Kate's Perspective | |||||||
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Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Willy Wonka
Maybe I need this book: Blankets and Throws to Knit by Debbie Abrahams, or any suggestions? I was never a big fan of the 70s version of this film, but I really enjoyed the 2005 version. Thursday, August 18, 2005
Close Call
Her list of words is very impressive-- she knows all the animal sounds I can think of, all the body parts fit for mixed company, and all the interesting vehicles. Trains and airplanes are her favorites, but trucks also merit attention. Motorcycles elicit a "brroom brroom!" every time we see one. Plus she has useful commands like "die down" for getting mommy and daddy to settle down at bed time. We obediently lie down next to her and wait for her to fall asleep. Then we creep out of the room until she is sufficiently asleep to move into her crib. She only wakes up once about midnight, and then she sleeps until 4 or 5 when she comes into bed with us. Anything to keep our eyes closed until 6 a.m. Last week we visited with three little girls, each the proud owner of a Bitty Baby. I hadn't realized that Lydia would be so entranced by doll babies, since we have several soft dollies at home. She hugs them at bedtime, but that's the extent of it. But these babies, with their real plastic dolly skin, oooohhh! She knew just what to do. Put the baby down for a nap, feed her a bottle of milk, hug her by the neck and carry her upside down. I was entranced too. On the way home from the second dolly encounter I parked the sleeping baby in the lot at Toys R Us and waited for her to wake up. We made a careful perusal of all the dollies available and selected one-- her eyes don't close, but at least she is cute. Now you can find Lydia stumping up and down the street pushing her dolly in the stroller a friend handed down to us, and feeding her "muk" from a bottle. I don't know why she thinks this is normal, since she never would take a bottle for us and she is allergic to cow's milk. Who knows. She has also had several very stern conversations with the baby consisting of making direct eye contact with the doll and saying "NO" very clearly over and over. She shakes her head and looks very disappointed in the dolly's behavior. This is pretty disturbing for me, since it seems like a direct portrayal of me, except I don't say NO over and over. I say please don't or something like that. Again who knows?? Anyway, the third major milestone is that Lydia made use of the potty for the very first time last night. We're not in serious potty training, just indulging her interests right now. But still! She went pee-pee in the potty! We are so proud. Our little baby seems to have exploded into a toddler overnight. She plays with other kids at the library and feeds herself. She's all grown up! Faced with all this happy development, the lizard part of my brain almost called John and told him to come home for lunch, if you know what I mean. Thankfully we didn't jump right in on baby #2 because today I'm back in mommy hell. Lydia refused to take a nap and then busied herself pouring water out of the tub all over the floor. She won't let go of me long enough for me to walk to the basement and back, and I'm trying to pack for our long weekend in Toronto. It was meant to be a trip sans baby, but instead we'll be celebrating my birthday and our wedding anniversary with Lydia in tow. Well, tomorrow is her 1.5 birthday after all. How could we leave her out? Saturday, August 13, 2005
It's H-O-T
Here's (some of) what's on my bedside table:  Since several new babies are on the horizon for our friends and neighbors, I picked up our library's copy of 50 Baby Bootees to Knit by Zoe Mellor to plan some gifts. These are really fun! At first the directions confused me, but then I turned off my brain and started knitting line by line. In a few hours I had a bootee! So far I've finished three. I wonder how many more I can make before I have to return the book?
 Even though I am cutting back on the number of books I buy, I couldn't resist Country Living's Country Quilts, which I found on the clearance rack. I'm a sucker for books featuring quilts in domestic settings. You know, armoires full of folded quilts, beds with a quilt folded over the pillows, one spread on the mattress and a third folded over the foot of the bed. And don't forget the one hung behind the headboard! At $6.99, I really couldn't resist. One book hasn't yet made it to the bedside table, but it did make it onto my Amazon Wish List: The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns. This looks like a great reference, which has schematics for all the main sweater constructions (drop shoulder, set-in sleeves, saddle shoulders, raglans, etc...) I would like to use it to change my drop shoulder sweater pattern to a more flattering sleeve. Yes, I have already completed the back so who knows if I would really have the heart to rip back on this particular version. But hypothetically, I love this idea. John is busy geeking out with World of Warcraft, which he claims is a paid work assignment. What a life. Well, back to my bootees and trying to generate as little heat as possible. Stay cool! Thursday, August 04, 2005
Back to Knitting
Oddly, in this heat, knitting has been my go-to project. It does not require an iron, it does not require sitting in a particular room, it does not require electricity (during the day at least)... We've lost power 4 times over the past week. Imagine my annoyance last night: after a long hot day (during which I had to cope with power outages while cooking dinner), I finally got the baby fed, bathed and in bed, and had just plopped on the couch with a snack and the TiVo when we lost power again. Grrr. No AC (which I had just turned on for optimal bedroom temp in 30 minutes), no TV, no lights, no dishwasher.... No FANS! Boo. Okay, I did not knit by candlelight, I went to bed in the heat and felt sorry for myself. Luckily, 30 minutes later we had power and nice cool AC for sleeping. I catch myself fantasizing about cool autumn weather, even though I love summer and am not yet ready! But almost. Wednesday, August 03, 2005
All Fairs, All the Time!
 So, I um, entered another fair. This one is closer to home, and was nicely laid out on a big grassy field. The rides and food were pretty much the same, but the agriculture exhibits were more accessible and we enjoyed showing Lydia her first live cows. 
Mooooooooo! There were more quilts entered in my category this time, but no flag-waving Uncle Sams. 
I won first place! Yippee! That's it for me this year, but with all this research under my belt I definitely plan to have a new quilt finished in time for next year. Here's a photo of my Gridlock quilt in progress... I'm up to 6 finished blocks with 3 additional ones planned out.  |
WORKS IN PROGRESS
QUILTS Big Girl Quilt Oriental Rug Christmas Scrappy Star Gridlock KNITS Cashmere Aran Afghan Lydia sweater |
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