Random thoughts from this weekend

It really IS worth driving 8 hours to have a good friend come visit. We had 8 children under the age of 8, 7 children under the age of 5, and 6 children in diapers under our roof for 2 days and somehow no one died, there were no emergencies, and besides bread that didn't turn out right, everything went surprisingly well. Somehow it IS possible to thread 180 warp ends onto a loom with 8 children in the house without too many issues. The phrase "I've felt very domestic this weekend" may or may not have been spoken. People are very VERY generous here!!! Sourdough pancakes are surprisingly yummy, and if you use old flour sourdough bread is WAY too sour. Seeing things done in person is MUCH better than reading a ton of books and/or watching a ton of instructional videos on the subject. Visiting my parents, I was able to go to two different stores, get (almost) everything from my shopping list, and get back "home" in less time than it usually takes me to drive to the nearest Walmart. I think we may just live in the middle of nowhere literally. When arranging appointments (like job interviews) it is VERY important to check the DATE as well as the DAY of the interview.

Holiday Bazaar

So I'm going to have a booth at a Holiday Bazaar / fundraiser at a local preschool/kindergarten.  This will be my FIRST craft show ever, so I'm nervous, and have no idea if I'm even close to on the right track.  These are the patterns I plan to use.  (Sorry about the links, but the photos are copyrighted, and I haven't made all of them yet to share photos of my own.)  What do you all think?  Am I missing something I should be making?

• http://www.repeatcrafterme.com/2012/09/crochet-owl-hat-pattern-in-newborn.html
• http://www.etsy.com/listing/85442129/crochet-hat-pattern-open-stitch-newsboy?ref=sr_gallery_14&ga_search_submit=&ga_langid_override=-1&ga_search_query=crochet+hat+patterns&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_page=2&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade
• http://amray1976.blogspot.com/2011/12/crochet-frog-child-hat.html
• http://www.theboytrifecta.com/2011/10/crochet-monster-hat-pattern.html
• http://a-crochet-ninja.blogspot.com/2010/03/kitty-hooded-scarf.html
• http://www.etsy.com/listing/95280979/crochet-dinosaur-and-dragon-hat-pattern
• http://stitch11.com/sunshine-sara/
• http://stitch11.com/princess-hat-with-braids-and-crown/

Also, if you were to get one (or a few) of these hats, what colors would you want?

If I get REALLY ambitious, and have time, I'll probably also make a few finger puppet sets like the ones found on my Pinterest board (http://pinterest.com/coralreefchoir/crochet-toys/).

More hats

Some I've finished (mostly) in the last couple days:

Owl hat (3-6 mo size), from http://www.repeatcrafterme.com/2012/09/crochet-owl-hat-pattern-in-newborn.html

And two newsboy caps (I only took pictures of the smaller one, sizes 1-3 yrs and "child" size; they still need the flower applique made and attached), from http://www.etsy.com/listing/85442129/crochet-hat-pattern-open-stitch-newsboy?ref=sr_gallery_14&ga_search_submit=&ga_langid_override=-1&ga_search_query=crochet+hat+patterns&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_page=2&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade

And, just for fun, Halloween costumes for my family (these were done in the last month):

I actually wore the "Cat in the Hat" hat, but I haven't received the pictures everyone else took of us yet.

How much can you do when there's actually time?

I was blessed to be anonymously gifted the registration to a health and wellness retreat in Broomfield, CO. So Friday I spent the day traveling alone on airplanes. I finished almost 3 hat "bases" in that time! And, because it's more of a sit-down, learn and process deal, I took my crochet with me. By the end of the day I had 5 hats basically done and ready for embellishments.

I now have 2 dragons or dinosaurs (that's up to the user's imagination), 2 earflap hats that will most likely become three-eyed monsters, and one more elaborate pattern (it took forever!) that I'll be attaching Rapunzel braids to. They were all supposed to be sized for 2-4 year olds, but I'm afraid the pink braid hat is only size 6-12 months. The pattern had no gauge or finished size listed, so I was entirely guessing.

Today I'll try a different "elaborate" pattern and see if I can get the right sizes out of it. And, for craziness, I've decided to reserve a booth at a craft fair in December that will be held at a preschool. My goal is to have at least 25 hats there, so we'll see how it goes!

Why Gauge Matters!

So I got the pattern I was going to use for Sariah's Halloween costume hat (http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/bewitching-hat), and was extra-motivated to get it started.  We just moved, and I THOUGHT my yarn was consolidated, but when I looked through all my boxes, I couldn't find my Lion brand Super Saver (Weight 4) black yarn.  I did find some Caron Simply Soft (which CLAIMS to be Weight 4, but I beg to differ) and figured it would work just the same, so got started.  It looked like my stitches were a little bit small compared to the gauge, but I didn't think it would be a big deal.  About two hours later and half-way through the pattern I decided it WAS and I stopped.  The next day my husband found two misplaced boxes of yarn that had my Super Saver black yarn in them, so I started over.  I stopped at exactly the same place and took a picture.

And THIS is why you should ALWAYS check the gauge!  Even though the yarns are supposed to be the same weight, they are vastly different.  I used a size I crochet hook for both.  The one on the left is the Lion Brand Super Saver yarn.  The one on the right is the Caron Simply Soft yarn.  When I try to work the Simply Soft yarn to gauge for this project, it unravels and leaves TONS of gaps in my work.  So there you go.  When a pattern recommends a gauge, and gives the yarn they used to achieve it, it's probably a VERY good idea to use THAT yarn or at least something that feels similar.  Simply Soft feels much finer and softer than Super Saver yarn, and the hats proved it.  The Simply Soft hat will not keep shape by itself, while the Super Saver yarn holds its own.

And the finished product:

Sariah is obsessed with pink, and since it's her costume she got to choose.  She wanted the hat band to be pink.  And originally she wanted BRIGHT YELLOW (brighter than Minnie Mouse's shoes on her shirt) for the hair.  I convinced her to go grey and pink, which I think works really well with the hat band.  Now we'll see if it holds up until Halloween.  I'm going to have to put it up soon if I want those braids to stay intact!

It's been a while... Update!

Craziness

I've probably got to be one of the most boring bloggers to follow, lol.  Things have been busy around here!  The twins had their tongue and lip ties lasered at about 11 months.  It's HUGE deal.  I didn't realize how much their eating and EVERYTHING was affected by those ties.  I'm so glad we got it done (even though it was EXTREMELY expensive).  Tongues are supposed to be able to come out past the lower teeth/gums (theirs couldn't), and with lip ties like they had, food got stuck between their upper lip and gums, making it extremely inflamed and painful, especially since their tongues couldn't reach up there to get the food out.  Things are so much better now!

Then they had their birthday.  Dragon bread cakes dusted with colored sugar was a big hit with everyone!

This was totally a Pinterest find and creation, and even though I really didn't like how they ended up looking, they sure tasted great!





I used the recipe linked in the blog tutorial (http://showtellshare.blogspot.com/2011/10/archangels-dragons-and-swords.html), used chocolate chips for the eyes (which didn't work so well), and colored sugar (http://thefrazzledmama.com/?page_id=815).  What would I do without the internet, seriously?

Kent got the purple dragon.

Erik got the green dragon.

And things are just crazy with 3 kids ages 3 and under in the house.  I love it!  So there's the crazy of it all.

Craftiness

I tested another hat for Kandice at Sweet Kiwi Crochet.  It's not exactly my favorite animal, but it still turned out cute.

So, as you can see, it's MUCH easier to get a photo of the hat on the table or a doll.  My boys will NOT leave hats on their heads!




I also made a hat for Christopher for his birthday (and ended up not finishing it until Easter, oh well.  At least he got it, and it was a surprise!  We really like dragons around here, and he LOVES Hot Tamales, so what would be a better gift than a fire breathing dragon?

Paint to the rescue... I couldn't get the pictures to go next to each other (how stupid is that?) so I "painted" them into the same file.  Isn't he a great self-photographer?  I was really excited about how much he liked the gift.  I have no idea where he's gonna use it, but it's sure fun!

The patterns for these hats, and TONS of cute other ones, is available at http://www.etsy.com/shop/sweetkiwicrochet.

I'm also participating in a Crochet-a-Long that Kandice at Sweet Kiwi Crochet is sponsoring (http://sweetkiwicrochet.com/crochet-along/ or http://www.ravelry.com/groups/sweet-kiwi-crochet-cal-1).  This one is a bit different than most CAL/KALs I've heard of, because we're all making our own granny square afghan, but everyone got to choose their own template (or design their own) with the intent being that most would be about the same size.  I decided to make a blanket for my daughter's 4th birthday (in July).  I figured, granny squares crochet up quick, how hard could it be to get done in time?  Apparently VERY hard when you have 3 young kids.  I ended up modifying my pattern already, to make it smaller (it was huge originally, 70"x70") and more doable.

See the size difference?  I'm still concerned about finishing by her birthday though.  Here's hoping (and crocheting like crazy in every spare minute).  The blue squares throughout the pattern are actually 3D flower squares (not quite granny squares), and they are really what is kicking my butt time-wise.  I found the pattern  on this blog (via Pinterest again):  http://alittleloopybutimhooked.blogspot.com/2012/04/cute-little-flower-square.html.  While I can do 4-5 regular 2" granny squares in about an hour, it takes me at least half an hour to do ONE flower.  But they do look cute!

And, my current progress... we're supposed to have at least 6 rows entirely finished by now, to be "on track" with the group (and I'm supposed to be further than that to finish in time for her birthday).  I guess it would have helped if I'd stuck to the pattern and just done what came next, instead of getting bored and doing squares for the center. :)

My basket of unattached squares... I realized if I didn't want them to get lost, I'd better start putting them together.

How people manage to keep their "outside" rows straight to take their "WIP" pictures, I'll never know.  I certainly can't "press" them with books long enough here to get it to stay... my kids mess it up too quickly!

Crankiness

Sariah was cutting some paper, within view, mind you, and suddenly she said, "Mom, look!  I decorated my pajamas for the party!"

She was absolutely banned from scissors for two weeks.  Then, exactly two weeks later, she was cutting some paper again (once again within sight) when I needed to run get the boys from upstairs after their nap.  I came back down to see that she had taken the scissors to my yarn basket, where I had ALL the yarn I was using for her blanket (and she knows the blanket is for her).  It's also almost my entire stash of yarn, since my goal in the CAL is to not buy any yarn, and just use what I already have.  This is just part of what I found (poor picture, sorry).

All I could do was cry.  Layer upon layer from the outside of every skein has been sliced, sometimes in multiple places.  Since I really can't afford to replace it, I'm just tying the ends together as I go, and I won't be able to use this yarn for projects that frequent splices will show in.  For her blanket, I'm not worrying about how the splices look... she did it, she can live with it.  She's also banned from using any type of scissors at all until she earns at least 1,000 gold coins in Chore Wars (http://www.chorewars.com), to "replace" what she destroyed.  She's not allowed to watch any movies until she has done at least one chore already that day either.  It's going to take a LONG time for her to get there, since the gold awarded for most chores is between 1 and 20 coins, and she's rebelling against any type of "work" unless one of us is there constantly supervising her.

So there you go... Crazy, Crafty, Cranky... we've got it all at this house!

CRAZINESS: I want to bike LOTOJA!

For people who know me, it's not a surprise (or maybe it is, I don't know) that I have this insane obsession with biking. I love it! I'd love to be on the bike all the time, for hours at a time. Having young kids makes that less doable, but I'd still like to. The summer before the boys were born (2010) I did a solo half-century ride around Bear Lake in Utah/Idaho, and I loved it. This fall (2012) I play to do an "organized" metric century ride in that starts/ends in Cary, NC (only a few miles from where we live now). Next summer will probably be a century ride somewhere or other (most likely NC, since we'll still be here). The ultimate goal in all this is LOTOJA! It's a lovely insane single day bike race from Logan, Utah to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Someone who raced it in 2011 did a "Map My Ride" route of it, and since have removed the fly-over courtesy of Google Maps... it was HUGE!  If you curious, go to "Map My Ride" and search 2011 LOTOJA... you'll find it.

So yes, I'm insane, crazy, and everything in between.

I'm going to try to get a picture this afternoon of my current bike setup.  Like I said, it's hard to bike with young kids, but I've found a way.  Did you know that a tall 3 1/2 year old can "ride" a 20 inch Trail-a-Bike, and that a two-seat bike trailer/stroller will attach to a Trail-a-Bike?  That means that (so long as I can find safe areas to bike, of which there are some in our area) I can reasonably do training rides up to about 45 minutes (the duration of the 3yo's saddle tolerance).  So when I'm feeling very daring, I put the TAB on my bike, the bike trailer on the TAB, the barely 1yo twins into the bike trailer, straddle my bike, help the 3yo onto the TAB, and off we go!  When you pull over 75 pounds of kids plus the TAB (around 30 pounds, is my guess) and the bike trailer (about 33 pounds), plus everything they think they need with them, you end up with around/over 140 pounds of extra weight in training, which makes the actual racing/individual rides a LOT easier.  It's one of the best training method I've ever heard of (and also the best one I have at the moment, with little kids at home).

Sariah was the photographer, which is why she's not by her bike.  It still needs some tweaking to do... the TAB starts leaning toward the trailer attachment side after a couple miles.  I'm trying to get Christopher to work on that one!  And the white thing in front of the TAB handle bars... Sariah drew a map to the library, then taped it on so she would know how to get there :).