Feminist Blog Carnival

Are you looking for some interesting reads? Check out the Feminist Blog Carnival #16 hosted by Virginia at Beautyschooledproject.com.

I'm currently pondering this Play-Doh Manicure.


My mom showed her how to do that. Now when we play play-doh we have to do this. Hrm.

Why Didn't I Think of This Before?

Maybe it was one of those universe alignments, but today I decided to try a new activity with the Lorax. I originally tucked the idea away after reading the post on No Time For Flash Cards - I have yellow split peas left over from Thanksgiving and I even bought a bag of the green ones. Today, I poured the green ones into the container, added a few supermarket coins and random spoons / scoops / kitchen toys and let her at it.






Concentration from her, near bliss for mommy.

Near, because even though she got right into it and had a great time, I did hear the "ping" of the peas hitting the floor / heating grate under the table. Oh well, it's not a difficult mess to clean up and something Lorelai can (and should help).

Bliss, in that I heard her talking to her favorite stuffed animal about how she was stirring and pouring.

Bliss, in that once I thought of putting the bucket on a cookie sheet (hoping to catch runaway peas) she decided to move all the peas from the bucket to the tray, then started "writing letters" and then sang the ABC song all on her own. Wow.

Yep, and now she's crawling on the floor, smooching with Jackson and asking him if he wants to play.

This week started out really rough (terrible twos are truly terrible) but they seem to have settled down for now.

Guy Socks

Back in December I cast on a pair of socks for Dan. 3 months later, I have finished!

The pattern is Manhattan, by Lisa Dykstra, and is really fantastic in its simplicity. There is some stretch and it works well with the variegated yarn.


The yarn, by the way, is Intention Yarns in the "Simplicity" colorway, a club special. At first I was not into this colorway at all but Dan spotted it on the table and admired it, so, the guy gets his socks. I like it a lot better now that it has been knit up. I still have a little more than 15 grams left (I had made Dan a mini-sock ornament out of this yarn for Christmas), so I'm thinking about working on some "boy booties" for a friend who recently had a little boy.


Color goes nicely with our house dachshund, don't you think?

Color Pop

Betz White I am not. Though I love what she does. I am inspired - and I have a need for some new decor, but I really don't want to go out and spend a whole lot. So, a trip to the craft store, a little raiding of the Lorax's box of fuzzy pom-poms, I dug out my hot glue gun and VOILA!


I do wish that I had the smaller size of pom-poms - these were the smallest in a big mixed bag - but, I like the pop of color. It's subtle and just enough of a change.

I've got knitting to do and a bit of sewing, if fabric I ordered arrived in today's mail (I hope!). I don't know what has gotten into everyone, but it feels like a lot of my knitting friends have been digging out their sewing machines and playing with fabric!

What My Child Is Reading

I'm sitting next to another stack of books from the library. And what is my child reading? She's going back to the books that are ours, not on loan. Figures. :) I get a lot of ideas on what to try next from No Time For Flashcards and Totally Tots - so far many of the suggestions have been hits!



One Duck Stuck is a great counting book that starts out with one duck getting stuck in the muck, and an assortment of animal friends come to try and help the duck get unstuck. Cute, rhyming, great noise words. I like the variety of animals too. This is a fun read.

Itsy Bitsy Spider - one of the first song / finger-plays that Lorelai did on her own, this book goes further along - what else did that spider try? I picked up this book for Lorelai at Rhinebeck / NY Sheep and Wool last fall and met the author!

Night Cars - a gift from Daddy, he heard about it on NPR (I think) and we had to actually wait a while for it to arrive. Not a rhyming book per se, but told in a more poetic style. It has taken me a few reads to get used to that. It's a cute story about a dad and baby and ends with a "Coffee Break" - one of Lorelai's favorite things!

Tell Me the Time - a present from Aunt Betsy - this book takes the reader through each time of the day and each page ends with a question to the child. Lorelai has started getting very interactive with this book and I love hearing her answers to the questions - sometimes she just says what she sees on the page, sometimes she has something else to say!

The Very Busy Spider - in keeping with the spider theme, this is back in heavy rotation. Beautiful illustrations, excellent animals, and it's Eric Carle - what's not to love?

Look at what I've done!

I'm still a bit obsessed and scattered over the same projects as the last post, but I've got some photos and updates, yay!
First, those pretzels? A bit of work, but in the end, totally worth it.

To improve on them they need more salt - I salted them, but didn't press the salt down into the dough.

I can finally post a photo of my square contribution to the lap blanket our SnB made for a fellow member. Wife, Mom, Knitter has a great blog post that better describes the project.

I searched on Ravelry for "boobs dishcloth" and found the Nubbins for Ta Tas pattern, perfect!

I finished up a few baby gifts this week. Our friends who were married down in Virgin Gorda had a baby girl a few weeks ago. Seahorses were a theme at the parent's wedding, so that seemed like a good idea to work with for the baby.

Seahorse pattern by Hansi Singh - so cute! I used cotton so baby Calla can gum on it when she's ready. I also attached the tail to the back of the seahorse to make a little loop, but then I forgot about the back fin, so instead I put it on the head of the seahorse, like a crown.


I also whipped up a little Heart Hat using the same purple and pink yarn. I adore Susan B. Anderson's work - I have all of her books - but no surprise, this hat was also a little fiddly in the end to attach the heart. I hope it fits!



I've got a few more crafty plans to attack today. It's a grey, rainy day - good for new projects and knitting. I've got photos to frame, knitting, knitting, knitting, and I think I'll be attempting to sew and a Betz White project. Good stuff.

My mom brought the Lorax a new raincoat and pair of puddle boots - this morning she was very excited to try them out and it was hard to get her back in the house! There's rain forecast for the next few days, so I'm sure we'll be out there frequently.


My new favorite photo:

Obsessed and Scattered

I feel like lately my mind has been running a million miles a second - I've had so many brain flashes of ideas (that may or may not actually work) and trying to follow up on these ideas leads to more inspiration online. Which leads me to supply sources which brings more inspiration, and so on.

The current jumble of my thoughts is along these lines:
*I shredded chicken for chicken enchiladas tonight. This is something that for some unknown reason has scared me to no end. Today I jumped in and did it. I can't wait to eat dinner tonight. (Thank you to Tried & Trues and One Stop Cook)
*I watched the "Good Eats" Pretzel Episode last night, and currently have dough rising. I love the bread-y yeast-y smell. Good eats today, fingers crossed! And wouldn't you know it - I had bookmarked Amy's post on ReadyMade - You Should Make Soft Pretzels but didn't read though it until today. Yep, Alton Brown's recipe.
*Corey Haim died. An obsession of my past, I've adored him since I was 10 or so. So sad.
*I'm determined to crochet some potholders.
*I'm going to give quilting a try: bag, table runner, Flower table runner, Mini i-spy quilt
*I'm going to spend some time with my sewing machine: bowl wraps, napkins, Sandwich Wrap, make my own bias tape, origami drawstring bag...

Maybe it is due to these last few days of beautiful spring-like weather. It's time to refresh and renew and revive. Until the next three days when it is supposed to just rain. Then I'll hunker down with my wool again. No, I'll get to it today after I clean up the kitchen. My current projects are still in blob form and not all that interesting to show off - in another day or two we'll be there.

I finally have some pictures of me actually wearing my Central Park Hoodie - I love this sweater and wear it frequently. We went up to New York state to visit my brother and sister-in-law's new house, along with the rest of the family - it was a great day, good food, great location.

(The Lorax was startled that Daddy was taking the pictures, not mommy for once.)

What My Child Is Reading

I've been thinking I really should be better about keeping track of certain things - like how much time some of my knitting projects actually take me, the funny things Lorelai says now that she's starting to make full sentences and recall and expressions, and what she's reading. I loved to read as a kid, and I still do (Have I got a book for you, but that's another post). I've been adding books to Goodreads - I made a specific "Read-with-Lorelai" shelf and that seems to be a start. I am very excited that she seems to be really getting back into books - when we visit the library we are now taking out a huge stack at a time - like 12 - 15 books! Some are sought out, some are duds. I'm always on the lookout for new ones and new things to do with them. I'm looking forward to getting a lot out of Memetales and Mouse Grows Mouse Learns - maybe if you know a few kiddos you'll get some ideas as well.




In heavy rotation for the last week or so, we have the following.
Richard Scarry's Best First Book - I gave Lorelai a simple Richard Scarry book at Christmas and she kept talking about Huckle, the cat. I remember having one or two of these sorts of books - there are so many things to look at in the illustrations and I think it is good for word building (yes, I realize she can't read yet, but there's opportunity to practice our letter recognition. Pre-reading skills.)

Where is the Green Sheep? - we have read this enough times Lorelai can recite it on her own. It's a cute little rhyming story about the sheep doing all sorts of things (except that green sheep.)

A Pocket for Corduroy - I enjoy Corduroy, but not this particular tale. It's ok.

The Sleepy Little Alphabet - we bought our own copy of this after taking it out from the library - very cute story about the letters having to go to bed. Not annoying with the rhymes and the illustrations are fun. Two thumbs up!

Once Upon a Potty - another one Lorelai can recite. We're working on potty training and for a 2+ year old it's going ok. I'm getting tired of reading this one though. Need to find a new bathroom book.

Olivia - this one I like a lot, the story is simple (and non rhyming! That seems to be a novelty around here). I think the story is still over Lorelai's head for comprehension, but she has sat through it a few times.

Impact.

I almost don't have words for this. I think most people who read my blog already know this, but seeing as how my blog has become a fairly good record for the everyday happenings of my life, it makes sense to me to record this as well.

On Wednesday night, Dan went out to see some friends. On his way there (around 9:30), on a main road in the next town over, all of a sudden there was a car in his lane. He swerved to the left as it became clear the other car didn't see him or was going to move. They crashed - on the passenger side. Side air bags went off. He got out of the car and heard the people in the other car say something along the lines of "get rid of the alcohol". Everyone (dan + the 2 girls in the other car) was fine, just shook up - the other passenger had a bloody nose. When the police arrived, I guess they could smell the alcohol on the passenger and the driver said that she was distracted looking at her iPod. Dan heard the officers talking to each other about the girls and he mentioned that they were talking about getting rid of alcohol. So the officer went back over and went to the driver, gave her a field sobriety test and then she was arrested on the spot for DWI (or suspicion of, whatever it is called). Oh and get this - she's 20.



I guess the passenger had a suspended license (and she was drunk anyway), and the driver was going to pick her up - or that's what their story was. She's got to be in huge trouble. We figure that she's home on spring break from college. We looked her up on Facebook and found her and the last "status update" on her FB page (3 hours before the accident) is a reference to smoking a blunt.



So, the car is toast. The front passenger quarter panel is all smashed up / glass is shattered. And you can see looking at the car how it took the impact - there is evidence of like a ripple effect along the back side of the car. Scary, yes. Crazy, yes. It's just a car. But still. Dan is fine - he's a little bruised. But we are all shaken.

Can't help but think of the driver - she's got to be having a worse time of it. I can't find where to begin to imagine if Lorelai were to ever be in this sort of situation.

Please, buckle up. Drive safe. Pay attention out there.