Pattern: Brooklyn Tweed’s “Turn A Square Hat” (with modifications)
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca
Needles: 16″ size 6 circs (two circs for crown)
Notes: I might decrease the number of body stitches next time – it’s just a little looser than I’d like, but not unacceptably so. Also, while I know it won’t have sharp corners if the double decreases are separated by a knit stitch between, I still might try that. I’m not sure how I feel about the gap that it creates. It’s not what I’d normally do. I love the colors that Ultra Alpaca comes in. You get a lot of bang for your buck with this yarn. All in all, I’m pleased.

Yesterday was day 100 with the wii fit. I planned this wonderful triumphant post about how I’d lost 10 pounds over 100 days, and how slow and steady won the race, and how I was looking forward to losing another 20 over the next 200 (or so) days. I was at 9+ pounds down when I took that picture. Then I stepped on the scale and I was up one and a half pounds! I was expecting to be down! STUPID HORMONES!!! Day 100 just fell on the wrong day for me. Sigh.

I’m counting it anyway. I’ll be back down in a day or so once my body settles back down.



Currently on the needles: NOT a Jayne hat! That’s right, someone ordered something other than a Jayne hat. Okay, they ordered a Jayne hat for themselves and another item for a friend. Often I’m so glad to be looking at something besides orange that I give a discount. Heh.

This is two strands held together – one of Skacel Posh and one of Crystal Palace Squiggle. Squiggle has a unique texture and is my favorite “novelty” yarn. Posh is much softer than most fuzzy yarns. The weave on this is nice and loose. You can pull it sideways until it’s over a foot wide. I think the client’s friend will like this.

Tiny financial win!

Today is school picture day, a day when the students don’t have to wear a uniform but can wear street clothes. When wearing regular clothes, Em always picks her own out of the drawer, and she has very definite preferences for certain outfits. For a school picture, you really want something rather plain that won’t draw attention away from the face. No busy patterns, no outrageous colors.

Last night, I stuffed her more colorful outfits into the back of her drawers and put the plainer clothes to the front. I was curious to see if she’d pick whatever she touched first, or if she’d actively look for her favorite outfit. I should have known what my fashion plate would do.

The result was this, but with a purple patterned skirt, a purple plastic headband, and a bandaid with a fairy on it on her knee. That’s my girl.

I WANNA ROCK!!

Here’s a Hellmann’s mayonnaise ad from the Sept 1942 Better Homes and Gardens. The buyer compares herself to inventor Ben Franklin because she’s invented a kind of mayo salad that will feed 50 for six bucks. Or, more likely, get her lynched by 50 servicemen angry that they had to eat it. Good thing she’s got her friend, a “Home Ec girl” standing up to support her, or the world might never have known the glory of the Ben Franklin salad!

Some of these illustrations are just fantastic out of context. How would you recaption the picture below? What the heck is really in that jar?

Last night in D&D:

• Our party discovered we’d been systematically pickpocketed by our hired help.
• We rescued some Dwarven miners and then accidentally set them on fire.
• I inadvertently tied myself to an oiled miner. A party member stabbed me trying to cut the rope.
• It took us three hours to open a door behind which another party member languished.
• My Dwarf’s beard was shot off by a fellow party member.

So all in all, a good night for us.

Man, do we suck.

From Sept 1942 Better Homes and Gardens. “A hit with the menfolks.” Features mascot Hot Dan the Mustard Man, who seems to have been the French’s mascot in the 30s and 40s. Sounds like an exclamation you say when something good happens. “You’ve got tickets to the sock hop? Well, Hot Dan the Mustard Man! We’re going to have a swell time!”

If the opportunity arises, I’m working this into conversation at tonight’s Books-A-Million knit night.

So a conservative friend of mine – yes, I do have a few conservative friends, bless their misguided hearts – took an informal poll around her neighborhood in Ohio. Based on the number of signs supporting McCain or Obama, she predicts McCain to take it.

So now, via , here’s a method which is just as scientific and infinitely cuter. I present to you http://yeswecanholdbabies.wordpress.com/ . Ask yourself: which candidate looks better holding a baby? THAT, my friends, is who will win the race.

Question! What do I do with my wedding dress?

Right now, it’s hanging in my daughter’s closet because there’s no room for it in mine. My daughter is nine years old and already up to my shoulders, so she’s going to outstrip me soon. There’s no way she’s going to be able to fit into this, assuming she wanted to wear it. I would never assume she would want to, mind you, but the option isn’t going to be there even if she did.

Also, I don’t think butt-bow poofy sleeves is going to come back into style – assuming it ever actually was in style. Hey, I was a Southern bride. That’s what we do. I looked like a giant marshmallow, but I was a stunningly beautiful giant marshmallow, so nyah.

On the up side, I’m pleased to see that my skin actually has cleared up a lot since my mid-20’s.

Anyway, I’m cleaning my stuff out of my daughter’s closet to make more room for her toys, currently scattered all over the house. There are business suits in there I haven’t worn in ten years. Even if I could fit into a size 8 again, I’d want new business clothes more suitable for someone – holy moly – 40 years old, which I’ll be next year. Those clothes, I’ve given to Goodwill. The wedding dress has been hanging in that closet for almost 15 years now, and I’m not sure Goodwill is the best use of it. Then again, maybe it is. I’m clueless.

The places that I’ve checked that want donated wedding dresses don’t take ones more than ten years old because they’re out of style or otherwise timeworn. Sooo… now what?

ETA: My mother would like me to clarify. Even if my DRESS looked large and poofy (although I loved it and loved wearing it), I myself looked absolutely beautiful. I know she thinks so, and yes, I do too.