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Now she really looks like she jumped out of a Candyland gameboard.
She wanted a matching scarf and as there was plenty of yarn leftover, I made her a brioche scarf with red dominating on one side, pink on the other. There's still some yarn remaining. Maybe a pair of mittens?
There is an epidemic running through our house. It involves many upset stomachs and a few broken limbs.
The waiting room is a never ending stream of symptomatic fuzzy beings.
The primary children's ward quickly filled up.
We had to open another unit.
Clad in white, the doctors and nurses are short staffed but doing their very best.
Some patients are feeling worse than others.
But don't worry. We are going to take care of you.
A bit more red. This time with pink in it.
I had originally planned for this to be two shades of purple to match her winter coat. But someone insisted on pink and red. Knowing that I need to respect her input otherwise it will never get worn, two shades of purple turned into pink and red.
I like this pattern (Little Windows by Petite Purls) well enough although I can't say that I am particularly fond of knitting in the "magic loop". I wince whenever I look at the hat because one set of "windows" turned out a more oval than the rest. I am hoping that time will help me ignore that flaw as I really don't want to start over. As it is, I promised to make a scarf to match (striped? brioche?) and I need to make that red cabled hat a THIRD time since I made it too small and it was promptly lost. Is the universe telling me something?
SWEETS were here for a week and, oh my goodness, too much fun was had in this house. To give you an idea of what it was like to be here last week, imagine a large deep voiced man wearing a camping headlight, brandishing a rubberband "gun" in one hand and an oversized knitting needle in the other, stomping through the house in search of enormous squirrels. Three small girls trailed behind him, squealing and giggling. Little feet ran from one end of the house to the other. From the bedroom came the ocassional roaring "AHAA! I got you!" followed by peals of laughter. At one point Funky B ran out and announced, "Clothes were flying out of the hamper!" She threw her hands in the air, turned heel, and went back into the fray.
Three little girls slept soundly all week long.
Three little girls listened to many stories, snuggled side by side.
Three little girls (and four big people) ate very well.
Three little girls turned into bunnies and princesses.
Three little girls had too much fun.
Sending big hugs, immense gratitude, and much love to the sweetest SWEETS we know!
I seem to knit it waves. Color waves. For a bit it seemed that purple kept showing up on my needles. Prior to that it was blue. Now it is red. Classic Crayola red. I have three projects that are in various states of completion, all in the exact same red. I would wax poetically that the brilliant red leaves of maple trees and sumac bushes are working their magic on me. Or that the coming Christmas holiday has inspired me. But the truth is that it is just coincidence. One child is missing a cable knit hat and I had enough yarn from the original to make it again. One child insisted upon pink and red despite my plans otherwise. And I, well, I started this cowl in a cream but then decided that I needed something more dynamic for the winter months. So red it was. And here it is:
The Herringbone Cowl by PurlBee. I made it extra long so that I could wrap it around my head. In the end I don't like the way it looks on my bald head (maybe with hair next winter?) but it works well wrapped loosely around the shoulders like a shawl or a third time to keep my neck snug and warm.
Now to finish off the other two so that I can finally move on to all that blue yarn that keeps coming my way these days!
Since Sunday we've had some gorgeous autumn weather--brisk air, clear skies, sunshine, colorful trees. These are the autumn days I so love and I am feeling grateful to have the energy to get out an enjoy them a bit, even if the long hike around Steigerwald required a nap afterwards!
This weekend, for the fifth time, one set of amazing helpers left while another arrived. Nana and Grandpa returned to warmer weather after keeping things afloat here. They were awesome, rising to the task of running our household and then some. It was a decidedly slow week for me and I am certain that I had been on my own to get the girls up, dressed, and fed each day my emergency room visit on Wednesday would have lasted far longer than just four hours. Instead I was able to stay home, close to my loves, and recuperate a little. Thank you. Two words seem insufficient given what they did.
(I was moving in such a fog that I didn't get the camera out to take proper pictures of Nana and Grandpa with the girls so this dated one will have to do.)
As Funky B and I were discussing, planning, drawing out the Halloween costume, she had high hopes for a one-piece costume like what you'd buy at the store, only handmade. Well, I wasn't up for that. I couldn't find a pattern for a tulip petal flower fairy despite all my internet trolling. And I couldn't justify spending a bunch of money on a costume when we already have an overflowing dress-up bin. My compromise: let's make a dress that you can wear on any day and make a petal skirt which we attach to the dress! She was game. Whew!
At the time, MonkE was content to be a princess from the dress-up bin which I was very happy about. So off we went with MGM to the fabric store to get the materials for Funky's costume when MonkE realized that if she were to be a rose petal flower fairy, she'd get a new dress out of the deal too. I might be giving her more credit than she deserves in working the situation, but I am not sure about that. She's a sly one, you know?
Well, you know how this ends. Both girls got their dresses and their felt petal skirts. In the end I chose patterns from Oliver + S. The girls picked out their fabrics. And this is what we ended up with:
For Funky B, the Music Box Jumper:
with inverted pleats, to which I am partial.
And for MonkE, the Ice Cream Social:
In the interest of time, MGM left off the pockets but I'll be adding them soon (or later) because I think they are what make the dress so cute.
Just stopping in to share some Halloween pics, because it's what you do when you have a blog and cute kids:
(not our house but down the street and very cool)
Someone wanted to be a red tulip petal flower fairy. She had a vision of her costume that I think we were able to execute fairly well. The felt petals detach from a sweet dress I made (to be shown later). The leaf hat kept my fingers busy during round three of chemo.
Of course someone else decided that she needed to be a pink rose petal flower!
And well, here I am, proving that I can, indeed, DO IT!
