Tooth Fairy

My daughter has eagerly been awaiting a visit from the Tooth Fairy since her brother had his first visit almost two years ago. So when teeth started getting loose, EVERYONE had an hourly update - for weeks. We all just wanted them out, but I was far too squeamish to try. Big brother even offered a little oral dentistry help, to no avail:



Lo and behold, my littlest trooper pulled the tooth out herself. Ouch!



I remember taking this picture when those little teeth first came in!

Her great aunt made this wonderful little pillow and she popped her little tooth right in the pocket:



Elephinio, the elephant, offered his services to hold the pillow on his mighty tusks.



The Tooth Fairy left a gold dollar coin and a little note. She was a bit scared of Elephinio's tusks, but knew he must be friendly if my daughter was sleeping nearby. My daughter is still carrying the note around.

And her biggest wish, besides a visit from the TF, was to drink with a little straw in her tooth gap.



How cool - she's a big kid now!

No-Knead Bread

Ever the one to miss a bandwagon by a mile (I'm still shopping for yarn for a Clapotis!), I thought I'd try the well-blogged No-Knead Bread. There are even blog posts about folks who have made this recipe. And a video!

I saw it mentioned first at Farmgirl Fare and discounted it as I didn't have a large covered casserole to bake it in. She later mentioned that you could use a 2-quart and some one some where mentioned it could be Pyrex, not necessarily Le Creuset. Well, alright then, let's bake!

I really should have watched the video or read some of the posts as I made a classic mistake. The recipe calls for 1 5/8 cup water, but it made the dough WAY too wet:



Looks more like batter, doesn't it? Apparently, 1 1/2 cups is more on the mark. I also substituted some whole wheat bread flour for the white flour and I think it made the dough even heavier. I had no ability to shape the dough, so I just poured it in the pan and hoped for the best. Here it is going in the oven:

The finished loaf didn't look much better, but I included it on our lunch today:

I must say that the stuffed shells were much better. If I try this again, I'll definitely use less water and maybe all white flour until I can get it to turn out. The successful photo looks so yummy, I think I'll have to try again soon.

Has anyone else given this a try?

Half by Half Jump Start Giveaway

Oh, the pleasure of letting go!!!

I'm happy to report that my de-stashing is flying along. Thanks to the following folks for responding to my call for help:

*Lynn: ALL of the crayon is heading your way!
*Eileen: Green lace yarn/pattern for you!
Mary: Yea! for the suggestion to pass on the remaining yarn!

*Please let me know your real mail addresses at tabewhiteATgmailDOT com.

Gathering the list for the last post forced me to cull yet more "gems" from my collection:



Some are returning to a yarn shop in the hopes for store credit/exchange to match existing.
Some are being left under the cover of night for unsuspecting knitters.
Some are being foisted off on the attendees of the next Knit Night I can haul myself to.

Just remember, if you get an email from me asking for your mail address, just give the info and nobody will get hurt!

Happy Dance

Sometimes, the spirit just moves you:








Dying rice on the back porch on a beautiful spring day led to this impromptu paper-tube percussion concert complete with interpretive happy dance.

Too bad we didn't sell tickets.

Evidence

I occasionally stumble across evidence of my children's aspirations as I (constantly) straighten around the house.

My son, the future book group leader:



I found this "must read" on my nightstand with the note "read this or else!!!" Needless to say, I read it!

And my daughter also has big plans:



Judging from her to-be-put-away pile, I think she is planning to become a ballerina and running away with the circus.

A Fall, the Stash Flash - and a Jump Start!

Oh how the mighty have fallen! I was so happy to once claim that I only needed this one drawer to contain my yarn:



Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.(Prov 16:18, AMP)

And what a fall I found! In the spirit of full (and soul crushing) disclosure, I offer the following evidence of my out of control stash:



These are my (gallon!) baggies of extra yarns - ends of skeins from projects - anything from a few yards to most of a skein. Should I store it by weight or color? I can never commit to one or the other, so I have the convenience of both at the same time. Anyone remember a person collecting sock yarn remnants for a charity project? Any thoughts on using leftovers? Have you seen the CUTE skirt from Greeting from the Knit Cafe?

Here are my designated (projects waiting) sock yarns (another skein or two showed up after the photo shoot):

Included are socks for my husband, flip flop socks for me (2 pr.), socks for my son, another pair that should be my primer for using 2 circular needles (need right size), and a two skeins that are too small for adult socks, but might make a pair or two or kiddie footwear.

Other designated yarns:

This innocent collection is shielding a tank top, hat and mittens, fingerless gloves for next Christmas, Knitpicks Candlelight shawl, and a mobius cowl.

Another Christmas project:

It's the Hanukkah pillow from

Handknit Holidays using Knitpicks Shine Worsted. Major concentration needed, but should be done for December this year (if I can stop starting new projects!).

More on the needles:

Malabrigo hats for the little people, Argosy in Hempathy for me, and an eyelet front-tie shrug for my daughter.

The Knit Picks Color Burst Skirt for my daughter:

I really wanted a project to try Fair Isle and this looked cute. I failed to notice the very large numbers of solid stockinette rows before the "fun" begins. Just needs a little time and attention. It's a bit of a slog right now, so was discarded for a zippier project (or two, or three...).

Here we have more Shine Worsted for a Sitcom Chic sweater and dye able sock yarn:

Here is some wonderfully funky yarn from my Knit Night friend that is begging to be a swing coat with a funky loopy fringe edge:

I really need a top down pattern so I can stop when the yarn runs out. Might have seen a candidate in Yarn Girls' Guide to Knits for Older Kids. Anyone have this book? The purple and silver sparkle strand combination = pure little girl delight!

Still with me? Here comes the real foolishness:

WHAT is all of this?

I have Knit Picks Crayon yarn that I was thinking was much heavier when I ordered it. And then I ordered more! The rainbow yarn is the craft yarn we keep on hand for kid projects. There is a whole blue alpaca skein left from a hat, green washcloth yarn, two baby hat/sock yarn ideas, gray yarn for some toy I can't remember. Oh look, there's that nice skein of Kool Aid yarn created by my son - but what will it be? Also appearing are skeins of free yarn for hospital baby hats, more Christmas projects, a failed legwarmer project, and an Alison scarf that I really like but am having the hardest time with technically.

I hate this kind of yarn. Full of possibilities, but loose plans at best and lots of space requirements.

Same with the Cascade 220 collection:

I kept buying to "save" another skein, then project ideas grew and morphed into this pile. I'm thinking of vests for the Afghans for Afghans kids.

I took my wide friend's advice and decided to weigh the whole stash:

TWENTY POUNDS! Yikes!

But what is half of 20? That's right: 10!! Keep 10 and use/release 10. Ten Ten. Nice.

So here's the jump start:

You bloggers have really inspired me so I want to return the love. Up for grabs is:

• Knit Picks Crayon yarn. Three skeins are in one colorway and five are in another, but both are cream and could work together if you mixed your skeins up a little. Offered as one batch or two.
• One skein of Knit Picks lace weight something in mossy green with an illegal copy of the Elizabeth I scarf patterns for which it was bought. I have two other green scarves in the works, so I know I won't get to this. Attractively packaged in the latest knitting tote collection from Ziploc.
• One skein of gray Paton's Astra. Can't figure out which pattern I wanted to try with it, so it is moving out.

How to get your free yarn? Leave a comment any time before Sunday the 22nd of April. Just let me know which yarn you'd like (any or all is fine!) and I'll have my low-tech random generators pick the winners. Feel free to share this post with others who might be interested.

Next up - the project list!

Ahh, I feel better already.

Half by Half

I really like having an October birthday because it is a great time of year for self-assessment and goal planning for the new year. The changing of seasons always seems accompanied by clothes shifting, decoration changes, and other seasonal adjustments. A perfect time to assess and (hopefully) act.

I'm taking advantage of my half-birthday yesterday to do only half the assessing and to announce a half-baked plan. I have too much yarn. There. I said it out loud. Most have specific projects in mind, but my projects are piling up quicker than my knitting accomplishments. I need to act.

Here's my plan: I'm going to reduce my stash by half by a half-year from now - my birthday, 10/10.

How it'll work : I have two large drawers filled with yarn and a Lantern Moon basket's worth of current projects. I want to be down to one drawer and the basket. This includes all the ends of skeins that I have been saving (for what?!) and yarn I really liked, but plans changed. I'll either knit it or give it away 'til I've reached my goal. No buying yarn until October. I'll be using what I have to accomplish the projects I have. Yikes! That sounds even more harsh in print.

Exceptions: My pastor asked for a hat and I really think that Noro Silk Garden is in order, so I still need to pick that up. But that's it (for now?).

Can I do it? Wanna come along for the ride? I'd love to have some company in this half-baked Half by Half quest.

Up next: inventory!

But first, a little celebratory splurge from today's IKEA run:

I found this in a summer-stuff section and loved the print (declined on the matching napkins). Would look perfect at the beach with a project or two underway, don't you think? Good thing I didn't say I had to stop buying cute bags!

TenTen

The kids are both playing soccer this spring and this is our first experience with both doing a sport at the same time (not for the faint of heart!).



How fun it was when they realized that they both realized that they had the same number!




And even more fun when I realized what their numbers spell together!! Now if I were a really cool blogger, I'd figure out a way to put their picture in my headline. Anyone brave enough to help me with that one?!

Snowy Easter

If going to a Christmas party in December in shorts wasn't confusing enough, this weekend we had an Easter egg hunt in the snow.

We started Saturday by marveling at the snow fall and making our favorite snow recipe - snoatmeal! Really cools it off - and isn't it fun to eat snow?



Luckily, we wait for the morning of the event to hide the eggs. I've never done it in snow boots before, though.



The eggs looked really pretty in the snow.



My little guys "hid" the yellow eggs for the even littler guys to find. You can see how quickly the snow melted in the sun.



Here are all the little hunters, all bundled up, and grasping their Easter baskets firmly:



Ah, the sweet rewards!