Tea and Homework

Now that she is in first grade, Nora has homework every night. Her teacher sends home a worksheet four nights a week, she reads for (a minimum of) ten minutes each day, and practices her spelling words and her Dolch words. Phew!

We have found that a nice cup of tea makes homework go more smoothly.

Oh, for the days when color crayons were acceptable on homework!

Dana Working Out

Ever wonder how Dana keeps her girlish figure? Mystery solved!

A couple weeks ago, Dana put on her bikini (inside out, of course), put in an exercise DVD and got to work. She managed to follow along for about ten minutes before she started dancing and doing her own thing. It was all pretty humorous and very sweet.

Yes, Another Hat

It's safe to say I have been a little hat crazy lately. I have knit at least eight hats this winter, with yarn for two more at home. The joys of knitting a hat are so many! I have tried new techniques, like lace, on something small and manageable. And hats knit up so quickly, so it is pretty close to instant gratification. And most hats (at least, the ones I've been making) use a single skein of yarn, so I can try fancier yarns without going broke. Plus, in this frozen tundra I live in, my family and friends are always happy for a stylish new toque. After all, we require hats 13 months out of the year.

My aunt emailed me right before Christmas and said that her and my mom's cousin was diagnosed with colon cancer and is going through chemotherapy. She knows I have made some chemo caps, so she asked if I might make one for him. And so I did. I used my favorite yarn of late: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. I may have mentioned this yarn before as I have used it for several projects. It is as soft as a cloud and completely itch free, though it is 55% merino wool. I didn't have enough of any one color in my stash, and I have trouble finding this yarn locally, so I thought it was a great opportunity to work with stripes. Not that stripes are new to me, but I have been trying new techniques with striping.

I mailed this soft, stretchy hat off today. I hope it makes this time a little more bearable for him. I am so glad my aunt asked me to knit this!

The Inauguration Hat

I have spent a lot of time knitting things for people. And every time I pick up the needles, the girls ask what I am knitting and who it is for. And they inevitable ask why I am not knitting something for them. Ah, the guilt! Since I have knit not one but two hats for Dana this winter, it was Nora's turn.

I showed her some patterns on Ravelry, and she chose this one, titled "Lace-Edged Women's Hat." Next, we looked through yarn colors. Nora was adamant that she wanted a blue hat. I, being ever cautious, showed her many options in pink and purple. She reminded me again and again that she wanted blue and finally settled on this color, called Ballad Blue. It isn't that I love pink and purple ( I am so very tired of these colors). It's just that they have been Nora's favorite colors forever, and I want to make sure she loves the hat and wants to wear it.

I had some, um, problems making this hat. I won't bore you with the details. I will just tell you that I learned two frustrating lessons: 1) ALWAYS DO A GAUGE SWATCH, and 2) When knitting a delicate lace pattern, make sure you are wide awake and not distracted by a lovely 3 year-old who desperately wants to grab your needles while you are counting stitches. I ripped this hat out five times. It got old much sooner than that.

I finally successfully cast on last night. I focused hard on the lace pattern, actually saying the name of each stitch out loud as I worked: "Knit one, yarn over, slip one, knit two together, pass, yarn over, knit two." It took a while as I was very deliberate with my work, for good reason. And this morning, while I watched the inauguration, I knit the rest of the hat, meaning MOST of the hat. So I have coined it the Inauguration Hat. I know that I will always remember this as the hat I knit while I watched the festivities. Plus it's blue. And when Nora got home from school, she tried it on and thought it was beautiful. And not itchy!

Play Dough

It has been cold here. When I woke up on Tuesday, it was -27. Wednesday was a bit warmer, but Thursday and Friday? Ridiculous. It was so cold that they canceled school pretty much everywhere in the whole state. With the windchill, it was anywhere from -25 to -50. I just read that it is supposed to be a balmy 19 above tomorrow! Hurray! But how do I entertain two girls with cabin fever two days in a row? I make fresh play dough, that's how.

My mom teaches preschool. She searched for the perfect recipe for years, and finally found this one. It is a keeper for sure. While it only lasts five to ten days with 17 kids using it for thirty hours each week, it lasts for months at home with two kids. Yes, months.

Here are the assembled ingredients. For the most part, these are things I always have on hand. I have to buy Kool-Aid when I see that our play dough is starting to get gross, but I always have the other stuff in the cupboards.

Inese's* Play Dough

4 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup salt
1/2 Tablespoon Granulated Alum (in the spice aisle)
5 Tablespoons vegetable oil (or 1/4 cup plus 1 Tablespoon)
1 packet of Kool-Aid
3 cups boiling water

Mix the flour, salt and alum in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the oil.

Mix the boiling water and the Kool-Aid in a small bowl or large measuring cup. Add to flour mix. Stir until it is pretty much mixed. Dump it all onto the counter or table and knead it until it is completely mixed.

OR do what I do, if you can. It is a lot easier and saves your hands from getting burned and dyed weird Kool-Aid colors.

Mix the Kool-Aid and boiling water (this is for even color distribution. If you add them separately, it is really hard to get the color even). Put the rest of the ingredients into the large bowl of your stand mixer. Pour the boiling hot Kool-Aid on top. Mix on the lowest speed using the dough hook. When it is pretty well mixed, dump it onto the counter or table and knead until soft and thoroughly mixed. Test the temperature, and when it has cooled to a safe temp, let your kids have at it. It is fun to play with warm, fresh play dough when it is wicked cold outside. Just make sure to store it tightly covered, away from air, when they are done. It will stay soft and wonderful for months.

*My mom did not actually invent this recipe, but we do not know where she found it, so I am calling it Inese's recipe. Also, Inese rhymes with Venus. She was born in a displaced persons camp in Kiel, Germany, where my grandparents fled from their native Riga, Latvia. I don't know whether Inese was a popular name in Latvia.

This is Nora with the entire batch. It makes a lot-enough to fill my 2.3 quart Rubbermade container.

I like play dough time because the girls actually cooperate with it. They use it to build things together, and then they play "guys" with it. They use squeaky voices and fantastic story lines and are the best of friends. Pretty fun to watch, and so much better than the arguing from this morning.

Crafty Magnets

So like I mentioned in my previous post, the girls had an overnight with Grandma and Grandpa. And like I mentioned in my previous post, I used some of that time to get some stuff done that is easier when I am only supervising myself. I admit that not all of it was "work." Like these magnets I made.

I bought all of the supplies a week ago and have been waiting for an opportunity to try them. I plan to include the girls next time, but I wanted to practice by myself first, and I wanted to make sure the adhesive I bought didn't emit noxious odors or melt the skin right off of my fingers. I am happy to report that it all was safe and easy. And fun! And not my idea. I found the idea here. And I bought my supplies at Michael's, and everything was right where Not Martha said it would be.

I went with the 3/4" size, purchasing 3/4" round magnets, flat glass marbles, and a 3/4" circle paper punch. Not Martha actually traced and cut out her circles, but I am lazy. And I don't have that kind of time. And I am not that good at cutting. Plus when I make them again with my girls, they will be able to punch out their own little circles, which will be more fun for them. And I had a 40% off coupon and some Christmas gift money burning a hole in my imagination.

I originally planned to punch holes out of pretty scrapbooking paper, but it seemed that all of the patterns I had in my stash were big. And my 3/4" size constraint wasn't going to do it. So I decided to use catalogs. I grabbed Hanna Andersson, Pottery Barn, The Company Store and Land of Nod and went to work punching out pretty fabrics and such. And I think they came out rather well. They are strong but not frighteningly so, and they are cute. And much nicer than the advertising and alphabet magnets that held photos and artwork on my fridge yesterday. Too bad the flash made the patterns so hard to see. I never did claim to be a good photographer though.

The Hat and the Legwarmies and the Shed

Remember a week or two ago, when I was complaining that I was trying to use up yarn by making a hat for Dana to match her legwarmies, and I ran out? Well, I decided to just buy more yarn. I know that rather defeated the purpose of using up yarn, but in the end, the matchiness won me over. The thing is, Dana will be four in March. Soon, she is not going to let me have anything to do with her wardrobe choices. I mean, just look at Nora: when she is putzing in the morning, refusing to get ready for school, I threaten to select an outfit for her and, before I can get the entire sentence out of my mouth, she is at her dresser with jeans in one hand, digging through her shirt drawer. Because God forbid I should have any involvement with her outfit! Plus, I really like the yarn. I am not going to be disappointed to have more of it laying around. It is lovely to knit with, and it is so soft! And the colors are actually very nice, for purple and pink.

See? Don't they look pretty cute together?

So that was all good and lovely. I finished it on Tuesday night. We got up Wednesday morning and I showed it to Dana, who pointed to her forehead and said, "It makes my heads itch." Heads? And so, after ECFE, we went to the fabric store, where she selected a beautiful flannel print to line it with. The girls went to visit Grandma and Grandpa Saturday afternoon and did not come home until Sunday evening, so I took the opportunity to find an online tutorial on how to line a knit hat. And it came out OK.

Dana tried it on when she got home and it still fits-phew! I was worried it wouldn't, despite the care I took in measuring and all. And when I asked her if it is itchy, she said, "Not anymore!" and pranced off wearing it. Success!

On a totally unrelated note, we have had a ridiculous amount of snow here over the past couple of weeks. Kevin has had to blow out the driveway like five times. And you know where the snow ended up? That's right-in front of the shed. And you know what is stored in the shed? The box that holds our 7-foot tall artificial Christmas tree, of course! When I finally realized the situation last week, I figured it was my own fault for telling Kevin that this is the first year I don't feel like the tree is in the way, and I was not in any rush to take it down. Until I figured out that I COULDN'T take it down, that is. See, I tried to shovel through the snow but it was packed so hard and was so crusty that I actually broke the shovel. So I was trying to psych myself up for a Valentine's Day tree, followed by an Easter tree. Dana and I actually looked at Valentine's Day garland and such but I wasn't ready to totally admit defeat yet. And good thing! Because Kevin went out and shoveled around the door without breaking anything. And then he went out again and actually got the door open and lugged the box in. Yay Kevin! So our tree is down and Christmas is officially over in our house. And I am happy.