3 points

1) Re: last post's request.
I decided to go for the gloves. The dream gloves . . . and I wound the yarn into cakes, and I cast on, and worked about 10 rows . . . . and it looked like utter shit. So I frogged. Now I'm back at square one.

2) Doll #4
I finished dressing doll #4 in the car today, on the way to a play date. Don't worry -- I wasn't driving.
All in all, I'm pretty pleased with the way he turned out. There were some harrowing moments, and he fought being made all the way . . . but I think he's looking rather dapper.
Beebie (Sweet Pea's doll - she named it herself) and this little fellow are made from the same pattern -- look at the difference.



I think the practice is paying off.

3) The Zoo
Today we went to the Zoo with another little family that we're pretty tight with. The above doll is for their youngest family member, Lovey.
We had a great time checking out the animals! Sweet Pea was really excited about all the puppies and ducks - apparently if she's not sure what it is, and it has 4 limbs, it's a puppy. If there are only 2 limbs, it must be a duck.
Here are some of her favourite puppies:


It's hard to teach a toddler to say 'Arctic Wolf'. That bottom pic? Polar bear. Dirty, dirty polar bear.

Sweet Pea rode a hippo

She and Lovey adored the wall of fish

And admired the crocodile together.

Big, full day for us!

help me, Help Me, HELP ME!

So, I have this problem - and I suppose it's not an uncommon, or even terrible problem to have. But I need some nudging, convincing, or otherwise helping with this problem.

I need mittens. Possibly gloves.
I want them to be made from fingering weight yarn.

Here are my possible yarns.


These are my possible patterns.
Heather's mittens
Citrus mittens (for which I already own the pattern)
Fiesta mittens - feeling a little lukewarm on this one, but I think it would showcase my yarns nicely
Kingdom - really lovely . . . just not sure if I would wear them.
And my dream gloves. They are gorgeous, but the pattern is intimidating as all hell. Not only do I not know anything about making gloves, I don't speak/read Japanese.

So help me out here - which pattern, and which yarn(s) should I use? Every time I think I've made a decision, I get as far as the swift and winder before I freak out and start thinking again.

Sweet Pea's first cognitive snow experience

You can just see it on her little face, can't you?

W. T. F?

Sweet Pea's first trick-or-treat.

Even though Sweet Pea is only 15 months old, we thought this year we would take her out for her very first trick-or-treat, just to the houses on our block. Only to the 4 doors on our street that know her, and would be friendly and non-threatening.

At about 6pm, we put our girl in her costume.


She was, in a word, unconvinced. She didn't seem to mind the costume so much, she just really didn't understand why we were doing this to her!

"Mother, are you quite certain this is entirely necessary?"


I'm sure in years to come, things will go differently . . . but this year, Sweet Pea was more interested in raiding the diaper bag for snacks and messing about in the leaves than in going to stranger's homes and asking for treats.



But once she got it, man did she ever get it! There was excitement on every walkway, anticipation at every door, and appreciation of every treat. She even loved putting the treats into her bag.

At the end of the night, when all was said and done, she was happy enough to get home.


Her loot bag looked like this:



Not bad for 4 doors, eh?