In addition to going back to work, I also took on another job – Daisy girl scout leader. My troop is made up of 16 kindergarten girls. Although we only meet once every three weeks, it is pretty time consuming for me. It has been pretty enjoyable so far.

Ava gets her pins during our first meeting.

As for crafting, I’ve only been doing a little bit of knitting. In fact, I still have one outstanding Christmas gift! I’ve been plugging away at it little by little but now that the end is in sight, I’m afraid that I’m going to run out of yarn. Fingers crossed!

Nap time

I wonder how long she will be this interested in her little brother. For now, she’s infatuated.

I’ve made her costume every year except the first one. That year, she was about 7 months old and dressed as an octopus. Since then, she has been: a lamb, a princess, a butterfly, a pirate, and this year she is Batgirl. She asked for a store-bought costume for next year. What a stinker.

We looked around for lots of Batgirl pictures before designing the costume. I must say that there are a lot that aren’t appropriate are a 5 year old. Eventually, we picked an inspiration photo and got working.

The Inspiration

Little Batgirl

I hit the fabric store with a vague idea of what I wanted. I found the shiny, stretchy purple fabric right away and knew it was perfect. From there, I just added a bunch of accents. I used one of her summer dresses as a template then made 2 layers – the shiny purple (a bit see through and not very warm) and a black jersey lining. The cape was a bit of a disaster – I’m not going to talk about it

She asked for a knitted hat. I found a great pattern to go with the costume the whipped up some matching fingerless mitts to tie it all together. I really like the idea of knitting costume components – she is sure to be warm!

I can’t wait to hear what she wants to be next year!

Here are a couple pictures of him modeling his knitwear:

1 day old, wearing his knit hat. Perfect fit!

Toasty warm in his tweedy wool and alpaca blankie.

He has to grow into the rest of the things I knit for him as I made them on the larger size. I do need to make him a new hat now – that little blue one is already a bit small.

The bat-hat

Here are the details:
Pattern: Amelia Earhart Aviator Cap
Yarn: Rowan Wool Silk in Velvet Purple. DK weight.
Needles: Size 6 to make it small enough for a 5 year old head.
Mods: Just the smaller needles and of course, the bat-ears.

As for the costume, here is my todo list:

• Make gloves (knitted to match the hat – one down, one to go)
• Make mask
• Add wrist straps to the cape
• Make a matching candy collection bag

Plenty of time!

Miss A on her first day

She has been having a hard time recounting the day’s events for me so I started asking for just 3 things about her day at school. It has been working like a charm… and I usually get more than 3. Today’s were:

1. The bus driver had to yell at the noisy kids on the bus.
2. The teacher got out the book box and everyone got to pick out some books to read.
3. They went out on the playground today and played “Shark.” Some boys and girls got to be the shark and everyone else ran away.

Yesterday, she brought home a drawing from her first art class. It was of a fairy wearing sun glasses, a coconut bra, and a grass skirt. She was on her way to the beach. Sounds good to me!