Animal Hats and a Few Pumpkin Hats

Pattern: Textured Cat Hat by me - Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in Ocean and Caron Simply Soft Seasons in White 2901 - Needle: US 6

  I was having the hardest time trying to find a written out how-to on working a ribbed Kitchener stitch.  There were a few videos, but I wasn't connected to WiFi and didn't want to use the data on my phone to hope it was right and not just how to work regular Kitchener.  One written out version was very confusing, having you work both first stitches on the needles and slipping them off before working the second stitch on each.  I finally found a post about How to Kitchener Stitch in Pattern by Susanna Winter.

Pattern: Beary Beanie by Chai - Yarn: Red Heart TLC  Essentials in Navy and Medium Thyme - Hook: 5.5mm

  Luckily (in my opinion) on the way to the hotel after our Spud Tour '25, we took a slight wrong turn and went by the David L. Lawrence Convention Center (DLCC).  Turns out we were there the weekend of AnimeVerse Fest Pittsburgh 2025.

  We went to dinner at Tapville, which is very similar to a place that used to be near us, The Craft Of Brewing.  You get a card that is linked to your credit card.  You then use the card on their taps and pour your own beer.  It's a lot of fun and a good way to try a bunch of beers, since you can pour small amounts.

  On the way back from dinner at Tapville I noticed that we were across from the Senator John Heinz History Center.  I loved the neon sign that looked like a ketchup bottle pouring into the Heinz logo.  Miss Spud was not impressed.

  The family sitting near us at breakfast was talking about what they were going to do at the convention.  One person wished she could give fan art to an actor but didn't know how to print it out, and another wanted to go and get a credit card decal.

  It sounds like a pretty nice convention and if we start going to more and/or want to travel a bit more, this might be one to consider.

Stitch Pattern: Wheat Stitch™ Crochet Pumpkin Spice Trio by Briana K - Yarn: Loops & Threads Kai Happy Pink Yarn and Bernat Softee Baby in Baby Denim Marle - Hook: 5mm

  I have been seeing wheat stitch pumpkins on every social media app I use.  On Reddit kelsday84 commented that they used that stitch to make a blanket.  I saw on Instagram, Angie Cimbalo (macimbalo) made a hat with it, but she used the "pumpkin" method where she made a rectangle, like in this video.  I used the short row method by My Yarn Spot with my usual changes since I don't like it when hats are bunched up at the top.

  I tried to carry the float on the second stitch of the first row of the color change.  I thought that might act a bit like a zig-zag stitch on a sewing machine and not constrict the stretch at the bottom of the hat like carrying it straight across might.  My other idea had been to try and work the short rows for the brim at the beginning of the row instead of at the end.  That would have involved some chainless foundation single crochets at the end of the first wedge, and though I think I could have made it work, it would be more complicated than is necessary.

  I was so glad that the carrying idea worked.  It also looks nice, so if someone flips up some of the brim, it won't look strange.

  However, I think the way the pattern is set up the "right side" ended up on the inside of my hat.  I could try and make the color changes at the top, but I liked how it looked on the regular hdc hats when the color change happened at the bottom.

  The things I have considered trying and if I tried it:

• Do everything the same, but work in the front loop instead of the back loop

  ~ For some reason, working into the front loops give you the bar you would expect, but doesn't give the ribbing effect you would also expect

• Work some parts in the back loop and some in the front

  ~ This works for giving the ribbing on the bottom and the bars on the front of the work, I'm not sure how I feel about how flat it lays between the wheat rows

• Turn the hat "inside out" when finishing and not think too much about how I like the look of the top on the other side better because no one else will care that much

  ~ Luckily for this one, I could turn the brim up and hide the floats, if I try it on one that doesn't need that I will have to carry the floats on the other side 

• Unknown fifth option

Stitch Pattern: Wheat Stitch™ Crochet Pumpkin Spice Trio by Briana K - Yarn: Loops & Threads Kai Happy Pink Yarn and Bernat Softee Baby in Baby Denim Marle - Hook: 5mm

  I did find a solution that I think I like, turns out it was the Unknown Fifth Option.  When working the first plain row after the wheat stitch I worked half double crochets in the pattern area in both loops.  On the way back I worked single crochets through the closest loop, which is the yarn over from when you made the stitch.

  Since the last one ended up so tall that I needed to turn up the brim, I decided to make the second one wider and a bit shorter.  I also played around with having five short rows so the top wouldn't always have the same color on the full row.  I only worked 6 sections, instead of my usual 7, so I didn't end up with two colors together at the top.  While I like the end effect at the top, it makes the short row section almost too big compared to the pattern rows.  I also didn't think I had enough yarn to make each section three short rows or I may have switched to that.

Yearly Yarn Tracker:

Yarn In: 27 (1)
Yarn Out: 46 (1)

Total: -19

You Are 16 (months) Going on 17 (months)

Week 65:

   On our way to breakfast, Miss Spud carried her plate the whole way.  She doesn't quite trust elevators yet, but will get in and out of them.  On our way out, she got to meet a Dachshund.  She wasn't sure about petting the dog, but had fun watching.

  She has started storing extra snacks next to her butt in her car seat.  I saw her place a few pieces of French fries next to her and she put them back when I pulled them out for her.

  When we got home she did not want to be put in her highchair for dinner.  We let her eat her grapes in a free range style.  After that she was more willing to be strapped into a seat again.

  While we let her play before bedtime she started spinning in place.  She then would stumble and tumble onto her butt.  I'm not sure where she got that from, but we all had a great time with it.  She also grabbed my phone and was holding it up to her face while baby babbling at it.  She would then poke at the phone before repeating the process.

  During Thanksgiving at Barb's place we had some help keeping an eye on Miss Spud by Charlotte.  Miss Spud kept trying to go up and down stairs or get into everything.  Charlotte is 7 currently and had a great time helping keep track of Miss Spud.  Miss Spud didn't eat a lot because she just wanted to play with everything and go up and down the stairs.  Later in the evening Charlotte made her a bracelet and Miss Spud left it on for quite some time.  I put it in my pocket when she took it off and handed it to me.  It fell out of my pocket on the trip home, so there was a bit of panicked messaging and searching in the morning.

  She is still very curious about everything around her.  She has started pointing at things and we have started naming them.  She will sometimes point at a car and go "ah" or "ar".  I'm sure Shane would love it if her first word was Car.

Week 66:

  We had a big day on Saturday.  We went to the Augusta Expo for the gun show.  Miss Spud got a Velcro patch and a red Christmas bow for free as we walked around.  She was having fun just looking at most of it, but then got squiggly.  We let her walk around some, but she kept trying to dart in front of people, just like Tank does.  She was not happy when we picked her up again.

  I had to be mean to her because she was drifting off for her nap about 9 minutes away from the cabin.  We knew she wouldn't go back to sleep with that little sleep so I did everything I could to keep her awake.  Squishing her thighs worked for a while, but then I had to start tickling her armpits because that wasn't enough to keep her awake.  She was amused for most of the time, but when we were about 2 minutes away she started complaining.  We got her into her sleep stuff but she put up some of a fight before taking her nap.

  Later in the day we went over to Tom and Janie's place.  He was making his Beast Feast and we didn't want to miss out.  The dogs got locked in the bedroom because the friendliest was eating cow poop earlier, some had rolled in cow poop, one doesn't like children, and the others are somewhere between.  Miss Spud loved watching them on the back porch when Janie let them all out.

  She did not want to sit still for the dinner, but she did eat some deer paté during the appetizer portion of the night.  The rest of the time she had fun playing in the dog's water bowl, opening and closing every cabinet she could, trying to rearrange Tom's spices, and stacking and unstacking plastic taco holders.

  I had bought her a pair of toddler sock-shoes.  This way we can let her do more walking outside when it's wet or cold.  She wasn't totally sure what to make of them, but got the hang of walking in them pretty quickly.  She kept taking one off and handing it to me so I could put it back on her.

  At dinner on Sunday she got ahold of Bill's fork and tried to skewer her meatball with it.  She was able to get it on somewhat, but had more luck with her broccoli.  After getting her broccoli on the fork she would pull it off with the other hand and eat it.

  On Monday I went back to being "mean Mommy" and enforcing her nap time and not letting her play too long at bedtime.  All she wanted to do was to play with the Olight Sphere Bill got for her at the gun show.

  She is very good at waving Hi and Bye at home, but not always when we are out.  She is getting better at it.

  On Thursday I gave her some meatballs and broccoli for dinner.  When she was mostly done she grabbed a piece of broccoli out of her mouth, threw it on her plate, and started yelling while grabbing at her tongue.  I don't know if there was possibly too much pepper on that one piece or what happened.  I had to shove some banana in her mouth before she would calm down.  I thought that would help if it was too intense.  She later put that piece back in her mouth and ate it just fine.

  We woke up to a bit of snow on Friday.  I bundled her up in a long sleeve onesie, the sweater Andrea made her, pants, socks, shoes, and her Spud jacket that Steven got her.  We went outside and she wasn't sure about stepping on the snow.  I had to take her onto it.  She had troubles getting back up after she plopped down because every time she put her hands down to get back up the snow was cold on them.

  She walked all the way down our street and a quarter of the way back, which was over a quarter of a mile.  She snuggled into me as we walked back.  However, she had a full meltdown when I took off her shoes and put her jacket away after getting back home.  It started again when I took her sweater off.  She ended up napping in her clothes because she wouldn't let me take anything else off without yelling, crying, and kicking.

  When she wants a snack or is ready for a meal, I've been trying to get her to sign Eat instead of just signing More.  She will sign it half the time and the other half she smiles at me and chomps her teeth.  We are working on Drink/Water, but usually she just signs More for that.

  After dinner she saw me go on my computer and wanted to help.  We watched an Evan and Katelyn video where they fixed their Furby robot dog, Coco.  Once that was done I tried to get her to come back into the play space with me, but she didn't want to.  Since I had abandoned my computer chair she climbed right into it.  I spun her around some and she kept asking for more.  At one point Tank needed something, so while I was gone she hopped off, got her snack cup, and climbed back on.  I didn't want to spin her too much, but she was having a great time.

Week 67:

  We went out to Bourbon Boulevard for dinner.  Miss Spud always loves their broccolini.  She had some of my lobster ravioli and a lot of bread with butter.  At one point she started throwing everything onto the floor, so she started losing the use of things.  She was mesmerized by the various drink and tomahawk steak shows she saw while we were there.

  At one point at home I was resting my knee on a chair while standing next to it.  Miss Spud then started poking my foot and trying to hold the bottom up to her face, like it was a phone.  She had to do it a few times before I caught on to what she was doing.

  Her electronic crab only seems to only actually charge when hooked up to my computer.  She grabbed him, while he was charging, at one point and managed to crawl onto my computer chair behind me while I was sitting in it.  I was impressed because she went under my arm rest to get up while holding the crab. 

  I was letting her play behind me on my computer chair because I wasn't worried about her sliding out of the back of the chair when she would plop down.  At one point she kept insisting on standing on the arm of my chair.  She wanted me to flip her over my shoulder.  I had to carry her into the next room to be able to flip her onto something soft.

  She has learned that she can hold onto the arm of my computer chair while putting her feet on the edge of the seat to pull herself up.  She has also figured out how to slide out under the arm and rotate so she can get down if I'm sitting on it.

  I had a hair splinter in my foot and couldn't spot it, so I was trying to use some painters tape to get it out.  I stuck one of the pieces to her forehead.  She took another piece from me and put it on her tummy.  She ended up with one more on her shin and on her arm.  When I put her shirt on it pulled on the one on her forehead and she looked really concerned until she felt that it was still there.

  We went to the mall and walked around a bit.  She mostly wanted to follow people or go into Dick's Sporting Goods store.  She had a fun time looking at the capsule toy vending machines.  She wasn't impressed by where Santa is during the day.  It was horrible when I wouldn't let her try and go up the downward escalator.  She had the best time when we found an arcade.  We "played" a sit-down version of Space Invaders, but I think the light floor game was her favorite.  We stayed there so long that they closed the doors to the mall.  We ended up walking along the outside for about a quarter of the mall before we could get back in.  After that we just had to walk the length of the mall and back out to our car.

  She is so smart.  She wanted to play with a toy on the rocking chair in her room.  She knows she can climb on the crate next to it to get in, but that climbing is harder when holding something.  She then placed her toy on the chair from the front before going around and climbing up.

  She loves it when Bill will hold a piece of cloth over his face and goes Aahhh when she moves it.  She has even held it in front of her own face and moved it before.

  She was being sneaky with her nose honks.  She was honking my nose with one hand and then tried to poke my eyeball with the other.  When it didn't work, she tried switching hands.

  We've noticed that she has been quicker to getting frustrated and yelling recently.  On Friday I noticed that she has a set of teeth coming in on the top and the bottom.  Four teeth coming in all at once can't be fun.

Week 68:

  She had a lot of fun at the Saturday craft group.  She ate all of her banana and snack wrap in record time.  Then it was time to open and close all cabinets, play with the toys, try and steal a bunch of cookies, and try and take someone's purse.  At one point she had grabbed a pencil and was drawing on some paper.  She grabbed someone's purse and put it around her neck like a necklace.  It was proving to be a tripping hazard at first, but then she worked it out.

  She has been more inclined to randomly scream lately.  On our way up to Ohio she got her socks off, threw one like it bit her, and then screamed.

  She got to meet a dog who sniffed her face when we stopped at the Breezewood Travel Plaza.  She kept pointing at the dog but didn't want to pet it.  During the trip she ate a whole sour candy strip and we played a lot of Peek-a-boo.

  She spent most of the evening/night of our first night at Grandma F's house either opening cabinets or dipping a piece of dry cat food into the cats' water bowl.

  When she was playing with an egg and chick toy they fell on the floor.  She started crying and needed a snuggle.  We all assured her that none of them were hurt and that everything was okay.  She also spiked one on the ground later and didn't worry about that at all.

  During our stay she got to hang out with her Uncle Laurence.  She would take the top off the shape sorter to show it's a lot easier to put everything in the bucket that way.

  Miss Spud and Mimi weren't sure what to make of each other at first.  Miss Spud wasn't sure about getting kisses from Mimi.  It took a bit of playing with a ball to let them warm up to each other, though Miss Spud wanted to hand the ball over gently and Mimi wanted to chase it.  At one point Miss Spud found a paper towel and wanted to play peekaboo with Mimi.  Miss Spud was nice enough to share her breakfast with Mimi as well.  Miss Spud thought it was funny when Mimi would run past her.

  We could tell they were both getting tired when Mimi was paying less attention to where Miss Spud was.  Miss Spud was getting really grumpy when Mimi was knocking her over with her butt.

  She was disappointed when she didn't get to play with Mimi in the morning.  She also didn't want to leave Grandma F's house.

  We stopped on the turnpike and she was having fun.  She hit a bunch of buttons on the arcade machines.  During our wanderings she went into both bathrooms.  The man she was following had to grab her for me because she was a bit too fast when running into the men's room.  Though from the timing, she would have run into Bill as he was washing his hands.

  She finally fell asleep, about two hours after her usual nap time when we were on the road.  However, she was also trying to snack.  Her eyes were closed and it took 3 tries to get the piece of Chex cereal into her mouth.  She crunched it a few times before falling fully asleep.

  Her first night at Aunt Fern's Miss Spud used a baby fork fully correctly for the first time.  She cut a blackberry with her spoon.  After she tried to stab her blackberry with her spoon a second time I handed her the fork.  She then got her blackberry onto the fork and ate it from the end.  She thought the cherry tomato half I gave her was a raspberry and spit it out after biting it.  Luckily she handed it to me and didn't throw it on the floor.

  She discovered that she could reach Bill's feet where we put her playard in the living room.  She also talked to herself before falling asleep.

  Bill was most excited about her playing with his old wooden train set.  She wasn't old enough to understand what to do last year, but she's a lot bigger now.  She did have a good time playing with it some.  There is a magnet on a string that she claimed as a necklace.

  She wasn't able to climb into the chairs at Aunt Fern's as much because they were taller.  She convinced Aunt Fern to give her lots of flavored water.  She was able to put the cap back on after some trial and error.

  Before I got up she managed to convince Aunt Fern to let her have free-range macaroni and cheese.  She ate a ball of it bigger than her fist and managed to make only a small mess.

  We went to Target and got a toddler sled for Miss Spud, so of course it rained the rest of the day.  We kept hoping it would stop so she could do the double hill out behind Aunt Fern's house.  However it kept going and melted the snow too much.

  She liked watching Family Feud because of all the clapping.  She also liked how she could get Aunt Fern to turn her table lamp on and off repeatedly.  She has started having an upward inflection in her Ah! for On and a downward one for Off.

  She dumped some to all of the cat's water so she could help clean it up.

  We went to Lansing Brewing Company for lunch, it's becoming a tradition.  I got the Olive Burger and Miss Spud got some as well.  She was talkative and ate everything we shared with her.

  We all wished hard enough for snow, but not enough snow.  It was enough to pull her along in her sled, but not enough for her to slide all the way down in one go.

  On our last night she was shown that one of the ornaments she can see from the table is a bell.  She decided that the cardinal bell Christmas ornament was going to be the dinner bell.  It got rung about 10 times during dinner.

  We considered two different light shows.  The first was on foot, but it was too cold and windy for us.  The other was by car but we couldn't figure out how to get tickets and didn't want to risk driving out there and not being able to get in.

Week 69: First Part

  On our last morning Miss Spud went over to the cabinet where the cereal was being kept.  She then pointed to it so her snack cup could be filled.  She then pointed out where to put them back.

  She managed to grab an apple when I had to move the bag to get something in the car.  She ate a bunch of it before falling asleep 10 minutes before we got to our hotel.

  She kept trying to eat her crayons at Tapville.  When her Mac 'n' cheese came out she dove right in.  She even dipped a fry in ketchup.  For the first few dips she sucked the ketchup off the fry, then she had both together.  After that she decided she liked the ketchup more and just grabbed it with her hands.  She loved the ketchup enough that she dipped her Mac 'n' cheese in it.  She did very well eating out of the bowls her food came in from the restaurant.

  Since she was very thoroughly covered in cheese sauce and got me fairly coated in cheese sauce, I decided that we should take a shower when we got back to the room.  I know she doesn't like the water hitting her head, but there is only so much you can clean with wipes and napkins.  She peed the second I closed the door, but that was easy to deal with.  She kept stepping away from the water when I was soaping up her or myself, so she would start shivering.  To rinse off I held her and put both of us under the water.  As long as it didn't rain down on her head or into her face, she liked it.

  She got to try a tube popsicle on Sunday after we got home.  She started by licking and biting the outside.  She wasn't sure about it when Bill opened it for her and pushed some up.  We thought she was done with it, but then she went back for more.  Bill had to help her push it up because she wanted to try and open it more with her fingers.  It took a bit, but she ate about a third of it before she fussed.  We think she got brain freeze.

  We heard a loud thump and then crying that was getting louder.  She had somehow managed to get herself out of her crib and gravity was not kind to her about it.  Bill met her down the hallway and once she was calm I started lowering her mattress.  Bill had to get the last screw because it was too tight for me.  My guess is that she used her chair climbing skills but didn't realize that there was nothing to actually support her at the top.

  In the morning her right wrist was a bit swollen and she cried if she put weight on it or tried to pick up something with some weight to it.  She would still use it, like to point or pick up Cheerios.   We called her pediatrician and they got us in same day.

  3:45 - The doctor said she looked good except for her wrist.  We were then sent to the ER to get imaging done.

  4:50 - While checking in a nurse came out to check how bad her wrist looked to gauge how quickly we needed to be seen.  Since it's nothing crazy and there were no "deformities" we were just placed in line.  It was a pretty busy place.  She liked the sweater of the person next to us because it had jingle bells and lights.

  5:40 - It took almost an hour to get triaged.  The doctor said that this reminded her that she needs to lower her son's mattress.  Miss Spud got some liquid ibuprofen before we got to wait to get an X-ray done.

  Got talking to one of the check-in people.  She said that over the weekend they see 5-10 patients per day, but for some reason everyone waits until Monday.  She said that the doctors sometimes have to bring equipment out to the waiting room to triage people because of how busy it can get.

  6:15 - Got a few X-rays taken.  Miss Spud was mesmerized by the machine and it went quickly.

   6:50 - I talked to the doctor and she said "There are mildly displaced and dorsally angulated distal and radial and small adjacent distal ulnar buckle fracture.  There is associated soft tissue swelling. There is no focal bony lesion."  Then Romy put a temporary splint/cast on her arm.  She watched what he was going very intently.  I had to hold her arm while it hardened.  He also added some extra tape to dissuade her from taking the wrap and split off.  We were told many times to not let it get wet, and that if it did, we would have to come back and get a new one.

  7:15 - I was given the discharge papers and got to go home.  Everyone was impressed by how well behaved and smiley she was.  Everyone poked at the rest of her at the two appointments, but no one was concerned about anything other than her swollen wrist and her avoidance of using it too much.

  I got her dinner as soon as I could, but when we got home she has reached her patience quota.  She had a meltdown because she couldn't eat snacks the way she was used to.

  We got her an appointment with the orthopedic specialist the next day.  I had been warned to not be surprised if they didn't want to see her until Friday or Monday to let the swelling go down some.

  At the appointment we got to see the first X-ray.  The doctor said that at her age as long as the "bones are in the same zip code, they will find each other and straighten out as they grow."  She said that if there had been more swelling they may have waited.  With her cast, they had to put it farther up the arm to help stabilize everything, but she did get more use of her fingers.  I picked light blue for her.  She was again, fascinated by the process.  When the first layer was setting up and the doctor was molding it to her arm she got concerned and wiggly.  The person working the cast said that she was his best patient that day, no joke.  The boy in the space next to us had a worse break because he was a lot more uncomfortable during his process and when in the waiting room it looked like he didn't have the use of his right hand.  He ended up with the same color cast that Miss Spud did.  His sister shared her Cheese-Its with Miss Spud.

  Once her cast was done they took another round of X-rays.  Nothing shifted horribly so it was good to go.  It was suggested to us to tape a diaper at the top of the cast, under whatever plastic thing we are using, that way it will absorb any water that might drop down while giving her a bath.  The guy at the ER had suggested umbrella covers.

Those Are Some Strange Hats

  I had told myself that once I finished the items to go down to Wise and Hazard that I would just work on hats and maybe a sweater for Miss Spud for a bit.  Turns out the call of the worms is too strong.

Lion Brand Mandala in Liger - Caron Jewel Box in Sapphire - Nashua Handknits for Cilantro Colors in NCIL032 Brights

  I wasn't sure about the Nashua Handknits yarn because I saw that it was mostly cotton.  I decided to give it a try because of the 30% polyester.  However, it is very springy and stretchy.  I was not expecting that.  It is also very smooth and pretty soft, especially for being 70% cotton.

Yearly Yarn Tracker:

Yarn In: 26 (2)
Yarn Out: 45 (1)

Total: -19

A Wise Christmas Donation

  I have duo and tri colored Googly Sploots, so I decided to try and make a two colored octopus.  I put the eyes on stitches 6 & 10 or 12 & 16 of one color on row 4 or 5.  When I switched colors on the tentacle row, I pulled the second color through the loop of the first, then slip stitched into the next loop like normal.  I pulled the tail of the first color under everything and tied it together with the second once I synched the bottom closed.  I tried it on the one in the second row, all the way to the right, but I think the colors I chose were too close to each other and you can't really tell what I did.  I have plans to try it again with the rainbow yarn and grey/black yarn.

Here is everything I got done or gathered in time to donate to Wise and Hazard:

  • 15 McDonald's toys

  • 163 Worry Worms

  • 174 Octopi

  • 17 Hats 

  • 1 Small Blanket

Stitch Pattern: Local Has My Heart Market Bag by Lakeside Loops - Yarn: unknown blue and white & James Brett Baby Marble in BM13 - Hook: 5.5mm

  I was looking for an excuse to use the hdc2tog stitch from the market bag by Lakeside Loops. However, I didn't like the holes I was getting. They would be fine for a bag, but less so for a hat. I liked how puffy the stitches felt, so I tried doing the same stitch into the back two loops. It closed the holes right up. To work the decreases at the top I did a hdc3tog so it didn't cause a hole.

Pattern: Twisty Curlicue Hat - Yarn: unknown blue and white & James Brett Baby Marble in BM13 - Hook: 5.5mm

  I decided to try making one top-down.  To work the top I did 8 hdc in a magic ring.  I then worked an extra regular hdc in the corner.  I'm taking notes and I'm going to be taking pictures of everything I'm doing.  Even without the curlicues the hat is a pretty fun looking pattern.  I'm trying to decide if I want to do a back loop only hdc or work some ribbing on the bottom.

Pattern: Paws Beanie and Headband by Kate Strikker - Size: L - Yarn: Loops & Threads Kai in Snow Cone - Needle: US 6

  I joined a hat exchange on Reddit.  I got Cammie aka cgc2018.  On her questionnaire she said "I love fun colors, and patterns, animals and anything nostalgic like Strawberry Shortcake etc".  I wish she had included something else to indicate what she thinks are fun colors, like bright fun colors, or pastel fun colors.  Some colors I think are fun might look horrible to someone else.  I made sure to start the hat in enough time that I could make a second if it didn't turn out fun enough.  I got through most of it and asked people at my crafting groups what they thought.  Everyone thought that the colors looked fun, so hopefully Cammie agrees.

Yearly Yarn Tracker:

Yarn In: 24 (0)
Yarn Out: 44 (3)

Total: -20

What a Wonderful Wedding

  We had first planned on making the trip out to Bill's cousin's wedding in one go, but then thought better of it.  We did 4.5 hours on Thursday night and the rest on Friday.  Miss Spud reluctantly fell asleep in the truck and was resisting sleep when we got her into the hotel room.  Bill suggested we let her roam free and see where she ended up going when she fell asleep.  I wasn't so sure.  After some time of her just wondering around and wedging herself between the bed and side table to poke at the clock, we just put her in her playard.  She fussed for a bit, like normal, but then went back to sleep.

  She enjoyed the apple spice mini waffles Bill made for her and some of the other breakfast things I picked out at the hotel.  We played toss the empty bottle until we stopped at Scott's Diner for lunch.  I got the B.E.L.T. (a BLT with an egg), Bill got the Open Faced Chili Cheeseburger, and Miss Spud got the chicken tenders with a side of mac n cheese.  We played more toss the bottle and fiddled with a contacts lense case until she fell asleep.

  I debated going to Skyline Chili for dinner but instead picked His Place Eatery - Chicken & Waffles, Ribs & Soul food.  I got the Cajun Grilled Catfish with a side of collard greens, mashed potatoes with gravy, and cornbread.  It was so good.  Miss Spud wasn't feeling adventurous, but did eat a lot of her grilled cheese.

  The hotel/venue for the wedding is very impressive.  The Biddle Hotel & Conference Center has a lot going on and is part of a college campus.  I can't speak for the other rooms, but ours would have been fine for just me and Bill, but was a bit small once you added Miss Spud.  The bathroom has two small doors, I'm not sure you could make one full sized door work in the room.

  We got a gift bag upon check-in with some snacks, water, and a more detailed itinerary for the wedding.  Miss Spud also got her own gift bag with snacks and a small coloring book.

  Breakfast was in the hotel in the Hospitality Room, but we had to figure out our own lunch.  There were a lot of options, even some within the building.  The pictures on Google of Lennie's Brewpub looked pretty good.  I got the Carbonara Flatbread which had garlic cream sauce, bacon, Gorgonzola, and broccoli.  Miss Spud and I liked it.

  The food at the wedding was really good.  I tried to offer Miss Spud one of my pear slices and she turned it down after giving it a lick.  The kids got grilled cheese and fries.  Since there were no high chairs, I used a belt to strap Miss Spud to the chair.  Mark thought that was pretty funny.

  I've not seen Bill dance so much at a wedding before.  He and Miss Spud slow danced together.  Diana offered to slow dance with me, but we both wanted to sit for a bit.

  Bill went to the family brunch while me and Miss Spud slept in the next morning.

  On our way out of town I got to see some of the college's Greek houses.  There were a bunch of trees that had been yarn bombed, each with its own theme.  Some had faces, one with webs, a few that were color grouped.

  We had some time to kill before the WonderLab Science Museum opened, so we got lunch at Village Deli.  Bill got the Croissant of my Dreams which had slices of Bavarian Ham and Swiss cheese grilled to perfection and gently placed on a flaky croissant with lettuce and mayo.  I got the Corned Beef Hash, and we got Miss Spud a croissant and some Canadian bacon.  She also really enjoyed the whipped cream off my hot chocolate.

  We weren't sure if she was going to be big enough for the WonderLab Science Museum, but it didn't hurt to check it out.  She ending up having a great time.

  We stopped at Cracker Barrel for dinner which happened to be by Uranus Fudge Factory and General Store.  If it hadn't been so late I would have insisted we stop by.

  The nice lady at the check-in desk at the hotel heard us when we commented that we didn't see any milk in their tiny convenience corner.  She offered to grab the milk out of the kitchen and gave us some!

  I picked Mariachi Loco for lunch.  Miss Spud loved that my drink came with a rubber ducky.  The fish tacos were really good and the decor was really fun.  I think overall we had a very successful trip!

Yearly Yarn Tracker:

Yarn In: 24 (0)
Yarn Out: 41 (4)

Total: -17

Fifteen Months in the Spotlight

Week 61:

  Miss Spud sees us drinking from bottles so often she is becoming a pro at mimicking us.  She will take one of our bottles, put the cap in her mouth, tilt it back, and then smack her lips together once she lowers it.

  During knitting on Saturday I got her to laugh really hard.  That let me peak into her mouth and see that two upper molars have popped in.  That means she's up to 12 teeth.

  Heather from our dinner group has been asking to watch Miss Spud for a while now.  Since her partner, Larry does Rocky Horror with us, we decided to do an exchange for a show.  I drove her to their place and took Larry with me to the show.  They have three cats of varying degrees of friendliness.

  When we got there, Amber wasn't sure what to make of the thing that looked like a person, but was so short.  They ended up loving each other.  Miss Spud even used her as a pillow at one point.  When she started to fuss, their other cat, Marbles, came out.  Marbles, who is not usually friendly to strangers, started acting motherly to Miss Spud.

  I came back to a baby who was so deeply asleep she almost didn't wake up when I picked her up.  I felt bad about waking her again after the car ride home.  Tank was interesting in her because she smelled like another kitty.  Heather gave Miss Spud one of the cat's crinkle toys because she loved playing with it.

  On Monday Bill worked from home.  I had put her down for her nap, but he noticed that she was crying.  When we checked the camera we saw that she was no longer in her sleep sack.  She then couldn't figure out how to get it back on.  She threw her socks at me when I went to go and put her back into her sleep sack.  She had unzipped it enough to get it off to take off her socks.  Once I put her back into her sleep sack, without socks, she soon settled back in for her nap.

  We tried to take her back to Nectar to see Grace, but I didn't check to see if she was going to be there, and it turned out she was at her other job.  Since we were already there, we got food.  I got Miss Spud the kid's quesadilla.  Everything was too hot to eat when it came out, but when she saw it, she wanted some.  We blew on it a little but she kept insisting she needed it.  We thought it might be okay, but it was still too hot.  She tried to pick it up a few times, but it hurt her fingers.  She looked so sad that the quesadilla hurt her fingers.  Luckily they were pretty thin, so they cooled down before too long.  I gave her some banana while we waited.

  Bill walked into her room to tell her good morning on Tuesday and she had her sleep sack half unzipped.  She has figured out how zippers work. 

  Bill tried to test her on if she knows what the signs mean or if she is just mimicking us.  He said "More?" while signing "All Done".  She gave him a confused look and signed "More" back at him.

  I thought Miss Spud and I were going to play in the yard while we gave out candy.  Once Miss Spud saw the big kids walking around she wanted to do that as well.  She did a lot of just going back and forth before she started to go up one driveway.  She didn't know what to make of the fact that they offered her a bowl full of things.  She would take something if it was directly handed to her.  When Bill caught up to us we started carrying her to the different houses.  Everyone loved her costume but she still was confused about what was going on.  She was mesmerized by some carved pumpkins with candles in them.  Her favorite treats of the night was a bag of Sour Patch Kids because they made the most sound when she shook them and a Lindt ball because it fit perfectly in her hand.  Near the end she just sat on a stoop and we knew she was done for the night.

Week 62:

  Since we seem to love packing in a lot of things on Saturday, we went out to dinner at Olive Garden before Rocky on Saturday.  Miss Spud liked the breadsticks and the Alfredo sauce.  At one point she just wanted to play with her food and would only eat something if I placed it into her mouth.  She tried to color a bit more and got some marks on the paper.

  She had another enjoyable evening at Heather and Larry's place.  Though this time she was awake when we got her.  She had napped a little, but we were hoping she was going to be asleep.  She nursed a little when we got home and was almost asleep a few times but then Tank would distract her.  She was so happy that he let her pet him.

  The next morning, she helped to unpack some of her toys from the night before.  She also pinched her finger in a door when playing with it but soon felt better.  Some cookies & creme Cheerios helped her feel better.

  She dropped her water bottle off of her highchair.  Bill gave it back and told her not to drop it again.  When she did, he told her 'no' in a stern tone.  She started to make sounds like she was very upset.  She squished her face together and then opened her mouth showing her lower teeth, it was like she was trying to remember what her face felt like when she was actually upset.

  Bill started a fun game with Miss Spud before bed, we had to put one of her bedtime friends on our head and she would knock them off.  She belly laughed about that one.

  Her Guess How Much I Love You crinkle book is her favorite book.  It crinkles, and has some sound.  She loves the "*kissy sound* I love you" that it makes when you hit a button at the end.  She hasn't been able to activate it on her own yet, so she brings it over to us to operate.  The other day she was able to work it by giving the baby bunny a kiss, which caused her nose to hit the switch.

  We had to wake her up earlier than usual so we could go vote and get breakfast before Bill headed to work.  He tried to wake her up, but she simply moved her face away from him.  When I was pretty much ready to go I tried and was more persistent.  I wanted to change her top before I got to her diaper so she could warm it up before I put her pants on.  She didn't want the shirt and ended up hitting her head pretty solidly on her crib.  It wasn't long before I got her to stop crying, but then she was sadly babbling at me while we snuggled on her rocking chair.  She got her Future Voter sticker and enjoyed her food at iHop.

  She is getting really good at walking.  I've even seen her side step around things she can't step over.  She has also started holding onto the frame of the baby gate when we open it for her to let herself upstairs.

  She is getting more talkative.  It's still baby babble, but she's saying whole sentences with it now.  It's so fun to hear her tell us a "story" during mealtimes.

  We went to the storage unit to get some things.  I let her free and she helped me look through the first box.  After that she climbed onto one of the low boxes and just sat there facing the hallway.  Once I was done I moved what we were taking into the hallway and closed the door.  She was fascinated by that.  Once I locked it she grabbed the pumpkin spice pancake/waffle mix.  She carried it all the way to the elevator.  I tried to see if she wanted to help me carry it inside the house, but when I let her go on the driveway she just started heading towards the cul-de-sac.

  I was looking for her sweater and while she isn't normally allowed to be in the master bedroom alone, I had left her because she was busy showing things to Tank.  Out of the corner of my eye I saw her hurry down the hallway, giggling, and turn left into the bathroom.  In the time it took me to cross the hallway I found her standing in Tank's litter box holding a pair of scissors.  I don't know how she managed to find them in the corner near my vanity.  She remembered seeing Tank standing in his litter box from seeing it one time when she interrupted him while he was using it.

Week 63:

  Miss Spud was keeping everyone entertained all day on Saturday.  She kept trying to pull on Jan's shirt during knitting.  When we were at dinner she kept smiling at everyone who walked by at the restaurant and kept trying to use Bill as a jungle gym once we were done eating.

  On Sunday we were playing with her ring stacking tower and discovered that one ring is missing.  We always seem to be missing one, but never the same one.  She also put them all on my fingers at one point.

  Bill has been talking about it, but I got to see her do it the other day.  The way our baby gates work is that you have the latch you have to pull back and then lift it out of a groove at the bottom.  Miss Spud is both smart and strong enough to get the latch pulled back, but can't lift it.  If we don't close the gate well enough, she can get it open again.

  During dinner on Monday she wasn't impressed with the breakfast bowl I made her.  She ate all of her banana and kept signing that she was done.  I even tried the trick where I eat a bite of her food, but she wasn't falling for it.  Later, when Bill got hungry, she came over to him to see what he was having.  He gave her a piece of his peanut butter and cheese sandwich.  She loved it and wanted more.  I don't know if it was because he was holding her, but she ate it like a sandwich.  Every time I've tried to give her a sandwich she takes it apart before eating the components.

  Every morning we play a fun game where I show her random toys around her room until she decides which she wants to play with during her diaper change.  For everyone else, she is very cooperative during a diaper change.  For me she fights me and wants to stand on her changing table.  During the day we have a similar routine, but we pick from the toys she has in the reading room.

  Bill's recliner has two cup holders that fold away and have removable inserts.  Miss Spud likes trying to put both inserts into one side.  At one point she had pulled both out and then got distracted by Tank.  I asked her to put one back, and she did.  She was about to walk away when I asked if she could close it.  She did before going back to bothering Tank and trying to grab his tail.

  I was playing with Tank with the laser dot and Miss Spud got interested.  She ended up playing with it after Tank was bored with it.  She was crawling around following it.  At one point I was just clicking it on and off while she moved her hand up and down over the spot.

  On Friday she became overly tired and had a meltdown when she lost her last bandaid from her vaccinations.  The bandaid looks like it is Candyland themed.  She didn't mind when she lost the others but was keeping that one on.  It was half off for a bit, but when it let go she brought it over to me in tears.  I told her that I was going to keep it safe and that she didn't have to worry about it.  She kept pointing to it and signing "more."  I tried to stick some painters tape to her, since it would come off easier than a new bandage, but that was worse than no bandage.  Luckily a bottle and some snuggles helped her calm down and go to bed.

  At her appointment she was 31" (72%) tall, 20lbs 14oz (49%), with a 18" (54%) head circumference.

Week 64:

  She has started making more talkative sounds by putting the back of her wrist in her mouth and wiggling it around.  It makes a bleh-bull-eh kind of sound.

  In the past when we have dropped her off with Heather for Rocky Horror night she hasn't really been concerned with us leaving.  This time she was concerned and kept hugging our legs when we tried to leave.  I waved Bye to her and she was fussing but waved back.  We heard later that it didn't take much to get her to calm down.  She was fast asleep when we got back.

  She has started grabbing some of her soft toys in her mouth and shaking her head back and forth, like a puppy would.  She also likes biting her soft toys and yanking them back out of her mouth.

  She has started doing some Tippy-Tap running.  It's where she takes walking steps, but very quickly, so she is going faster.

  We went to Sushi Queen and she impressed Mary's parents with how much she ate.  She had 1 avocado roll piece, 2 eel roll pieces, and 2.75 sweet potato roll pieces.  She wanted to get loose but only went over to play drums on the vacant chair when I put her down.

  At one point she brought me over some of her footie pajamas.  She put her arms in the sleeves but kept fighting when I tried to put her feet in.  She then kept holding the top closed, so I snapped it closed and she walked around with it like that.

  She is getting really good at giving hugs.  She will hug our legs or wrap her arms around our shoulders.  Her hugs are the best.

  Remembering the troubles we had during our trip home from our Tour de Spud last December, we broke up our trip to Indiana into two parts.  It made it a lot easier on all of us.  We invented a new game called throw the bottle.  To play you throw an empty soda bottle back and forth across the back of the truck.

  During dinner at His Place Eatery we got a broken high chair.  We thought maybe she would sit fine as long as I kept giving her food and it wouldn't matter that the buckle was broken.  At one point she turned herself around and was kicking her feet while people watching.

  After we got to the hotel where the wedding was going to be we let Miss Spud wander around the room.  She discovered that she could get herself onto the desk chair in the room.  She got mad when she lost chair privileges because she kept standing up and stopped listening when I told her to put her butt down.

  When we headed to the Hospitality Room to see if anyone else was still up and being social Miss Spud loved walking down the hallways on her own.  She wasn't too sure about the elevator rides, she either held on to my leg or sat down.  She spent most of the time there eating or throwing a Clementine on the floor.  She flipped some leather/pleather coasters for a while as well.

Week 65: First Part 

  She got to meet a 3(almost 4) year old boy when we went back to the Hospitality Room for breakfast.  He was playing with the wooden train set that was out.  She loved following him around and moving the train sections to the couch.  At one point she discovered some statues near the fireplace.  She was trying to poke the statue's eyes but I told her to be gentle with the statue.  She then proceeded to pet the statue's side.

  For breakfast we brought her snack cup with Cheerios and fruit melts.  She snacked on those while also almost finishing a whole slice of cinnamon raisin toast.  During lunch we shared off of our plates because she's not been eating a ton at lunch or dinner while we are away from the house.

  During the cocktail hour after the ceremony Aunt Peg gave Miss Spud one of the small roses off her corsage.  Miss Spud proceeded to tear it up and gave some petals to some of the other kids.  She also figured out where the door was and wanted to walk down the hallways.

  She got to try sparkling cider for the first time at the wedding.  She spat it out and acted like it offended her.  On the second try she swallowed it but still wasn't sure about it.

  She got to "dance" with a few of Bill's cousins and both of us.  She had decided not to nap during the day, but lasted until after 10 pm before she started to fade.  Even back in the room she kept going while Bill and I got ready for bed.  Once we gave her a bottle she was out.

  At the WonderLab Science Museum we discovered that she wasn't heavy enough to use the Big Piano.  She did like watching the fish but didn't like the feel of the kinetic sand.  They had a drum that would beat in rhythm with your heartbeat that she really liked that one.  We let her free in the Science Sprouts Place where she loved the activity wall, especially the lit button that made a buzz sound.

  I feel bad for one boy, Rowan.  He came in after she was in there.  Miss Spud was sharing all the stuffies with his parents.  He was showing her about the slide, but she kept sitting in the top area.  I wanted to get her out of his way, so I moved her to the baby area.  He wanted to join her but his parents told him he was too tall.  Next thing I knew, one of them was crawling into the fort section of the play area and he was crying.  They then left that zone, but it wasn't too long before he was having a good time again.  If I had known he was that upset about it, I would have moved her back.  At one point she found a cave with some clear plastic dowels and a lit board they could be put in.  She loved putting them in the basket and taking them out again.

Some Things From The Past

  Miss Spud was digging through one of my old project bags and found this.  It looks like after I did the 1x1 ribbing I switched to a *k1, p1, k1* and *p2, k1* pattern.  I think I stopped working on it because I wasn't sure I was going to have enough yarn.  I'm pretty sure I still don't.  I do have enough for some worms and octopi.

  Doing the Rocky Horror showing at Crooked Run Fermentation makes me feel so cool.  It's not our usual cast but I know most of the people, if not all, who come and perform.  It's the closest to "I'm with the band" as I'm probably going to get.  The employees always look forward to it and it's fun to talk with them after the show.

  Bill had brought our Blu-ray player with the movie because that was the most stable way of playing the movie.  No worries about WiFi lag or forced Windows updates.  The problem was that they didn't have the same setup as last year, so he wasn't sure if he was going to have a long enough cable for audio.  Luckily we live really close by, so he ran home and looked for a longer cable.  It worked!

  Miss Spud fell asleep in my arms during the show, so I slowly walked around to show everyone how asleep she was.  She shifted a few times, but was super asleep.  I thought my arms were going to be really sore the next morning, but they felt okay.

Yearly Yarn Tracker:

Yarn In: 24 (3)
Yarn Out: 37 (5)

Total: -13

Patons Kroy Socks FX: Is It The Best/Worst?

Patons Kroy Socks FX

Overall ratings: 4/5 from 67 votes (Jo-Ann) - 4.7/5 from 329 votes (Michael's) - 4.1 from 3574 votes (Ravelry)

Average Cost: $7.24

  I knew I had to try this yarn from how mixed the reviews are.  It seems that either people really like it or absolutely hate it.  I didn't notice a lot of reviews that are in the middle of the road.

Not recommended

This yarn has so many negatives, I hardly know where to begin. First of all, it has a harsh hand-feel. Second, it's advertised as a fingering weight when in fact it's closer to sport (heavier even than baby). Third, it is inconsistently spun, resulting in thin areas. Fourth, it is impossible...let me repeat that, IMPOSSIBLE...to knit a pair of matching socks with it unless you are the luckiest person in the world. Even if you think you have the colour sequence matched up after stretching 25 feet of two parallel strands, you will find that the sequence is not maintained throughout the skein. I've knit six socks with it (barely enough in one skein for a single women's medium sock), and no two match. I do know what I'm talking about - I was an art-needlework consultant for many years, and have never had this issue with any other space-dyed yarn. And therein is actually the problem: this yarn is not space-dyed. It is blended in spinning. If you decide to buy this yarn anyway, don't make socks with it unless you don't care if they match.

~ Birder (2 years ago) 1/5 stars

Pattern: Lucky Bamboo Hat - Color: Cadet Colors - Needles: US 4

  I could definitely feel that it has some wool in it when I was working with it.  It wasn't the softest to work with, but it was far from the scratchiest.  Some people may also have a higher sensitivity to wool than I do.

Colorful, affordable, durable

Patons Kroy Socks is a great sock yarn. Very plump and hard-wearing. I love the colors in the FX line and they are also super cool if you want a color-changing yarn for colorwork.

~ Aileen (1 year ago) 5/5 stars

Pattern: Side To Side Ribbed Hat by Sally L.M.  - Color: Clover Colors - Hook: 3.75 mm

  When I was looking previously, I thought most skeins looked a lot alike withing their colorways, but when I went to buy the color Clover Colors, I ran into the problem that Birder was having.  There was one skein that was really brown leaning, one that didn't have green but had a teal instead, and the others were only vaguely similar.  I picked two that were the closest.  It turns out they were more similar than I thought, they just started at different points in the color changes.  I could see this being very inconvenient if you want to have socks that match almost exactly and need most of the skein to make them with.  You can see how on my hats, the one on the left has the big brown section on the front while the one on the right ended up with it on the back.

  If someone wants to make socks, they have to be willing to have the socks look like cousins, not sisters.  I liked working with the yarn, even though the bit of wool sometimes made it feel a bit rough.  The yarn has the problem of having thicker and thinner spots, but that didn't affect my finished hats.  I like it and would use it again.

Four-teen-tuitous Months

Week 56:

   Our trips to the cabin seem to feel the need to be way more dramatic than is necessary.  We had the trip that resulted in us needing new floors, the trips where Tank really had to use the potty, and now the first time Spud has thrown up.  I'm not counting when she was tiny and had some baby spit-ups.  This was where there were chunks and smelled like stomach acid.  An upset stomach would explain why she didn't want to eat much at lunch.  She did not want to go back into her car seat, which made sense, even though we wiped it down.  It took both of us to get her secured.  To reward her we let her play with Bill's dead smartwatch.  She threw up some more liquid and then seemed to be hungry.  It took some searching but we found her some bread(a hotdog bun), and some Pedialyte.  She even felt up for some chicken bites later and was singing.

Week 57:

  We had a historian over to tell us about the cabin.  Miss Spud spent most of the time walking around and getting better at walking over the threshold between the living room and kitchen.  At one point she leaned over Tank from behind, wrapped her arms around him, and tried to pick him up.

  I saw her walking quickly after Tank at one point and watched her walk over the threshold a few times.

  She tried to help her Grandma pack and unpack on Sunday when we were getting ready to head home.  At one point she snagged an onion and was carrying it around.  She tried to eat it, but wasn't impressed with the dry wrapper.

  On our way home we made an extra stop because we had to use the bathroom.  We got dinner at McDonald's as well.  Miss Spud ate almost an entire 4-piece chicken nugget Happy Meal.  The only thing she didn't eat was her apple slices, and that's probably because I didn't give them to her in the car.  She also showed off how she's able to get her water bottle into the cup holder on her car seat.

  She is so smart.  When I need to take something from her that she isn't supposed to have I usually offer a trade.  She has now offered me two of her carrots for my computer mouse and also my keyboard on separate occasions.

  On Wednesday, Mary came over for a bit and Miss Spud showed off her toys and how well she can walk.  When it came to nap time she only wanted to be held by Mary and kicked and fussed when I took her.

  She ate a lot and did some babbling at knit-night.  She smiled at everyone and giggled.  She was not happy when I put her in the cart to go grocery shopping, but my mom distracted her with a tape measure.

  Since she has started to protest diaper changes, I keep needing to figure out new things to distract her with.  For a while the wipes container worked, then it was a sparkly gift bag, but the Smart Watch tends to be the one that usually works.  She's figured out how to take pictures on my phone with the watch.  She even managed to start calling Emergency Services.  I cut the sequence off before it actually called, but she got close.

  Friday night I told her that I love her.  She then said Lou back to me.  That was before I changed her one toy away from planting carrots to planting trees.  She was unhappy with me when I did that until I changed it back.

Week 58:

  When getting ready to go to Melly's birthday party she kept trying to crawl into the master bathroom.  We kept putting her on the bed so she could chase Tank around, but with no hesitation she kept sliding off.  She would plop on her butt from the force of the slide, but even though she was practically free falling for a bit of it, she kept sliding off.

  She had a lot of fun at Melly's birthday party.  She liked watching the big kids play.  Melly and her interacted with each other, but didn't seem to quite know what to make of each other.  She had a lot of fun going up and down the stairs to the deck.  At one point she snagged a cup with some soda in it and managed to take a drink out of it.  She tilted it back and then used one hand on the bottom to hold it against her mouth.  She got some liquid in her mouth and lowered it some before she just dumped it all out.

  When it was close to her nap time she got snuggly, but got a second wind when the desserts came out.  Mark held her a bit and commented on how differently they feel.  Melly still has all those nice baby rolls while you can feel Miss Spud's muscles working while you hold her.  Before we left, she got to pick out a toy puppy and we also got her birthday present.  She tried to fight it a little, but was out on the car ride home.

  When we first started brushing her teeth, she was fine with it.  Lately she hasn't been a fan of it.  I've managed to get her to work with me on it by making it more fun or distracting her with a toy.  She started flopping over and getting into sleep position when I would bring the toothbrush over to her.  I then would waggle it at her and she would giggle.  I could then get a few teeth on that side before she moved her head, and I went after more teeth on the other side.

  She loves blanket caves.  One of us will lay on the LoveSac and will pull the blanket over her and us.  On Sunday night she had both of us under there and she was having the best time.  I had some YouTube shorts playing that had some fireplace noises.  Miss Spud was having fun flipping through all of their videos.  Their username is TinyHousePerfect if you want to look them up.

  On Monday at Boardgame night she was doing pretty well until Bill took the snack tray out of the wagon and she managed to get her finger stuck in the buckle on the other side of the wagon.  After that she wanted to he held or set free.  She was not happy being placed in her playard at all.  She ended up hanging out with Heather and tried to type, spun in a chair, and watched some Paw Patrol.  Once we got home she started playing with her carrots again.  She did her More sign and then tapped the box when she had pushed all the carrots inside of it.

  We play ball with her before she goes to bed.  She's starting to get really good at throwing the ball down instead of just dropping it.  She's managed to bounce it most of the way across her room a few times.

  She's been making "fishy face" more often, but never when I can easily take a picture.  I don't know how they are so good at avoiding cameras.

  Steven, Miss Spud, and I went to the Apple store.  We had decided to get lunch and he needed his iPad checked out.  While there Miss Spud tried out a bunch of smart watches and wasn't impressed with any of them.  She also waved to two dogs.  I'm trying to get her into the habit of waving to dogs now and then petting them once she can ask if it's okay and follow the answer.

  She did not want to nap on Friday and I ended up giving her a nursing-nap to get her to take one at all.  She only slept for about one hour before Tank also wanted attention and ended up waking her up.  Around 8:30pm she started getting easily grumpy.  We played with her LovEvery Wooden Stack and Slot and her LovEvery Slide & Seek Ball Run.  Once we were tired of that, we made a small blanket fort.  That didn't last long before she kept lifting the side of the blanket.  I was looking at my phone and she crawled up to me and leaned on me.  Before I knew it, she was moving her head from side to side to get comfortable and try to fall asleep.  I supported her butt and let her snooze a little before we put her to bed.  When she was placed in her crab after her bottle, she just sat there and didn't just stand back up.  She didn't give too much fuss when I brushed her teeth and didn't fuss at all when we left without playing ball with her.

Week 59:

  After finishing her lunch she spent the rest of the time at knitting walking around.  She didn't bother anyone's bag too much.  She found the toy corner and had a lot of fun with a tow truck, a fidget dog, and a generic truck.  She opened the cabinets by the sink in the main room a few times.  Everyone was impressed by how well she walked around.

  We went to Rocky Horror, but we didn't know how long we were going to stay.  Before the show Miss Spud was acting shy and was hugging my legs while watching people get ready.  At one point Funkle Ryan handed her two packets and challenged her with a third.  She impressed everyone around her with her problem solving skills by only taking two tries to get them all.  When she got more comfortable she started walking in circles and hugged Ryan's legs at one point.

  To get out of everyone's way we wandered around the theater.  She loved going up and down the aisle.  When the show started I tried to confine her to one row, but she started crying when she couldn't get to the aisle.  I then took her out and we spent the rest of the time we stayed walking around the lobby, going up and down the stairs to theaters 1 and 2, trying to go into the bathrooms, poking the arcade games, and playing in the sink in the Lady's Room.  At one point she did some quick stepping, like she was going to try running, but didn't commit to it.

  At the neighborhood block party we let Miss Spud play in the bounce house.  The bigger kids loved her being in there and kept some of the others from putting balls in there or playing too roughly.  One of the boys was trying to become her friend.  He moved a small seat over for her to use when they were inside the house and kept trying to share his snacks with her.  He wanted to spell out her name in magnet tiles on their door to the garage.

  Miss Spud got some free bananas.  We were getting some that were ripe and some that needed some time.  I put in the code for the Overripe Bananas but it gave me an error.  I ran the other bananas regularly and then tried the other code again.  It didn't work so the lady manning the self checkout came over to help.  She tried entering the same code and it also gave her troubles.  She then said to not worry about it and put them with the scanned bananas.  She then told me to pay and to not worry because the ripe bananas are "damaged" so I shouldn't pay full price.

  She was so excited to see her banana.  I let some of her bananas get too ripe, which she doesn't really like.  She wants them to have spots, but still have a firm texture.  Too soft and she will eat some but then start to mush the rest.  She did a little happy wiggle and almost started crying when she saw them and then thought I was taking them away.  I've never seen her eat her banana spears faster.

  Every time I see it I love how she has decided her own version of signing "more".  The traditional way has your thumbs touching your fingers and then you bring your fingertips together with the tops of your fingers outward.  She does that with her right hand, but touches them to the palm of her left hand.

  I got a text from Bill that while I was at Stitch & Bitch, Miss Spud had pulled her diaper off and had thrown it over the baby gate while Bill was baking.  When I got home she had gotten it far down on her hips again.  We checked it to make sure it wasn't dirty, but it was fine.  She then wanted to eat more of her dinner while wondering around.

  When I tried to put her in her sleep sack she just wanted to act goofy.  She was rolling around so it made it hard to catch her arms.  I then started draping it over her and she thought that was hilarious.

  She has started bringing me her snack cup to fill up when she wants something.  She's seen me fill it up enough times that she will bring me her empty cup if I'm sitting at the table and wants me to fill it up for her.

Week 60:

  We had planned on one of us taking her home during Rocky Horror on Saturday, especially when she couldn't sit still when we went out with Steven for dinner.  I let her walk around before the show to get some energy out.  She walked over to the brewery side of the building and there were two boys playing around while their family finished eating.  One boy gave her a patriotic rubber duck.  She enjoyed chewing on it.  At one point I realized it was gone and we retraced our steps.  I asked at the bar if anyone saw it and they all had seen it, but no one could locate it.  They were nice enough to let her pick out a replacement duck.  Lash managed to find her first one and Miss Spud went back to chewing on its hat.  A few times she loudly babbled, so she's starting to get the hang of doing callbacks.

  She ended up falling asleep during the last third of the show.  Grace, one of the multiple employees who remembers her from last year, got a picture of her sleeping on me.  She woke up again when it was done and Bill held her for a bit to give my arms a break.  She stayed awake and even ate some of the pizza leftovers.  We were afraid it was going to be hard to get her back to sleep but after some nursing she was out again.

  This was the first time we left her at home for Boardgame Night.  While spending time with her Gramma she learned about sock puppets.  We got back to her with one of her old socks on her hand and she was waving it at us.  She also showed my mom how good she is at climbing into the storage bins we have.

  On Tuesday we went for a walking lunch.  I keep meaning to take her out for a walk, but we keep getting distracted by her toys in her room until lunch time, then it's nap time, not long after nap time is her dinner, and then it's dinner time for Bill and me.  I also want her to be able to get some energy out after she first wakes up, and before her nap.  I decided to just pack up her lunch and give it to her on her snack tray on her wagon.  When we first started out I had to keep reminding her to eat her lunch and not just hold onto it.  She finished eating her lunch while we visited the local community center.  I have not been inside since they finished remodeling it.  I think she had a great time.  On our way home I had to tell her to try and stay awake and that I would put her down for her nap right when we got home.  She sat more upright and made it home.  Now that the weather is getting cooler, I think we are going to do this more often.

  When we pick her up, she has started patting us on the back.  It seems we have done it to her enough that she wants to return the favor.

  She really loves putting things in bags.  She will take as many smaller pieces from her toys and put them into an external battery bag that she has claimed as her own.  She can spend hours taking things out of the bag and putting them back in.  When she heard mention of the cabin she put all the rings from her LovEvery Wooden Stack and Slot, the trees and carrots from her LovEvery Wooden Coin Bank Set, and whatever else she could fit into it.  When I told her that we aren't all going to the cabin this time, she started taking things out.

  For her bath I let her go up the stairs on her own power.  She heard the water in the bathtub running and went right into the bathroom and climbed into her little tub in the big tub.  I was worried that she wouldn't be able to handle it, but she crawled right in with no troubles and without getting distracted by Tank's litter box.

  She has rediscovered her dancing crab.  At one point the batteries died and I kept forgetting to charge it.  I thought I charged it but it wouldn't stay on for long.  She kept getting upset when it would stop moving.  I charged it for over 3 hours but it still wouldn't stay on.  I took a look at it and saw it had hair wrapped around the part that moves the legs.  I had to hunt down a thin and tiny screwdriver, but I was able to get the legs off.  I cleaned off the hair and put it back together.  I had to take it apart again during her nap because I didn't notice that a pair of the legs got flipped.  He is working fine now and she even got to show off her crab catching skill to her Grandpa.