The old theme was lovely but starting to grate on my nerves, so I went back to the WP classic and tweaked it. Thus far I’m pretty satisfied that it’s readable.

This was probably the fastest overhaul of a blog theme that I’ve ever done, in part because I wanted to keep things simple, and in part because I’m starting to figure out what I’m looking at in php.

By no means does this imply that I actually know what I’m doing.

Okay so quick update on all the things I haven’t blogged about here:

1. My house broke, no biggie– we’re fixing it and doing a bit of remodelling at the same time.
2. I’ve started doing art work again
3. I’ve applied to further my education via an online college
4. The chickens are just getting past that ugly stage of chick-hood, now that their neck feathers are filling out they don’t look quite so much like tiny vultures.
5. I’m scaling down our major appliances in order to a) economize our space and b) stick it to the power company
6. The girl child is *completely* (Oh thank you God, thank you.) potty trained.
7. I’m doing what I do every night: Plan to take over the world

See? I told you she could pull off wearing darker colors. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a peach in pink, but always wearing pastels when you are under 5 is not law.

It’s after 8 o’clock so the intended recipient is unavailable to model it. It’s past her bed time. Although it’s pretty heartening to hear, “That’s my beautiful shawl?” as I pin it to shape on the quilt. I think Lexi likes it.

The yarn is handspun Shetland laceweight, doubled as recommended in the pattern and knit 4 stitches to the inch on size 7 US needles.

It’s quite pretty, I know people don’t think of putting little girls in such dark colors– but Lexi has such a clear complexion she can pull it off.

As for knitting lace, the jury is still out. I think I’m giving it a fair trial, but truthfully there are parts of it that really just don’t make for a relaxing time of knitting. I’m definitely not in love with carrying around patterns or firing up the laptop everytime I want to knit. At least with socks and sweaters, cables– oh my beloved cables– I know where I’m going.

It’s a gray 4-ply spindle spun merino yarn, 5 stitches per inch. Mostly from the size 30″ child’s raglan pattern from “the knitter’s handy book of sweater patterns” by Ann Budd. I was sort of on the fence when I originally bought the book, the deciding factor for purchase was that the cover was slightly damaged and it was deeply discounted at the craft store, now I think I appreciate it much more after actually using it a couple of times.

It might not be a big deal to most knitters, but I use my handspun most of the time, so it’s really nice to have a pattern that is based on gauge and not on brand x.

Lexi is really thrilled with the sweater, so much so that I couldn’t get it back from her in order to wash and block it, or for that matter take a nice macro shot of the cable detail on the raglan shaping. Thankfully I was smart enough to weave in the ends before having her try it on.

I must spin more yarn. Must knit more cute sweaters for darling children.

You know, the kind that cover training pants.

I actually like making pilchers, soakers, training pant covers and so on– they are cute (come on, anything that goes on a little kid is cute), they are reasonably simple, you can finish several in a day, they come in endless configurations, and you can use almost anything to make them. Use cotton ones to let the little wetter know they’ve wet, use wool ones to prevent open leakage, use acrylic ones for easy clean up, use a combo for night wear, and just have extras on hand.

I’m partial to actually sewing the training pant part and making the covers out of whatever interests me at the moment. I was cleaning up last night and found some bulky green acrylic that’s fairly soft so I knit up a cover. I think I might have just enough to make a second one.

I don’t have a pattern for the covers, I just knit the approximate shape and sew up the sides, or if I’m sewing I use an existing training pant for a guide. It’s kind of funny how much I originally fret over the fit of training pants and covers– only to figure out later that it doesn’t matter much; if they fit perfectly then the child won’t be able to pull them up or down, or said child will somehow manage to magically change shape in two weeks rendering all that careful fitting and measuring totally useless.

I also learned that any i-cord, braided yarn, and crocheted cord closures were less than ideal, mostly due to the fact that one handed untying of wet cord is not possible. I have maybe seven or eight vintage magazines with soaker patterns and all of them use a cord fashioned from matching yarn to hold the soaker or cover up.

I wonder how many mothers who innocently (like me) followed the directions for making those fancy cords with the adorable crocheted curliques on the ends, faithfully threaded them through the holes in the prescribed way only to end up severing the cord with nail clippers in a restaurant bathroom because the darned thing would not release the baby in a timely and reasonable manner?

Clearly the designers of those patterns had special children that do not pee.
It’s interesting too how the times have changed soaker fashion, there are some from the 40′s that have snaps or buttons and the waist goes nearly up under the armpits of the baby, others from the 60′s that look like the college wrestling outfits with suspenders, and the low rise cuts that are almost bikini like in the 70′s.

Even though I’m glad we’re on the final leg of the whole potty training thing, it makes me a little sad too. Lexi resembles a child much more than a baby now. She wants to dress herself and brush her own hair. She likes to pick things out for herself and put her toys away on her own. These training pant covers will probably be the last ones she needs me to make for her to wear. I know that she might want me to make a few for her dolls but that’s just not the same.

Please, I just need a moment to cry.

Poor knitting needles.