A Prime 23

Week 95:

  We spent most of Thursday evening after dinner playing a new game.  I saw her sitting on the kitchen towel and asked if she wanted to do something fun.  She agreed and I got a full-sized towel out.  I told her to put her butt down on it and she sat down on the edge, facing away from me.  I got a good grip, and she leaned back into the towel.  I started to pull her around the play area.  Any time we ran into something she would get up and move it.  She moved a paper bag and tried to push a chair in more.  She had so much fun and wasn't happy when I had to stop because my hands hurt.

  We were hanging out with Denver when she said Doctor for the first time.  She loved eating pizza in the basement.  I brought her chair down, but it held her plate more than was a place to sit.  She had fun rediscovering her ice cream cart and also trying to do flips on the couch.  In the middle of the night I heard her say Daddy, instead of the usual Dada.  It was either her or a ghost.

Week 96:

  We went out to dinner with some friends, and I ordered her some chicken tamales.  I got the salmon salad for myself.  She ate a bunch of chips and dipped some into the table salsa.  When our food arrived, I cut her some pieces off of the tamales.  They were huge compared to what I was expecting.  She tried a bit but then reached for my salad.  She ended up eating almost a quarter of my salad.  Near the end she grabbed the last bit of salmon but didn't want it after she took a bite.  She even grabbed some rice off of Heather's plate at one point.

  We opened her newest LovEvery box on Sunday.  We only had to show her how to use the Montessori Animal Match twice before she started making the matches on her own.  She liked some of the buckles on the The Buckle Barrel, but I think the Mosaic Button Board was the winner.  We'll see if anything else becomes more interesting to her over time.

  Every once in a while, she likes to line up some of her toys.  She has been doing it more and more lately.  If I'm typing something on the computer I will turn around and there will be three toys in a line behind me.  When Bill and I were at boardgame night and she was with my mom, she lined up 13 of her toys.  She then put things in front of them, like they were all getting something to eat.  The next day she rearranged them into two lines, facing each other, still with their snacks.

  We stopped at Safeway in the way to the cabin, but couldn't find one of the things we needed.  Miss Spud did make some friends.  Two older kids wanted to say hi to her.  The little boy handed her his tiny pop-it and she popped it a few times.  The girl showed her a heart shaped rhinestone, which she held as well.  She gave them back when I asked her to and we went back to shopping.

  We made a very quick stop at Wegmans and Miss Spud got really upset when we didn't let her walk around the store.

  She was playing with Bill's drink cup from Checkers on Thursday morning.  She brought it over to me, but had to get a coaster before she could put it on the end table next to me.  She then took it back and took the straw out and put it back in a few times.

Week 97:

  During our 4th of July trip to the cabin she worked on putting her socks on by herself.  She was less than thrilled with the heat, she wanted to go for walks, but it was too hot to.

  One day we were playing the Mokuru Card Game.  Miss Spud thought it was funny how we were flipping the pieces across the table.  She then thought it was even more funny when I tried to flip it and use her hand to catch it.  We never got a catch, but it was fun trying.

  It was a last minute decision, but Bill, Miss Spud, Zach, and I made it to Smiley's for ice cream and fireworks.  Miss Spud really liked the one that was a two part burst.  She also enjoyed eating most of the ice cream cone on her own.  We also learned that you can see more fireworks if you stand in the parking lot near the outside order/pickup windows.

  The power had gone out a little after 5pm and was still out after we got back from getting ice cream and watching the fireworks.  Miss Spud had fallen asleep on the trip back to the cabin, but easily went back to sleep after we took her inside and put on her PJs.  We had been worried that she would overheat in her PJs if she was under her blanket, but she insisted.  She just have gotten too warm because she handed me her PJ pants in the morning.

  While we were packing and cleaning Miss Spud put her sandals on.  She closed the Velcro and everything.  They also happened to be on the wrong feet, but they were on.

  Since some of her shorts are still too big, I decided to go get her a few more pairs.  While we were shopping she found a pair of clear silver glitter jelly shoes with heart cut-outs and heart imprints on the soles.  She kept picking them up and caring them around.  A few times she tried to take of her own shoes to put them on.  When Bill got home and I had her show them to him, she put them on and proceeded to stomp around in them.  They are probably going to be her new go-to shoe for a while.  When I went to check them out on the Old Navy website it said they were sold out of all sizes.

  On Wednesday it was cool enough out that we were able to go on a walk after lunch.  Mary had stopped by, so she came with us.  Miss Spud was super excited to wear her jelly shoes.  Near the end of our walk, she was getting tired and started to trip.  The first time she just got herself a bit dirty.  The second time she scrapped her knee badly enough that there was some blood dripping down her leg.  She kept wanting to wipe at it.  When we tried to get her to walk back we noticed that she was walking very slowly, didn't want to bend her legs much, and was starting to shake a little.  We took turns carrying her back.  She gave Bill the rock she picked out for him while I got a big Band-Aid and things to clean off her knee.

  She was playing around on my computer chair and ended up pulling the unplugged keyboard off the desk.  It fell on my foot and hurt a lot.  She saw that I was upset and started crying.  I kept trying to tell her that it wasn't her fault and that I was fine.  She kept crying and nodded when I asked if she needed a hug.  I think it's funny that she needed a snuggle because I got hurt.  I don't know how it did it, but the light plastic keyboard cut my foot some.  So when I got a Band-Aid, she needed one as well.

  I heated up some taco pasta for lunch.  I finished mine before she finished hers.  She kept saying she was All Done but was getting mad when I took her plate.  We figured out that she was telling me that she was all done with her pasta but wanted more to eat.

  I had my wallet in a bag with my current crochet project.  Miss Spud found it and was messing with it before she brought it over to me.  She had been trying to get my lip balm out of the holder and couldn't figure it out.  It's a piece of fabric ribbon folded over and sewn onto a clip.  You can't really tell what is in there until you pull it out, but she remembered that it was in there.

  She did not want to lay down to sleep Friday night.  After reading two books and saying goodnight to all of her bedtime friends she still was running around and rolling around in her crib.  It took holding her and asking if she saw certain things in her room before she would calm down enough to let us put the blanket on her.

Week 98:

  There was only one person making the food at Sheetz, so we got lunch late on the way to knitting.  This meant that she ate most of her food in the car.  She did finish her last bit of chicken while playing with all the toys there.  Everyone loved her shoes.  She would stick her foot out to show them off when people asked to see them.

  A few hours after we put her to bed on Saturday Bill heard her fussing and I checked her on the camera.  She was sitting up but leaned forward to go back to sleep not long after.  She kept sitting up and then leaning forward again.  Bill went to go check on her and it turns out she had thrown up.  She got an emergency bath and her linens got changed.  Bucky was the only bedtime friend to get hit, so I cleaned him up and left him in front of a fan to dry.  She got lots of snuggles while we took turns cleaning up.  I can't handle throw up at all, it makes me so it, so Bill did most of the cleaning.  She did think it was pretty funny when I scrubbed her ear with a face cloth.

  Bill was making himself a cold drink and Miss Spud was interested in what he had.  He gave her one of his ice cubes and she put the end in her mouth.  She dropped it quite a few times but managed to eat the whole thing.  She then proceeded to ask Bill for more ice.  Her hand was turning pink from the ice and after the first two cubes she put them into a small cup to carry around.

  I have been working on more Worry Worms to get through the rainbow yarn scraps.  I have a bag of pony beads that I just keep on my desk so I don't have to worry about finding any if I have Miss Spud or Tank on my lap.  She loves bags of beads, and since this one has a mix of neon, star, and regular colors, it's extra fun.  I've been flattening the bag so she can see most of them and asking her to pick out the beads.  She looks at them and considers her choices before picking some.

  After lunch on Monday she just said "Mick" for no reason I saw.  The funny thing is that it was the boardgame night where it was Mickey's turn to watch her.

  It's hard to tell if her favorite body part to mention and point at are butts or elbows.  She will point either one out on anyone or anything.

  She always gets very upset when she wants to go onto the back porch, but we can't convince Tank to go out with her.  She doesn't want to be outside without him but doesn't want to be inside either.  Tank went out when I was working on lunch and I got her out before he could slip back inside.  When I was done cooking her cheesy omelette I went to go get her.  I saw Tank laying down and her sitting on top of him.  Before they knew I was there he got fed up with it and wiggled out of the way.

  I heard her fussing and at first I couldn't tell what was wrong when I checked her camera.  Then I saw that she had her right leg stuck in the bars of her crib again.  I went up and it wasn't as easy to free her this time.  She had also been pulling on it more because she was crying harder.  I pushed her PJ leg up and got her to lay down without tugging on her leg.  It then came free pretty easily.  I snuggled her and Bill came up from hearing her crying when I was trying to free her leg.

  She has really started parroting us lately.  Tank loves to dig at paper and it's hard to tell if he's doing it for fun or to find an alternate place to potty until it's too late.  She hears us say "Tank, no!" enough that she has starting saying it when she hears him digging at a paper bag.

  Both Miss Spud and Tank were annoyed with me on Friday.  They both wanted to go on the back porch all throughout the day.  However, we are in a Code Red air quality warning because of the smoke from the fires in Canada.  It's bad enough that it looks hazy even looking across the street.  Bill even commented that she was in some sort of mood after we put her to bed.  She had been slamming her book on my keyboard when she wasn't climbing all over me and almost falling onto the ground.  When brushing her teeth she almost lost her bedtime book because she kept standing up and arching her back when I was brushing her teeth.  At one point she pushed on the wall and caused me to lose my balance while holding her.

  She is letting us lay her down and put a blanket on her arm night.  It's really sweet because she then lets us know who she want to snuggle that night.  However, I do miss her one more hug sometimes.  It was fun to see her hold up her finger and then make a big deal about coming back to give her another hug.

Week 99: First part

  It rained while I was at knitting, so Miss Spud got to go on the porch after her nap.  She was having fun being out there when I got home.

  Near the end of her dinner she started putting a piece of corn into her straw.  She then would take a drink and get the piece of corn along with some water.  I had to clean it out because a few pieces made it all the way to the bottom.

  She has been resisting bedtime pretty badly lately.  She will Riverdance or run back and forth on her bed.  Acting like a bucking bronco or doing flips also isn't out of the question.  Bill has managed to calm her with singing lullabies.  I tried when he was out of town and it didn't have the same effect.  I was eventually able to get her down, but we were both fighting opposite battles.

  I was letting her wander around the kitchen while I tried to figure out what to make for lunch.  She went over to the deck door, unlocked it, and opened the door.  After no one else followed her out, she came back in, closed the door behind herself, and locked it. 

  She has entered a bit of a biting phase.  I will see her chewing on her fingers, so I wonder if new teeth are coming in.  She will sometimes bite her wrist as well.  She has started taking her bib off after dinner and will sometimes bite that.  If we are watching WondLa she will sometimes bite the back of my hand and try and raise my hand that way.

  I'm not sure if it's because she's resisting sleep, but she was having a rough morning on Wednesday.  At first she wanted to play on the porch, but then she kept asking for snacks.  I gave her one refill of popcorn but was cooking lunch when she asked for the second refill.  She kept bringing me snacks to open for herself, like the peanut butter or fruit snacks.  She then wanted ice, but it couldn't be in both her cup and water bottle at the same time, so she got frustrated.  After that she needed to be held, which made cooking our banana pancakes really tricky.  When I was done she refused to eat any pancakes until I gave her a string cheese.

  When we were checking out at Wegmans Miss Spud was distracted by the bags.  She then turned and saw a lady in jeans at a checkout diagonally from us.  She ran over and hugged the lady's leg.  Luckily the lady thought it was funny.

  We were coming in because I had to make lunch on Thursday.  She stopped at the door of the porch and said "No, stop" before running back out and getting her ball.

  I keep meaning to take her back to the arcade, especially since she's bigger and better at running around.  My mom suggested we go out to dinner and Miss Spud kept asking to go on a walk.  Since we were done pretty quickly, I suggested we go to the arcade.  She was reserved at first but perked up when we saw the line dancers.  She warmed up really quickly and we "played" a racing game until the light-up floor was free.  There are games to go with it, but it cycles through modes on its own as well.  She had a lot of fun running around.  She saw a baby and went to go say Hi to the older sisters.  At one point she saw a girl with flowers on her dress and had to touch them.  It turns out it was the girl's birthday.  Miss Spud wanted to play on all the racing games.  She was getting grumpy, so we headed home.  She wanted to rock in her chair again but laid down easily.

This is Not What I Was Talking About

  I was just thinking to myself that I haven't done anything interesting to blog about.  I've been jumping between projects, so I haven't finished anything.  Though I did make sure to take this progress picture while at knit group.  I've also not gotten far enough to finish a skein of yarn.

  The universe heard me and decided to fix this.  Since I'm currently snuggling Miss Spud at 4:29am, so I figured I should give you the story that the Universe gave me.

  I was having problems sleeping, so I wasn't fully out on Wednesday night.  I heard her cough a few times, cry a tiny bit, then cough a few more times before being quiet again.  I decided to check the camera since she coughed so many times.  I saw dark spots on her blanket and went to check on her even though she was starting to settle in again.

  She had thrown up and all the raspberries and strawberries she had at dinner made it alarmingly red.  It didn't smell like the last time either, so I was able to set out to get everything and everyone cleaner on my own.  Candy Corn was the only bedtime friend to get anything on them.

  I got her blanket rinsed off and tried to take it downstairs.  It held water and the quicker I tried to walk to get it into the wash, the more it sloshed and dipped water onto the floor.  I dried the hardwood some on my way back up.  I tried to grab the glasses I have on my bedside table, but they were so dirty it didn't really help.  I grabbed my more recent pair from downstairs and felt something hit me while hearing something plastic sounding hit the floor.  It was the right lense.  At some point they broke in the case I was using for them.

  While only being able to half see, I cleaned up Miss Spud.  I also rinsed off her sheet and PJs while she played with her light up fish.  Right before I was going to take her out she threw up again.

  I laid her out on the brown towel, but she didn't like it.  She wanted her usual green one.  I got her wrapped up anyway and onto her chair so I could get her some new PJs.  I left her with my phone in her lap playing puppy videos.  I know that means that if she threw up again it probably would have ended up on my phone.  We got new PJs on and I put the towel back on her front so I could go back to getting other things done.

  I cleaned my old glasses since we weren't in a rush anymore, then I was able to get her bed made again and her bedtime friends in it with no problems.  I was snuggling with her when she threw up again, but only foam came out.  I have to get her used to leaning forward when she throws up.  I had to push her forward to get it into the trash can I had on hand.  She currently wants to look upward and lean back, which explains why it keeps getting into her hair.

  I was making sure to have her sip water every once in a while to try and rehydrate her without reaggravating her stomach.  I was feeling warm in the house and I don't know if this happened because of heat, but I turned it down in case that would help any.  She was dancing to some of the puppy videos before I put her back to bed.  She tried to be silly and resist going back to bed a tiny bit, but laid back down pretty quickly.  Normally she falls asleep on her back at night, but she curled on her side this time.  This might also explain why she was so insistent that we snuggle so much before I could put her to bed the first time.

  I looked online and it said that eating right before bed can contribute to the likelihood of throwing up.  Stomachs rely on gravity to help keep everything in and when you lay down things can move in the wrong direction.  The internet said at the minimum to wait half an hour, which we did, but said that 2-3 hours is ideal.

Yearly Yarn Tracker:

Yarn In: 19 (0)
Yarn Out: 41 (0)

Total: -22

That's a Lot of Ice Cream

Pattern: Easy Chunky Beanie by PassioKnit Kelsie - Size: 48 stitches - Yarn: Mainstays in White & Red Heart Super Saver in Mexicana - Needles: US 11 (8mm)

  A few weeks ago at Smileys they were out of two sorbet flavors when we got there and crossed off one of the weekly ice cream flavors when we were almost at the window to order.  She said they had gone through 32 1.5-gallon containers of Chocolate Cake Batter ice cream.  Usually there are leftovers of the weekly flavors in the coolers, but not of that one this time.

Pattern: Side To Side Ribbed Hat by Sally L.M. - Size: 7 sc, 26 hdc - Yarn: Main Stays in White & Red Heart Bitty Stripes in Crayon Box - Hook: M/13 (9mm)

  I made this hat with 25 stitches the first time and the colors didn't match up.  I then took it out and made it with 26.  I must have made my stitches looser the second time because then I used too much yarn.  However, it was close enough and I didn't want to make the same hat for a third time.

  At the cabin the power went out a little after 5pm and didn't fully come back on until almost 6am.  They had quoted 8pm for the time that everything should be fixed, but that hadn't worked out.  It had blipped on at 4:08am, but didn't stay on.  On the Thursday after we got back we lost power at the house a little after 4pm.  They first quoted 8-10pm to get it fixed, then it got moved to 10pm-1am.  It popped on once, but came back not too long after 8pm.  I had planned on leaving Miss Spud's light switch off and close her door if it wasn't back before she went to bed.  Our smart-bulbs come back on at 100% when the power is restored and I didn't want that sudden brightness to wake her.

Red Heart Super Saver Bitty Stripes in Rainbow - Red Heart Super Savery Bitty Stripes in Crayon Box - Caron One Pound in Espresso - Red Heart Super Saver Stripes in Americana - random eyelash yarn

  I saw the lavender bag charm crochet tutorial by fromlittlespot on YouTube.  I used it as inspiration to make the really thick worm on the middle row.  I'm not sure how I feel about it as a worm, but it might make a fun room decoration.  I might also mess with the spacing some more.

  On our nap-drive after knitting we got to see something strange.  At one of the lights, a bunch of police officers on motorcycles came up between the lanes.  Then one of them blocked the other directions and motioned for my direction to go even though our light was red.  After that, at each intersection, a police officer would block the other directions and keep signaling us for us to keep going.  It was very similar to when I was in a funeral procession earlier this year.  They were even blocking people coming on from on ramps.  They stopped at the toll-road, so I have no idea what was going on since I didn't get to see the end of it.  When I drove past that area again on my way home, they were long gone.  I tried searching the internet for any police escorts in my area at the time and didn't get anything.

Yearly Yarn Tracker:

Yarn In: 19 (0)
Yarn Out: 41 (2)

Total: -22

The Mice Are Feeling Bold

Pattern: Dragon Glider Finger Puppet by heyitsjcrochet - Yarn: unknown - Hook: H/8 (5mm)

   I was feeling a weird mix of only wanting to make rainbow hats and never wanting to make another rainbow hat again.  I decided that was a good time to take a break from them.  On Reddit I saw a call to test this pattern and I offered to help.  There were already a bunch of other testers, but I was accepted.  I found a few things the others missed.  This was a fun test, but I think for the next I will make the neck shorter and work an increase before the body.

Pattern: Dragon Glider Finger Puppet by heyitsjcrochet - Yarn: Red Heart Bitty Stripes in Rainbow - Hook: H/8 (5mm)

  Miss Spud's door on my car has been giving me a bit of trouble for a while now.  It didn't always want to unlock.  It also had a sluggish sound when it did.  That made it easy for me to hear when it did.  When we stopped at Wawa on a Saturday before heading to knitting I noticed my car didn't beep when I locked it.  I tried the door and it opened but also set off my car alarm.  The usual trick of unlocking and relocking didn't convince it to work.  It continued to not lock the rest of the day and so I managed to make an appointment for the next Monday.  I also had one two weeks later on a Thursday, but I only got that one in case I couldn't find anything sooner.  To discourage anyone from trying my car door I put a lawn chair next to it.  It worked, even if it was probably unnecessary.

Pattern: Easy Chunky Beanie by PassioKnit Kelsie - Size: 64 stitches - Yarn: Sensations Rainbow Classic Twist in Pink & Caron One Pound in Espresso - Needles: US 11 (8mm)

  I brought my knitting since I was going to wait.  One of the other people who was waiting for a new tire also knits.  The group she goes to meets at a different Wegmans on Friday mornings.

  While still waiting I met someone else who, along with her daughter, also knit.  I told her about the Wednesday group and she seemed interested.

Pattern: Easy Chunky Beanie by PassioKnit Kelsie - Size: 64 stitches - Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver in Americana (doubled) - Needles: US 11 (8mm)

  While waiting the second day the older employee started singing.  He apologized when he saw me, he said he didn't think there were any customers, but his singing wasn't bad.  It was also funny to hear the workers trash talk each other's teams as FIFA was playing on the TV.

  When they were finishing up on day 2 they had a top part of the switch break off.  They then had to order a replacement, which wouldn't arrive until the next day.  Apparently, the cap came off and hit the guy in the face, confusing him.  It seems my door is weird.  Most have you take off the inner part of the door, but mine has you remove all the bolts and take the outer painted part off.  So right now the door locks, but the window doesn't work from the inside of that door.  After hearing the news and before they got my car ready to go, I met another knitter.  She likes to make ribbed scarves and donate them.

Pattern: Jingle Jester Hat by me - Yarn: Red Heart Bitty Stripes in Rainbow & Caron One Pound in Espresso - Hook: J/10 (6mm)

  When I came back for the third time the guy assumed I was picking up.  When I told him I was dropping off he said "Weren't you just here?"  I joked that I should work there at this rate and the other guy said he would be happy to have me.

  I was in and out in about 15 minutes.  I didn't even have time to get any knitting done or meet any crafters.  I'm pretty sure they didn't even move my car to do it.  I had even parked on the far right, so that was probably helpful for them.

Pattern: Dragon Glider Finger Puppet by heyitsjcrochet - Yarn: Red Heart Bitty Stripes in Rainbow - Hook: H/8 (5mm)

  Since I couldn't lock my door, we were keeping Miss Spud's car seat in the garage.  At some point from Saturday evening to Thursday evening a mouse sniffed out all the snacks that have fallen into the holes.  I do my best to shake them out, but some stay behind.  Bill caught a mouse jumping off her seat when he went out to get something.  It had chewed up the fabric around where the hip straps come out, but not the straps themselves.

  Later, at the first night at the cabin, a mouse ran right in front of me when I went to answer a question Bill had.  The next morning I got a drink out of the pantry and when I looked up I saw a mouse on the ironing board we have stored in there.  We startled each other and it ran off while trying to keep an eye on me.  I found it's nest when I went back in and saw the bag that was hanging up wiggle and then the mouse popped out of the top.  I felt bad for doing so, but I cleared out the nest and cleaned off the bag.

  I was knitting on Saturday night and the mouse came through the living room.  We were startled to see each other.  It tried to hide behind my shoe, then went under the couch.  It then peaked out from under the couch twice before I sat up and scared it into hiding.

Yearly Yarn Tracker:

Yarn In: 19 (0)
Yarn Out: 39 (3)

Total: -20

Rainbows Everwhere!

Pattern: Easy Chunky Beanie by PassioKnit Kelsie - Size: 64 stitches - Yarn: Mainstays in Black & Red Heart Bitty Stripes in Crayon Box - Needles: US 11 (8mm)

  I wasn't sure how I wanted to handle making the rainbow hats.  The Red Heart Unforgettable doesn't have a whole rainbow and also doesn't take as long to go through all of its color changes.  This hat fits me just fine in both length and width.  It fits Bill in width, but the length looks a little silly on him.  That meant that unless I wanted to limit who could wear these, I had to figure something else out.

Pattern: Easy Chunky Beanie by PassioKnit Kelsie - Size: 64 stitches - Yarn: Caron One Pound in Espresso & Red Heart Bitty Stripes in Rainbow - Needles: US 11 (8mm)

  This one almost works, though it relies heavily on someone seeing the very top of the hat.  I don't hate how it looks, but it wasn't what I was hoping for.

Pattern: Side To Side Ribbed Hat by Sally L.M. - Size: 7 sc, 24 hdc - Yarn: Caron One Pound in Espresso & Red Heart Bitty Stripes in Rainbow - Hook: M/13 (9mm)

  This one is a remake because the first turned out way too stiff.  I thought I could fix it with some soaking, but it didn't work.  I had also noticed that my knitted version with these yarns was also a bit stiff, but it wasn't too bad.  I swear the hook I was using was a 9mm.  I thought it was too small, but a 10mm was too big.  Between the two options I went with too small.  There are files to allow someone to 3D print a crochet hook, so I was considering that to make the 9.5mm I thought I needed.  When I looked at the hook again, after I was done and my ends were woven in, I saw that it said 8mm on it.  It's even a metal hook, so I don't have the excuse that the pattern on the plastic made it hard to read.

Pattern: Side To Side Ribbed Hat by Sally L.M. - Size: 7 sc, 21 hdc - Yarn: Main Stays in White & Red Heart Bitty Stripes in Rainbow - Hook: M/13 (9mm)

  Before I committed to taking out the one before this, I decided to make another hat with the larger hook to see if it really made enough of a difference.  It really did.

  I put a poll on my Instagram asking if the rainbow wedges hats should have the rainbow going clockwise or counterclockwise.  Clockwise won.  The funny part about that is that when I make them, I'm making the wedges counterclockwise.  So then I had to make them in the VIBGYOR direction.

Pattern: Easy Chunky Beanie by PassioKnit Kelsie - Size: 64 stitches - Yarn: Red Heart Bitty Stripes in Retro Rainbow (doubled) - Needles: US 13 (9mm)

  I tried going up a needle size and used two skeins of the Bitty Stripes together to see how it would turn out.  One skein had two factory knots in the sample I made and that threw off the colors really badly.  At first there were only a few stitches between when the colors would sync up, but after all the knots it was starting to have whole colors become offset.  It would also end up a lot like the first knit one, so I took it out.

Pattern: Side To Side Ribbed Hat by Sally L.M. - Size: 7 sc, 33 hdc - Yarn: Red Heart Bitty Stripes in Rainbow - Hook: J/10 (6mm)

  Since this version goes through more color changes, I'm now wondering if a knit hat using only a single strand with a smaller needle would work better.  It has been added to the growing list of experiments.

Pattern: Side To Side Ribbed Hat by Sally L.M. - Size: 7 sc, 34 hdc - Yarn: Red Heart Bitty Stripes in Rainbow - Hook: J/10 (6mm)

  I was having pretty good luck with the factory knots so far.  When I ran into them they stayed within the color they were supposed to.  However, this one had a knot well into the pink that was yellow on the other side.  I had to take so much off to get it back on track.

Pattern: Easy Chunky Beanie by PassioKnit Kelsie - Size: 64 stitches - Yarn: Mainstays in White & Red Heart Super Saver in Mexicana - Needles: US 11 (8mm)

  I wasn't sure what to do about this yarn since the jumbo skein is so much different than the regular.  However, I wanted to give this idea a shot.  It reminds me of funfetti cake.  I was worried it was going to be too busy, but then I noticed how nicely the colors were stacking on top of each other.  I had been slowly working through it by using it as the tentacles of octopi before this.  That was fun, but I wasn't totally in love with it, and it was slow going.  This hat turned out really nicely and I'm glad the yarn has another option, especially since I ended up with a second skein.

Pattern: Easy Chunky Beanie by PassioKnit Kelsie - Size: 64 stitches - Yarn: Mainstays in Grey & Red Heart Super Saver in Mexicana - Needles: US 11 (8mm)

  I thought I weighted the yarn before I started so I could see about how much I used.  Somehow, I just put in a random number in my notes, either that or the remaining yarn grew heavier as I used it.  With the grey it reminds me of a hoodie I was going to knit for myself with alternating stripes of grey and neon colors.  I don't remember ever actually starting it, but I also don't know where that yarn is currently.

  I noticed that some of the hats had large yardage differences between the two yarns used.  For this hat I made sure to stop and untwist the yarn every once in a while.  I think that was the problem with some of the other ones.

Pattern: B186 Galway Diamond Hat by Plymouth Yarn - Size: 88 stitches - Yarn: Red Heart Bitty Stripes in Rainbow - Needle: US8 (6mm)

  There are some "interesting" things about this pattern.  They have you work in the round, but tell you to end on a wrong side row.  When working in the round, every row is a right side row.  The only way to have a wrong side row would be if you were going to flip the piece inside out when done, but then every row would be a wrong side row.  So it's either never an option or your only option.

  I also noticed that on the decreases they have you work k2togs after getting it down to a 1x1 k,p rib.  This would put the purls on top and wouldn't create a nice knit column flow.  To fix that you could either change the decreases to ssk, or work the rib p2,k2.  Since I wanted the tag to sit on a knit column when flipped up, I just switched the ribbing.  I also fiddled with the decreases, but that is just me trying to ease it a bit more and is probably not necessary.

  At this gauge the full repeat is about 2,904 stitches.  From the crown to the top of where is brim is folded is about 4.75" for my head.  To get it to work the way I want I would have to work it with 100 stitches.  I think I'm going to give it a try.

Pattern: B186 Galway Diamond Hat by Plymouth Yarn - Size: 104 stitches - Yarn: Red Heart Bitty Stripes in Rainbow - Needle: US8 (6mm)

  I was worried that some of the colors wouldn't show up enough because they had such short stripes with the smaller size.  I'm really just confused why yellow and orange have such larger sections of color compared to the others.  I added a few more stitches than is suggested for the larger size because I wanted the number I had to be divisible by 8.  I liked how I did the decreases in the smaller one (repeating the pattern around the row):

 • p2tog, k2, p2, k2

 • p1, k2, p2tog, k2

 • p1, k2

 • p1, k2togs, p1, k2

 • p1, k1, p1, k2tog

 • p1, k1

 • p1, k1, k2tog 

 • p1, k2tog

 • k2tog

 • *k1, k2tog* until last stitch, k1

  I like how the sections came out, but I feel like I would need to work from the inside and outside to get it perfect.  Then there wouldn't be an upside rainbow on the brim and a right side one on the crown.  I will keep this pattern in mind for future hats though.

Pattern: Side To Side Ribbed Hat by Sally L.M. - Size: 7 sc, 24 hdc - Yarn: Main Stays in Grey & Red Heart Bitty Stripes in Rainbow - Hook: M/13 (9mm)

  When I weighed this yarn it said I only had 77g of the rainbow.  According to the other one I made, that wouldn't be enough yarn.  I looked at how many color changes I had and decided to try it anyway.  I had 11g left once I was done with my hat.  I don't know if something was a mistype with the first one or what all happened to give me such a different number.  I changed it to a range, but I feel like those numbers are somehow not very helpful in the end.

  I think the crochet hats are my favorite style for the Bitty Stripes yarn.  You get the rainbow effect without having to worry about how much of the hat gets folded for the brim.

Pattern: Side To Side Ribbed Hat by Sally L.M. - Size: 7 sc, 25 hdc - Yarn: Main Stays in Grey & Red Heart Bitty Stripes in Crayon Box - Hook: M/13 (9mm)

  I was so excited when I got the perfect number for the chunky crochet hat in Rainbow.  I then remembered that I got two rainbow style yarns.  I compared the two chunky knit hats and the same number should have worked for this one too.  Luckily the chunky hats are faster to work up to try it out since I needed to add one more stitch to the body of the hat.

  As you have seen, I've been experimenting with the Bitty Stripes yarn.  It is so pretty, and I want to be able to show it off to its fullest extent.  I've been keeping track of how much I use for each hat I've experimented with:

Short Chunky Knit Beanie 75g total

~ Crayon box: 40g(73 yd) - Mainstays 35g(70 yd)

~ 23 or 24 rows before decrease

Long Chunky Knit Beanie(US 11) 129g total

~ Rainbow: 65g(119 yd) - Caron: 64g(128 yd) 

~ 10" before decrease

Long Chunky Knit Beanie(US 13) 120g total

~ Jumbo Mexicana: 65g(111yd) - Mainstays: 55g(110yd)

~ 10" before decrease

Knit Beanie(US 8) 84g(153yd) total [100g(182yd)]

~ 88 [104] stitches

~ 10" before decrease

Chunky Crochet 126g total [156-158g total]

~ Rainbow: 69g(126 yd) - Mainstays - 57g(114 yd) [Rainbow: 66g-82g(121 yd - 150 yd) - Mainstays: 70g-90g(140 yd - 181 yd)]

~ 7 sc, 21(24) hdc (5, 3, & 7) 6 sections

Crochet 119g(217 yrd) total [g total]

~ 9 sc, 34[35] hdc (7, 5, 3, 9) 7 sections

I Don't Know About You, But She's Feeling 22 (Months)

Week 91:

  She is having such a great time with the dogs being around.  She gets very concerned when they go next door and don't come right back.  She woof-woofs at them and pets them gently.

  It wasn't raining the second day at the cabin, so we went on a more adventurous hike.  She needed help to get over large fallen branches, but she walked up the hill to the ridge and along most of the ridge all by herself.  I held her hand as often as I could because I was worried she was going to trip and roll down the hill.  She did such a good job of it and only tripped when she wasn't paying attention to where she was putting her feet or when something was bigger than she thought.  When she was unsure she would say "Hep hep"(help) and I would go around the item and hold her hand from the other side or lift her over it.

  Walking down the road to the bridge and back was fun, but wet.  She discovered the joys of splashing in puddles.  I tried to keep her out of the deep ones and let her splash in the shallower ones.

  I got her mostly asleep for her nap, but she woke back up when I tried to transfer her.  She was very upset, even after I wished everyone a good nap.  She kept pointing to the door when I tried to lay down with her, so I got Bill in.  She kept trying to call to get the dogs to come in the room.  We eventually gave up on her Sunday nap.  Instead she snuggled on the couch with Funcle Mickey and they ate popcorn together under a blanket.

  At one point she wanted to wear the blanket that Mickey was working on as a hat.  Then she tried offering it to Casey at some point for whatever reason she saw fit.  Luckily for the blanket, I'm good at catching her before she pulls too many stitches out.

  Monday morning she figured out how to slide the tab on the zip-bag to get her wheat puff out for breakfast.  She then wanted to put the empty bag into the recycling bin.

  She saw that I was opening something to drink.  She then ran back into the kitchen going "bah bah" and got her water bottle.  She then Cheers'd me with it.

  One of her in-truck toys squeaks when you squeeze it.  She hasn't been able to reliability get it to squeak when squeezing it with her hands, even being bigger now.  On the way home from the cabin she discovered that she can put it behind her neck and make it squeak by throwing her head backwards.

  She scratched at the bathroom door while I was in there and I asked who was there.  She said "Dada" but agreed when I asked if there was also a Miss Spud there.

  We went for a long walk on Tuesday.  We ended up going over a mile.  She was splashing in every puddle she could find.  We saw someone's mostly eaten apple on the side of the road but she decided to leave it without me having to convince her.  On our way back she squatted over some grass growing between some cracks.  She had to angle a few times to get it just right.  She needed a diaper change after that.  It seems she was studying the technique the dogs were using over the weekend.

  After I got home from knitting, she wanted to put on her butterfly wings.  She then spent a while "flying" around the house at top speed yelling Gah-Go.

  I asked if she wanted more to eat.  She then signed More and shook her head.  I asked if she was all done and she then signed All Done to me.

Week 92:

  When I was getting ready for knitting, Miss Spud kept me up to date on what was going on.  I had heard that Bill had to use the restroom.  She came over to where I was and told me "Dada go poo-poo."  That was her first sentence.

  At one point she's been wanting us to put her bedtime friends on her butt when we are saying Goodnight.  It started a bit ago, but it's getting persistent.  At first it was only one or two, now it's all of them.

  She wouldn't let Bill open the book until her stuffed Corduroy was there to hear his story with her.  I had him jump off her crib and along various things to get to her.

  Whenever she sees something asleep, like in her books, she makes sleeping sounds.

  She has added Snack and Cracker to her list of words.  Making sure she has the important ones.  She has also started saying All Done along with signing it.

  She wanted some crackers and I got her some to snack on.  When she saw me holding one she reached out.  I thought she wanted to Cheers them, but when I ate mine she started crying.  She then poured hers out and was more upset because they were no longer in her cup.  I showed her that we could put them back into the cup.  She then thought it was funny to grab them before me and eat them.

  When we went for a walk on Wednesday she was disappointed in some cars we saw.  She kept asking cars in driveways for a hug.  None were giving her a hug.

  I needed some ink to print a shipping label.  We went to Dollar Tree after since it was next door.  She had loved playing with the foam insert of the door jamb at the cabin, so I figured I would get her a thin pool noodle.  She wanted two different colors and carried them through the store as we looked for cheesy popcorn.  The guy in front of us at checkout was buying a bunch of cloth laundry bags and small hula hoops.  She waited in line so well, she really liked the straw hat the lady behind us was buying.  Before leaving, the guy in front of us gave us one of the hula hoops.  It was so nice.

  She was watching puppy shorts while I was emptying her diaper genie and she got to a video of a puppy crying. She started bawling and wouldn't stop until I showed her that the puppy was okay by finding a funny puppy video.

Week 93:

  She was so mad when she got her apple, got me to open the door to the back porch, but Tank wouldn't join her outside.  I tried carrying him over so he could see there were squirrels in the mulberry tree, but he wasn't interested.  She tried to meow-call to him to come over.  She went in and out while pointing for him.  She even tried to gently push him towards the door.  Nothing worked and she was so upset by it.  A wheat puff and snuggles with Dada while watching cow videos helped.

  When I got back from knitting I was able to convince Tank to go into the back porch.  Miss Spud spent most of the time running in circles yelling "Go go go!"

  It has been a while since we have taken Miss Spud to Rocky Horror.  We stopped in to say "hi" and she got to show off her animal sounds and some of her words.  She was a bit overwhelmed and tired so she didn't run around when we put her down.  Everyone was so impressed by how big she's getting and how good she is at animal sounds.  I want to be able to have her stay, but we know she won't fall asleep with everything going on, and she's starting to parrot words without knowing what they mean.

  We woke up to her being very unhappy.  She had gotten her right leg stuck in the bars of her crib.  Bill said her knee was stuck and wouldn't go back through.  I gently lifted her and the different angle helped up get it back through.  She stood on it right away but needed some snuggles to feel better.

  Bill got her lawn mower out again.  She's started pulling it next to her instead of pushing.  She kept saying "wah" before she just took herself and her lawn mower on a walk.  Bill saw us when we were on the other side of the cul-de-sac.  We went down our street, down the corner, across the street, and to the next intersection before I could convince her to turn back.  I asked if she knew what Dada was up to and where we could find him.  She spent the whole trip back calling for Dada.

  Bill gave her two pieces of cheese.  He said that one was for her and the other for me.  She almost put both in her mouth, but then handed me one of the pieces.

  After dinner she started chewing on one of the wooden people that go with her color match bus.  I got her one of the teething necklaces I got her when she was first teething.  We spent some time right before bed watching funny dog videos while she chewed on her teething necklace.  I'm glad she is getting some use out of it because she was never impressed with it before.

  She saw me put some slices deli meat into a wheat puff.  After that she tried to do it as well.  She got it onto the puff just fine, but then had problems eating it.  The first time the ham ended up on the bottom, so it fell off.  The second time she didn't fully bite through the ham, so it all came off with that bite.  She got the hang of it before too long.

  She discovered that the hack to being able to carry more rocks on our walks.  When we go on our walks that are over a mile we pass a mailbox with a bunch of small smooth light colored rocks.  I let her pick out one and with everything else she's found before that it works out.  It turns out she can claim more rocks if she puts them in my pocket.  I had to tell her to pick one from all the ones she grabbed and that we had to leave some for other people.

  We were out of apples and though I was going to be at Wegmans for knit-night, we needed one for the morning.  We went to Safeway and she picked one out from the big piles on display.  I wasn't fast enough to help her and the one next to it fell when she pulled down her choice.  It fell right into her upturned face.  It hurt but she didn't cry for too long.

  She has been practicing jumping in her bed, but only managed to get both feet off the ground on a hard surface once before Thursday night.  She was able to jump multiple times getting both feet into the air.

  Since figuring out how to make a kissy sound, she has been giving more things kisses.  She puts her tongue between her teeth and makes a 'tsuh/tsk' sound.  Now she gives kisses to me, Bill, Tank, animals in videos, and all of her toys.

Week 94:

  She didn't want to eat her lunch in her wagon today.  The ladies were nice enough to let her eat in the small saucer chair.  She tipped it over at one point trying to reach toys, but didn't hurt herself.  She went back in the second I picked it back up.  Then everyone sitting near her provided her toys to play with.

  I had left her banana on the table because she was acting like she was full from her chicken sandwich.  I was working on something on the computer around bedtime when she brought something over to me.  She had found her banana and tried to eat it corn-on-the-cob style.  She had managed to mostly get through the peel, but not well enough to get to the fruit.  I peeled it for her and held it while she took bites and ate the whole thing right before we went up to bed.

  I read online that you shouldn't ask them a yes/no question if no isn't an acceptable answer.  Like, you shouldn't ask 'Do you want to put on your shoes?' if you need to leave to be somewhere.  Lately, sometimes when I ask if I can see something she found, she tells me Nope and runs away with ur, laughing.  It is pretty funny.  I then let her go because that helps her to know she has some say in the matter.

  I was woken up by her crying and saying Oww at 4am on Monday morning.  I was afraid she had gotten her leg stuck again so I went in.  She was just laying on her side, and popped up when I went in.  She was upset her bedtime friends were uncovered and that her blanket was in a ball.  I gave her a hug and told her I could fix it.  I asked if she could go back to sleep and she laid back down.  I rubbed her back until she was feeling better.

  When I put her down for her nap on Monday I had the idea to tuck all of her bedtime friends in and then tuck her in as well.  I put her friends in a row and put her blanket over them.  I then laid her down and quickly put the blanket over her.  She seemed very confused.  I watched the monitor and she just laid there, a but confused.  She was out in no time since she wasn't able to play with her friends laying down like she was.  That was the fastest it's been in a long time.

  I gave her a few leftover onion rings at lunch.  She ate one by dipping it into hoisin sauce and licking it off until finally taking a chomp.  The last two she tried on as bracelets.  After taking them off and putting them back on a few times she took a bite out of the larger one and held it on the top of her head.  I asked her if she was the Onion Ring Queen.  She thought that was funny.

  She wanted to be under the blanket Tuesday night, but then things went wrong.  Before we got her to lay down she kept trying to stand on her water bottle.  I told her that if she didn't get off I would need to take it.  I took her off of it and she tried to hand it to me.  I told her she could keep it since she got off, even if I was the one to lift her.  She didn't want it anymore and we put it on the railing of her crib.  We tucked her in and left, but soon after she started crying for real.  We went in an everything we tried would calm her for a second before she started crying again.  I asked if everything was wrong and she nodded her head.  The answer was for Bill to hold her while we told all of her friends goodnight together.  Then she was under the blanket with her water bottle on one side, her baby on the other, and Bucky laying on her stomach.  We asked if that was good and she nodded again.  She started meowing for Tank, since he wasn't upstairs with us, but didn't fuss any.

  She was having some big feelings on Thursday morning.  First I wouldn't give her the last big wheat puff.  She then got some fruit gummies and I opened them and put them in the cup she brought over, but they didn't stay in the cup when she turned it upside down.  She then spent some time scream/yelling while throwing her gummies around.  She didn't want to share a wheat puff piece with me.  We put the gummies back in the cup a few times but they kept falling out when she failed while holding the cup.  I got her some peanut butter puffs and that solved our crisis.  She then sat on Bill's lawn chair while eating her peanut butter puffs and watched a squirrel go by.  Tank had been outside with us but bailed the second it got too loud out.

Week 95: First Part

  We spend our morning watching Julia & Jacques Cooking at Home while she ate her apple.

  She kept wanting Bill to join us on a walk, so we didn't get too far this trip on any of our outings.  She did run around and get some energy out though.

  On our second night I had to go and get her white noise playing.  When I got back around the corner she gave me Corduroy to say Goodnight to.  She then squiggled herself under her blanket.  She wanted to cuddle with Bucky and her baby.  We then gave her kisses with our hands and left.  She wasn't upset that most of her friends didn't get a good night.

  On Father's Day we took her down to see some cows at Tom's place.  We had to look around some, but we eventually found them.  She was excited and mooed at them.  Some even mooed back!  She wanted to cautiously get closer to them, but they wandered off as we did.  Before heading back for nap time we stopped in at Tom's place and she got to meet a dog.  She was so excited that she could pet the dog.  She had to supervise Bill back at the cabin a bit with the tractor before she would go inside for her nap.

  Bill hadn't been feeling the best while we were at the cabin.  He passed it on to the rest of us.  On Monday Miss Spud had a runny nose and was sneezing a lot.  When I wasn't quick enough to wipe her nose, she would run her tongue across her top lip.

  When Bill got her on Tuesday morning, the whole bottom of her face was covered in snot.  He brought her over to snooze with us since she was awake and unhappy very early.  She laid down with us under the covers, but didn't go back to sleep.  She was pointing to everyone's elbows and poking my cheek or my nose.  She kept saying Hi-eee to me when I would look at her.

  I think I had what Bill had at the cabin, so I'm glad that she likes playing fetch.  On the back porch I will throw a basketball stress ball and she laughs while going to get it.  That has helped when it's too hot to go for a walk or today when I'm low energy and it's raining.

  After her nap she saw her knight plushie was in the kitchen.  She said Baby and wanted me to let her get it before I closed the gate.  She smoothed his cape and made sure he was okay before she brought him back into the playing area.

  I don't know if it's because she isn't feeling the best, but Tuesday night she kept fussing instead of going to sleep.  She kept trying to switch out which bedtime friends she was snuggling with.  She ended up falling asleep sitting up and then tipped over onto her side.