Crochet Beret: Mama King

It started with Jane seeing me in a shower cap (I'd blown out my hair a while back and try to keep it as dry as possible when I shower to make it last). She said I looked like a "Mama King" then laughed and laughed. (Truthfully so did I!)

Then it turned cold and I got out my recently crocheted-for-myself hat and it looks like a shower cap and ilicits shouts of "MAMA KING" when I wear it.

The hat is made with some bamboo yarn I inherited from a friend when she moved. I had to buy a second skein to make a hat big enough to fit my noggin but it's very soft and cute. It's not actually very warm but it's the only one I can find that fits me. My cashmere hat is MIA. Boo hoo. I hope it turns up.

Who wore it best? Janie King!

Cold Snap

The weather has broken ... finally ... and we're swinging from hot, sweaty and muggy to chilly, windy and beyond brisk. Me likey. I need to get Jane some better-fitting long pants. We're making great progress with potty training, and without the diaper all her pants fit differently, i.e. fall down.

The cold makes preschool drop-off much harder because it's indoor only, meaning all students have to be dropped off and picked up at the doors instead of half on the playground. It makes an unpleasant process even worse and more dangerous. But it is what it is, and I'm glad Jane didn't have to play outside in the cold.

I've really made a big shift in my emotions about preschool. At the beginning I was emotional and hated leaving her. Now I'm so comfortable with her teacher that we both look forward to it. Now that my university job is over I am using the time to exercise, clean a little and go to Target (huzzah!). 

I got a flu shot today, and Jane watched. She asked the lady to give me another shot in the other arm. Silly bug. We have her 3 year checkup tomorrow and that's when she'll get her flu shot. Next year I'll have to schedule a separate visit to get the flu shot instead of waiting for her 4 year checkup.

Preparing for Advent

I typically don't like to start with the Christmas music until after Thanksgiving, preferably that Friday. But our church is having an Advent Festival on December 7 and all the kids Sunday school classes will be singing, including the preschool class that Jane just joined.

So we're listening to, learning and singing the songs, Silent Night and Wonderful Counselor. I don't expect her to actually sing or participate other than standing alongside the other kids, but it doesn't hurt to learn and sing them.

And honestly praising the Lord in this way has been a balm of sorts.

Corduroy Day

11/11 - I don't know if it's corduroy day every 11/11 or if it was just the once 11/11/11, but it's a special day for me regardless. We brought Jane home from the hospital three years ago today.

Obviously the more important holiday today is Veterans' Day. I appreciate the service and sacrifices made by those who have served and do serve in the military.

---

The prompt for today is "If you could permanently get rid of one worry, what would it be?"

I think I would wish for something financial or career-based. Everything is fine but how great would it be to never think about making money or if my career moves are mistakes. That's not a full post, but I don't really have other thoughts about worries.

Worry seems so trivial. How can the world keep spinning?

Heavy Heart

I wish I'd written earlier in the day so it could be a regular November post. Instead I got some bad news about a family member's 4-month-old daughter dying unexpectedly and I'm crushed for them. Writing about anything other than that seems pointless and a waste of words. I have no comfort and no "God needed an angel" platitudes. Just a pit in my stomach and tears filling my eyes at regular intervals.

Jane was extra fuetty tonight -- just stronger willed, really living into the terrible threes I'm expecting. (She's also still "on" for her grandparents all the time.) All I did was cry and hold her during the worst part of her tantrum, leaning into the chaos and pain. Feeling deeply grateful to hold her strong, healthy body as it rocked and kicked against mine.

I can't write anymore today.

Salt and Light

Today was laity Sunday, so we had a lay speaker preach. The text (from Matthew) was about being the light of the world and salt of the earth:

¹³ “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

I loved the children's sermon, although I don't know about the theological soundness. The presenter talked about salt and this little light like you're expect, but she also said something I had never heard before. She talked about how when we eat salty foods we get very thirsty. And so we're meant to be salt for other people and make them thirsty for Jesus' love (living water). I liked it anyway.

When I was in high school I had a T-shirt with part of the salt verse on it. What a funny thing to remember.

A Three Year Old

My Jane bug is three today. It's pretty cool to reminisce about her birth. It seems so long ago but also like it was only yesterday. I can still feel the weight of her little body and that baby smell.

Now I've got a giant preschooler. She's 38 and 3/4 inches tall. When we go to the doctor next week we'll find out what she weighs, but I know it's perfect.

We decorated the house last night with balloons -- 30 pink balloons in two shades made a giant "3" on the wall in the sunroom. We did probably 30 more in various places around the living room and sunroom. Plus we had two helium Happy Birthday balloons that were free from Winn Dixie's baby club. (As a goodbye gift I guess, since she's not a baby anymore!)

Jane, her daddy and grandparents went to the Rural Life Museum while I baked the cake. I used the red and white checked cookbook for recipes -- devil's food cake and "truffle" frosting, which was ganache chilled overnight then whipped. The frosting didn't work so good because the chocolate didn't melt all the way initially. Also the recipe made way too much, so I only used half. I guess that's one way to cut sugar. The whole cake had 1 and 3/4 cup of white (refined) sugar, and the frosting was a bag of chocolate chips plus whipping cream. Still plenty sweet, and Jane GOBBLED and begged for more. It tasted OK but cake seemed dry. The frosting was sweet but weird. Everyone was complimentary. Better luck next year!

We had two Jane-sized friends over with their families for supper. With grandparents and us it was 7 adults, three 3-year-olds and two little baby brothers. It was a full house! Jane got a lot of great presents, including some books, a doctor's outfit and kit, Lego sets and an adorable stuffed Pluto dog.

While serving the cake one of the moms asked if Jane liked ice cream (as Jane basically inhaled it). We said "of course, and this is only the second time she's had it!" The other mom said "you're depriving your kid!" She said it jokingly but still rubs me wrong. I've written about feeding my kid before and will likely write about it again. Even in my righteous indignation, however, I feel bad after these comments that make light of my intentional parenting decisions. AM I DOING EVERYTHING WRONG?!?!?!

Even if yes I am the proud mother of a healthy, beautiful, clever, funny, brilliant three-year-old daughter. She is the best.

One Week Down

Good News: I found my list of blog post ideas.

Bad News: It doesn't have anything helpful or ideas I hadn't already remembered. Dern. I may need to take advantage of some of the blog prompts.

I pretty much have Jane's party stuff prepped, although I lost some balloons. I replaced them. I'll be blowing up balloons tonight so she wakes up to a birthday wonderland!

I took advantage of in-house babysitters this morning and went to get my driver's license renewed. I still like the photo from four years ago better, but this one isn't too bad. Also they didn't ask me to update my weight. I should probably make it a goal to get back down to that lie version!

My LSU project is done, or at least sent to the printer. I'm not sure when they'll post it to the website. It's been quite a struggle, and the end product isn't as good as I'd like it to be. But it is what it is.

Hair Today

Six months after my last disastrous haircut I tried again, and this time I'm happier. It's not QUITE as short as I'd like, but it's definitely an upgrade from the mullet look. And freshly cut hair always swings better and will curl up nicely after I wash it. Hair stylists are always scared to cut curly hair too short. Probably a good thing, although I've had REALLY short hair that grows out beautifully. I even made a follow-up appointment for January, so I'll do my best to try and be more intentional about personal care, at least re: my hair. My teeth look pretty good in that webcam snap though.

I'm hoping to get my driver's license renewed this week with the semi-decent hair. We've lived here more than four years, but your license expires in your birth month, so I get a little extra time. I also want to try to take some family photos, maybe even do a family-of-three shot for our Christmas card this year. (No way ... it will just be a snap of Jane because she's the cutest thing about our family!)

There are NaBloPoMo prompts that come in my email every day that I could be using instead of this off-the-cuff style I seem to be favoring so far this year.

Rachel Held Evans tweeted about this funny Tumblr, Ev'ry Day I'm Pastorin, yesterday, and I've been scrolling, scrolling, scrolling. I'm not a pastor but I find the humor so funny!

TIBTIL: Fleur de Lis

Post-election sadness.

Shawn's parents are here for Jane's birthday week. I spent all afternoon thinking it was Thursday and scrambling to get some stuff I need to do the church's weekly email. It's done, but the admin can't access her computer to send it to me. SO FRUSTRATING. But at least I have tomorrow to work on it...

I bought this fleur de lis sign at the Denham Springs craft fair in early October. It's metal and really cool. Shawn hung it in front of the kitchen window, so I see it multiple times per day. SOMETIMES it gives me a fright as it twists in the wind and I think it could be a person's head walking by. I'm sure I'll get used to it! CandCMetalProducts.com.

In October I made a big list of blog post ideas, and I tore it out of my notebook and can't find it. Hrm. I better find it or at least step up my game...

Election Day Cupcakes

Today Jane celebrated her birthday at school. Two kids of the nine in her class share a November 8 birthday! There was a birthday celebration last week and will be another next week (in addition to this week's two). That's a lot of cupcakes!

Instead of participating in the sugar rush, which is something I shield Jane from as much as humanly possible, I decided to provide a regular snack of some of Jane's favorite foods -- cheese, peanut butter crackers and strawberries -- as well as pretend crochet cupcakes for the kids to take home. The kids -- and adults -- really seemed to like them. Her teacher also said the kids ate that snack much better than they usually eat.

I got to go to her birthday celebration snack time, and I took pictures and a short video of her friends singing "Happy Birthday" to her. Just precious.

Each crochet cupcake took me about 45 minutes - 1 hour to make, depending on how into the TV show I was. I thought I was finished at eight but then found out a new girl came to class. Thankfully I had enough time to make nine!

I looked at several crochet cupcake patterns online, but I ended up making it up a bit as I went along. I've made a crochet cupcake baby hat and this was like that, although instead of top down I crocheted bottom up. I started with a brown circle of about 3 rows of single crochet, then chained 6, turned *single crocheted 5 in the back loop only, slip stitched into the circle and then again in the next stitch of the circle, then single crocheted 5 in the front loop only, chained one, turned, repeat from * around and then slip stitch the "tube" of the cupcake wrapper together. Then I crocheted around the edges to make the "top" of the cupcake wrapper.

I switched to white and crocheted in the back loop only for two rows then started decreasing somewhat evenly. (Single crochet 10, then single crochet 2 together, etc.) until I got close to a top. I stuffed and sewed the top closed. Then I added a row of reverse single crochet to the free loop of the very first row of white to make the icing pop (and cover up the raw edge of the wrapper).

I made a cherry with magic circle, 3 single crochet in loop, pull tight, 2 single crochet in each stitch around, then decrease around, then decrease again, tucking in the loose ends to give it some shape (the cherry isn't really stuffed though). I sewed that on.

I did the "sprinkles" differently on some of the cupcakes. At first I put them on before I stuffed and sewed up the white part, but eventually I just started adding them at the end after everything was stuffed. I think they could easily come out if pulled on, although I did try to weave in the ends to give them a little staying power. They're just random stitches in three colors to look like jimmies.

Jane will have a cake at her birthday party, and along with the sweets and treats she gets to have while celebrating others' birthdays I think she'll have enough! I hear the siren call of food dye, especially for sprinkles on the top of her cake. But I'm holding firm to my belief that I shouldn't feed her any food dyes and as few chemicals as possible. Even on, or perhaps especially on, her birthday.

Crochet: Pink Sock Monkey

I haven't had any custom hat orders except this one, and I made it for one of Shawn's woodworking friends. He has a six-month-old great granddaughter. I made it a little bigger than it had to be, but it should still fit, and it should last longer.

I should really iron my backdrop, huh? And work on the lighting!

I got the folding table from the other Target today. $11 off, woo hoo. I have agreed to a craft sale at an assisted living center on December 6. I am also considering the craft fair at Jane's school, although it would be nearly 8 hours of selling. And I'm just not sure I have enough or can make enough stock by then (or if I could stand to be at a booth for that long, not to mention child care...).

Don't forget to vote tomorrow. I'm with Mary.

What's Annoying Me Today

I get annoyed very easily. I take note of annoyances with the intent of writing scathing blog posts, but usually annoyances fade. Which really is a very good thing and I should "let it go," to quote one of Jane's favorite songs...

• Target -- love the store, but not the sale management. I want to buy a six-foot folding table for future craft sales. I looked at it on Friday but decided to talk to Shawn before I bought it. When I got home there was an ad and it was going on sale for $10 less! I went back today, the first day of the sale and they had sold the single table they had in stock. The guy who helped me was pretty nonchalant about the chances of it coming back in stock during the sale. Ugh. It was also a lot to fight the Sunday traffic over there.
• Rude emails -- I do the website, social media and some email marketing for the church as a volunteer thing. Most of the people I work with have a business etiquette that includes "could you" and "thank you." I got an email today with an abrupt "add this" and "use this language" with no thank you or please. I did it anyway (within a few hours even), but still annoying.
• Car pool carseats -- when I drop off Jane at school on Tuesday and Thursday mornings I see many other moms unbuckle their kids and let them ride in the front seat or even on their laps for the last few car lengths. I am so damn judgy but it just seems like a horrible chance to take (and sets a precedent for carseat-free riding). Jane stays securely buckled until we're at the front of the line and her teacher comes to the car to get her.
• Disregarding deadlines -- this is a bit of beating a dead horse, since I've alluded to the trouble in previous posts, but the magazine I'm working on is coming down to the wire. There's still missing content and the design is rough, actually what I'd have expected the first draft to be several weeks ago. I am having to adjust my expectations, and I'm not very good at that at all. I want excellence in everything I do, including one-off projects, and I hate when circumstances beyond my control keep it from being the best it can be.

I'm sure I'm annoyed by a lot more things, but these are what come to mind and what I gretched about at various points today. Hope you're less aggravated than I am. I seem to live in a perpetual state of annoyance.

Welcome to November ... remix hey!

Rabbit, rabbit.

My fingers have been itching and my brain has been whirring with ideas for writing this month. I can't guarantee that anything will be good, but I'm committing to write every day this month.

Welcome to National Blog Post Month, or NaBloPoMo. Tons of people are writing this month.

My posts will be some day-in-the-life type things (including my daughter's third birthday), crochet projects (I've completed a few!), Thanksgiving travel on my 34th birthday, things that annoy me and some musings about a short Bible study I completed last month. If you have any post ideas send them my way!

This is the first I've written on my brand new computer. My old one is still technically alive, so I've had a hard time giving up Windows 7 for Windows 8 (of course I buy a new PC right as a new OS is announced). But I have pretty much everything transferred, including my browser settings. So there's really no excuse. With this one I can unplug and work for hours on the couch without moving the power cord.

I had a part-time job this fall that paid for the computer (and more). I'll write about it and share the project when it's finally complete and printed ... sometime this month. It's been a trying experience for a lot of reasons, not the least of which has been the utter disregard for deadlines and completely dysfunctional workflow. I am realizing how spoiled I've been with access to top graphic designers and working with people who care about the finished products.

Otherwise all is well in the Red Stick.

I Survived Holly Days 2014

I paid $16 for the privilege of walking into a convention center to shop for cute, expensive gifts. Many were handmade and worth the price. Others seemed less reasonable. The ticket price was $11, but I also had to pay $5 for parking. Kind of ridiculous all around.

It's "for a good cause," whatever that cause is. The Junior League does outreach in the community, so spending money to go isn't something I feel bad about (although the parking fee just goes to that garage).

I carried Jane around on my back in the Ergo, since strollers were not allowed. (And a good thing too. It was crowded enough without the addition of strollers.) We made a loop, methodically, around the outside and then zigzagging in and out of the shorter aisles and middle aisle. There wasn't a clear flow to the aisles, so there were always people going both ways and clumps of people stopping to chat "Oh hi, I haven't seen you in forever."

(No surprise: I didn't see ANYONE I knew.)

I bought about five Christmas presents -- I had to feel like I was getting my entry fee money's worth. Just before we left Jane got down from my back to try out these expensive horse toys. They were more than $200, and the sales guy was weird about which ponies were for demonstration. I did not like him -- or the toy -- at all, but we'd walked past it and she'd asked to play on them. It was a small reward for not crying and bucking while riding on "mama horse" through the shops.

All together we were only there for a bit more than an hour. I could have spent more time methodically going through each shop and looking at pieces individually. There was a lot of great jewelry, although it's such a personal item it's hard to buy something like that for other people. (Hey, I have a birthday coming up though!) I couldn't last much longer than an hour with the 35 extra pounds on my back. And once she was down it would have been a matter of time before she wandered off -- or pulled my arm out of the socket by going limp/dragging me down.

Ideally I would go to a thing like that alone, with headphones, to shop in stealth, leave-me-alone mode, which is much more efficient although anti-social. I don't think I'll ever go to the Holly Days again, unless someone had free tickets or otherwise invited me specifically. But it was worth it to see what it was all about this once.

I didn't find out how much the booth rental was, although if I ever got serious about my crochet hats that would be an obvious place to sell. (I saw two booths that had crochet hats, but they were afterthoughts/not the main thing being sold and didn't have much selection -- they were also MUCH more expensive than mine.)

An idea for an entrepreneurial junior junior leaguer -- a child care service like they have at Ikea -- just a room or area where parents could drop off their kids and shop, for a charge of course. Could offer activities and crafts, games, etc. I definitely would have been down for using a service like that (at least in theory). It's probably a nightmare legally though.

Carry on.

Glitterati

We went to the Denham Springs Fall Festival yesterday, and it was a very good time. There were arts and crafts, kiddie rides and loads of antique stores.

Jane's favorite thing was the face painting. In that same Daniel Tiger episode some real life kids got their faces painted to look like the DT characters. When I saw that they had a face painting booth I didn't hesitate, because Jane had been asking to have her face painted since we watched the show.

Putting toxic chemicals on her skin is never a good idea (I didn't even ask what the paint was made of), but I really did a bad thing because there was GLITTER in the paint (either that or the lady added the glitter afterward). Jane became the cutest tiger ever (chosen by the face painting lady because Jane was wearing her tiger crochet hat), and the paint itself came off easily when we got home (I was smart enough to not let her lay in her bed with a full face of paint). But even after a shower we still have glitter on her face and in her hair, and even after vacuuming the car her car seat is still sporting sparkles.

Is this my life now?!

Next time, and there will be a next time, I'll pay closer attention (rather than taking pictures of the painter at work!) and specifically ask for no glitter before the painting begins. I'll also be sure there's no paint near her mouth -- the bit on her nose migrated to her lips somehow and it was quite a mess. Who knows how much she ingested. I'm so careful about what she eats, but I didn't think about this getting in her mouth.

Rookie mistakes all around. I hope we can get the glitter out of the car with a lint roller and/or tape. Any other ideas? I'm so worried about some getting in her eye and scratching it somehow. So far it hasn't, but I'm always worrying about the worse case.

Dress Up Day

On an episode of Daniel Tiger that Jane and I watched (on Amazon Prime) today the characters all dressed up and had a parade. They knocked on people's doors to show off their costumes, and instead of candy they got stickers for their sticker books. What a wonderful idea -- I'd love for that to be the m.o. for our church's trunk-or-treat. I'm not sure how I'm going to keep Jane from eating the crap she'll collect.

I'm trying to decide what we'll hand out from our "trunk." Last year I bought a bunch of things that were non-candy -- vampire teeth, some bracelets, bouncy balls, etc. I've got a cart ready for checkout at Oriental Trading just ready to hit "purchase."

But there's part of me -- the CHEAP part off me -- that realizes how much less expensive it would be to pick up a couple bags of value candy at Walmart or Winn Dixie and call it a night. (My shipping alone is $10. GAH.) I wouldn't let Jane eat any of it, but other people's kids are going to eat it anyway, so why should I shell out more money? And I'm still buying CRAP that's just different crap (and won't harm their bodies ... well, as long as they don't ingest it).

Yeah, I just placed my order... Junky toys for everyone!

The Unintended Silence

I haven't written at all in September, not really. The posts for the BR Maker Faire were slap-dash necessities because I handed out more than 60 cards with my URL and I wanted relevant content at the top. Nothing has come of that, although I've been working on other crochet projects anyway.

The biggest reason for a lack of posting is a paying, part-time job I'm doing. It's for the local university -- actually one of the departments my husband works in -- writing and editing an annual magazine. I went into the process for an informational interview that turned into a job offer. I grossly underestimated the time it would take me, although the director wisely built in some overrun and I hope to at least keep it within that number of hours.

Basically I've been working 20-ish hours every week, which seems like nothing thinking back to my career-filled life, but when I'm balancing it with child care it has left me feeling as exhausted and strung out as I ever did while working (save for the morning sickness road trip of 2011). It has also involved a lot of working with others -- almost all strangers who don't want to bother with the magazine or me. And I've had a few tense gripe sessions with Shawn about him getting me into this!

Things are slowly coming together for the magazine though, and I'll find a new equilibrium once it goes to print. (I'll post a link to it on my Facebook and maybe my professional site -- keep reading.) There may be additional work with this department (their website needs serious attention), or maybe not. There's another possible website job with a different organization slated to start in January, although I won't know if I've actually been chosen to do it until sometime in late November at the earliest.

I purchased www.mariwalker.com when I saw it was available (there's an author with my name who used to own it). For now I'll use it to promote my freelance communications offerings -- although every job I've had so far has come to me without trying. Not sure if that will last.

Jane has started a two morning per week preschool program that has been the only way I've been able to work as much as I have. (I've also had to make her sit in her dad's office for an hour here and there -- which she adores because she gets to be with him ... and watch Daniel Tiger or Olivia!)

She loves school and has never looked back. She loves her teacher, her friends and all the fun stuff they do together. I lost it the night before her first day with ugly crying and straight up fear of leaving her, but after the nerves of day one I've felt really good about it too. (Perhaps in part because I've been frantically working/interviewing/writing during her school hours.)

Today was my first day without an interview, where I was at home without her (normally I have been going from drop off to the university until it's time to pick her up). It was great -- easier to fit in exercise, then a more leisurely Target run with no "get in the cart" negotiations.

I will write more in October, leading up to NaBloPoMo in November.

Want to Order a Crochet Hat?

Thanks for your interest in silvermari crochet hats. Most of what I make are sized for infants and toddlers, although I can size up and down for custom orders (and based on the Maker Faire I'll be making more elementary-age girls sizes).

Please email me at silvermari@gmail.com to place an order. (I may consider setting up an Etsy shop in the future.)

I will need to know the style of hat you'd like (see photos in my silvermari crochet hats Flickr album for ideas), the colors (general or specific) and a couple head measurements. Most importantly I need the head circumference -- measure around the crown of the head. It's also helpful to have the brow height -- from the top of the head to just above the eyebrows (or wherever you want the edge of the hat to be). If head measurements aren't available let me know the age for the recipient. (I use this great chart for estimating head sizes.)

Hats range from $15-$20, depending on size and complexity. I am located in Baton Rouge, LA, and I can meet in a public place within BR to deliver local orders. Shipping costs will be extra.

I expect about a week turnaround time for each order, although that depends on other factors (including number of orders I already have, if it's a hard-to-find yarn that I need to special order, etc.), so I'll let you know in our email conversations. If you have a rush deadline let me know, and I'll see what I can do.

If you have other crochet projects you'd like to commission, please contact me for a quote. See my silvermari crochet Flickr album for examples of other types of crochet projects I've completed.

Photo of my booth at the 2019 Maker Faire

Baton Rouge Mini Maker Faire

This Saturday I'm going to be part of the Mini Maker Faire at the East Baton Rouge public library. I'll have my crochet hats for sale and will be demonstrating crochet and teaching anyone who wants to give it a try. I'm confused about the way it will work, but if nothing else it will give me some stories.

If you're visiting my site because you saw my booth at the faire, welcome! I don't write exclusively about crochet, although I do post about almost every project I make. I hope you'll stick around. See more about my crochet craft.