October 2018 – Six Feet Crazy

Halloween Costumes are (almost) Finished

I’m not really sure how it happened this year, but the costumes for the kids are done. In record time. I’m even going to have time to make my niece’s costume. She wants to be Unicorn Girl so she can wear a multicolored dress and a horn. I’m definitely seeing the appeal!

Here are the completed costumes.

Fire Queen aka Fury Demon from the Depths of Hell

First I needed to make a skirt. It took me 20 minutes (20!!) to try and decide which color skirt I thought she would want: black or red. It took way, way too long to realize I could just make a reversible skirt and then I wouldn’t have to worry about which color she wanted. Way too long. I’m still shaking my head.

After making the reversible underskirt I got my butt kicked by tulle. There is a reason tutus aren’t cheap and it’s because tulle is a pain in the tush to work with. I bought 15 yards of tulle – 5 yards each in red, orange and yellow. Folding, cutting, refolding, untangling the tulle, and untangling the scissors on repeat for 15 yards of tulle was terribly frustrating. To make the tulle skirt all I did was sew a piece of elastic into a circle, and then loop the tulle into a knot around the elastic. The tulle likes to bunch up so she might have to run her fingers through it a few times to have the pieces straighten out. She was also able to make herself a crown of flames from the leftover tulle pieces. She used the same tying technique around a large ponytail holder that we will wrap around a bun in her hair. Should be awesome!

The Good Poison Ivy

To make this dress I decided to find a tunic pattern, and then make the skirt portion longer so that it would actually be a dress. I should have just bought a dress pattern, but that’s okay. This dress was a learning experience in why it is important to measure your subject and compare sizes before cutting out all of the pieces. I originally cut out the pattern and fabric according to the size 8 on the pattern. After completing the tunic portion I had her try it on. It might as well have been made for a 4 year old. Instead of buying a new yard of fabric I cut out 4 pieces from the scraps I had for the front and back in a larger size via guesstimation, which is why you can see a seam down the middle of the front of the dress. After completing the tunic I folded the fabric to make a circle skirt, and then sewed that onto the bottom of the tunic. I decided against making the leggings (I’m good, but I don’t think I’m that good!) so I ordered them from Primary and they should be here by Tuesday.

My blue zombie has changed his mind (again!) and now would like to be Spiderman. I’m pretty sure that costume will be purchased from a local retailer. Heck, even Peter Parker had a hard time making a Spiderman costume.

The next costume I am going to make is for my niece. Originally she wanted to be Rapunzel from Tangled. From there the costume changed to “Rapunzel with a blue and pink and purple dress” and then to “unicorn girl with a purple and pink and blue dress and a horn, please.” So that’s next on my list.

The fact that 1. I don’t hate my sewing machine right now, and 2. I have the time to make a Unicorn Girl costume is invigorating! I almost feel like I could take on making clothes from scratch. But lets not get crazy now! That can wait until the summer! Or maybe we can make pajama pants for Christmas. So many ideas!

Find Your Village

This last weekend we had our monthly potluck. This month our theme was Foods of Africa. There was so much delicious food! We had jollof rice, barbecue from South Africa, briouat from Moracco, and a tasty grilled chicken with lemon sauce.

I started the monthly potluck because I missed my friends. Before we all had kids we would see each other in a regular basis. A few of us lived downtown near each other, more of us worked downtown, and we were all willing to drive the little distance it took to get to the party. Once kids came into the picture attendance rates plummeted, mine included. We began to only see friends at birthday parties or random events spaced far and few between. When we did see friends at these events it was a quick hug and hello before the hosts ran off to attend to their extended family that had joined the celebration. As a stay at home mom, I missed not only my friends, but the adult interaction that comes with going to school, work, and community events.

It was a slow go at first. I made the potlucks be the first Saturday of every month starting in the early evening. That way people would be able to have the majority of their Saturday to do whatever they needed to, and then they could come hang out with friends for the remainder. For the first two potlucks my sister was the only person that came. She very kindly asked me if I was sure these people were my friends. I assured her that yes, indeed they were my friends, and gave her her the oft misquoted line from Field of Dreams: If you build it, they will come (really the quote is he will come).

After that, more people showed up. The goal wasn’t ever for everyone to show up every month, although, the more the merrier. The goal was to have something every month that people could attend if they could. Every month the invitation includes the line “As always, if you make it, wonderful, and if not, we look forward to seeing you next time.” I never wanted anyone to feel pressure to make it. I wanted people to feel that they weren’t alone in whatever they were going through. There are some people who make almost every single potluck. We have some people that have never made it; and we have the people in between. Heck, just this last year I have only made it to a few.

The potlucks are loud, crazy, and chaotic. If everyone shows up we have 16 kids under the age of 15, plus all of the adults that belong to them, and a few adults with no kids. It’s rare that we get everyone and there have certainly been months when only a few people have shown up. But the most important thing is that we all get to hang out, reminisce, and let the kids run around without the added stress of hosting a celebration with various family members judging.

Every month the potluck theme is different. Some theme’s only lasted once. Other themes are waiting for an old theme to drop off before being implemented, like seafood.

January – Breakfast foods
February – Asian foods
March – European foods
April – Italian
May – Mexican foods
June – Halfway to Thanksgiving
July – Grilled foods at a pool or park
August – It’s too F’ing hot to cook (bring food from the store)
September – Desserts
October – African foods
November – Halloween’s last hurrah
December – Comfort foods

It’s not a perfect village, but it is one amazing group of people. Find your village. It won’t be perfect. It won’t fulfill everything you need in a social setting, but it will help you realize that you aren’t alone. There are others going through some weird crazy stuff. It’s not just you.

Wonderful Chaos of Fall

Ahh, October. The lovely time of year where the chill starts to creep into the air and flights of fancy dance around the coming holidays. It’s the time of year where you discover that $20 you “lost” in your sweater pocket, that your boots really should have been replaced last year, and that the easy Halloween costume your kid swore they would wear this year has been replaced with “the most amazing” (read: complicated) idea.

This year, we were going to have random princess warriors and ninja warriors using the costumes of years past for Halloween. Last night I was given the rude awakening that instead this year’s creativity would revolve around a Fire Queen/Demon, Poison Ivy (the good one), and a Blue Zombie. First of all, what??? When did Poison Ivy go good? I must have missed that particular phase in the comic books. Nonetheless, it perfectly matches with my blooming botanist. The Fire Queen theme also aligns fairly well with the metamorphosis my oldest has been pushing through. Double digits are coming quickly for this young lady, and she is taking her growing up head on. The Blue Zombie really found me dumbstruck. This kid has been wanting to be a Red Ninja ever since his sister gave him the costume for his birthday. Alas, I think this one might actually be the easiest.

We spent most of the evening looking through pictures of what each costume might entail.

The Fire Queen images we found that we liked the most were these. Absolutely stunning! One day, when I grow up, I’m going to be able to sew like this!

Then she drew her own ideas for the costume. Big ideas here! Notice the strings placed underneath the skirt and in the red wig to look like she is on fire. Also, the emphasis that there needs to be a comfy part of the skirt on the inside, because the tulle is itchy. I don’t blame her; it really is itchy. Finish off the costume with a crown of flames and some red make up, and we’re golden…or at least on fire.

Poison Ivy, the good one, should be a little simpler. A bright green twirly dress, some green leggings, and a belt made of vines. This, I can do!

She also drew her own version of what the costume should look like. Note the emphasis on a twirly dress, with poof, of course. Tights, some slip on shoes, and “green all the way.”

I’m glad we recently got a Michael’s coupon in the mail. Now all I need is to find a couple for JoAnn’s Fabric. I’m pretty sure I can make the same twirly dress for both girls, one long and in red for the the Fire Queen; one shorter and in bright green for Miss Ivy. And making twirly dresses with a circle skirt pattern shouldn’t be too hard – fingers crossed of course! I wonder if I can find a bright red flat sheet for the dress. The kid is only 5’3″ so finding cloth long enough for her dresses is a pain in the tush.

The Blue Zombie is going to be a second hand store accomplishment. Find some blue jeans and a blue long sleeve shirt of some kind. Paint his face a lovely grey, and muss up his hair a little more than it usually is. See, the easy one!

What is in store for your Halloween costumes?

Beginnings of Baby Blanket #3

I am back to knitting Baby Blanket #3 now, albeit slightly distracted by reading. I have begun the self-doubt phase of the project by wondering whether I should really make all 6 squares out of two colors (light blue and dark blue) or make the squares out of all the colors, but then one color needs to be doubled. Decisions, decisions. This is why you should just stick with the pattern, except I’m too hard headed to do that. Smarter not harder doesn’t seem to apply to me and directions – whether it be cooking or arts and crafts.

There are 8 patterns of squares, so I will probably stick with making each pattern with 2 colors. But then I need to decided which 2 color schemes to duplicate. Ugh! I drive myself crazy trying to figure this crap out!

Light Blue/Dark Blue
Light Blue/Light Brown
Light Blue/Dark Brown
Dark Blue/Light Brown
Dark Blue/Dark Brown
Light Brown/Dark Brown

I have made the first 3 squares of the Garter Stitch Waves in my light blue color. I need to make them in the dark blue (or brown, or light brown, or hey let’s throw a purple in there somewhere… head, meet desk).

First of the garter stitch waves pattern

I also decided to add a set of squares to use up the variegated yarn I had purchased to go with the blue yarns. The blanket I was originally going to make was a mile-a-minute blanket, which uses variegated yarn in the middle, and then two separate colors for the border and connecting stitches. Not wanting to hold the yarn for another blanket, I looked up variegated yarn patterns. I discovered mind-blowing Entrelac patterns. I was stunned at the beautiful patterns, all using variegated yarn. I have to say, we are one creative society! I picked up this dishcloth pattern on Ravelry, written by Criminy Jickets, and immediately decided they needed to be included in the blanket as well.

This pattern is definitely worth the extra brain capacity it took to make it. Because of this pattern I have learned how to add a stitch by knitting in front and back of a single stitch, learned how to knit backwards, learned how/where to pick up stitches along the side of a piece, and became more comfortable with ripping out stitches. I’ve always been afraid of ripping out stitches for fear that a stitch would slip and I would wind up losing it in the pattern. Still a little afraid of that, actually. It is so much easier to do with crocheted work, in my opinion. But with this piece it was easier to find the stitches after tearing little bits out.

So far I have 3 garteralc swatches and 3 wave swatches. Next post will hopefully have the color dilemma solved, and a few more swatches made. Oh, and the next book I’m going to read is Moby Dick. What are you creating or reading?

Squirrel!

Last post I mentioned I was starting Baby Blanket #3. And then I fell off the blogging face of the earth. In reality I got distracted with The Minimalists’ newest challenge of deleting 1,000 photos in 11 days. You guys, I had over 17,000 photos! I still have many, many more to go, but this post gave me the confidence to sit down and just do a few at a time. I found it much easier to go through one month at a time. And once I started deleting by months, I stopped counting how many I actually deleted. I know I did more than just 1,000. You should do it, too! It’s incredible how many “just in case” photos we take, and really, we only need 1 or 2, not 10-20.

The Minimalists “Delete 1,000 Photos in 11 Days”

I also got distracted with the Great American Read being hosted by PBS. It is “a list of 100 best-loved books chosen by the American public and a panel of literary and publishing professionals” (PublishersWeekly, Jan 17, 2018). Of course, being the book lover I am, I had to compare it to my own reading history of books I love; create a checklist so that I could track the books I haven’t read yet (or, let’s be honest, want to read again); and dive down deep into the lovely waters literary imagination. You can find the original list of books here. When you take into account some of the series of books in the list, it becomes a much more daunting list, but still, such a fun activity to tackle. The first book I picked up to read is “Where the Red Fern Grows” by Wilson Rawls. I’m about half way through as of today. I figured I would go through all the books we already had before heading to the library for the ones we’re lacking.

While I have been distracted, I haven’t been fully lost. Next post will have the squares I have knitted in my spare (haha!) time

Knit Along

I finished my middle kiddo’s baby blanket this weekend. I would normally add the word “finally” in that sentence, but a good friend of mine once told me that you complete it when you complete it. When you add the word “finally” you aren’t noticing the accomplishment. You’re putting the emphasis on time you weren’t completing the project, instead of the joy of accomplishment. And what joy there is in this accomplishment. Seeing the joy in her eyes as she picked out the trim, and then watched it come to life has been heartwarming. Now that it is finished, she is delighted to use it in all the wonderful ways a 7 year old can possibly use a blanket.

Now that it is finished, Baby Blanket #3 is ready to begin. I’ve always wanted to do a sampler type afghan, but never wanted to start until all the baby blankets were finished. Then, ding! The epiphany I had was to make Baby Blanket #3 be a sampler square afghan. Why I didn’t think of that sooner, I’m just going to blame it on mom brain and be happy that I did come up with it.

After searching for which patterns I wanted I came across Martin Storey’s Mystery Afghan Knit-a-long. I already have yarn (not the yarn he uses, of course, that would be too easy), and the patterns he uses are not so difficult as to be daunting, and not too boring either.

Week 1 is Garter Stitch Waves. You can find the pattern here. I’m using Red Heart Yarn because it’s what I had already bought. I’m using two blues, two browns, and a variegated yarn. He doesn’t use variegated yarn in any of his squares, so I’m not really sure how I’m going to add that in, but I’m sure I will figure it out. As I finish each week I’ll post pictures and comments here. If you’re joining me, I’d love to see your work in the comments! Happy knitting!