Feeling slightly guilty, and much taken with the fun of crochet, I made a cupcake purse for Baby Girl from another Amy Gaines kit:
The only modification I made was to tie the drawstring ends together without the beads. Baby Girl is only 2-1/2 (although she thinks she's 4), and has a definite tendency to put things in her mouth. She's enjoyed the purse and has used it to carry her toy animal figures around (she likes them in pairs: "I need two for a family," she tells me). Boy M tried to poach it, so now Mom is knitting him a Buddy Bag.
The only downside to all this crochet: I've hurt my left shoulder. I think it's from having to manipulate the stuffed fish body while trying to crochet the last few rounds of decreases. But I'm done with fish for a while. I've actually cast on a new project, Blue Sky Alpacas' Eyelet Cardigan. I was on gauge right out of the box--shocker!--and made it too far into the pattern before I checked ravelry and found alltangledup's modifications which make a lot of sense. I'm just going with the pattern and trying not to think about it. I also can't make the sweater longer, since I raided Mom's stash for the yarn, and only have 4 skeins. I'm just hoping for the best!
I brought my unfinished Summer Solstice sock with me for the big friends' 40th birthday trip to Las Vegas. Tons o' fun, Vegas is! Good food, great company. A little Cirque du Soleil--Ka is amazing!--and my first try at gambling! I should just light the money on fire, though I was only $11 down. I didn't get to knit much, maybe a little on the return flight--my favorite airport experience was when the TSA guy, while contemplating whether I was going to be allowed to keep my metal KnitPicks dpns, asked me, "are you going to take them out during the flight?" To which I replied, "Well, yes, if I'm going to knit." He let me pass. I guess I didn't look that dangerous.
The boys' 4th birthday party was fabulous fun and went off without a hitch. Now we're on a school break, and we're trying to keep busy all day long. Fortunately, we have excellent, almost-summer weather, which keeps us outside all day long. The plus side is that the kids are totally knocked out at bedtime; the downside is that I'm also knocked out, which is not good for project progress. Did I mention that in the past two weeks, Baby Girl has come into her two-ness?
