Ramble On

Knitted with felici sport weight, size 3 needles. For my 5 year old for xmas. Rav link.

Bottoms up mini minions [ Rav Link ]




Supplies

• WW yarn in black, blue, and yellow.
• Size 5 needles
• Poly fill stuffing
• Shank button for the eye
• Black sharpie
• Spare needle or waste yarn

Starting with the feet:

CO 6 stitches in black, work an i-cord for two rows
Change to blue continue in i-cord for three rows
Cut yarn and move 6 live stitches to a spare needle or waste yarn
CO 6 stitches in black work an i-cord for two rows
Change to blue and continue in i-cord for three rows
Slip the 6 stitches that are the waste yarn/spare needle back onto your working needle, you will now have 12 stitches.
Now this part is worked flat cause 1) I like to sew things up (yes I am a freak) and 2) I find it easier to attach the eye and make the mouth this way.
Continue in SS with blue yarn for 6 rows
Change to yellow yarn and continue in SS for 5 rows
Switch to black yarn and work one row in the black, leaving a long tail at each end of the row. We’ll use this to make the mouth and hair later on.
Switch back to yellow and work two rows SS
Decreasing for the head:
P2tog p1 six times (6 stitches)
Knit next row
P2tog across all stitches (3 stitches remain)
Cut yarn and thread through remaining live stitches and pull tightly.

Now we’re going to make the face…
Sew your shank button onto the middle of the face on the row you knitted black. I use the yarn at one of the ends of the black row to do this that way everything is really attached.

After your button is attached embroider the mouth.

After the mouth thread the remaining bit of black yarn up though the head.

Stuff your minion and sew up the back seam using the coordinating colors and weave in the ends except for the black bits at the top of the head (that's the hair).

Hair:
Trim the black threads at the top of the head to the length that you like.


Separate all the piles of the yarn but rubbing it the opposite way it is spun between your thumb and index finger. Fluff.

Now that you’ve got your little guy he’s going to need some arms.
With yellow pick up three stitches on one side of the body. Work in i-cord for 10 rows. Switch to black and continue in i-cord for 2 rows. Thread yarn through remaining stitches and pull tightly.
Repeat for other arm.




EYE:
Now to make the eye, simply make a circle in the middle of your button with the sharpie.



And you’re done!

I usually complain about having to bake my own cake but this year I am grateful to be here and upright at all. I made a jelly roll cake, it was gluten free so there were extra steps. I had to separate half a dozen eggs and whip the whites into a frenzy and then the yolks separately. Add almond and vanilla extract. I licked the spatula when I was done loading it into the jelly roll pan. It was delicious. I hope it tastes as good as actual cake (it did).

I spent Monday morning - Wednesday afternoon in the hospital. I missed my kids so much that I cried, then I looked at their photos on facebook (after hubby brought me my ipod) and that made me cry more. I was a mess. The stay was obviously not planned, and there is more to come regarding this and I don't know if I'm ready for it but I know that I'll be okay.

So today I baked my birthday cake, painted my finger nails pink, my toe nails blue, and put on makeup. Hello 28, let's play nice okay?

I am feel absolutely horrible today. A couple of days ago I had milk-laden bread and screwed myself all up once again. I was feeling really good for a couple of weeks there. Ugh, I'm so mad at myself. I just simply can not have milk, I obviously have not tolerance for it. If something says "may contain milk" I'm just going to assume that it does and leave it at that.

The day after the milk incident of '10 my wrists starting hurting nearly has bad as they did when I first got diagnosed with carpal tunnel. I have to wonder if my intolerance has anything to do with it? Today they do feel better after having slept in my braces for two days. (okay after a quick Google it appears that it probably does). I did get diagnosed with lactose intolerance and CT within months of one another so it does make sense. I guess I need to research a good lactose free B complex vitamin as well, cause apparently that is supposed to help.

My stomach is still just rolling. I'm eating coconut milk yogurt (which is gross) just for the live active cultures. It's expensive for yogurt (1.99) but I'm wary of too much soy and I need to readjust my digestive system. This really needs to be the last holiday that I miss out on due to my digestive issues, it really is ridiculous.

Every time I go to log into blogger I feel like I have something to say, and then I get to this screen and I just can't really put my thoughts together and I end up with an entry that's all disjointed. Now if you could crawl inside my head and see the great blog entries I compose right before I'm about to fall asleep and am too tired to get up and actually blog then you'd be impressed.

Today we saw Toy Story 3. It was okay, the kids enjoyed it and there were some funny parts but it wasn't my favorite. Granted we will still have to buy it when it comes out on DVD but I'm not anxious to watch it again.

Then after the kids were in bed we watched Avatar which we (the adults) liked fairly well. The story was predictable but what really hasn't been lately? I think the only movie that I've seen recently that has made me go "Wow..." was District 9. Now that was a good movie.

In knitting news I've restarted Eldest's xmas blanket again. I keep starting and then end up hating the pattern I'm using. So I'm on the third one, I'm still not sure of it. We'll see how it works up. If I hate it I'll frog it. I started early enough that I have the option to do that, makes me feel like I'm industrious and a good planner. Neither of these things are true, we'll see if I make it through my "to be knitted" list by Dec. <- See what I just did there? Hello negative thinking! I need to work on that.

Baby girl was in bed by 8:30, which is unheard of for her. I'd go to bed too but I'm afraid that she's going to wake up soonish. We were at the lake for a total of six hours today. I am so tired. I don't think I've been outside for that long since I was a teenager at the public pool all day every day in the summer. My poor mother, I never realized how bored she must have been. She doesn't swim, never has, so she just took us to the pool and sat there while we swam.

I do know how to swim, however, with three kids who can not swim so well yet it was pretty stressful for me. The older two kept wanting to go out deeper and deeper and the baby just wanted to play in the shallows with her watering can. I sort of stood in the middle but closer to the baby, obviously, in case I had to grab her. At 10 AM there weren't many people there so it was easier to keep an eye on them but by 4PM it was very crowded and I was having a hard time.

So I'm tired. I should knit or at least take my contacts out.