the perils of pretty food

I am very fortunate in that my girls love raw fruits and vegetables with no sugar or sauces whatsoever.  So it's a normal occurrence that I peel a carrot to go along with Lydia's lunch.  But on this day, I noticed the pretty ruffly lettuce for our salads - it looked like a fancy dress to me...  I grabbed some toothpicks from the drawer and a bit of broccoli for hair, and voila - a "Veggie Lady!"

Lydia was delighted.  Photos and video had to be taken of Veggie Lady.  Then I said "Okay, now you can eat it!"  "NOOO!  I can't eat Veggie Lady!!!"  Never mind that she's made of healthy, delicious food that Lydia normally loves - now she's too PRETTY to eat.

sigh - should have learned my lesson when they wouldn't eat the heart-shaped sandwiches...

new socks and birthday gifts

Just popping in to show you a couple of projects.  The first is a birthday gift for one of Lydia's friends.  She asked for a "unicorn pillowcase"; I embroidered a white pillowcase with her name, a unicorn and a rainbow.  I also made her this throw pillow.  She loves hearts and rainbow colors, so the heart print fabric and rainbow trim were perfect.  Seems she really liked it!  The embroidery design may be found here.

And now I get to make an identical set for Lydia.  ;)

I've also started a new pair of socks.  When dear Maya started dyeing commercially spun yarn, she sent one of her first skeins to me.  Since then I've puzzled over just the right project for such a special gift.  I finally settled on this sock pattern.  It is "Sock Hop" by Patsy Leatherbury, published in Creative Knitting magazine July 2006.  It was the first sock pattern I tried to knit, and I loved those socks.  Then we moved into our new house, and for some reason the floors ate holes in all our socks for a while.  Including my very first hand-knit socks, sadly.  I guess maybe it took a while to remove all the fine grit lingering on the floors from the construction?  Who knows.  But there were my beloved socks, with gaping holes in the soles.

I've wanted to knit another pair by this pattern for some time, and it finally occurred to me to use the yarn that Maya sent!  It's from her "Muscadine Sock" line.  This is the "Inked" colorway, one of her first.  I love the color, but also the yarn itself.  I am surprised at how stretchy it has turned out to be; but it springs back into shape, too.  Perfect for socks.  And I'll make sure the floors don't eat them this time.  :)

alive and well

Just reporting in - you may know that some of the tornadoes on Wednesday passed near our home.  Far too close for comfort.  But our house is okay, just some twigs and leaves all over the yard and chairs blown around.  Some of our church members and friends have damage and injuries, but nothing too major.  The only real imposition to us personally is that "our" Hobby Lobby and Big Lots were destroyed, and we will have to drive to another until they are rebuilt.

Our hearts go out to the people who have lost family and friends and property.  At this point, I can't even wrap my brain around the level of devastation.  I keep looking at these photos and videos, and in some cases the destruction is such that it's hard to identify what it even used to be.  I guess I will have to see it in person to believe that places I see all the time will never look the same again.

the reason for the season

Wishing a blessed and happy Easter to my blog friends.

infestation

It would appear that my lamp is developing a case of the Zoobles.  Anybody know if there's a pesticide or something for that?