Pockets!

Time after time I re-learn that thinking about something before I do it usually means I only have to do it once.  Imagine that.  The pattern I'm using as my jumping off point for the play kitchen has pockets but fabric pockets, I want to make vinyl, see-through pockets for LC to store her play food and dishes in so I had to figure out how to make them not flat since vinyl kind of resists gathering so it won't make a pouchy pocket without some pleats or something.  On my first try I bound the top edge, pleated the bottom, and tried to encase the sides with binding and preserve the pleats.  It wasn't grotesque but also not what I had in mind; it became a side pocket.  (waste not, want not, said my Grandma Frieda [and probably every other grandma on the planet])  While cogitating on the pocket dilemma I sewed the skirt around the front and sides of the seat, but not to the back because I need to study on keeping it able to be removed fairly easily (the chair back gets wider at the top).  Yesterday afternoon pocket inspiration struck.  I measured the pocket placement and pulled one side in almost 2", then I sewed down the sides.  That made a big hump of vinyl in the middle.  I eyeballed the center and then eased the excess out toward the sides, making a small pleat near the bound edge, pinned a strip of flat binding over that and stitched it down.  Voila!  Roomy pockets.  I brought it upstairs to show Durwood and consult about putting on more pockets and where.  I am very happy with the way it's going so far.

My sewing and self-congratulation fest took a break because Durwood had an appointment in the late afternoon and on the way home I drove up Ridge Road and saw this sign.  I had an epiphany.  We could go in there and get a burger and neither of us would have to cook.  Genius!  So we did.  While we waited for our order Durwood read the trivia questions out of the little card on the table.  We sucked at it.  We're old and our memories are shot.  We remember where to get a good hamburger though, thank god.

 





There was a huge carton on the porch when we got home.  I might have gone a little overboard on the Find it! website when I saw that I could get 25% off if I ordered three games and free shipping if it totaled over $50.  So I got three and it was just barely over $52 before the discounts.  These are fun to play with.  We can rotate them so there's only one--or maybe two (one for each of us, you know)--out at a time.

After attaching the last pocket I had made ahead, I sat on the couch and worked on the L'Arbre hat.  I'd gotten the ribbing done at Durwood's appointment and started the pattern.  It's hard to see in the picture but you leave a 5-stitch long float across the front and 2 rounds later you pick it up and tuck it behind a stitch, making a column of what looks like little trees.  Hence the name--l'arbre is French for tree.  I got two pattern repeats done before calling it a night.  Isn't the yarn pretty?  I got it in Rapid City, SD a couple years ago and it has silk in it but it's not plied so it's a little splitty.  I still like it though and I love the color; it'll look great with my dark brown hair.  Too bad I don't have enough yarn for mitts too.  Oh well.

December 31--Mark Gamba, Jumping Off.  Fourteen year olds are like lemmings, what one does they all do.  Franz and Will were no different.  Too many times one of their mothers asked, "If insert name jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?"  More than half of the time the answer would be a shrug that every adult could interpret as "yeah, so?"  Part of the time the boys' parents were glad that they didn't sit in the basement or a darkened bedroom glued to a video game but as glad as they were that Franz and Will played outside they were also afraid that one day they'd jump off a cliff or into a quarry and not come come home.  It was not an idle fear.

Can you believe that it's New Year's Eve today?  I can't either.  Are you going out to celebrate?  We aren't, we're way past our whooping it up as the new year turns days.  Waaaaay past.  Maybe we'll share some snackies before bed and we'll definitely kiss but it'll probably be around 11 o'clock.  I can't stay up until midnight very often anymore.  If you are a going out to partier, be safe.
--Barbara