come along with the wool. I also find the pre-washing the yarn tells me if the dye is fully set or if I will have to worry about bleeding when washing the finished sweater. Lastly, I prewash because I enjoy the experience of knitting with yarn that has been scented by my wool wash. Who wants to open a project bag to be hit in the face with a faceful of mildew, dust, sheep odors, dye outgassing, etc. Washing takes about 20 minutes plus drying time. Most of that isn't active work, though, unless I have to rewind from cakes to skeins.

Three days later, I get to wind my dried yarn into cakes. I do this by hand because I find that ball-winders put too much tension on the yarn. This leads to shrinking,, twisting, and distorting when the tight sections loosen up over time and end up contracting the fabric. This takes another 30 minutes if I have to do 2-3 skeins.

Buttons can also be another time expenditure. In this case, I chose to sculpt my own decorative and functional buttons after the craft store didn't yield anything appropriate in the right size. This takes about 45 minutes, including baking.

We are now ready to begin knitting. In this case, I do not need to do a gauge swatch as I have knit with this yarn base before at the required gauge and know which size needles I need. Normally, a 4" by 4" swatch would need to be knit one or more times to refine exactly which needle size will produce the correct number of stitches per inch. If I were to be off by as little as 1/2 stitch per inch, the sweater would be 2 or more sizes too big or too small. Knitting a test swatch takes about 15 minutes and if I were to guess wrong on needle size would need to be redone to ensure that the second selection of needle size is correct. I assume 30 minutes for gauge swatching if I'm using a new yarn.

This particular pattern is a quick and easy knit. It only requires about 5 oz of yarn to complete the size 2T sweater. If it had arms and a hood, it would take about twice as long to knit. This sweater took me about 8 hours to knit. A full sweater would have taken me around 16 hours. That's continuous knitting time, not from the date I started until the day I finished the work. I spread that work out over 2-4 weeks generally because I have a job, a family, and other responsibilities. I include in this the time it takes to weave in the typical number of loose yarn ends and attach the buttons.

Once the sweater is knit it must be washed and blocked. No, it's not dirty, but until it has soaked and been arranged to dry, there will be uneven stitches here and there and perhaps some curling of edges. Also, if a lace pattern has been used, blocking allows the lace to open up and become more beautiful. Washing and blocking add another 20-30 minutes of active attention and 3 days of drying.

Once it is dry, I like to take photographs for my portfolio. If the weather is good and the children are otherwise engaged, this process only takes 15 minutes including uploading time.

If I were knitting this for sale on the internet, rather than for my children or a custom order, I would need to invest additional time in photography, listing it online, and monitoring the listing and any follow up emails with a customer. This would cost another 60 minutes or so.

So, where are we on total time invested? If I buy yarn and don't sell online, it costs me 20.3 hours. If I dye my own yarn, it costs me 25.8 hours. What would that translate into if I were paid by the hour? Well, most artists, in any media, charge $20 an hour for custom work.

Assuming $20 an hour, purchased yarn: $406.67

Assuming $5 an hour, purchased yarn: $101.50

Even at $5 an hour, there is no way I can really recoup my costs when knitting for customers. Who will pay me $100 for just the work, not the yarn? So please, remember this when you are purchasing and caring for hand-knit items. You have a sweater because someone either loves you or loves knitting enough to give away their time for peanuts.

Pinkerton

2011-08-16T08:51:00.002-05:00

Undies

2011-08-07T16:31:00.002-05:00

I have really been having a LOT of fun with the boxer brief pattern. It's so easy to come up with a successful project! I have yet to really go wrong with it. Sure, I made a few construction snafus, but overall, I'm pleased with each and every pair of girly boxer briefs. I had spent $18 at Joann's this week to buy a few things to make some undies and later went to St. Vincent DePaul for a few more shirts to cut up. I lucked out in that our SVDP has a very large bin of children's clothing marked at just 10 cents per item. Yep, 10 cents. It used to be 5 cents, but last month inflation struck. LOL.

Here are some of the undies I have made:

These are 2T-3T, the back is in the first picture, the front in the next.

These are all size 2T/3T as well. Again, backside first.

Here are all three toddler/preschooler sizes that I have worked up. They are essentially 2T/3T, 4-5T, and 6.

Here is the backside of the 4T. They were sewn with standard underwear elastic rather than FOE.

This pair is a medium, so I'd say 5-6. It's the same pattern as the butterflies above, but with a stretchier fabric. My 41lb kid says they fit her great, but personally, I think a slightly roomier pair would serve her better.

And the original trial pair.

Once I've made enough pairs to fill out my children's drawers, I'll work on sizing up the pattern to fit me. I want some fun undies!

August 16th, 2011

Here are another set of 2T/3T undies I finished. Three pairs went to a friend for her daughter, the other stayed with us as it was a seconds-quality piece. For some reason, the leg seams didn't line up!

Boxer Briefs, episode 2

2011-08-05T18:29:00.001-05:00

When I finished sewing up the prototype of the boxer brief pattern last night, I placed the new pair of undies outside the door of my girls' bedroom. At 6:30am this morning, I awoke to the words, "Mimi, E-E-O unnahware? E-E-O eat banana?" There was a pair of monkey underwear held up to my nose, blocking all view of the excited 2 year old behind them.

Translation:

"Are these monkey underwear for me? The monkeys are eating bananas on them!"

She loved them. An hour later, she wet them and we went on to pair number 2. Those also lasted only an hour or so, but were a big hit!

I plan on making a few more pairs tonight after the girls go to bed and before my knitting time. I'm really liking these little undies! My elder daughter has requested a few pairs and I know I want some...

On the Topic of Training Pants, Panties, and Boxer Briefs

2011-08-04T21:06:00.003-05:00

As many of you have heard or could probably guess, we're potty training our youngest daughter this summer. It has been quite the experience. It has been different in EVERY way from what we experienced with our elder daughter. Our elder daughter was taught EC at a very young age. She was fully potty-trained by 19 months and was night-dry a month later. She woke and used the potty in the night as needed and the biggest challenge we had in training her was to make sure she got to the potty often enough. She was happy to make a deposit and return to her play.

With our younger child, we've found that her strong will is as much a challenge as anything else. It's not enough to set a timer for her, or to synchronize daily events with trips to the potty. It's been a daily discussion of, "will you use the potty today?" and "Do you want to earn an M&M?" Also frequently heard around the house are, "M, are you wet or dry?" "Did you wet your pants?" and our very favorite, "Who pooped?"

M is a force to be reckoned with. She must be bargained with. She does, afterall, have the power. And unlike her sister, she realizes it and makes full use of it.

We have been, up until now, fairly successful with a combination of rewards and sweet-talking, with a few threatened time-outs or threatened returns to the big old bulky cloth diapers. She can go from morning until 4pm with only 1-4 accidents depending on who's with her and what she's doing. To accommodate the higher-accident days, we've been using an all-in-one cloth trainer. We have two styles, one set was made by me and has a higher load-capacity but takes longer to dry and the other, from an online seller that holds one good pee and dries quickly.

I have been in love with our daughters training pants from the first day they arrived. What can I say? Her underwear is cooler than mine. No two pairs are exactly alike! I think that appeals to me as much as it does to her. She can tell me she wants the "sniff sniff" (flower) pair, or the "A-A, O-O" (monkey) pair, or whatever suits her fancy. Here are most of her trainers.... as you'd expect, some are in the wash.

As you can see, some are very well-loved and well-worn. We wash, we use, we wash again. It's a happy thing.

Lately, however, I feel that we have reached a road-block. She has begun to think that it's okay to pee in her "underwear" because there really is no consequence. Sure, she feels wet, but does she feel pee running down her leg? Nope. Not enough consequence. So, last week I made a bold move and put her in big-girl panties for three days. Over the course of those days I only had to clean up pee from the carpet 3 times. I feel pretty good about those odds.

Unfortunately, as much as M loves her Elmo underpants, she does not love wedgies. I remember going through this with our older daughter. We tried every single shape and cut of underwear we could get our hands on. In the end, nothing was perfect. Wedgie was one of the toddler words that was forever echoing through our household.

In an effort to avoid a repeated performance, 2 years later, I am making an attempt to provide non-wedgie underpants. My first thought was boxer briefs! But could I find girly ones? Not at a price I wanted to pay. I can't afford $8 per pair of underpants only to have her pee in 8 pairs a day. Luckily, the internet came to my rescue!

Enter the online PDF sewing pattern. It took me two days, for some reason, but I did find a free sewing pattern for boxer briefs. Here's the link. What I like best about it is that you can sew a pair of undies with just an outgrown Tshirt! Since we're prepping for a garage sale, I have plenty of those hanging around. I did stop off at the store to buy more elastic and while I was there I did splurge to buy 3 different cotton fabrics to use in combination with my old Tshirts, but I think it will be worth it. For $18, I ought to end up with 12 pairs of undies for M. Maybe more, if I get just a bit more elastic, which, at $1.29 a yard for 2 pairs of undies, isn't bad.

So here is the test-run of the pattern:

I changed a few small things and learned a lot about the construction of the pattern by doing a trial run. I added FOE (fold over elastic) at the waistband instead of standard underwear elastic and I used elastic lace at the leg hems for a little better grip on my daughter's thighs as well as a touch of femininity.

I fully expect that these undies will not only be a hit, but will fit and function beautifully! My next challenge will be speeding up the sewing process now that I understand some of its finer points.

To quote Prairie Dawn,

HOORAY FOR UNDERPANTS!!!!!

Quick Updates

2011-07-28T07:47:00.006-05:00

I am behind in blogging. Very behind. In an effort to make you less bored by reading a month's worth of entries, I'll condense a few stories into a few short lines:

M's ears are no longer filled with fluid. The ENT does not want to place tubes. BUT M is still testing out to possibly have a mild hearing loss. It was hard to pinpoint, since she's so young. Does she really understand the rules of the hearing test games?
The dog is still reasonably well. We did have a $55 vet visit yesterday after A accidentally stepped on him. All's well, though. After some anti-inflammatory medication, he decided he felt well enough to eat again.
School registration for A is this week. It's hard to believe that she'll be starting 4K in a month. For those of you long out of the school system, 4K is the same thing we all went to when we were 5 years old. We called it kindergarten. Now, they do it at age 4 and it's called 4K or Wings.
I have been knitting up a storm again. It suddenly dawned on me that if I wanted the kids to have sweaters for the fall, I had to have them done by October. Yeah, it's only July now, but I also have two, maybe three, custom orders coming for August. Here are some pics of my two latest projects. The patterns for the sweaters below are Flora, Springtime in Hollis, and Ivyanna.

Due to a triple mixup on the part of myself, my client, and the pattern-maker, I get to reknit a sweater for no pay whatsoever
Potty-training continues to go along at the usual stop/start rate. One day she does great, the next I worry about having to put her back into diapers. I honestly think that now is the time for all of her caregivers to get on the same page, but everyone else has a lot of backtracking to do since they trained her to continue peeing into a diaper while I was training her that Mama-time was Potty-time. Yesterday was my day, and we had one pee accident, one poo accident, and the rest made it to the potty. Today is Daddy's day and it will likely be a 1 pee in the potty, the rest in the diaper. I keep reminding myself that she's only 2 and a half. It's okay to still be working on this.

And there you have it! Those are some of the top stories in our lives this month. Enjoy!

Beef Stir Fry

2011-07-20T16:30:00.002-05:00

Lest I forget it again...

http://www.allfood.com/

Click minute meals

click beef and asparagus stir fry

That is a favorite recipe of the husband's. I've been making it for years and he loves it every time. Since I had to actually dig around on the net to find it today, I'm placing this blog post for my own memory's sake. :D

Why Hormonal Birth Control Isn't for Me

2011-07-18T08:32:00.000-05:00

By all means, if you don't want to think about me and birth control in the same sentence, please skip this entry and move on. I promise that nothing plot-furthering will happen here, so you won't miss anything other than a diatribe against something I disliked ending with a positive note on how much better my future looks now. See? You can now move on. For the rest of you....

I have now been married almost 6 years. I have two children. We are happy with two, but uncertain as to whether or not there is a third child in our future or not. At one point, we tried a version of the pill, and at others we've relied on latex. However, after the birth of our second child, I realized that unless we wanted a third child to come at his or her own choosen as our first two had, I had better get serious about birth control. I elected to try the Mirena IUD since it was compatible with nursing (and I planned on nursing my second child at least as long as I had nursed my first) and was also something that I wouldn't have to try to remember to take at a certain time every day. As a new mom with two children under the age of 2.5 years old, I needed something that I didn't have to take a personal interest in each and every day.

After over 2 years of living with the side-effects of the Mirena, I impulsively allowed my primary health practitioner to pull it out last week. In the almost-manic bliss that immediately followed this decision, I have come to understand that hormonal birth control options are NOT for me and really, what the heck was I thinking, allowing my life to be ruled by artificial hormones?

The following list details my experiences with the Mirena. I experienced each of these symptoms EVERY day for over two years, with the exception of bleeding, which has its own qualifiers listed with it.

dizziness
foggy-headed thinking
irritabilty
extreme emotional reactions
anger at everything
loss of libido
increase of acne
weight gain (25lbs in 2 years)
insatiable appetite, jittery response to sugar drops, inability to control impulse eating
lack of energy
9 day periods, every 27 days (and yet, the Mirena is supposed to STOP your period)
I bled for the entire first 10 weeks it was in place

When I considered having the Mirena removed, I always thought, "but it's doing such a good job at keeping us from an unplanned pregnancy..." and when I discussed some of this with the husband, he sometimes would comment,

"But what if you get it removed and you don't lose weight? What if it turns out not to be the Mirena causing some of these issues?"

How much of the above list was physiological and how much was psychological? Each of the above symptoms is cataloged and testified to by women on the internet. Whether they are listed in the official product info or not, they do occur in women who have the Mirena often enough that there are chat forums FULL of women complaining about them. And yet, still, I kept the Mirena thinking, "If I could only get a little more sleep, I'd think clearly again. If I just concentrate, I can avoid the overeating and weight gain."

Last week, I had a routine physical. It was the first one I'd had since my post-partum physical over two years ago, when they placed the Mirena. I mentioned to the nurse that I was not entirely happy with it and she suggested that the PA remove it and discuss other options with me. Impulsively, I said yes. An hour later, I was on my way home, sans Mirena.

Almost immediately I noticed a change. I no longer felt the Mirena. I walked more easily and held myself more upright. My appetite was in check, despite my not having had my long-overdue lunch. By the time my husband came home, I was convinced that things had changed for me. My libido was back. I no longer cringed back from being touched by my husband or my kids. I no longer react to everything with anger. My children still misbehave as much as they ever did, but instead of lashing out in rage, I think, "wow, that would have made me really angry before," and send them to time out. I can remain focused long enough to keep the children on time out until they've learned something from it.

I've read that 6-10 days post-removal, women can suffer from what is called the Mirena Crash. Logically, when your body has been bombarded with synthetic progestins for years, it stops producing its own progesterone and when the IUD is removed, the progestins fade from the woman's system and there is a lag before her own body begins to produce progesterone. This period is noted to be somewhat emotionally erratic for women, but with proper supplimentation and the right attitude, it passes within a week or two.

For myself, I am taking Evening Primrose Oil, a multivitamin, and B6. I've stepped up my excercise (thanks to the husband's new Xbox 360 Kinect). I'm trying to get enough sleep and to eat sensibly. What I've noticed in the past week is this:

My weight has started dropping. Clothing is now loose and I'm 5lbs lighter! I had to buy new summer clothes both last summer and this summer as there was no way I was going to fit into the previous year's clothing. Today, even clothing taken right from the drier is loose! I haven't experienced that in over 2 years!
My appetite is reasonable. Sure, I get hungry. I'm hungry now, but I'm not reacting with an extreme sense of urgency to it. Before, I could barely control the emotional reaction I had to hunger. I panicked and had to find something, anything, to shove in my mouth. Now, I think, "boy, I'm hungry. I'll have to have an apple or something."
My anger has subsided. I still have to work on the ingrained anger-driven responses that I've collected over the past year, but I can do that. I no longer feel as though a snapping response is necessary. The world isn't out to piss me off.
My energy levels are much higher. I used to have to take a nearly religous standpoint in order to get myself to walk the dog every morning. Now, I enjoy it and look forward to cooler weather when we can both be out for longer. I don't feel the need to sit down at every opportunity. I can chase the children when I need to.
I'm actually interested in touching my husband. Yay! I'm glad to get back to the loving relationship that is the basis of my life. It needs some serious nuturing and maintenance after 2 years of neglect. The angry responses and real anxiety I was feeling every time I was touched before are gone. We can have the close marriage that we both want.

I'm much improved now that I'm free of external hormonal influence. I do worry, though, that I don't have a reliable birth control plan set in place. My health provider set me up with a prescription for NuvaRing, but the more I read about it and the more I experience post-Mirena, the less I want to use it. It has an even higher hormonal load than Mirena. It has the same documented side effects. If I know that combination birth control pills can cause extreme anxiety and panic attacks for me (yes, I learned that the hard way, 5 years ago), and that the Mirena, which has one of the lowest hormone levels of all the available birth control methods affected me so greatly, do I really want to try a product that is likely to affect me even more?

I suppose the decision does not have to be made immediately. I'm planning a few months off of any hormonal birth control to allow my system to regulate again. I want to truly get to know myself again. I want to be the wife and mother I always should have been. I think it's entirely possible to regain the love for life that I had before the Mirena. I'm already halfway there!

BubbleFly Sweater

2011-07-13T17:44:00.000-05:00

The BubbleFly Sweater pattern is here!!!

download now

I'm really happy to finally have this thing off my to-do list... LOL. It's a great little sweater. Very basic with a lot of room for improvisation. At the same time, it's great for those needing a good intro to raglan sweaters. It could probably use a little bit of shaping in the back of the neck to refine it (maybe a set of short rows?) but all in all, it fits both of my kids great and gives me a wonderful place to start when I want to play around with textured stitches and colorwork.

Enjoy it!

I Got a New Bed!

2011-06-16T09:10:00.002-05:00

And then I chewed through the zipper two days later. Daddy took away the pieces.

The Ever-Growing Dog

2011-06-06T07:10:00.000-05:00

I took Frank in to the vet on Friday to weigh him and get his next heartworm pill. I had thought that by 7 months old his growth would have slowed somewhat. Yes, I knew he was still growing, but had thought that he was slowing down. Maybe he still is if we consider his weight gain in percentages rather than direct pounds put on.

Still, I had not guessed that he would have gained another 5.5lbs in the past month. That crazy dog is now 29.8lbs!!! He's definitely going to be a bigger dog than we thought we were adopting. Seeing as how he's now the top end of what we were hoping for, there's no way he'll be anything BUT larger than expected.

Going back to some of the adult size estimation equations we hunted out this spring and adding in the latest two weight measurements:

(weight in lbs / age in weeks) * 52 weeks = adult weight in lbs = 51.5lbs
Weight in lbs at 6 months of age / 0.75 = bottom end of adult range = 33.5lbs
Weight in lbs at 6 months of age / 0.60 = top end of adult range = 41.5lbs

I think we can throw the middle one out, since he's got another year or so of growth until he reaches his adult weight and somehow I can imagine him gaining only 3 more pounds. I'd also LIKE to throw the first one out, but somehow I think I ought to consider it a possibility. Here's hoping for a 40lb dog!!!

Oh the EARS!

2011-06-03T21:51:00.000-05:00

My dear darling M, we love you to pieces. We wish we could do better for you. I hope that we are now on track to resolve your ear issues. I hope...

This past week, C and I both noticed that our youngest seemed to be minding us less and not noticing when we called her name. We both found ourselves shouting more in her general direction in hopes of getting her attention. It was frustrating and frighteningly familiar... very much like her behavior before we had her hearing tested and put her on antibiotics to help clear the fluid in her ears. We nervously watched as on Wednesday she took a 2 1/2 hour nap without complaint and on Thursday fell asleep on the couch while Daddy went out of the room to get ready to go to the park with the kids. (See the photographic evidence?)

By this morning, we were both convinced that it was time to call the doctor again. I called and got an afternoon appointment. I felt somewhat silly, walking into the office, asking them to check her ears. Her main symptoms were sleepiness and lack of attentiveness. They were hardly unusual conditions for a two year old in the middle of a hot summer. The first nurse looked at me like I was nuts for bringing her in. I could just hear her thinking, "you're bringing her in because she's not listening to you? This is a great use of our time."

Needless to say, I was uncertain as to the outcome of our visit. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised. Can you say "pleasant" in regards to a doctor telling you that your child is in fact sick? Should you? I think that there are times when it's appropriate to be told there is something wrong with you child. In this case, I was not only pleased to be assured that yes, Mom and Dad do know best. The child is not well, despite the fact that anyone else would just say that she was ornery. I was also pleased with the repsonse of the doctor.

Dr, D is not our normal doctor, but she did such a wonderful job with M! She brought M right out of her shell and had her sitting on the doctor's lap, listening to her heart in no time. M allowed her to look in both ears with no complaint. This is no small feat, mind you. Not only was Dr. D able to determine that yes, there is fluid behind M's left ear again, but she was quick to take the next steps to resolve M's issues.

"Since there is the issue of her hearing being impaired, I think it's time to talk to an ENT. She's been impacted already from months of undiagnosed ear infections and I don't want her to lose any more time to this." She also noted that while removing a child's tonsils and adenoids is no longer a fashionable procedure, in some cases it is warrented in order to prevent issues with weight gain, loss of sleep, and behavior issues for life. Since M snores up a storm no matter how she's positioned and this could all be playing into her ear infections, it bears having the ENT look at her tonsils and adenoids as well.

I feel.... relieved to have a plan to move forward? Saddened that M has to face these issues? Guilty for not pressing for ENT to see her when we got the initial "borderline normal hearing" diagnosis? Frustrated that she'd been labeled "difficult" for behavior that's not at all surprising in a child who cannot hear well nor express herself properly?

A Disasterous Afternoon

2011-05-27T20:24:00.000-05:00

I took the girls someplace public today as part of Daddy's father's day gift. We're working on a surprise project, and part of it required some professional services. Normally, I can take my kids out in public and they don't embarrass with poor behavior. They're good girls. Smart, kind, outgoing, etc. Today was an exception.

I can't say it's all their fault. Really, I can't. It was one of those "too much planned" afternoons and both children started it all off with a cupcake and ice cream morning followed by a late lunch and no nap. The only part of that lineup that I'll take blame for was the no nap. School served the cupcakes as a last day treat at 10:45am. Neither child was hungry at 11:15 when we had 20 minutes to eat before an 11:45am doctor's appointment for an ear infection. Daddy had forgotten his lunch and we decided to take it to him and do some other fun things in the big city, but since Daddy had to go across town at 1:30pm, we had to get to him before then. By the time we ate, it was 2pm. M spilled her lunch all over the floor at the mall, so there was not quite as much food to go around as planned, too.

By the time we got to the professional, whose services we had hired, M was in NO mood to cooperate. She kept trying to storm out of the room, threw things, and laid down and cried. My bad for scheduling it during what is most days her nap time, but many days, she avoids napping the entire time she's in her room, so how was I to know that today she needed one?!

After we finally gave up on the whole activity and were using the computer to check out what we HAD managed to accomplish with Miss Fussypants, we hear A say to M, "go on in there, lie down." I looked over, and A was holding the computer cabinet open for M to crawl inside. Just as I said, "No, M! Don't!" she did. Yup, she turned OFF the computer, and it was all lost before saving.

The little stinker.

Yep, I won't be doing THAT activity again. I had to apologize about 20 times to the staff. It was a huge disaster.

Our Revised Playroom

2011-05-26T12:32:00.000-05:00

We decided last week to bring up the toy kitchen up to the playroom on the main floor and take all of the random plastic toys down to the basement playroom. This is what we have upstairs now:

I really love having little girls. The entire room just makes me happy!

Stuffy Fluffy

2011-05-26T12:28:00.000-05:00

Frank loves to play with stuffed animals. We try very hard to keep him from the girls' toys. We really do try. Because we don't always succeed with keeping him away from the toys or the toys away from him, we also try to have on-hand a LARGE number of stuffed animals that are his and his alone. This week, all stuffies were half off at the local SVDP so we went shopping. We came home with a large number of animals and one very large animal. Everyone was immediately charmed by the big pooch.

We hoped that with a larger animal, it might take Frank longer to destroy it. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The Grande Pup lasted less than a week before the nose was ripped off and Frank was chewing on its brains. Sigh. It was still fun while it lasted.

CheezBurBur!

2011-05-26T12:23:00.000-05:00

You have now been crowned Queen or King CheezeBurbur. Long live the Queen!

It's My Birthday!

2011-05-19T21:22:00.000-05:00

As usual, I made a birthday cake in honor of my birthday. This year, the girls both helped me. It was a Pillsbury Funfetti cake with french vanilla instant pudding between the layers and the most incredible homemade frosting. I swear, I will never buy chocolate frosting again. EVER.

The Frosting Recipe

Our 6 Month Old Puppy: another "what is he" guess

2011-05-08T21:56:00.000-05:00

As Frank gets older, he continues to grow, and grow, and grow! And as he grows, we continue to wonder, "Frank, what are you and how big will you be?"

At 5.75 months, we took him to the vet for yet another round of digestive upset. This time, he was so sick he was spewing from both ends and unable to contain himself for the time we were inside at the vet. Poor boy. We've just decided, after another $300 in testing, that he's sensitive. No matter what we do, he will probably be nothing other than sensitive to every little thing he should or shouldn't be eating. We'll have to be extra vigilant about EVERYTHING that gets left on the floor or in a low trashcan. Regardless, the reason I bring up the vet is that he was weighed one more time.

At this visit to the vet, he was 24.3lbs. Two weeks prior, he had weighed in at 22.6lbs. So, needless to say, the mutt is still growing. When I measured his height at 5 1/2 months old, he was 15.5" tall. For reference, standard sizes for beagles are around 20-25lbs and 15" at the shoulder. Beagles continue to grow until they are 18-24 months old. He's not done growing. Oh boy!

Taking another spin around the internet, I came across a website that was giving out advice for estimating adult size based on puppy measurements. This website, and another I found that day, told me to expect his weight and height to be about 60-75% of his adult size when the puppy is 5-6 months old. Let's do some math again, shall we?

puppy weight = .60 x adult weight
24lbs (rounding down) = .60 x adult weight
adult weight = 24lbs/0.6
adult weight = 40lbs

Working the math a second time with the more conservative 75% calculations, I still get a reasonable size for Frank.

adult weight = 24/0.75
adult weitht = 32lbs

So Frank ought to top out at 32-40lbs. Is that what the calculations have been saying all along? I can hardly remember! Regardless, seeing his "new" guestiated adult size, I began to wonder one more time, "what is he?" Well, what could he be? Which breeds are larger than a beagle but not so striking in their appearance as to overshadow the beagle part of his breeding?

Enter, the labrador. For a while, various people at various times have pointed out to me that Frank looks to have some labrador in him.. Labrador? You must be joking. He's much too small to be a Labrador mix. But is he? I looking at Labrador/Beagle mixes, or Labbes or Beagadors, I find that the average labbe dog is 33-40lbs. They can be yellow, black, or beagle colored. They sniff like a beagle, but bark more like a labrador. This starts to sound a lot more like Frank the more I look into it.

Then I ran an image search. It seems that most labbes on the web are yellow or black. But a few popped up with Frank's black and tan coloring. A few. Then I found this blog, and forgive me for linking to your blog, but I wanted to share just how much your dog resembles dear Frank. Does that look like anyone you've seen around here before?

I believe we may finally have a winner! It's really rather interesting as the other puppy that Frank was found with looks much more like the other Labbe pictures I found on the internet. He was slightly larger than Frank and mostly black. I used to think that they couldn't be litter mates but now I'm not so sure. If they were both Labbes, then perhaps Steve resembled one parent while Frank resembled the other. This is all purely speculation, of course, as we'll never really know the truth.

Great Green Beans

2011-04-26T12:16:00.000-05:00

During the 4 warm months of the year, we like to grill. We plan ahead and buy a LOT of meat for the grill and usually pair it with a lot of fresh produce. I try to organize things so that I shop in the morning and we grill in the afternoon or evening of the same day. I don't like to keep raw meat hanging around in my refrigerator for too many days, so getting it out the same day I buy it really makes me happy.

On our most recent grill-day, we had:

BBQ chicken thighs that I had marinated with a recipe from Once a Month Cooking.
Stadium Brats (12 of them, I believe)
Polish sausages (6)
Hot dogs (12)
Roasted yellow peppers
Boiled corn on the cob
Hamburgers
Fresh strawberries (I got a GREAT deal on those, $3.76 for 2 quarts of berries)
Trappy's Field Peas
and this green bean recipe.

It was heavenly.

We ate grilled leftovers from Sunday until Thursday. All I had to do was reheat it each night and everyone had their fill of whichever meat they wanted plus all the veggies. I wish I'd taken a picture because it looked like we had enough food for 20 people.

And You Thought I'd Outgrown My Bed Last Month...

2011-04-22T17:19:00.000-05:00

Here is the original bed comparison post.

I think it's time for a new bed. Really . Anyone else agree?

Back to Basics: the RoPo (RosiePosey) Fold for Flat Diapers, Modified

2011-04-19T11:32:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything diaper-related, but as my friends get ready for the birth of their first child, I find myself sharing more diaper information. So, here is is, the Modified RoPo fold for flat diapers:

Start with your flat diaper laid out neatly. I like to fold my flats into quarters when warm from the drier and then go back later to fold them up for use. You could do this straight from the drier, though.

Fold in the sides towards the center. For a smaller baby, fold all the way in or even overlap if you need to. For a larger baby, leave a gap as shown.

Fold the bottom up to create a rectangle the correct LENGTH for your baby. This would be the "rise" of the diaper. I like to add my doubler here so that it ends up somewhat wrapped in the flat.

Fold one side towards the center. This is a slightly less than 1/3 of the width fold.

Turn out one corner. The exact point of the turn out is not critical as this fold will shift when you put the diaper on the baby.

Repeat the previous steps with the other side.

Place the baby on the diaper with the open side at their hips. I like to pinch the "wad" of the diaper at the crotch before bringing the front up. This reduces the bulk a bit.

Spread out the front corners of the diaper across the baby's hips.

Tug on the corner of one of the wings behind the hips. The goal is to loosen the part under the buttcheek so that the fabric will create a pocket to catch poo. Go ahead and tug pretty hard, you can't pull too much out on accident.

Wrap the wing over the front and secure with a pin. You could, potentially, use a snappi depending on the diaper fabric. Personally, I like pins for flats.

Repeat for side 2.

This is how it should fit. You can create a pretty low-slung diaper for an older baby or a higher-rise for the Poo-Master newbie. This truly is an all-sizes fold as it is customizable for width, length, and absorption.

What's New, Little Shoe?

2011-03-28T08:20:00.001-05:00

Shoes, yes, shoes. Our youngest calls shoes Yahyehs. She calls socks Yahyehs. She calls food Aphum. She calls milk Meh. Haha is thank you, sorry, and horsie. It's enough to drive a speech therapist nuts! Seriously, though, she is far behind in her speaking abilities and we have taken new steps this month to not only discover why but also improve the situation for her.

At 25 months, she has just started to put 2 or 3 words together in a complex concept. They aren't sentences since she gets the words in different orders, but the ideas are there. For example, she'll say, "Psssss. Elmo. Abbah." What she means is that her sister used the toilet. She has an Elmo potty seat and she knows that her sister went pee. It's not quite a fluid sentence, but it's a more complex concept than the grunts and single words we were getting up until two weeks ago.

Out new pediatrician recommended a hearing test for M along with a referral to a state-run PT/OT/Speech Therapy program. We have been to our audiology appointment and also had our first interview with the social worker for the Birth to 3 program. What we know now is that M's hearing is considered "borderline normal with flat tympanographs bilaterally." In layman's terms, her eardrums are not moving properly. Most likely, this is due to fluid or congestion in her ears that prevents the eardrum from vibrating when sound waves enter her hears.

This was a huge surprise to us since neither of our children had ever had an ear infection, or so we had thought. The prevailing theory now is that M has had on-going ear infections since about September or October. That's when we first started noticing her speech was delayed and also that's about how long ago she started having unexplained intermittent low-grade fevers. Here's a good place for us all to learn an important lesson. While toddlers and children often get low-grade fevers from random virus, they can also have a bigger issue, like otitis media. Ear infections can be almost entirely asymptomatic and present only as low-grade fever.

As of last week, M is on antibiotics twice a day to clear up any remaining ear infections. She's made huge progress. As I had already said, she moved from single word concepts to mulitword concepts. She's also greatly expanded her vocabulary, is more willing to try saying new words, and has started to dance along when A and I sing silly songs together. This is all new to her and great to see!

After our preliminary interview with the social worker from Birth to 3, we have also learned that M qualifies for speech therapy, too. She qualifies in that she has a more than 25% decrease in speech ability in comparison to other children her age. I think that the hardest part for me, as a parent, was when the social worker expressed surprise that M does not have a way to say "I love you" yet. Until that point, I had simply accepted M's delays as being real, but not major. It made me sad to realize that the social worker felt that M should be saying "I love you" in some way, even if it was hard for anyone but me to understand. Suddenly, I was missing something. Suddenly, I realized that even one of the most basic positive emotional expressions was beyond my child. I later realized that it was okay because while she doesn't say the words, she does kiss, hug, and whispers sweet nonsense in my ears at bedtime. She loves me.

As for how much we'll have to pay for speech therapy, we don't know yet. It's a sliding-scale program, which is great, but we haven't been contacted by the finance department to find out how our income fits into their scale. I'm hoping it won't cost us a whole lot because while I do want to help my child catch up in her speech, money is really tight right now and will only get tighter when the new State Worker's Benefits Package changes and we pay an extra $200+ per month towards health care and retirement.

After doing our taxes last week, we were told that we only had $13,000 worth of taxable income last year. I was shocked. Don't get me wrong, we made more than that, but that is the portion that is considered taxable by our state. It makes me re-evaluate our income in an all-new light. I knew that we weren't making a whole lot of money but we live fairly well. We have a home, two cars, and enough to eat. We have always tried to live within our means and are thankful for what we have. A few weeks ago, I was looking at a flier for an energy assistance program, wondering if we'd qualify. I thought that our income was close to the cut-off, and maybe a few thousand over it, but now I'm rethinking that. Maybe I should look into the program afterall.

In other news, the dog is doing well still. I feel like I've been given this huge gift in that he no longer requires home-cooked meals, is on no medications, and lets me sleep through the night. He was sick for all but the first 4 or 5 days that we had him so this is a huge change for me. Hooray for puppy poop!

We had a playdate last week with Frank's good friend Bogart. Bogart came and stayed with us one day. The two of them were inseparable. It was really quite sweet. I'd have Bogie back out to our place any time.

I also invested in a prong collar for Frank. I had been hesitating because I wanted him to leash-train with the more reward-based training methods. I wanted him to WANT to walk with me, at my side. I underestimated the lure of the scent and the fact that a beagle's brain just can't concentrate on anything else. The books said, "hold a treat in your leash hand, just above his head and he'll concentrate on earning the treat and not wander off." Um, nope. They said, "any time the dog tries to charge ahead, stop walking and make him wait until he's sitting nicely at your side before walking again." Well, a beagle doesn't care whether he's walking or standing. The world is FULL of wonderful scents and he can smell them just as well sitting as walking. They said, "Try yanking on the leash anytime he pulls." Yeah, he didn't care. It became a game. Run, yank, run, yank, run, yank.

Introduce here, the prong collar. The basic idea behind the prong collar is that the dog doesn't feel any discomfort until the collar tightens and then he feels a pinch, like the teeth of a more dominant dog when nipping to correct the younger dog's behavior. It's not a choke collar, and it's not a stabbing feeling. It's a pinch. I had our trainer fit Frank with a prong collar on Friday. On Saturday, I took Frank for a walk with both children. Prior to this, walks consisted of the dog yanking and pulling like crazy and the kids screaming and crying. Now, we simply walk. Frank bounces alongside us, chasing down pinecones and pouncing on sticks. He stops to sniff every once in a while, but never lets the leash slack play out. He learned within 30 seconds that he no longer was allowed to pull. I kid you not. I never had to pull on the collar. Not once. All it took was one attempt at barging ahead and he learned to stop before the leash played out. I am convinced!

Week 10, Twenty Weeks Old

2011-03-23T12:52:00.000-05:00

Frank has been with us now for 10 weeks. He's 20 weeks old and well on his way to becoming a nice family dog. It's been a great couple of weeks for us. He's fully housebroken and as of this week, finally healthy. We've managed to transition him onto real dog food again for the first time in a long while. He's also finished up a fourth round of antibiotics to clear up the giardia, but from what I can tell, he's well and truly healed. In a few more weeks we'll reintroduce rawhides and bully sticks, I think.

We invested in a retractable leash when we decided to switch his potty area from the fenced in back yard to the open side yard. We're inheriting a swingset and intend to make the backyard a play area for everyone and don't want any landmines. He's doing well with the new area and the retractable leash is really nice since it's now that time of year when rain and snow duke it out for top man in the forecast.

Now that Frank is feeling better we're seeing an increase in his energy levels and a decrease in his willingness to laze about all day. We're working hard to keep him busy with 1-2 walks a day and active playtime inside as well. Walks are problematic as he doesn't like walking behind the children or stroller. He pulls and yanks on the leash. I've taken to walking him before and after the girls go to sleep so that I don't reinforce his pulling.

At 5 months old, Frank is entering his last month to go to the Puppy Social Hour at the local training school. We'll be sad to see the end of that class as it's always a ton of fun for Frank and for us.

"No, really! I did fit into this dog bed just 8 weeks ago!" Week 8

2011-03-08T08:21:00.001-06:00

Frank has certainly grown since we adopted him. It's hard to believe that he's gone from a 7lb fuzzbomb to an 18lb teenager in such a short time span, but it's true. Frank is now officially 18 weeks old and 18lbs. He has outgrown his puppy bed and we've had to readjust the divider in his crate! The first picture was taken during Frank's first week with us. You can clearly see that he filled less than half of the cat bed. In the second picture you can tell that it's a tight squeeze for him now.

On the good side, we're pleased that he has passed from that stage where we had to hound his every movement to make sure that he didn't pee on the floor. He signals his need to go out by ringing a strip of bells hung on the back door. It took him less than 2 weeks to master the bells and once that was done, he seemed to take a huge leap in his understanding of what it means to be housebroken. Maybe he feels more in-control of his elimination now that he can simply request a trip outdoors.

It's great not having to worry about wet carpet, but on nice days Frank does tend to take advantage of the bell's ability to grant him access to the great outdoors. Quite often he'll ring the bell 3, 4 or even 5 times in a 20 minute span just to go outside and sniff the breeze. I try to take it with a good sense of humor and not get angry. It's a good reminder that ALL of us could stand a good long walk on nice days. Now that Frank is polite on the leash it's possible to put the toddler in the stroller, the dog on a leash and the preschooler on her honor to take a good long walk around town. A even complains if we're gone less than 45 minutes!

On a less happy note, Frank continues to have digestive issues. He's been cleared of the giardia and all other parasites, but we just can't keep him solid. It seems as though every time we transition him back onto his hard kibble his gut acts up. We're going to attempt to switch him to a limited ingredient diet, but have recently learned that he may need to be on the homemade bland diet for up to 4 weeks to allow his gut to heal before making the switch. Thankfully, I have a new rice cooker and boiling chicken is not hard to do. I'm also adding a probiotic suppliment and will soon start another holistic supplement to help seal his gut. I have high hopes for getting this resolved before it turns into a lifetime of chronic issues. I suspect that having been on three week-long rounds of antibiotics for the giardia did a number on him and if we can allow him to heal before irritating his system again we can clear it up.

All of this is, of course, on top of a very difficult month of health for the entire family. We've all been suffering from a bad cold or flu that struck in mid-February, which was mixed with digestive issues for some of us and followed by a fever and true flu for at least one, maybe 3 of us. We're all about at the end of our ropes as far as reserves are concerned. Here's hoping for a healthier spring!

The Mighty Color-Changing Dog

2011-02-25T22:23:00.001-06:00

Just a quick update on the dog and his color change. The first picture was taken before we adopted him, somewhere around 8 weeks of age. The next picture was taken today, when Frank was almost 17 weeks old.

His body is also changing colors at the shoulder and hips, but since I don't have an early shot of that, we'll stick to comparing his head color. Beagles are really fascinating.

A Painful Knitting Blunder

2011-02-25T22:14:00.000-06:00

I have committed a painful knitting blunder. I knit a beautiful sweater dress in size 5T for my older daughter. It's full of twist stitch patterns, textured patterns, elaborate ribs, lacework, and picot edging. It's truly a lovely little bit of cotton candy fluff for my little Princess. It was only after I'd finished the last 26 rows of 240 stitches each in the lace pattern that I realized that I had knit it with a synthetic yarn rather than my standard wool.

O.M.G. Did I really just do that? Did I really just spend months working on a sweater dress that I CAN'T BLOCK INTO SHAPE?!?!?!!?

I really cannot believe myself. Over 60% of the detail is lost when the yarn contracts back into its natural position. I am beside myself.

Week 6

2011-02-22T07:26:00.002-06:00

Week 6 was rather momentous. Frank returned to puppy social hour on Friday night after two weeks away and that night, he fell ill again. I spent the night outside with him while he handled the messy end of things. The vet said the giardia was not showing up anymore, so that was cleared up. Likely, it was a reaction to having eaten something he shouldn't have. Since we could easily list at least two things he got into this week (cat poop and dried flowers) it was no wonder he was sick. $150 later, he's back on antibiotics, probiotics, and a special diet. And yet, despite his gastric upset, we have not had any indoor elimination accidents in over a week. He's learned to ring the bell or bark when he wants to go outside, even when sick. I am beyond impressed with our little dude.

The good news of the week is that we now know how old Frank is. He lost two teeth yesterday! Congrats, Woofcake! You're 16 weeks old now! That puts his birthday on November 2nd. He was 10 weeks old when we adopted him, and 7 weeks old when the shelter took him in. We all feel much better knowing how old he is now. We can get his rabies shot next week at his appointment and then go get his city tags.

Plus, we have a better idea of how big he'll be when fully grown. The formula I was using before to calculate his adult growth puts him at around 40lbs. That in and of itself would be frightening if our vet hadn't said that a 4 month old beagle is about half his adult weight, which would put Frank closer to 27lbs, which is right where we wanted him to be. Hooray!

Frank and Pinky seem to have found a balance as well. They got off to a much better start than we had anticipated, so it's really no wonder that they're settling in so well. These days, 90% of their time together is devoted to playing, 8% is spent ignoring each other, and 2% is spent testing the waters of resting close to each other. I think that they're good for each other.

And look, the cat is now smaller than the dog! The puppy has doubled his weight since we brought him home.

Week 5 with Frank

2011-02-14T13:45:00.001-06:00

Before we adopted Frank, we had a long list of things that we were looking for in a dog. They included, but weren't limited to:

good with kids
energetic but not maniacal
large enough to go hiking with
small enough to cuddle
specific facial proportions
short, low-maintenance fur
mutt rather than pure-bred
adult rather than puppy
good with cats

After we met Frank, we readjusted our thinking on the adult dog vs puppy factor, but otherwise, maintained our list of requirements. The final adult size of our dog was one of the big considerations for us. We wanted a dog who could keep up with us on outings at the local state parks but have no interest in bagging doggy do that rivals the size of our own wastes. Great Danes and chihuahuas were both out.

When we met Frank at the shelter, one of the things we liked about him was that he was right on target for how big our puppy should be at the age they had listed for him. We sifted through a lot of websites searching for calculators to help us determine how big Frank would be. This was a key factor in our decision-making process because the shelter had him listed as a "hound-labrador" mix. The shelter estimated that he would be a 50lb adult dog.

Based on the formula:

(weight in lbs / age in weeks) * 52 weeks = adult weight in lbs

We figured that 7.5lb Frank, at the 14 weeks they had his age listed at would be about 28lbs when grown. Our vet agreed that at 4 months, or 16 weeks, a puppy ought to be about half of his adult weight if he's a medium-sized breed.

"Great!" we thought. 25-30lbs was exactly what we were looking for. 35lbs would definitely qualify as larger than anticipated, but do-able. We were certain we had our dog. After being seen by multiple vets during our first few weeks, we were further reassured that he would be small as each and every vet said, "Hound/labrador mix? Are they nuts? This is a beagle." Beagles top out at 25-30lbs usually. Perfect!

Let's rewind now, to that first vet visit. Remember how they held off on the rabies shot because the vet felt certain that Frank wasn't 14 weeks yet? The vet said that when his front teeth become loose or are lost, that's when we'll mark 16 weeks of age. Guess what. Yeah.... Frank, 5 weeks after being adopted, STILL hasn't lost a single tooth, and more to the point, none are even the smallest bit wiggly. So our dear little puppy is WAY younger than we all guessed or his teeth are WAY behind normal development. The vet is still thinking that young is more likely than odd.

So let's run that math again.

(12.5lbs/14weeks)*52weeks = 46lbs of adult dog.

Are you noticing what I'm noticing?

Even if I run the numbers with a generous 15 weeks of age, I still come up with 43lbs of adult dog. Um, Frank? Could you please start losing your teeth soon? I don't want to end up with a 100lb beagle. Thanks!

Week 4 With Dog

2011-02-08T08:53:00.002-06:00

We are now officially done with our 4th week with Frank. What a week it was! In short:

Frank is starting to signal when he wants to go outside.
We're down to only 1 or so accidents a week, our fault.
Frank is mostly sleeping through the night.
We're still working on Sit, Stay, Come, Wind, Rewind, Lie Down, and Drop It. We're beginning to add in Down, Off, and No.
Leash behavior is improving, with lots of work.
The vet says that either Frank is still not 16 weeks old or his tooth development is delayed from the norm. Since tooth development is usually VERY consistent across all breeds, he favors Frank actually being a full month younger than the shelter led us to believe.
Giardia is in the house.

Have you ever dealt with giardia? Let me just say that I never want to deal with it again. EVER. The poor dog was leaking from both ends and it wasn't pretty. Thankfully, his house-training held and he actually signaled that he needed to go out even when he was at his most sick. I'm $250 poorer after a trip to the animal ER, but Frank is pulling through.

Week 3 Done

2011-02-02T16:11:00.003-06:00

We have now been owned by Frank for 3 full weeks. Amazingly, it feels like it's been MUCH MUCH longer. Really. Three weeks seems so incredibly short. I feel the urge to look at my calendar to make sure it's only been 3 weeks.

Frank has certainly had a good run of it so far. We're down to only 1-2 accidents a week, which is wonderful. We were getting full nights of sleep last week, but this past week it's been 1-2 wakeups a night. I really can't complain too much, though. We no longer have piddle pads on the floor and feel comfortable leaving him out in the living room when we're not focusing on him. We do, however, focus on the clock and make sure he goes out every hour when he's awake.

Over the past two days, a winter dumped an unmeasurable amount of snow on us. I say we can't measure it because it was tiny flakes and the wind has created drifts and valleys. Needless to say, it was somewhere around 18" of snow. During the night last night, I had a very hard time getting out to let Frank eliminate, but this morning, after my husband cleared a few paths through the yard the fun was ready to begin. Frank LOVES the snow. He bounds through it like a bunny. It really is a treat to see. He has to come in after about 5 minutes and warm up for a bit, but then he's back at it.

I sometimes find myself frustrated with the hound part of Frank. He sniffs everything. Literally everything. I can't go for more than 10 feet of walk with him without a sniff stop. That in and of itself isn't all that annoying, but it makes house-training difficult. It's really hard to tell whether he's sniffing the carpet because it smells good or because he's looking for a new spot to decorate with urine.

Week three feels like a really successful week. Frank weighed in at 10lbs on Friday. We still don't know how old he is, as he's got all of his baby teeth still. We're no closer to knowing how large he will be when fully grown, but we know that we love him enough that we don't much care how big he'll be. I feel like we're starting to have a new member of the household rather than a time-sucking obligation. I still find myself spending large bits of time on the floor just staring at the dog, but I find that rather enjoyable and much less stressful than worrying over whether the dishes are done or not. That having been said, I can see from where I sit that the dishes have NOT been done in the past 2 hours.

Week Two, Complete

2011-01-25T07:11:00.001-06:00

What a good dog we have. How many puppies under 4 months old are as good as ours? How many sleep through the night? Our trainer says it's not normal for a puppy his age to sleep all night. He thinks we should take Frank out in the night. Me, I say, "don't wake a sleeping baby." I learned that lesson with my first child. I woke her every 2 hours to feed her, just as the doctors told me to. It took me 6 more months to break her of that habit afterwards. I am NOT doing that again.

Frank really has settled in very nicely. He's staked out his favorite spots to snooze in, such as under the coffee table, next to our lazyboys. It's really wonderful to look down and see him there in the evenings. We're down to one accident a week, usually our fault for not remembering he needed to go out. We plan to work this week on teaching him to signal his needs by ringing a bell. We'll see if it works.

Frank learned to climb the basement stairs yesterday, too. C had tried to teach him to climb earlier in the week and Frank was having none of it. Yesterday, we were all coming up from playtime and when the cat ran up the stairs, the dog took off after him. All the way up the stairs he went, never pausing, never looking back. Hooray!

We're almost done switching Frank's food over to the new brand. We probably could have been done with this a few days ago, but we still have some of the old food left and I'm not one to waste it. We'll be done with the swtich by the end of this week, I hope.

Also done are the antibiotics Frank was on. I'm glad that I don't have to remember to dose him twice a day anymore. He was good about taking them, but it's always a hassle to remember them after each meal. With kids around, and working part-time, space in my short-term memory banks can be in short supply.

Totally on a side note, did you know that Beagles are known to change their color, sometimes throughout their entire lives? No, really! Tricolor beagles are always born black and white, with the brown developing later, mostly during the first twelve months. It's so common that breeders are allowed to change the color notation on a dog's papers up to three times before they have to state a final color. Pretty cool, huh? So, with the question still out there of how much beagle is in Frank, we have decided to take comparison pictures over the next six months or so to see if he'll brown up any. Here is our first comparison. The picture on the right was taken by the shelter between 2 and 4 weeks before the picture on the left. Seems to me that our little pooch is lightening up quite a bit. What do you think?

Puppy classes are going very well. On Friday, A's preschool teacher surprised us by showing up at Puppy Social Hour with her new puppy. We didn't know she was going to adopt one. That's not entirely true, I guess. She had expressed interest in doing so but had seemed reluctant to go to the shelter due to an overly-generous heart. "I can't go into those kennels and come home alone." Luckily for her, she didn't have to. She went to the Humane Society to drop off the preschool's donation and while there, asked to be put on a list for a small breed puppy. Lo and behold, they had two dachshund puppies available, just 11 weeks old. It was fate, as both her current dog and her recently-passed dogs are dachshunds! We were all very happy for her and have enjoyed seeing them both at Social Hour.

On a related side note, while at the shelter Mrs.P happened to mention to the staff that she knew us and was telling them how well Frank was doing. She then decided to ask the staff how Frank had been given his name. It turns out that Frank and Steve are the two janitors at the shelter and the pups were named after them. C and I found that entirely too amusing and it makes us love his name all the more.

When you adopt a pet from the shelter, you can't help but wonder why such a wonderful animal was still there, waiting for you when you came looking. Who else looked at them but passed them by? Who else was considered as a potential family but turned down? How could such a beautiful animal have been given up? We'll never have answers to most of those questions, and I guess that's all part of the mystery and draw of a shelter animal. We'll never know why Frank was given up, but we'll always know he waited for us.

Our First Full Week as Dog-Owned

2011-01-20T08:48:00.001-06:00

Well, our first week has come to an end. Frank has come a long way in the short time he's been with us. At his first vet appointment, the day after we adopted him, he weighed in at 7.5lbs. That's more than the shelter had told us, but not drastically so. While at the vet, we learned a few more things about Frank that we didn't know.

First, the vet was pretty sure Frank is a beagle. When I asked him what other breeds might be in the mix, he said, "you know, I've seen purebred beagles come in here who looked just like him, so I'd be hard-pressed to say. He might be all beagle." That was a surprise to us. The shelter had said he was a hound/labrador mix, but we didn't believe them. We thought he'd end up around 25lbs and the vet agreed, thankfully.

Secondly, we learned that Frank was not as old as the shelter had thought. They had estimated his age at 14 weeks but the vet said that couldn't be right based on his teeth. We're to keep an eye on his baby teeth and note when he loses his top front teeth and mark that as his 14 week age. As of today, he still has those baby teeth, so that puts Frank somewhere closer to 12 weeks old when we adopted him. That meant that the vet couldn't vaccinate him for Rabies yet. Apparently he has to be at least 14 weeks old.

It's amazing to think that he's only 12-13 weeks old. It seems like in the 8 days we've had him, he's gone from looking like he's all puppy to looking like he's just a small dog. His legs have leaned out and his torso is so much longer. We weren't initially intending to adopt a puppy, so in the end it's fine that he's becoming a dog. At the same time, though, we have really enjoyed his puppy self and will be sad to see him grow up. We had no idea how irresistible a puppy could be.

By Friday, Frank was back at the vet for bloody stools. He was otherwise fine and had gained another half pound in weight, so I wasn't too worried, but knew that with a puppy, it was something to consider getting checked. They ran tests for giardia and other parasites. It had been done earlier in the week but they paid closer attention this time since there was an issue. They even gave poor Frank an internal exam to make sure there wasn't anything lodged in his colon. Poor boy didn't like that much, but he survived and got a clean bill of health, excepting the high bacteria count in his stool. After a few days on antibiotics, he's doing fine.

As for housetraining, Frank is making HUGE improvements. When he first arrived, he was having about 3 accidents a day, both in the kitchen and on the carpet. Now, as long as I'm on top of things, we're down to one accident about every 36 hours or so. Generally, these accidents happen when I have a full house in the evenings. There's only so much multi-tasking a gal can do before you lose track of one of the tasks for a moment. That's when the pee-monster strikes. Child or dog, they always pee when you're looking at something else. As I type this, we're going on 48 hours accident-free!

Frank has also improved a lot as far as nights go. We ordered our crate on Saturday and of course it's still not here, but a few nights ago we had a brain-fart. We realized we could create a much smaller space for Frank at nights by using the Play-yard supergates. He now sleeps in a square of play yard that has been further sectioned off with a spare segment of play yard. It's enough room for his bed and 1sq foot of open space. So far, he's woken us up each night to go out rather than electing to pee in that open space. Hooray! Last night, he even let me sleep until 4am. It was decadent! Our official crate shipped yesterday via UPS, so hopefully we'll have a better set-up for him by Sunday. I hope.

Otherwise, life is good here with Frank. He's learning to drop the toys he steals from the girls, but hasn't yet learned not to steal them. I consider it part of the learning curve. The girls need to learn to clean up and the dog needs to learn what's off limits. Until then, we'll have a few cries of, "Frank! Give it back!"

Welcome to the Family, Frank!

2011-01-11T12:04:00.000-06:00

Here he is. Our 6lb "mystery meat" puppy. C gets upset when I say that, but really, we have know idea what his parentage is. Can you believe that he was abandoned outdoors on December 20th with his brother? Just left, out in the cold by someone. For those of you who don't know me personally, we live in a part of the country where winter lasts 8 months and the other seasons fight for rights to the other 4 months. That means that it was cold and snowy and someone just left those poor puppies outside. It's kind of hard to believe that could happen, but it did. Fortunately for them, both pups are now with their new families, after only 3 weeks at the shelter.

Having been a stray, the shelter has no idea what type of dog he is. At 4 months old, he's only 6lbs, so he won't be a big boy. Judging from his coloring, he could very well have some beagle in him. His "brother" was black with white markings, so that's not overly helpful in determining his breed. Someone at the shelter took it upon themselves to label the pups "labrador mixes" but I find that funny as a lab puppy of this age would be over 20lbs already. Frank is SO not 20lbs. Not even close. In fact, he's smaller than my in-law's yorkie.

We brought Frank home last night around dinner time. He's been with us now just under 24 hours and I have ot say, he's been a real treat. He doesn't nip. He doesn't bark. He gives kisses, but isn't obnoxious about it. He likes to chew on rawhides, is learning to fetch, and really likes coming when we call. He's definitely trainable.

And house-breaking? I think we'll be okay on this one. Frank's had only two accidents in the house, both our fault. We overestimated the length of time he can hold his water last night. BUT lucky for us, he chose to use the piddle pad we laid down for him. Then this morning, I wasn't mean enough to make him stay out in the snow at single-digit weather to be ABSOLUTELY certain he didn't need to poo before coming in. Yep, 5 minutes later, Poo-ville. To his credit, that was my fault.

Frank was quiet all night long. We didn't hear a peep out of him. I had the baby monitor set up so that we'd hear him if he set up a fuss to go outside, but he stayed quiet all night long. We had given him an old cat bed that Grandma and Grandpa had left us when we moved in and it was love at first sight for him.

Frank and the cat have even some to terms with each other. I had anticipated hysterics from the cat. Really, it's one of the reasons we opted for the low-milage canine rather than an older dog. So far, the cat has hissed twice, swatted once, and tried to share a food bowl twice. Otherwise, Pinkerton has been his usual social self, just hanging out and watching the theatrics.

Scrappy Longies

2011-01-07T15:04:00.001-06:00

I'm nearing the end of another large-ish project. It makes me both happy and sad that the end is near. I love seeing the end result, and there are certainly times when the process feels onerous, but for the most part, it's sad to leave a project like this one.

My youngest daughter has had the most amazing growth spurts this fall and winter. Over the summer, when I started knitting longies for this winter, she had a 9" inseam. By September, she'd pushed into a 10" inseam. By December, her 10" longies were high-waters. Ugh. I couldn't believe she'd grown through everything that I knit her in the past 6 months.

I debated whether or not to even bother with another round of longies this close to her second birthday. Afterall, didn't her sister potty-train by 22 months? Well, we're at 23 months now and no sign of potty training is on the horizon. She's going to be a few more months, I think. BUT just to make sure I didn't knit for naught, I planned this pair to be smaller in the can and longer in the legs. I figure she can still wear them next fall, after she's out of diapers. I hope.

So I hauled out my precious cestari scraps and went to work. Maybe they aren't that precious, but I don't have too many as I haven't done a lot of cestari projects. They're perfect for a toddler as they hold up to some abuse and don't pill much.

Without further ado, here they are, with the buttons that I sculpted for them this afternoon. I plan to fold them up and use the buttons to hold them there this winter. Afterall, a 12.5" inseam ought to be too long for all of this winter

The Flufflebottom Sweater, a work in progress

2011-01-06T09:09:00.010-06:00

*****EDITS FROM COMMENTS HAVE BEEN ADDED TO THE PATTERN. REPRINT IF YOU ARE UNSURE THAT YOU HAVE THE UPDATED VERSION BEFORE CASTING ON. ******

Here's a preview of the Flufflebottom sweater.

If you find errors, please note them in the comments and I'll edit the pattern as we go. Be aware that I have only knit this on the one time and am releasing my notes as a courtesy to those who have asked for it. There are bound to be a few places where it is less polished than I'd hope it to be.

Important Info:

Sized 18-24 months

(Need to double check gauge, but I tend to knit worsted on size 6 needles at 4.5 spi)

worsted weight yarn, I used 100Purewool that had been kettle-dyed with Kool Aid

size 6 needles, 16" and either DPNs or your preferred small circ method

yarn needle

stitch markers

CO 44
row 1: k2 pm, k9, pm, k22, pm, k9, pm, k2
row 2: P across

row 3: slip one, k to 1 st before marker, YO, k1, SM, K1, YO, k to 1 st before second marker, YO, K1, SM, K1, YO, k to 1 st before third marker, YO, K1, SM, K1, YO, k to 1 st before fourth marker, YO, K1, SM, K1, YO, K to end.

Increase rows:
row 4: slip one, K f&b into next stitch k to 1 st before marker, YO, k1, SM, K1, YO, k to 1 st before second marker, YO, K1, SM, K1, YO, k to 1 st before third marker, YO, K1, SM, K1, YO, k to 1 st before fourth marker, YO, K1, SM, K1, YO, K to 2 sts from end, k F&b and k last stitch.
row 5: slip one, P across

Repeat rows 4 and 5 until there are 33 stitches between the first and second markers.

Eliminate the front opening:
On next RS row, K in increase pattern as for rows 3 and 4 until 2 stitches before the end.
Join in the round:

In the following paragraph, the left side refers to the left as you if you were wearing the sweater.
Prepare to join in the round by arranging the last two stitches of the right front flap to alternate with the first two stitches on the left side. In other words, the stitch order will be: right flap 2nd to last stitch, left flap 1st stitch, right flap last stitch, left flap second stitch. K2tog, PM, K2tog. You will now have a joined piece and be ready to knit on the left side of the front of the sweater. You may wish to use a special marker to denote that this is the center front.

Knit one round, maintaining markers as in row 5 before joining in the round.

Continue increase rows as follows:

Row A: k to 1 st before marker, YO, k1, SM, K1, YO, k to 1 st before second marker, YO, K1, SM, K1, YO, k to 1 st before third marker, YO, K1, SM, K1, YO, k to 1 st before fourth marker, YO, K1, SM, K1, YO, K to the end of the round.

Row B: K to end.

Complete 5 rounds of rows A and B.

Separating sleeves from body:
K to marker 1, place all stitches between marker 1 and 2 onto a stitch holder or scrap yarn, CO 9 stitches, K to marker 3, place all stitches between marker 3 and 4 on a holder, CO 9 stitches, K to
end. Remove all markers as you go around. When you reach the end of the round, move round marker to be under the right armpit.
Body

K until work measures 10.5” or about 4" from desired length.
K in roman stitch for 14 rounds:

Row 1: K1, P1 around.
Row 2: P1, K1 around.

Row 3-6: K
Row 7:K1, P1 around.
Row 8: P1, K1 around.
Row 9-12: K
Row 13: K1, P1 around.
Row 14: P1, K1 around.

Ruffle: add or subtract a few stitches, as needed at round end.
Row 1: *(P3 K1) to end. End with K1.
Row 2: *(P3, YO, K1, YO) *repeat to end

Row 3: *(P3, K3) *repeat to end

Row 4: *(P3, YO, K3, YO) *repeat to end
Row 5: *(P3, K5) *repeat to end
Row 6: *(P3, YO, K5, YO) *repeat to end.
Row 7: *(P3, K7) *repeat to end.
Repeat row 7 until the ruffle reaches your desired length. Bind off in pattern.

SLEEVES:

Place stitches from the stitch holder for one arm on either DPNs or a 12" circular needle. Pick up one stitch on either end of the circular from the fabric of the body. join yarn, PM, and pick up the 9 CO stitches under the armpit (OPTIONAL: K TBL as you pick up these are stitches to make the seam less visible), K 2tog, Knit to 2 st before end of round, K2tog.
The K2tog removes the extra stitches you picked up on either side of the armpit and closes the holes that naturally occur in those areas.

K 10 rounds.
Arms taper slightly:

After ten rows decrease one at the end of the round.
After 5 additional rows decrease one st at end of the round. Continue to reduce by one stitch every 6th round until arms are 3" from desired length.

Finish sleeve with 3" of ribbing. I chose to do a reversible baby cable ribbing,.
R1: P2, K2
R2: Purl 2 together, don't drop, purl first stitch again, drop both.
R3: P2, K2
R4: P2, K2 together, don't drop, knit the first stitch again, drop both.

NECKLINE:

Pick up stitches around the neckline. I picked up 2 of every 3 stitches up each side and each stitch across the back of the neck. Knit in p1 k1 ribbing around the neck, back and forth until the ribbed area is about 1 1/4" wide. Tack down ends at the V of the neckline with one side overlapping the other.

Behind in Blogging, Ahead on Knitting

2010-12-14T07:21:00.000-06:00

I have been a bit behind in blogging lately. Can you blame me? As the holidays approach, not only do I have to contend with the usual holiday preparations, but I had a gift list of knitting to tackle. As of two nights ago, I am officially done with knitting gifts. Yes, one more pair of socks needs to be blocked, but that is all!

It's a good feeling of relief to know that I finished with plenty of time to ship my gifts out. The next question is, will I get them shipped on time? As many of you know, getting to the post office with a preschooler and a toddler can really be a challenge. In fact, just yesterday I found a package in my car that I would have sworn had shipped the week before!

Other winter-related news includes:

seeing our first bald eagles of the season over the WI river
Surviving a 10" blizzard with style
cooking and eating our first 3 venison meals
wrapping Christmas gifts with the preschooler
taking both children Christmas shopping separately so they could buy gifts for each other
writing Christmas lists

The Christmas list writing was especially entertaining. I spelled words out and A wrote them down. She was so proud of herself! I will have to post pics of them later. I think Santa and family will be able to find at least one item from each list. However, I do think the "electric car" may be a bit beyond our means this year. Oh, and no new baby sisters, either. Sorry, girls!

This Week's Ramblings

2010-11-04T08:59:00.000-05:00

I was gifted with some unexpected personal time last night. Thank you, hubby! On a whim, I decided to spend my hour at one of the bookstore/coffee house establishments that seem to be everywhere these days. Well, okay, everywhere big enough to merit a Walmart, which meant that I was in town, not at home in the country.

Regardless, I was sitting there in the knitting section practically salivating at seeing so many lovely knitting books in one place trying to decide if any of the books they had needed to come home with me. A number of the stitch dictionaries on the shelf are in my Amazon cart but without seeing them in person, I refused to press the "confirm order" button. After looking at several of these books in person, I think I'm justified in saying that I won't buy a craft or cooking book ever again without seeing it in person first.

I absolutely love the new wave of artistry being put into craft books these days. I love the crisp, clear, full-color photos that are actually big enough to allow you to see all of the details. I appreciate that the editors are making a real effort to make the books not only informative but also pleasing to the eye.

HOWEVER, I deplore a craft book that chooses artistry of the book over usability of the information contained therein. Mistake #1 of today's craft book publishers is to format the book with a standard paperback spine. Any how-to book that is intended to be referenced while one's hands are full with a project MUST be spiral bound or in flashcard format. The book needs to stay open to the correct page while you work or else it will be useless to the crafter. Who wants to knit five stitches, put down her knitting, open the book, find the page, read and memorize the next five stitches, put down the book, pick up her knitting, and knit again? Especially if she knows she'll have to go through the whole process again in 20 seconds! So, to sum up, publishers? Take a hint. Print your craft books with spiral bindings.

Mistake #2 is something that I think has been becoming more common over the past 10 years. Making the pictures bigger and putting less info on a page is a great idea. But please, please, PLEASE, make sure the info is still usable. I'm finding more and more books where the publisher's main goal seems to be creating an attractive book at the detriment of the info inside. To illustrate my point, one of the stitch dictionaries I saw last night ALMOST made it into my shopping basket... until I noticed that the publisher had chosen to present the instructions in a format that was nearly impossible to follow. Which set of instructions below do you find easy to use while knitting?

Set A:
cast on:
co 38 with the long-tail method.

ankle:
R1: sl1, P6, sl1, P to end
R2: sl1 K6 sl1 (K1, sl1) until there are 7 stitches left, k7
Repeat R1-2 until 12 rounds total.

heel:
Place first 7 and last 7 stitches on holders.
continue heel piece in (sl1, K1) pattern as above until a total of 15 rounds or 30 rows have been knit.

turn heel:
Turn heel (P14, P2tog, P1, turn, ETC.) until 14 stitches remain. For a quick tutorial on how to do this, look here. Since this is a standard technique, I didn't write it all out. What can I say? I'm lazy sometimes.

Set B:
cast on: co 38 with the long-tail method. ankle: R1: sl1, P6, sl1, P to end, R2: sl1 K6 sl1 (K1, sl1) until there are 7 stitches left, k7. Repeat R1-2 until 12 rounds total. heel: Place first 7 and last 7 stitches on holders. continue heel piece in (sl1, K1) pattern as above until a total of 15 rounds or 30 rows have been knit. turn heel: Turn heel (P14, P2tog, P1, turn, ETC.) until 14 stitches remain. For a quick tutorial on how to do this, look here. Since this is a standard technique, I didn't write it all out. What can I say? I'm lazy sometimes.

Both sets have the same exact information but I find the first format much easier to follow and work from. The only advantage to Set B is that it takes up less space on the page. If you're trying to fit more patterns on a page, then I understand that choice, but when the page has more blank space than writing or pictures on it, there's no need to compress the instructions! In this case, the publisher was trying to make his book look pretty at a casual glance.

I was truly disappointed in this particular book. I loved the stitches they chose to include. I loved the pictures of the stitches. They were so crisp, so clear, and all done on off-white yarn. It was truly beautiful, but in the end, it was too beautiful. It looked great but would be a nightmare to work from, as the publisher not only compressed the written instructions but also chose to eliminate all of the charts. I understand that there are fewer and fewer knitters out there who prefer charts to written instructions, but as a knitter who prefers to knit in the round, charts are really handy and eliminated the need to retrofit all of the wrong side row instructions both in stitch type and stitch order.

I suppose that I may eventually break down and purchase a craft book that is poorly formatted if the information inside it is worthwhile, but I'd really like to see publishers educated as to what their customers really want. There are a few publishers out there that get it right. I have seen stitch dictionaries in flash card format or spiral bound. I take heart in the knowledge that it can and is being done by a few select publishers. Maybe, just maybe, the others will figure it out evenutally.

The Sweater Pattern

2010-10-27T13:17:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago I wrote about working on a sweater pattern. Since then, I have completed the first draft and done a few edits based on preliminary comments from my testers. There are still 3 people who are working on their testers who need to give me feedback before I finalize it.

I have to say, I feel remarkably good about this project. It's been a lot of work, but the satisfaction at seeing it take place has been great. It has been every bit as difficult as I thought it would be in some ways and in others, it's been much easier than I hoped it would be. The two biggest challenges, beyond dealing with a dinosaur of a computer, have been doing the math to create the different sizes and figuring out how to turn a Word document into a PDF. I'm proud to say that neither challenge stumped me. Yay!

I am looking forward to getting the last comments from my testers and finishing up a final draft of the pattern. I can't wait to see it out there on Ravelry for people to dowload! The next question becomes, do I sell it or give it away for free?

In other knitting news, I have about 5 projects on the needles right now. That's a record for me. I have total Knitter's ADD this week. Seriously! I'm working on:

A's tube socks
M's mittens
MIL's Christmas gift
FIL1's Christmas gift
step-father's Christmas gift
my own sweater
extended legs on capris

I also need to finish writing up my pattern for the pumpkin seed hat and do another sweater from my pattern to test the largest size. No one else seems interested in testing that size. It's a good thing that size will fit A so my knitting won't be all for nothing.

Here are a few pictures:

Yep. Doesn't look too exciting, does it? I think that's why I have knitter's ADD. None of my projects is really all that interesting. Most are actually the sort I usually stuff in my purse for days when I know I"m going to be riding the bus or waiting in line somewhere. Sigh. Maybe I need a little excitement!

Knitting Stitch Encyclopedia

2010-10-22T10:38:00.000-05:00

BKW, please forgive me, but I may have just found a new best friend in the realm of knitting stitch encyclopedia.
I just found an online stitch encyclopedia that sorts stitches both alphabetically and by stitch number.

It will never be as portable as my paper copies of BKW's Knitting Stitch Encyclopedias, but for a fast search of what stitches will fit my project, I may turn to my new online friend!

Well, here it is!

The one drawback to the online version is that it does not organize stitches into useful categories such as knit/purl, cables, ribbing, textures, YOs, lace, etc. For that, BKW, you will always be my best love!!!

Toddler's Dictionary, version 2

2010-10-20T09:22:00.001-05:00

Some of M's favorite words:

Maa = banana

Yehyah = shoes, socks

oh-oh = oatmeal, yogurt

oo-oo = oscar the grouch

myah = cat

Emma = Elmo

baba = Papa, bottle, baby, goodbye

mmmmm = moon, smoothie, cow

bwwoooo = spoon

The Gifts

2010-10-19T13:13:00.000-05:00

These are horrible pictures, but I recently knit this shawl and delivered it to my mother-in-law as a gift.

I also worked up this baby sweater as a gift for a friend's grandson.

And finally, finished up this hat as a gift to my youngest.

The Crocs Socks

2010-10-19T13:09:00.002-05:00

Here's a little pattern I worked up last weekend. I don't know if my notes are clear enough for someone else to follow. If you knit this, please feel free to send me comments either here or on Ravelry.com. I'd love to hear what you think. I plan to add pictures as soon as I can.

These socks fit an average woman's foot. You could use DK weight and decrease your spi to make them fit men.

Materials:
I used one 2oz ball of fingering/sock weight yarn and size 2 needles, both 9" circ and DPNs.
Also needed: stitch markers, stitch holders or spare DPNs to use as holders, tapestry needle.

gauge:
7 stitches per inch in stockinette stitch

cast on:
co 38 with the long-tail method.
ankle:
R1: sl1, P6, sl1, P to end
R2: sl1 K6 sl1 (K1, sl1) until there are 7 stitches left, k7
Repeat R1-2 until 12 rounds total.

heel:
Place first 7 and last 7 stitches on holders.
continue heel piece in (sl1, K1) pattern as above until a total of 15 rounds or 30 rows have been knit.

turn heel:
Turn heel (P14, P2tog, P1, turn, ETC.) until 14 stitches remain. For a quick tutorial on how to do this, look here. Since this is a standard technique, I didn't write it all out. What can I say? I'm lazy sometimes.

constructing the arch section:
R1: pick up+ 9 stitches along side of heel flap, K1 stitch off holding needle, slip previous stitch over this stitch knitted off the holder (the last stitch picked up on side of heel.) turn.
R2: sl1, P to top edge of heel flap (9+14 stitches) pick up 9 stitches along other side of heel. K1 stitch from holding needle, slip previous stitch over as before.
R3: sl1, K to 1 st before holding needle, sl1, K1 from holder, psso. turn.
R4: sl1, P to 1 st before holdling needle, sl1, P1 from holder, Psso. Turn.
Repeat R3 and R4 until all but one stitch has been removed from holder.
complete R3 again but instead of turning, pick up 6 stitches along the edge of the ankle piece knit with the initial 12 rows. turn.
(K1, P1) 3 times, P to last stitch on needle and complete this row as R4 above. DO NOT TURN. Pick up 6 stitches along the edge of the ankle piece, turn.
(K1, P1) 3 times. K to last 6 stitches, (p1, K1) 3 times. CO 13 stitches and join in the round with ribbed section on opposite side of the ankle, placing a round marker.

Working in the round:
R1: (K1, P1) 3 times, K to ribbing, (P1,K1) three times, continue ribbing pattern across to end of round.
R2: (K1, P1) 3 times, place marker, K1, ssk, K to 3 stitches before ribbing begins, K2tog, K1, place marker, (P1,K1) ribbing to end of round.
Repeat R1-R3 until 49 stitches remain in total. Yes, 49. You cast on 13 stitches across the top of the foot to keep in K1P1 pattern so it's uneven. Now you'll remove the asymmetry by K2tog once at the center of the bottom of the foot, roughly 12 stitches from the ribbing section.
Continue in pattern until sock measures 2” less than desired length.

Toe decreases:
one row of K and then decrease as standard and kitchener graft to seam up.
If you don't know how to do this, read on!

You will want to switch to your DPNs now. Place a marker on either side of the ribbing. Now remember, you have 25 stitches in ribbing pattern and 23 stitches in stockinette. You'll want to place your markers just slightly off so that you have 24 st between each marker. Designate one of these markers the round marker.

R1: K
R2: K1, ssk, K to 3 stitches before marker, K2tog, K1, sm, ssk, K to 3 stitches before marker, K2tog, K1.
R3: K

Repeate R2-3 until 8 stitches remain between each marker, a total of 16 stitches in total.

Use a kitchener graft to close up the toe.

DONE!

The story behind this pattern is this: My family and I were perusing a local yarn shop a few weeks ago just for fun and my husband saw a pattern for socks similar to the above. He said, "You should make some of those for yourself!" I wasn't sure if I'd like them or not so I didn't want to spend the money on the pattern.

Fast forward to this past weekend when we were on a road trip. I had packed a sock project to work on and thought that was all I'd need. Lo and behold, my husband decided he didn't want me to use the yarn I had with me to make a gift for someone else ("It's too nice, you should make yourself something with it." See? He's always looking out for me because he knows I don't make much for myself.) So suddenly I had a 10 hour car trip and no busy work! We stopped at Hobby Lobby and picked up a ball of sock yarn and I decided I'd take a stab at something like the sock pattern we'd looked at a few weeks prior.

The pattern above is the result. I wasn't sure I'd like them still, even when I had them done! Until I wore them with my crocks. LOVE!

Working Out a Pattern

2010-09-30T10:16:00.000-05:00

I've taken it upon myself to write my next pattern in multiple sizes. I wasn't intending to. Really, I'm far too busy to want to challenge myself in that way. But then it just happened. I thought I was working on a size 18-24mos sweater pattern and suddenly the resulting sweaters were snug on my size 18 mos child. What? How does this happen? Did she grow? No, she's still a size 18 mos. Alas, the sweater is simply snug.

So here I am, frantically recalculating cast on stitches, landmark stitch counts, and final measurements. Phew, math done, I feel really good about offering this next pattern in multiple sizes from12 mos to3T. Oh, but wait, after blocking one of my original pattern sweaters, it GREW! A lot. So I guess that sweater really was sized 18-24 mos.

Ha! The joke's on me! And yet in the end, I really can't be upset because I got a multi-sized pattern out of that one small error in planning. I also realized that doing the calculations for each alternative size really isn't as scary as I had believed. Yes, I still need testers to knit from the pattern and tell me if it fits their children, but now I have more to offer and a better feeling that people will be getting their $5 worth when they buy my pattern.

For the sneak peek, the following sweater designs will be included in the pattern, along with a lot of ideas for customizing it with additional stitch patterns and small details:

I'd be interested in a few more test-knitters, so if there's anyone out there who'd like to be involved, please leave a comment including where to reach you. Alternatively, contact me via ravelry. Look up Maggie's Flower Tunic and send a message to me from there.

And Just In Case You Weren't Bored by My Knitting Projects...

2010-09-21T11:32:00.000-05:00

here are some more... First is a pink sweater. A REALLY pink sweater. The yarn was payment for some knitting I did as part of an organized swap. I didn't have a say in the yarn or I probably would have asked for something less, well, less pink. In the end, it was kind of nice to have a yarn I wasn't too attached to for this project as it was a completely new pattern that I was working up as I went along. Unfortunately, it turned out cute and I will never get to use it on M because it is just WAY too shockingly pink on her. The photograph makes it look like a nice warm hot pink but it's a bit harsher in reality.

Next up are a pair of mittens for M that go with the knitted helmets I made for each girl for this winter. I guess I never showed off the hats, either, so here they are. I have plans to make A a pair of matching mittens, too.

And a few that are finally finished:

First up is the Koolaid sweater. It needed work on the neckline, so I added 1x1 ribbing to make it fit better.

Next up is the longies I knit with Malabrigo Twist in the terron color. I think they turned out nice but I don't love them. In fact, I have yet to block and lanolize them. I doubt M will wear them more than once or twice. They just aren't the right color. I wanted dark choclate, not burned grape. I think I'm going to have to open up an online shop just to offload the items that I finish but don't like... even if it's just to payback my yarn investment!

Currently on the knitting needles is a sock. I have 8oz of sock yarn in 2oz cakes, each hand-dyed a different color. Each sock is using about 1.5oz, so I anticipate about 5 socks will come out of it, each mis-matched to all of the others. I'm using the same knitting pattern for each and heel and toe blocks of each will be done with one of the other colors. I'll post pics when I finish.

I also intend to release my two sweater patterns (the koolaid and the pink) soon if I can get someone to test knit for me. Any takers?

A Little Bit More Knitting

2010-09-09T10:13:00.000-05:00

Here is a finished project from a recent Yarn For Woolies Swap I participated in. It's a size small longies and hat set done in Purewool's Aqua y Crudo.

Also in the knitting bag is this set of longies, knit from Malabrigo Twist (Terron color):

I think they turned out just fine but they aren't what I wanted by a long shot. I wanted deep chocolate brown, not brown with lilac in it. I also wanted a celtic knot cable but that just looked awful when I tried it. Sigh. Now if only I could sell these and get some money for new yarn...

And finally, another finished project. This was a test run of my Maggie's Flower Tunic pattern with a number of modifications. I used half-linen stitch instead of eyelet and carried it throughout the body. At the sleeves I did put the stitches on my DPNs and picked up stitches under the armpit. I knit another inch or so, in pattern, and then bound off with a crochet scallop. Oh, and the body is hemmed with a band of butterfly stitch.

On my upcoming projects list:

sweater for myself
2 xmas gifts
hat for A
mittens and hat for M
mittens for me
socks for me
testing my Lofty Charlotte pattern (I have GOT to come up with a better name!)

The Matching Hat

2010-08-31T09:23:00.000-05:00

Here is the hat I knit to match the Kissy-Fish longies. It's Small Mama, Sweet Sugar's pattern, found here. The first time I knit it, it was the wrong size. Luckily, it's a quick knit so it wasn't hard to redo it. I always run into size issues with patterns as I tend to be a loose knitter. Generally, dropping needle sizes 1-2 steps corrects this, but not this time! I think I'll miss this hat when I ship it to its owner.

Knock This One Off My To-do List!

2010-08-26T09:55:00.000-05:00

I finished the first pair of my two Yarn For Woolies swap projects. Yay! I'm super pleased with how they worked out. Everyone likes them, including the mama who will receive them. What's best, though, is that even though I made a mistake in the cable, the mistake didn't ruin them. In fact, it spurred a whole slew of ideas for future projects. I love a happy accident!

I am now working on a matching hat to go with them. Non-cabled this time as I'm not sure how much time I have to finish it before my next yarn shipment arrives!

The Knitting Binge Continues

2010-08-20T21:40:00.000-05:00

I've been on a knitting binge since the end of June. I've completed 4 pairs of longies, 3 sweaters, a hat, and a pair of socks. I have all of the completed garments sitting in my china hutch and every time I walk by, it amazes me. My knitting speed has increased exponentially. Once upon a time, it took me nearly a month to complete one pair of very simple longies. Now, it's less than a week, and that's with cables and alternating skeins. I am kind of shocked. I always wanted to be as fast as the little old ladies I would see in the airport, fingers flying as they knitted their layovers away. I think I might be catching up to them!

It's a very good thing that my speed has picked up. I have a very full project list and several of the garments have to be finished in a very short time frame. Tomorrow evening I will start the first "yarn for woolies" swap longies that are due September 30th. Next week I will start the second pair for the same swap, also due September 30th. The week after that, I hope to start a knitted dress that I volunteered to be a pattern-tester for. The dress is due by late September or early October as well.

Next up on the list is a re-knit of my Koolaid Upchuck sweater, which definitely needs a new name. Maybe I should call it, "Arise, Charles!" Maybe that will help me stop seeing the image of spaghettios and blue moon ice cream after it has returned from a vacation in the gastric tract of a 3 year old. It's not a picture I relish. I'm reknitting the sweater to test my written pattern. If someone else out there would also like to test it, please let me know. I"ll forward you the current draft. It's another sweater that with just a bit of lengthening in the torso and arms would fit the 18 mos to 5T range.

Also on my list is a sweater for myself. I've never knit myself a sweater. Socks and a hat, yes, but not a sweater. I'd like to. I even have the yarn and the pattern in my hot little hands. But alas, other projects take precidence.

The next item on my list is a set of wool socks for myself again. I have 4 balls of yarn, all the same weight and brand, but all different hand-dyed colors. The idea is that I will use the same basic pattern to knit four socks (probably 5 with the fifth being a scrappy sock) and mix and match them. Since I only wear my wool socks at home in the winter and hate the boredom of knitting a second identical sock, this idea seems brilliant to me. Plus, the first pair of socks I knit this summer is also the same yarn, so really, I'll have 7 socks to intermingle.

My daughter has been begging me for a knit stuffed animal as well and I have a ton of toy patterns in my queue. I'd love to get one done for her by the holidays. It would be a perfect stocking stuffer.

Oh, yes, and lets not forget the stockings I wanted to knit last year... and this year as well, apparently.

And finally, on the needles right this moment is a test of the Maggie's Flower Tunic pattern with a few design modifications just for giggles. I'm finding a few errors in my posted pattern, but I am up to date in correcting the posted pattern. If I've found the error in this test knit, I've corrected the online pattern. Rest assured, the errors were small, indeed. I mislabeled which color yarn to use in a few places, which the knitter could figure out on her own just by looking at the pictures, and there was one place where I directed a K2 when there was only one stitch left in the row. A simple fix.

I'm starting to think that I have too much going on. Perhaps I should take a knitting vacation after my September 30th deadlines. Errr.... after I finish proofing Arise, Charles! and Maggie's Flower.

Maggie's Flower Tunic

2010-08-14T20:46:00.018-05:00

UPDATED: directions for which yarn to use have been corrected, as have a few small errors along the way. Thanks for all who have helped.

Here is the link if you prefer to have a PDF file:
download now

My latest knitting project is done! I'm sharing the pattern here free for anyone who wishes to try it out. It is a loose interpretation of the traditional sport-weight/fingering-weight yoke style infant sweater. Please realize that I have only written up my notes tonight and have not test-driven it since then to make sure I didn't forget anything. There may be a few places where a little work needs to be done on the details. Please send me any editing you think needs to be done!

The yarn is ht Nevele's yarn in the colorway Analagous. The contrast (purple) was custom-dyed by the artist who did the colorway, at my request. Please do visit her online store (linked by her name, up there at the beginning of my paragraph.)

I'd say it's a light worsted but it is listed as DK by the artist.

Please feel free to join www.ravelry.com and message me though the listing for this pattern there if you have questions. I'm happy to help out in any way I can and will appreciate any comments that help me edit the pattern and make it easier for all.

Maggie's Flower Tunic: size 18 mos-4T
Here it is on a size 18 mos child:

Here it is from the rear on a size 18 mos child:

Here it is from the front on a size 4t-5T child:

Here it is from the rear on a size 4T-5T child:

I would want to increase the length for an older child but the body and arm openings fit just fine.

Materials:
246 yds DK weight (or worsted weight) yarn in colorway
~ 50yds DK weight yarn in contrasting color (or do the entire sweater in colorway)
size 4 circular needles, 16" and optional larger length
size G crochet hook.
2 buttons, 1" in diameter.

Gauge:
10st and 14 rows = 2" (5 stitches per inch.)

Pattern:
BODY:
Cast on 60 stitches with colorway.
Rows 1-2: K

Switch to contrast yarn.
Row 3: K to last 5 stitches, bind off three stitches (knit one, slip previously knit stitch over, repeat), K2.
Row 4: K, casting on 3 stitches to compensate for the 3 stitches you cast off in the previous row.
Row 5: K
Row 6: K6, P to 6 stitches from end, K6
Row 7: K
Row 8: K6, P to 6 stitches from end, K6
Row 9: K4, KFB, *(K2, KFB), repeat across to last 4 stitches, K4.

switch to colorway
Row 10: K
Row 11: K6, *(YO, K2tog), repeat as many times as you can complete the pattern until you reach the last 6 stitches, K6
Row 12: K

Return to contrast color.
Row 13: K4, KFB, *(K3, KFB) to last 4 stitches, K4.
Row 14: K6, purl to last 6 stitches, K6
Row 15: K
Row 16: K 6, purl to last 6 stitches, K6
Row 17: K5, *(KFB, K4) to last 5 stitches, K5

Rows 18-20, switch to colorway yarn and repeat rows 10-12.

Return to contrast color.
Row 21: K6, *(KFB, K5) to last 5 stitches, K5
Row 22: K6, purl across to last 6, K6
Row 23: K to last 5 stitches, bind off 3, K2
Row 24: K2, CO 3, K1, Purl to last 6 stitches, K6
Row 25: *(K6, KFB) to last 6 stitches, K6

Rows 26-28, switch to contrast color and repeat rows 10-12.

Return to colorway.
Row 29: *(K7, KFB) to last 6 stitches, K6

Rows 30-36: Work in stockinette stitch with the 6 stitch garter borders.

Row 37: Place markers (right side row): K6, P23, PM, P29, PM, P52, PM, P29, PM, P23, K6. Four markers have been placed, marking off the two sides of each sleeve.

Row 38: K6, Purl to last 6 stitches, K6

Row 39: *(K to 2 stitches before marker, KFB, K, SM, KFB.) Repeat in each section ending in a marker (ie within first sleeve, across back, and within second sleeve.) After slipping the fourth marker, K to end.

Row 40: K6, P to last 6 stitches, K6

Row 41-44: Repeat rows 38 and 39 twice.

Row 45: (Right side row) Remove markers and placing sleeve stitches onto holders as described below.

K to within 2 st of marker, KFB, K1, remove marker, place all stitches from this point forward to second marker on a stitch holder or scrap yarn (tie off the scrap yarn so you don't loose your stitches!), CO 4 stitches, remove 2nd marker, KFB, K to within 2 stitches of the third marker, KFB, K1, remove third marker and place all stitches from this point forward to 4th marker on a stitch holder or scrap yarn (tie off the scrap yarn so you don't loose your stitches!) as you did before, CO 4 stitches, remove 4th marker, KFB, K to end.

Row 46: (wrong side row) K6, purl to last 6 stitches, K6.

Continue to work in stockinette with 6 stitch garter edge until 5.5" of body are between the last eyelet row and active row. This is where you can customize the length of the body to fit your child.

Work an eyelet stripe:
Row A: (wrong side row) K
Row B: (right side row) K6 *(YO, K2tog) to within 6 stitches of the end, K6. Remember to end the repeat with a K2tog, not a YO. This may or may not work out exactly. It's okay. Be off by one stitch and love it.
Row C: (wrong side) K

Switch to contrast color.
Work stockinette with 6 stitch garter border for 5 rows.

Switch to colorway.
Add another eyelet stripe as directed above.
Work 3 rows of stockinette stitch with 6 stitch garter border. (The first row is a wrong side row, the second is a right side, the third is wrong side.)

K 6 rows.

Cast off with the crochet hook using single crochet stitches. Alternatively, if you do not crochet, you can simple bind off with a loose cast off method of your choice. Personally, I like the slight bit of flair that the crochet bind off adds.

SLEEVES:
place held stitches from one sleeve onto a cable needle. Length is unimportant. Pick up one stitch on either side of the held stitches from the fabric between the held stitches and the body stitches.

Connect yarn and single crochet 4 stitches. Double crochet twice into the next stitch. Repeat to the last 4 stitches. Single crochet into the last four stitches. Secure the end of the yarn on both ends of the sleeves.

Repeat for side 2.

FINISHING:
Attach your buttons on the button side of the flaps, weave in ends, and block.

The Completed Chameleon Sweater

2010-08-12T09:15:00.002-05:00

The Chameleon Sweater

2010-08-05T09:07:00.004-05:00

One of the cloth diapering/parenting forums I frequent online has a very healthy community of crafters and artists on it. While on my most recent knitting binge I came across the forum where the group of knitting parents hangs out. Hooray! I have a new place to hang out that won't disappear when M potty-trains later this year! What a relief!

This particular group of parents is a great group for a number of reasons. They have a daily chat thread where people can post what they're working on and throw out any questions they may have. Some people need advice on pattern reading, some need help with a design option, some need help with yardage and other supply issues. It's a great place to get immediate replies to your knitting questions.
It's also a great place to simply chatter about your life. We don't stay on topic always and there's always someone around to lend an ear or a shoulder. It's like having a local yarn shop and a mommy's group all in one place.

This month, the group is running a sweater knit-along. The basic premise is that anyone intersted in playing picks out a sweater pattern and knits it. There are two patterns that are recommended for the knit-along, but any sweater is welcome. I think they like to pick a couple of patterns to spotlight in order to increase the chances that questions about said patterns can be answered quickly. If we all get confused at the same point in the pattern, one of us is likely to figure it out and help the others. It's a great resource.
This month's feature patterns are:

The Sleuthing Hoodie
Ridinghood Sweater

I have always been a fan of the Ridinghood Sweater, but just don't have enough DK weight yarn on-hand to knit one up. SO, I decided that I will knit a Sleuthing Hoodie.

Originally, I was going to knit for M and chose the 18mos-24mos size. After knitting 11" down the body, however, I realized that it was big enough for A! Since I was using scrap yarn and the colors are actually better suited to the blonde than the redhead, I quickly switched gears and am now knitting the 5T size. Wowsa, that's a lot of knitting.
Here is an early "work in progress" picture from the sweater. As of this morning, the body is complete and one arm is 2" from completion.

I plan to do a pink hood with brown trim and brown pockets with pink trim... or maybe a brown hood with pink trim. It's hard to decide! Instead of one kangaroo pocket in front I will do two pockets that open from the top. I'm considering putting owl cables on the pockets or perhaps a cable and bobble flower. I can't wait to see the finished sweater.

Learning to Love Flat Diapers

2010-07-24T08:46:00.004-05:00

I recently was forced to make drastic changes to our cloth diaper stash. I'll be the first to admit that I'm always up for trying new diapers, but this time, I was forced into using a diaper that I had tried time and time again with both of my girls and never found any love for. The Flat Fold Diaper.

Traditionally, flat diapers were made of cotton birdseye or cotton gauze. In fact, when I was expecting my first child, my mother gifted me with 2 dozen gauze half-flats from my own childhood. I was excited by this gift because half of the reason I wanted to use cloth diapers was because it was the "traditional" way to do things. If it worked for Mom and Grandma, why shouldn't it work for me?

Well, my firstborn turned out to be a heavy wetter. And I do mean heavy. I could not get the gauzy cotton flats to hold enough pee or create a tight enough seal to keep the pee in if I doulbed them up. So I used them for burprags. They made great burp rags.

For my second child, I was inspired to try flats again when she was tiny when I learned about the origami fold. I love origami and thought that maybe that fold would work better than what I had been trying with my older child. Also, my second baby was NOT a heavy wetter so I had better chances of loving them. In the end, I did not. Using traditional birdseye flats, the origami fold was too small for her waist and using flannel receiving blankets with the origami fold created diapers that were not only too big but too absorbant and bulky. I just couldn't find a happy medium.

Flash forward to a few months after our move into the new house. A new house means a new washer and dryer and a new water supply. All of those things, means a new washing routine. I struggled to find a washing routine that would conquer the stinkies in my daughter's diapers. It seemed like I could go only about a week before I had to do something drastic like stripping them or using bleach on them. I wasn't willing to do that many intensive washes. It was making cloth diapering much less appealing!

While searching for more hints on handling the stinkies, I came across a thread on my diapering forum extolling the virtues of flat diapers. Again, I thought, it's too bad I don't like flats because they would be easy to keep clean. One single layer of fabric would come clean for sure, no matter what my washing routine was! But I remembered hating flats. Ugh.

As I read through the thread, I noticed that a lot of mamas were using a folding pattern that hadn't been publicized when I had last tried flats. After looking at it and trying it out on the flat diapers I had at home, I realized that I just might like it enough to try flats again. So, out came the receiving blankets. Out came the flat diapers. Out came the pins.

And wouldn't you know, after only one small modification to that RoPo fold, I was loving the flat diapers on my younger daughter. Seriously, I love the act of folding them. I love the sense of tradition in using flat diapers and pins. I love the fact that laundry is a breeze. The stinkies are gone and flat diapers dry in a single cycle of the dryer, unlike other diapers which can take up to 2 hours in the dryer plus overnight hanging to dry.

The added bonus to using flannel receiving blankets as flat diapers is all the fun color that shows up in your stash! I have been picking up blankets at garage sales and resale shops all summer long and am really enjoying the different colors and prints. Since I"m buying used, a lot of my blankets are available in colors and styles that I couldn't find in the store today.

As I've added new blankets to my stash, I have come to have a great appreciatioan for the art of gender-neutral prints. There was once a great need for gender-neutral blankets as no one knew whether they'd have a baby girl or a baby boy. The prints in these older blankets are by far my favorites as they are so carefully drawn and have some truly great color schemes in them. Take a peek at some of my favorites!

The Finished Koolaid Upchuck Sweater

2010-07-23T07:28:00.001-05:00

IMG_4220
Originally uploaded by LittlePoopie

It's done! It fits, too!

The Yarn and Its Story

2010-07-20T15:33:00.001-05:00

IMG_4196
Originally uploaded by LittlePoopie

Please forgive the format of this story. I decided to write from Flickr rather than Blogger and am regretting it big time. To see the entire story on this piece of handywork, please scroll down several entries, then read upwards to here. Thanks!

The Yarn

2010-07-20T15:32:00.001-05:00

IMG_4195
Originally uploaded by LittlePoopie

Oh, Baby! Now we're talking! I like this yarn a LOT more now!

The Yarn

2010-07-20T15:31:00.003-05:00

IMG_4189
Originally uploaded by LittlePoopie

Balled and skeined, it looked a little bit better, but I wasn't convinced yet.

The Yarn

2010-07-20T15:31:00.001-05:00

IMG_4187
Originally uploaded by LittlePoopie

Fresh out of the crock pot, this is what it looked like.

Kettle-dying Wool Yarn with Koolaid

2010-07-20T15:26:00.002-05:00

IMG_4197
Originally uploaded by LittlePoopie

I am LOVING this yarn. Really, how can I resist loving the play of colors on this swatch?

Amazingly enough, I hated it when I first finished dying it. I was highly disappointed and felt that I had ruined $15 worth of yarn. It looks marginally like my mental image of what I wanted, but it wasn't close enough and I felt bad. I had been saving this yarn for a year, waiting for just the right project and felt that I had failed myself.

Let me back up a bit. I was talking with a friend about some custom knitting that she was having done. She is getting a very good deal on the work and I was contemplating sending some yarn to the same knitter. I thought I would dye some natural wool yarn that I had and send it in, but in the end I realized that any hand-dyed yarn would need to be knit with alternating skeins and I wasn't convinced that the knitter in question was experienced enough to do so in a manner that would satisfy MIss Perfect.

Nevertheless, I was stuck on the idea of dying some yarn. I came across the following tutorial and fell in love with the yarn that the author had produced.

I wanted that yarn. I checked my Koolaid stash. I had almost exactly the same colors that she used!!! I made a few substitutions and viola.

I hated the yarn.

I thought it looked muddy and orange and yucky. So I put it back into the crock pot and added blue and purple Koolaid to every light spot and I also added black cherry to some of the larger orange patches in hopes of toning it down a little.

I still wasn't satisfied with it, but figured I'd wind it into a cake and see if I liked it any better. I did like it better.

But it wasn't until I started knitting a sweater for M that I decided that I really REALLY like this yarn. I would absolutely do this project again and maybe pick a few different colors or perhaps just mix the ratios differently the next time.

Kettle dying wool yarn with Koolaid is fun. It's easy. It's satisfying in a way that traditional variegation dying isn't. It's unpredictable and that is the true joy in it.

Tonight, I plan to start another dying job with my older daughter, A. She has picked out a large assortment of pink Koolaid and Klaas packets to use. And a single blue one to spot in for a few purple flecks. I can hardly wait!

The Kind of Garage Sale I Hate

2010-07-16T18:21:00.002-05:00

Yes, in fact there are garage sales that I hate. In case you're thinking that the garage sales in question are the ones with only "old people stuff," you'd be wrong.

Oh no, there is something much worse than a sale full of mildewed furniture from the 60s.

There is something worse than the sale that consists of one card table with 20 items on it.

Yes, there is even something worse than the sale that reads as fantastic in the online ad but turns out to be nothing near as it was described.

That would be the sale full of items you'd love to buy but won't because the people running it aren't garage salers themselves. Now, I don't mean to sound prejudiced. I'm really all for people trying something new and definitely behind the concept of making some money off of your off-cast belongings. The problem lies in pricing. If you don't frequent garage sales yourself, you can't price them correctly. Additionally, if you only go garage saling in the rich neighborhoods, you'll learn the prices that are fetched there, not the prices that are appropriate for your own neighborhood.

Let's take for example, the garage sale I found today. I live in a fairly rural area. Our town has 3000 people and the prices at garage sales are generally half what they are in the neighboring bigger city. Today, I saw the following laughable prices: (the appropriate price is in parentheses.)

onesies $1 (25 cents)
sleepers $4 ($1-2)
flannel receiving blankets $1.50 (10-25 cents)
outfits for infants $4-6 ($1-2)

They had a lot of very nice things which is odd for this town this late on a Friday. Is there any wonder why?

dyed vest

2010-07-12T11:56:00.001-05:00

just a quick update as I'm being begged to cook lunch:

Also pictured is my first successful pair of socks! Rock on!

knitting and dyeing with Koolaid

2010-07-10T20:17:00.007-05:00

I have been knitting a lot lately. It's like I suddenly woke up to the realization that if I don't start my girls' fall and winter wardrobe NOW I'll end up making the same mistake I made last year. That is to say, put off making my own family's items until I have so many custom orders for other families' items that I just can't fit my own in!

Last year, M wore only hand-me-down longies. I shouldn't say ONLY because there was one pair that I knit for her. Amazingly enough, I frogged them this afternoon so that I can REknit them into a size that will fit her this year. Sounds silly, I know, but when I knit them last year, I had never knit with cestari yarn and it was about killing me to try to figure out how many stitches to cast on. And then there was the pooling. I have never seen yarn pool so much before. I must have started them about 5 times before giving up and letting it pool. I decided today that we weren't going to put her in those again this year. Never mind the fact that the legs aren't long enough. LOL.

So right now, I have the unknitted yarn dripping dry in my bathroom. I washed it to not only clean it but also to take the kinks out. After it dries I will twist the skeins to get the last of the kinks out and then later on I'll ball it up and knit. I want to do slimmer longer longies with owl cable pockets on them. I can see it now... Ha!

There is also another last year's failure project on my work table today. I had purchased some Purewool yarn in the Arara colorway to make linen-stitch longies for M. I must have spent 6 weeks worth of knitting time on them only to frog them this winter. They just weren't working. Plus, C didn't like the colors. I can't blame him as olive green, rust orange, and powder blue don't necessarily the best blend.

Earlier this summer I had used the yarn to test out a new pattern I was dreaming up. The pattern worked reasonably well and the tunic vest was cute enough to dress the children in but the colors are still awful. So tonight, I pulled out my Koolaid and searched through my colors to see what I had. I had 7 packets of Berry Blue and one packet of Blue Raspberry Lemonade. The vest, which I had washed this morning was mostly dry, but still slightly damp. Weighing it inaccurately, I had about 4 oz of yarn to dye with 7 packets. For those of you who know nothign about Koolaid dying, that's not a good ratio. Normally, they recommend 3-5 packets per oz of yarn.

Oh well, into the pot it went! Amazingly, I think that was the perfect amount of dye. The olive green looks closer to kelly green, the rust is now a chocolate brown and the blue is aqua. I can live with those colors! We'll see how it turns out after the dye has set, washed, and dried, but I think it has amazing potential. Yay for a saved project!!!

Sharing a Room

2010-07-08T11:01:00.002-05:00

For about 6 months now, our eldest daughter has been asking to share a room with her sister. We always told her, "when M gets older, you can share a room with her."

Well, it finally happened. M got older and A moved in with her. We test drove the whole shared room concept over the holiday weekend while on a road trip and the girls did marvelously. They both went to bed easy and slept all night. We decided that it was time to give the girls what they had wanted, or at least what A had wanted. A shared room!

When we arrived home, we put the bunkbeds in the larger room (previously M's room) and the toys and rocking chair in the other, smaller room.

The first morning, M woke up at 7 (which is sleeping in for her) and did not wake her sister when she called out to me. M and I had breakfast and played while waiting for A to wake. We played, and played... and played.... and played.......

FINALLY, at 8:30am A woke up. I think she slept just fine in her new room. LOL.

The second night, when it came time for bed, I went to put M to sleep before I got A ready for bed. This is how I've done things pretty much since M first moved to a set bedtime, with a few small exceptions. As I was singing to M, she kept opening her eyes, saying, "Abbah?" As in, where's A?

I told M that A would be coming to bed soon. It was time for M to sleep. "Abbah?!" Yes, M, A will be to bed very soon. "Abbah?" Yes, A will sleep in here with you. We'll be right in. Finally, M believed me and went to sleep. She woke once in the night. I know because I heard her peep, but she must have looked over and saw her Abbah because she was quiet after that. No fuss, no muss, just sleep.

I knew that A wanted to share a room with M, but it surprises me that M wanted it just as much. She's not very verbal yet, but she does communicate fairly well. She clearly didn't want to go to sleep if her Abbah wasn't coming to bed with her. It's nice to know that they comfort each other.

Behind on Messages

2010-06-17T11:41:00.003-05:00

Every now and then I find that I am behind the times. Usually, this is in reference to messages: email, voicemail, snail mail.

Then there is the every present problem with Private Messages and Blog Comments. I really do need some sort of automatic notification that lets me know I have new messages. Some of my online fora have this feature, but enough do not that I find myself a day late and a dollar short.

Case in point:

My previous blog about doll-making

I just today, 2 years later, noticed that I had comments from several people inquiring about purchasing similar dolls. Had I known that, i would have replied. I might not have been able to provide the dolls they needed, as I was about to enter my "I'm pregnant and turning my sewing studio into a nursery" phase, but I could have at least replied.

I feel like a putz when I realize I've done something like that. Of course, with blogger, there's no way to leave the commenting visitors messages in reply other than to post an additional message to them on the blog entry itself and here.

So, here's the message to you all:

Yes, I can make more. My studio is set up once more.

Yes, I'm willing to make more. Yes, I can customize.

And, last but not least, I will be updating my settings to notify me of all comments so that I can reply in time.

Cook Ahead, round 2

2010-06-17T09:13:00.001-05:00

Last weekend I embarked upon round 2 of the cook-ahead lifestyle. This time, I invited my next door neighbor over to share the joy.

Really, truly, I do not say that sarcastically. We did share the joy. For $66 each and 3 hours of work (including diaper changes, napping babies, answering phones, and playing with the kids) we each came away with 8 meals for our freezers. And by "meals" I mean recipes because each recipe will provide 2-4 meals for our family of four.

So if we assume that each recipe feeds our family twice, then we got 16 meals out of $66. that's $4 per meal or $1 per serving. I can smile about that one!

We cooked this round from the Once a Month Cooking: More Family Favorites again. However, instead of simply using her pre-planned cycles, I picked the recipes that I thought we would be most likely to eat. It worked out just fine.

I also invested in The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmey: A Month of Meals Made Easy. It arrived after we had finished our cooking but after perusing it quickly, I'm pleased with the investment. Not only is it chock full of workbook-style pages for making your planning process easier, but it comes with free membership to a website FULL of additional recipes and fora. Yay!

Even better, we've been informed that we're inheriting a stand-alone freezer! It is scheduled to arrive on Saturday. We couldn't be happier about it! Maybe for round 3, we'll tackle 30 recipes and each have a full month's worth of dinners in the freezer...

Recognizing Defeat

2010-06-14T11:25:00.002-05:00

I had a brilliant stroke of luck today. It's the first day of Vacation Bible School, so A is away for the morning. M, bless her heart, decided to take her nap 30 minutes early, so I had a full hour of ME time! yay!

I decided to get a jump on a doll order I have in. Drat it, the stuffing is buried in a box in the garage. Well, I can get that out! So, I go to take a look. Nope. It's buried under a lot of HEAVY items. I'll have to wait for C to come home to help.

Next, I decided to work on some charity sewing. One of the parenting forums I belong to has a group of ladies who are sewing up cloth menstrual pads for young ladies in African orphanages. I volunteered to send in a few since they're so easy to sew and cheap since you can use small scraps from other projects.

WRONG! The serger needle broke. I replaced it. It broke again. I replaced it again. Oh no, now one of the other threads needs rethreading. For those of you with no experience with sergers, let's just say that rethreading the bottom threads can require a PhD and a 20 page instructional manual as well as good eye-sight, a pair of tweezers, and an allen wrench. Oh, but it gets even better. It serged for 6 inches and then came unthreaded again. Sigh.

I fixed the serger, finished the pad I was sewing and called it quits. Some days, I'm just not meant to sew.

Cook Ahead and Freeze in Experiement

2010-06-10T13:36:00.003-05:00

May 19th. That was the day I began this experiment. Today is June 10th. That's three weeks, for those of you without a calendar in front of you.

Three weeks ago, I cooked what was supposed to be 14 days worth of meals. As of today, I have 4 more meals/recipes in my freezer yet to be thawed and eaten. That's another full week! I have found that even when the recipe says it serves 4, we get up to 8-10 servings out of it. That's an awful lot of food, guys!

What I have learned so far:

I like cooking ahead. I like thawing out my meal and just tossing it in the oven as I play with the girls.

I like a lot of the recipes from the book More Once a Month Cooking. BUT most of them do not include enough vegetables. Most are not complete meals. HOWEVER, knowing that and accepting that, I find it's still quite restful to only have to deal with the side dishes each night.

I like having fewer dishes to wash after dinner each night.

I like having lots of leftovers for lunch. However, I do not like eating one recipe for 5 dinners in a row. I kid you not, I ate Chicken Scampi for 5 nights in a row. Thankfully, the girls loved it so they were happy to have their request for it granted, FIVE nights in a row. I finally tossed the last two servings. I couldn't do it any more.

Note to self, cut recipes in half or package each meal divided, to be thawed on two different nights.

Don't Pay

2010-06-10T13:06:00.003-05:00

"Don't pay for what you're not using." This has become my new mantra. I repeat it to myself every time I find myself being wasteful. The idea came from The Penniless Parent blog. I enjoy reading her blog and like that she's frugal to the extremes. She's much more frugal than I am... maybe more frugal than I want to be, but still, I like to read her posts.

The post she wrote about wasting utilities got me to start thinking about wasting and how wasting is bad not just for the environment, but also the wallet. Then that thought morphed into other things I could be wasting.

Commonly wasted:

time
energy
electricity
water
food

These are all fairly straight forward areas for wasting. But what else is there that I'm wasting? My mind has come up with an awful lot of ideas over the past few weeks.

What am I paying for/buying that I don't really need? Buying things I don't need is definitely wasting. I understand money wasting when applied to things like latte, junk food, fad clothing, 100 pairs of shoes. I understand that buying in excess equals wasting money. But what about things that I buy and consider "needs" that aren't really needs? What can I do without? What am I paying for that I don't really need?

Paper products:

Do I need paper towels and napkins? What I'm wiping up is usually spilled food of some sort. That's not so gross I can't throw it in the washer. Plus, I have a ton of old cloth towels.
Do I need toilet paper for wiping pee-only potty bits? No, that's not really gross. Think about it. Urine is aseptic. The flora on your skin are on your skin everywhere so what goes onto the cloth toilet wipes? Aseptic fluid, skin cells, and flora. It's no different than washing your own underwear now, is it?
Do I need paper pantyliners for non-period days? There are some pretty easy patterns out there for sewing my own and I am very happy with the results.

What about Penniless Parent's idea of electricity:

Do I really need to turn on the light to change a diaper? I can change a diaper in the dark at 3am. Why do I turn the light on at 3pm to change the baby?
Do I need the stairway light on when I can see all the way to the bottom without it?
If it costs me $1 every time I run the drier, as Penniless Parent claims, then I'm costing myself $1 any time I don't get the laundry out of the drier before it wrinkles. That's wasting.

Here's where it gets a little hinky. Space and potential profit. It's possible to be wasting both space, with unwanted crap, and potential profit at the same time.

Do my children play with all of their toys? No. Is it costing me money to hang onto them? No. BUT... I could be earning money from the things we no longer use if I would stop hanging onto them and sold them. See? I'm wasting money by not making money because I don't want to sell something I don't use.
Do I really need skinny jeans and fat jeans? Do I need to hang onto the pants I wore before having two children? I'm unlikely to fit into them before they go out of style. I am wasting closet space on them.

What else is there that I could stop paying for without changing my lifestyle?

A Toddler's Prayer

2010-06-08T20:22:00.002-05:00

Dear God,

I wish that you and me could every day play and see dinosaurs and monkeys in the jungle. Mmmm... It's a good place to be, with me!

Amen

Princess Pants

2010-06-01T09:39:00.003-05:00

A now has two pairs of Princess Pants to wear under her sundresses. She went from refusing to wear her sundresses because she couldn't stand the cotton knit bloomers I made her wear under them to refusing to wear shorts because she NEEDS to wear her dresses and princess pants.

Sigh. Yay!

A even got to sew one pair herself. Well, okay, she really didn't do all the sewing herself, but she got to be in charge of the speed pedal for the serger and she also got to pick out the button that now decorates the front. She really got into it. We have plans to make a pair out of white cotton flannel for the wintertime since her mama accidentally threw her wool knit pair into the washer this spring. Fisherman's wool really felts up. A lot. Oops. They were a size 2T-6x. They are a size 12-18 mos now.

On a good note, M now has a pair of felted wool bloomers for under her dresses this winter!

How Hard Can It Be?!

2010-05-26T15:03:00.002-05:00

How hard can it be to find a sewing pattern for girl's bloomers. I'm not talking about the simple pants that come with every dress pattern. I want something a bit more tailored, a bit more refined. I want something more like the bloomers of vintage era costumes. Maybe a bit of tucking, a button or two in either strategic or decorative places... something that uses elastic at the top and gathering into a sewn band at the bottom.

Oh, and did I mention that it has to have either a gusset or extra fabric in the crotch? I want something that doesn't come to a sharp seam right at the most uncomfortable point. It has to be something my girl can run, jump, roll, swing, and otherwise rough-house in with comfort.

I know I'm a bit of an anachronistic soul, but my girl doesn't like to remain upright and has comfort issues with every under-dress solution I have tried. And I refuse to let her hang out with it all hanging out, as it were.

Do I really have to draft my own pattern?! Really? Sob.

Meal 3 of My Cook and Freeze Experiment

2010-05-25T08:48:00.003-05:00

We've moved into the part of the experiment where we get to actually EAT the food I slaved over. It's quite nice. Really, it's quite nice.

So far, we've eaten:

1. Pillsbury pizza, ick.
2. George Romney Meatballs, TDF!
3. Coronation Chicken

The two meals that even stood a chance at being any good were actually great! I loved the minimized cooking. I can handle heating and serving it up. I can handle washing lettuce and ripping it up. The girls will let me do that much cooking, easily! And, oh, the GR meatballs are heavenly. C has demanded that I add the meal to our monthly rotation and told me under clear terms that I am to never even consider using light sour cream in it. Or else. HA! How's that for recipe success?

The whole meal plan iss proving to be a success, I think. There are a few other cook-ahead style cookbooks that i want to check out, but I think that I'm going to try to continue this style of meal prep. As long as I remember that these meals are going to require fresh veggies to be added, I can plan ahead for that and be entirely pleased with the amount of cooking time I spend in the kitchen on a given night.

Done Cooking!

2010-05-23T09:30:00.001-05:00

I finally finished my 2-week cook. It took me 4 hours including cleanup, all told. In the end, all but one item fit in my freezer, and that item didn't fit because it was too wide (a pizza). We had to eat the pizza right away and I have to say, I will NOT be repeating that one. Ugh. Pillsbury pizza dough. Ick.

So far I think I"m liking this set-up but there is one big drawback. If you forget to thaw dinner the night before, you're out of luck and eating out.

Once a 2-week Cooking

2010-05-20T08:59:00.001-05:00

I began my once a month cooking experiment yesterday, as you must have already read. :D Last night, after the girls went to bed, I started cooking. I knew I wouldn't be able to get all14 recipes done, but I wanted to do what I could before bedtime.

I was able to accomplish much more than I thought! In 90 minutes, I managed to cook 5 of the recpies AND do the cleanup! I was amazed at how easy it was. A few of the recipes required no more than simply combining ingredients and packaging them for the freezer. Easy peasy!

Tonight, I'll continue and try to put in another 90 minutes, and then tomorrow night as well. In the future, I'd rather get someone to play with the girls and simply spend a whole afternoon working on it and get it done at once. It's not bad to do it in blocks, but the payout of 14 days of meals for 3 nights of cooking is lower than I would like.

Gas

2010-05-20T08:48:00.004-05:00

No, not that kind. The CAR kind.

My mother in law mentioned to me that her car gets better mileage on the ethanol-free variety than on the regular unleaded, so I decided to run a little experiment. Oh, yes, I am FULL of experiments these days. It must be the new house thing, what with needing to realign our lifestyle to accommodate all of the changes.

SO:

Here's what I did. I filled up my tank with ethanol-free gasoline and Wayne's Automotive in Monona. I set my trip meter to zero and drove until my tank was low enough to require more gas. I noted both the mileage on my trip meter and the amount of new gas I put in. The new gas was the standard ethanol-filled gas at mobile. I reset my trip meter and then drove my car until the gas gauge was low and refilled with ethanol-free gas at Sinclair.

Want to know what I discovered?

My mother in law is right.

Really really right.

Using the following handy dandy equation, I calculated how far each gallon of gas gets me.

# miles driven / # gallons required to refill tank = miles per gallon

Realize, though, that I didn't quite empty my tank after filling it with ethanol-free gas, so the ethanol-filled tank was actually lower in its ethanol ratio than is true to what came out of the pump.

My results:

Wayne's gas, ethanol-free: 317miles/9.8gallons = 32.34 miles per gallon
Mobile's gas, ethanol-filled: 241 miles/ 13.6 gallons = 17.7 miles per gallon

Can you believe that? I can't. Well, I wouldn't be able to if I hadn't actually written down my mileage and kept very close track of it. From now on, I'm definitely buying the ethanol free gas because even the 10% markup I have to pay for it is swallowed up in the amount of benefit my wallet sees to the mileage for that same tank of gas.

ETA: You may pause here to ask, well, what was my driving style over the 4 weeks of the experiment? To answer:

I drive 60 miles round trip to work 5 days every 2 weeks. This is 80% highway driving.

I drive to town, 50 miles round trip, probably once in that same period, and it's 90% highway.

I drive around town, maybe 2-5 miles each time, about 3-5 times over that period.

So, largely highway, and largely consistent over the period of the experiment.

The Cooking Experiments Continue

2010-05-19T15:51:00.002-05:00

Most of you have by now read on my facebook page that I'm starting to play with the "once a month" cooking concept. IF you haven't and you have no idea what I mean, let me spell it out. For Once a Month Cooking, you spend one per month cleaning out the fridge, shopping, stocking the fridge, and cutting up vegetables and meat ingredients. The next day, you devote and entire day to cooking all the meals you will need for the next 28 days. Then you go out for dinner to celebrate. For the rest of the month, you haul out a frozen meal every night at bedtime and the following evening bake, fry, or cook it as directed.

The idea is that you cram all of the hard work into one day so that most evenings you can simply set the stove and relax with the family. I will take all the relaxed evenings you can give me! Where do I sign up? HOWEVER, having said that, the next two weekends are particularly bad for me to institute this new cooking policy as next weekend we have a garage sale and the following weekend Dear Husband is out of town for 5 days.

I lieu of a full 30 day cook schedule, I will start with a 2 week, 14 meal cycle. I checked out Once A Month COoking and the companion book More Once a Month Cooking by Mimi and Marybeth... something. I can't remember their names. SIgh. Anyhow, I've elected to cook Meal Cycle C from the second book. There are a few meals in that cycle that I"m really not that excited by, but in the end, I think that in order to give the system a full trial, I have to simply knuckle under and do it.

This morning, I went shopping with the girls. It was a 90 minute adventure that didn't hurt the pocket book NEARLY as much as I expected. We got out of there for under $130 and only missed 4 ingredients, 3 of which they just don't carry there. :D $130 for 14 4-10 serving meals? WHy, that sounds delightful. That's about a buck a serving.

I have taken the time today to chop the vegetables but not to cut the meats. I am leaving that for after the girls are sleeping. I'd rather not be slinging a butcher knife wet with meat juices while I chase the baby out of the cupboards and corral the toddler into TIME OUTs for some creative use of language, as I had to do while chopping veggies this afternoon. LOL. Ah, this is the life and these ARE the days.

Summary of My Menu Experiment

2010-05-19T15:45:00.002-05:00

Well, the week has passed and my experiment is over. I have to say, all in all, we did pretty well. We often ate the meals on different days than I had planned, but I did serve them all and we even made it through the leftovers. Of course, I still have that second half of the chicken casserole in the freezer, but I can think of good ways to use that!

Some of the meals from the week that went over particularly well were:

Cheater's Tuna Casserole
1 box of whole wheat Velveeta Shells and Cheese
1 can of tuna
random fruit and raw veggies to suppliment

You can probably figure out what to do.

Bangers and Mash
2 packages of chicken sausage
1/2 of a green cabbage
4 red potatoes
one onion
salt to taste
butter for the potatoes, for whipping

In the crock pot place the washed and cut potatoes, the chopped onion, the sliced cabbage, and the sausages. Add enough water to almost cover the sausages. Turn it on and let it go. After all is cooked (5 hours on high or 8 on low), remove the foods and whip the potatoes with butter.

This coming week, I"m doing an even more extravagant experiment in pre-planned cooking. Read on above for the details!

Monday's Cooking

2010-05-11T10:22:00.002-05:00

So, last week, I posted that I had a menu plan for the week and would update it as to my success with keeping to the menu. On the first day, I broke it. oops. We had pizza rather than whatever I had planned, which I can't even remember. On Saturday, I served leftovers.

On Sunday, I returned to the planned menu. We had dinner with the family.

On Monday, I cooked the chicken casserole. Here's the recipe:

Chicken and Rice Casserole

1 can Campbell’s Cream of chicken soup
1 can Campbell’s Cheese or cheese and broccoli soup
For creamier version add
1 can Campbell’s cream of mushroom or celery soup
3 cups Minute rice
3 Cups chicken Broth or water (add salt to taste)
1-½ cups chopped broccoli (we use frozen I would steam it first if you use fresh)
½ lb - 1lb chopped or shredded chicken
2-3 cups Shredded cheddar cheese

Boil chicken broth/water. Add rice lower heat and cover for 5 minutes or until there is no more liquid left. Add cans of soup, Broccoli, and chicken spread into 3qt casserole pan and cover with cheese. Place in the oven for 20-30 minutes (or until cheese is melted and golden brown). To spice it up add Salsa and sour cream as a topper.

I cannot take credit for this recipe as I snagged it from a $5 Meals thread on a forum I visit. To modify it, I added a bit more chicken and cooked jasmine rice in my rice cooker with water rather than chicken stock.

Verdict: Definitely doable. Everyone ate it and liked it. King Crafty said, "that looks sinfully delicious." I split it into two 2 Qt casseroles and froze one for later eating. It still served 4 adults, even cut in half. We'll keep this recipe.

Childhood Memories

2010-05-11T08:41:00.005-05:00

Now that we've moved into our new house in the country, we find that we're reliving a number of childhood experiences. By this, I mean that we are suddenly living a lifestyle which more closely resembles that of our childhoods and are now providing for our children experiences that parallel our own.

For example:

newer subdivision with lots of young families
undeveloped land nearby
parks within walking distance
Sentry withing walking distance
carpeted home
space for a dog
fenced backyard
carpeted kitchen

and so on. This week, however, I found myself reliving one more very small childhood memory in a way I didn't expect to. I bought 2 half-gallon bags milk and as I plopped one into the white plastic pitcher provided by the dairy I had a sudden moment of disorientation. I was wondering why the pitcher wasn't red. Mom, do you remember when we drank milk from bags and the plastic pitcher that held the bag was red? It's been 30 years since we poured our milk from a red pitcher, but I still remember it.

Meal Plan

2010-05-07T14:25:00.003-05:00

I have a meal plan this week. We'll see if I follow it. I've only listed dinners here:

Friday: Salads with hard boiled eggs, ham, cheese
Saturday: Chicken casserole
Sunday: family dinner
Monday: Saturday Night Supper
Tuesday: Bangers and mash
Wednesday: cottage Pie
Thursday: leftovers
Friday: Tuna noodle casserole

Dear God

2010-05-07T12:35:00.003-05:00

Every night before falling asleep, my daughter starts her prayers with, "Dear God," and then continues to list out who she loves and is grateful for. My husband and I decided long ago that the easiest way to teach about praying was to start with who you love. As she gets older, I hope to start including other items and less tangible aspects of life for which she can thank God.

While thinking about National Prayer Day yesterday, I realized that I have a lot to be thankful for this year. My life has really come about 180 degrees over the last 4-5 months and I need to make sure that I take none of it for granted.

Dear God,

Thank you for:

my family: both near and far, and the special roles they play in my life. My life would not have half the joy in it without them.

my job: it may be unexciting, but it's steady and comes with great benefits and allows me a good amount of time with my family.

my husband's job: A new job has gone a long way to helping both him and us in so many ways. I am grateful for the new level of confidence and self-worth the new job has brought. And yes, the added income doesn't hurt.

my home: I may be currently houseless, but I am not homeless. Thank you to everyone involved in our recent move and soon-to-be-ours new home. We weren't looking for a shift in dwelling space but were wise enough to say yes to the opportunity when it came knocking. Thank you Grandpa and Grandma for wanting us to have your home. Thank you to my in-laws for helping orchestrate it all and for keeping on top of things so that everyone is getting the good end of the deal.

my belongings: I have more than what I need and am seeing the value in having less. Cleaning out the new house has been a good lesson in material goods and their proper place in our lives. We may have a long way to go to get down to what we really need to own, but we're moving in the right direction.

my health, my family's health: We have had a relatively smooth winter this year and I greatly appreciate that. I also appreciate the traumatizing brush we had with the stomach flu this winter for reminding me of the true value of our health.

my security net: friends, family, you know who you are and how important you are to us. Knowing that you're there for us has made it possible for us to take the leaps of faith necessary to bring us to where we are now.

my good fortune: we may not be rich, but the things we need have fallen to us when we needed them most. We do not go without.

my life: a gift well-appreciated.

Amen.

Butter Talk

2010-05-06T08:43:00.001-05:00

A: Flower butter comes from yellow flowers. Real butter is made from containers.

Me: Real butter is made from cows milk and put in containers.

A: No, real butter is made from white cheese, cow milk, and rice milk.