Doll #6

I just realized I haven't introduced doll #6 yet!

Here are #s 5 and 6 together. You may recognize #5 from a previous post.


As you can see, my mom wanted them naked. It's almost too bad, because I find naked Waldorf dolls to be a little weird looking. She's an expert with a sewing machine, so I'm sure they'll have a whole wardrobe of adorable outfits before you can say boo - and Sweet Pea will be so happy to visit them at Grandma's house . . . but for now -- weird!

Look, look! In this picture, you can see that I gave them knobby knees!

I'm not a huge fan of this pattern in particular. I don't like the idea of jointing a doll with just a piece of string (singular) and hoping it never comes apart. It's not like children go easy on their toys and realize they're handmade. It would be easy enough to fix if the string did break, but still . . . freaks me out.
I need to make another of the small ones for Sweet Pea. I've never seen her nurture a doll like she nurtured this one before it went to her Grandma's place.

It's about Sweet Pea . . .

She's getting . . . opinionated these days.

Like Sunday. Sunday, this transpired:
I was changing her diapers, it was about 9:30am. She wanted to sit on the toilet, so I got out her pee seat, and let her perch there for a while. After using approximately half of the toilet paper on the roll to wipe her nose and her various bits, we head back to the change table. I'm not surprised or dismayed that perching on the toilet was fruitless -- she's been doing it for about 8 months now with no results. (She used to pee in the bath the second her toes grazed the water. We've been engaged in a rather half assed elimination communication attempt for a long while now.)
I lift her up to the table, lie her down, and reach for a diaper.
Sweet Pea: NOOOOOOO!
Me: (jumps out of my skin)
SP: No Baby!
Me: You're not a baby?
SP: NO!
Me: are you a big girl then?
SP: Yeah.
Me (thinking I'm all clever): Well, big girls wear diapers too
SP: No!

So we struck a deal. As long as she could stay clean and dry, she didn't have to wear a diaper. I put her in some easy to pull down jersey pants, put the pee seat on the toilet and braced myself.
She danced down the hallway, clearly elated. I've never seen her so happy.
She lasted until just after 11. I'm actually pretty impressed. (Next weekend, we'll be getting some panties in case of future attempts at being a big girl.)

She's growing up.
It's great, and it's saddening.
She speaks in almost sentences. Most often now, I hear "mommy, er doo-neen?" (Mommy, what are you doing?) - and she seems to understand and process the answers.
She loves to play 'no more monkeys jumping on the bed!' which she chants while she bounces all over our bed.
She sings identifiable songs. I sure didn't teach her 'the wheels on the bus', or 'ring around the rosey'.
She's so much fun. And she's so maddening. Especially when she wants to do something that just isn't in the schedule.

Damn, I love that kid!

Fixed. Ish.

The heartbreak.
This was the hardest part - to just suck it up and put the live stitches on needles. This is a necessary step to facilitate the fix, but also hardest step to take. Fortunately for me, Sue at SWK did it for me. Wait, I don't know that it's Sue. It could be Soo. Or Sault.

After talking me off the ledge, and convincing me that it would in fact be alright - well, I'll let the photo speak for itself.What horrifying, gaping hole?

My stole needs stitches

In July of 2008, one day before Sweet Pea's due date, I cast on a lace stole.

Foolhardy? I figured the infant in my pelvis wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. I was more or less trapped at home in a heat wave - I sure as hell wasn't going anywhere with labour looming. I (wrongly) assumed that the infant in my pelvis was going to stay put, and be induced in 10 days or so. So I cast on, and I knit like crazy, and I had enough of the stole done that on Saturday, I figured I could finish it by the next Friday. Sweet Pea was born on Sunday . . . thereby ending my mad quest to finish the stole 6 days later. In my defense, I had just finished a lace stole in 6 days, it wasn't completely impossible.

Just yesterday I cast off the stole.

A year and a half. A year and a half! Now, it's not like I worked on it every day - but it was there . . . in the background . . . in that bag on the couch. Over on the table. Beside the chair. It was around. And now it's done.

There is nothing quite as thrilling as casting off a long term project. There is a sense of accomplishment that I just don't really get anywhere else. I was so thrilled about the end of the stole, in fact, that I set out to block it last night.

I got out the blocking mat. I laid the stole out. I stepped back to admire it. I stared in horror at the HOLE in the middle of it!! There is a hole in the middle of my stole!!
It probably isn't as bad as I think it is. It's probably just a few stitches. I almost cried. I almost threw it in the garbage. I almost lit it on fire first.
But I didn't. I got some safety pins, and I caught the live stitches, and I put it on the coffee table, and I'm going to fix it. I hope. I'll need help. I'm taking it to my LYS on the weekend, and I figure if they can't help, or point me in the direction of someone who can . . . well, then I'll throw in the towel.

My stole needs stitches.

Doll the fifth

This little baby is for my mom. She actually has 2 babies on order, and I plan on tackling the second one as soon as I can -- but I finished this wee baby this morning.


Sweet Pea is really rather taken with this small doll. Probably because it's only about 9 inches, and manageable for her. Maybe because it fits into her orange crate dolly bed so nicely. But what happens when you tell Sweet Pea she can't keep something??

You get the power scowl. Good thing the baby just keeps smiling!

Christmas part 2

Let's begin with Christmas Eve.


Here is Sweet Pea in her lovely new dress. I put it on her just to see how much too big it was. Apparently she liked it. She wouldn't let me take it off until bedtime.

Christmas morning came early in our house this year. 5:30 am. She's ONE. She doesn't even know yet! I kept her snuggly and busy until 6:30, but then I just couldn't convince her she didn't need breakfast anymore. It was time to get Mr. Wonderful up - I mean, really . . . how can you keep a kid out of her presents on Christmas morning??

First off, this little girl has no attitude of entitlement what so ever. It took some work to convince her the toys under the tree had been left for her. When it finally clicked that these were hers(!) the gasp of delight made the early hour bearable.


First, she took her new broom for a test drive. Thanks Santa!

Then she tried out her cookie jar/shape sorter. THANKS Santa. She also played with Toodee for a while. THANKS SANTA!!

Next up: Stockings. Please, oh please tell me that one's for me!

Once all of the wrapping paper was cleared, and the gifts were opened, Sweet Pea settled into her rocking chair with a bagel and an apple. She ate on that apple all morning.

There were other houses to celebrate Christmas at, and Sweet Pea got some great new stuff. She's particularly fond of this play food!

This was my favourite gift. 2 skeins of Lacey Lamb from Mr. Wonderful!

Christmas . . . it's over, but still worth talking about.

Let's start with the baking.

Christmas eve day I made a tonne of cookies.

Shortbread

Chocolate chip - in reverse.

And I made ginger snap dough, which I put in the fridge to chill -- and promptly forgot about. A week later, it made its way to the garbage can.

But this, THIS . . . my crowning acheivement.

Cake fail.

The fluted springform pan leaked out the bottom. The smell of burning cake batter alerted me. I put the pan on a cookie sheet. Minutes later, the cake erupted out of the top of the pan. There was no winning. The cake looked atrocious. We threw it out.

Look at all the crap in the bottom of my oven. Some of it was on fire, at one point. It was very exciting.

Back on track: Doll clothes

For Christmas, I was told all Smallest Niece wanted was some clothes to go with the dolly her momma got her. I was all too pleased to comply.
When the dolly arrived, I sneaked her home with me. This way, I could make clothes to fit her properly . . . or close, anyway.

The final result:

We shall start with accessories.

Mittens! Not an actual thumb there. The fabric is so light and stretchy it just looks like a thumb!


Socks. Okay, how cute are these? I made 3 pair, but only remembered to photograph these ones. Funny enough, these are the ones I kept for Sweet Pea's Beebie.

Next up, actual clothes.

Jacket. Note the socks and mittens-on-a-string.
I made up the pattern for this jacket as I went. I didn't write it down either. It was cute, but not quite what I had in mind.


Nightgown. Sleeves are much too long, but still . . . cute!

Cardigan. Again, no pattern - I used up a lot of odds and ends making this colourful little cardi though!

And finally, my 2 favourites:
Tiered skirt with starry tank top. Cuuute! I didn't make the shoes, she came with those.

Charming dress. This one was easily the biggest pain in the ass to make, but it's also completely adorable.

So did Smallest Niece approve? I have no idea. I can tell you that she stuck the socks on her doll's hands right away, thinking they were mittens. The rest of the clothes? I hope she's enjoying them.