Christmas Eve

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



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



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



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

Christmas Eve

I should be knitting.. Today was not a knit-friendly day, though. MissC came down with a stomach bug yesterday and has been in diapers for the day! That got me to finish replacing snaps to old diapers and adding snaps to 'new' diapers (are they still new if I made them just before the last child was out of diapers and ended up not needing them fully useful till today?). A few days and she'll be out of diapers again.. But, now we're prepped for emergencies.



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



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



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

That Sugar Thing

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

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

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

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

Shopping

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

Long, Fast Week

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



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



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

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

Chilly Day

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


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


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

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