Warm again, but also about to snow

It's been really nice the last couple of days, but it's also supposed to snow this weekend. We apparently live in a "front formation zone," which is fancy pants talk for "it's impossible to predict the weather here." I'm trying to get the kids to play outside as much as possible.

On another note me and Mark have been called as the ward Provident Living specialists. Woo? While I do indeed know quite a bit about preparedness, I'm under the distinct impression that we got the calling because I have demonstrated knowledge about sheep and wool. Not exactly preparedness skills unless you own a flock, but ok. Last night I taught a class about 72 hour kits and succeeded in not once referring to it as a BOB (bug out bag).

The paperwork is in for the kids to be registered for school (Elspeth in kindergarten and Wenna in preschool), now we're just waiting for our confirmation of placement letter so that a) we know if we got morning slots or not and b) we can trek out to the district office with their birth certificates and shot records. Everybody pray that we get morning slots for both girls, as the early schedule we must be on due to Mark's work (he goes in between five and six!) plus afternoon preschool is driving me mad. I just don't know what to do with them for six hours in a row that doesn't also tend to make us late for school.

When did I move to the Arctic, again?

It is bitterly, bitterly cold outside, and there are snow drifts taller than Wenna. Oh yeah, and it's still snowing. I have to go to an HOA meeting tonight (hey, somebody had to volunteer... except apparently thanks to me we have a full board for the first time in years). We are very busy, to say the least! Plus registering Elspeth for kindergarten and Wenna for preschool. Woo!

Happy Christmas!

In case I'm too busy to remember later. My brothers are staying with my parents, it's our first year living in the same state as them, and I just realized that Elspeth is old enough to remember Christmases from year to year, so maybe we'd better get with the tradition-making. Also, Mark's security clearance finally went through. Fortunately his supervisor is a kind, understanding soul and will not have him start working on site until the third. Yay!

The blessings of Visiting Teaching...

Mark took both littles with him to pick up Elspeth from school, because I need to be here when my VT companion picks me up. That means twenty whole minutes of being the only one in the house. Sometimes, it is little things that are most refreshing, especially after the hullabaloo that was the post office this afternoon. YIPES.

And I forgot about this blog.

Something about moving across state lines, buying a house, suddenly deciding I want to be a designer... yeah, we've been busy. Elspeth is in preschool, Sophina is way more advanced in her motor milestones than the average baby, as well. Nuts to the blog. :D But, if you care to hear me ramble about fiber-related things, you can go to my other blog, Maru Designs.

The pictures,

Flickr has them. We are BUSY... new house, things broken in house, I suddenly decided that I really and for really want to design crochet and knit patterns... it just never ends. :D

Bugs

I have now seen my first adult variegated carpet beetle. This is not something you ever want to see. The adults are indeed fairly harmless, but their larvae eat EVERYTHING. Wool, leather, feathers, crumbs, lint, hair, everything. Those of you who follow me on facebook will know that I had a bit of a run in with them a week ago, but I had not seen any sign of them since about Friday. Curse you trojan fleece but we thought it was over. Apparently not. So now the futon is outside and has been sprayed with the "child and pet safe bugkiller" we got from home depot, and I am washing just about every article of clothing I own. You know, just to be safe. We are going to have some very clean closets. Also, if I find any in my yarn or fiber stashes, I'm going to WEEP.

Also, Sophina's hair is hilarious

IMG_3624
Originally uploaded by Driggs family

She looks like a tiny gregorian monk, except not bald in the back. Or a tiny Romulan. Babies come out with the best haircuts.

Not much else to say.

Busy

We went to get alpaca fleece today. I thought I was going to come home with one bag, maybe two, but man howdy did that woman cut me a screaming deal. I think I have full blankets from six shearings in the back of my van, three of which are already processed into roving. Two of the unprocessed bags are first shearings! How was I supposed to say no! The fleece lady also had a litter of tiny puppies at her house. I think they were yorkies? Anyway Elspeth wanted to take the littlest one home. Then we went to visit my cousins. Then we all went to Cabellas to look at the fish. I am one tired lady, hopefully the kids are too!

...also, I have a lot of alpaca fleece. Maybe that was not such a fabulous idea. But, come on, screaming deal. It is very soft.

Lots of pictures

IMG_3579
Originally uploaded by Driggs family

On flickr. I seem to have completely given up on tagging and labeling them, mostly because there is absolutely no time. That being said, it cuts down on the random moments of "who are these kajillionty one people looking at my pictures?" Which isn't a bad thing either.

Ta-dah!

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Originally uploaded by Driggs family

We had a baby, for finally! Sophina Grace Driggs made her (overly dramatic) entry on March 9, at a whopping 9 lbs 7 oz. No stitches were involved, but the hospital and the NICU were. She gets released tomorrow, unless something weird happens. There are about a kazillion jillion pictures on Flickr.

Fears the serger

I borrowed a serger from my buddy Pam, with which to sew more baby wipes, and I think I am a little afraid of it. Something about "four thread feeds, two needles, and some weird sideways thingies that I'm not sure if I should call them needles or not" is a little intimidating. Maybe someday I will be rich, and thus be able to justify just buying the darn things.

Happy New Year!

My sauerkraut balls disintegrated in the pan, but hey, new year! Sleeping children! Mice in my house! Well, maybe... we caught four on the first day, and haven't seen any sign of them since, so maybe we caught them early and there were only four. Here's to hoping there are no fuzzies hiding in my walls.

Wow... long time.

Being pregnant is extremely distracting. The summary for those who are not family, and don't get here through Ravelry or something (who are you?), due late February, girl, and looking good in there, altho she is extremely high so I can't eat, which sucks over the holidays, and yet somehow also compressing my nerves such that my legs don't work right. But such is life. Also, uploaded something like six months of pictures to the flickr account. They are not labeled or anything, nor is the last batch, but hey, they are there. I also received an enormous box of yarn on Friday. Mmmmm, purewool.

Bonnets for the NICU

So, as some of you may have noticed, I have been making things to donate to the local NICU and bereavement program. In particular, I love this Ravelry pattern for tiny bonnets. It is however knit, and my skills of a knitter are less than fabulous. So I have written my own crochet pattern for tiny bonnets! Here it is!

Use soft baby yarn (I have been using Bernat Softee Baby, but anything similar will do) and a 4.25 or 5 mm hook, give or take. You want the fabric to be soft and flexible, but guage is not overwhelmingly important. The NICU needs all kinds of sizes!

Ch 6 (7, 8) (Instructions for alterations for ch 9, 10, and 11 at bottom.)

Row 1: starting in second ch from hook, sc in front loop of each ch to end, DO NOT TURN, sc in back loop of each ch for 10 (12, 14, 16, etc) sc in a U-shape. Ch 1, turn.

Row 2: 2 sc in each sc around for 20 (24, 28, 38, etc) sc. Ch 1, turn.

Row 3 thru 7 (8, 9): SC in each sc around, ch 1, and turn. Basically, do one less row than the number of ch you started with after the increase row.

Row 8 (9, 10): do some sort of tiny lovely edging. I like eyelets (ch 2, skip one stitch, sc 1, ch 1, skip stitch, repeat from around), but anything will work. Sc ch3 in each stitch around also looks really cute. Finish and weave in ends.

If you want, you can also put eyelets around the bottom of the bonnet for the ribbon to thread through, but I find it unneccessary, personally.

Weave a length of thin ribbon around the bottom of the bonnet to make a tie. Do not tie any knots or sew it in, just weave it through (in case the councilor needs to remove it).

These are very small – the 6 ch version will fit a head about the size of a golf ball. For larger sizes:

Ch 9 (10, 11)

Row 1: Starting in second ch from hook, sc in each ch to the end. Sc one in middle of last ch. DO NOT TURN, sc in back loop of each ch to make a U shape (17 18, 19 sc).

Proceed as above, except do one more row of sc in each sc (i.e., do the same number of rows as you did chains, instead of the number of chains minus one).

The ch 11 version comes out about the size of a small apple.

It is possible that the pattern will expand to larger sizes, but I have only tested it up to ch 11. If you have comments or suggestions for improvements, PLEASE TELL ME! I have never drafted a pattern before, and while I have tested extensively (thank you testers!) it is always possible I have missed something.

If you want to make some to donate, you can contact your local hospital NICU or send them to the councilor here, at this address:

Utah Valley Hospital
1036 N 500 W
Provo, UT 84606
C/O NICU Common Bonds Heather Walker

Or if you know me well enough to know my address, you can send them to me, or hand them to me if you see me. Happy yarn therapy!

Aaah, enforced vacation

So those of you who follow me on Facebook may have heard that I found a new job, and also that they moved my start date back by a month, so I am faced with either a) working at the hotel for a couple more weeks or b) taking a month of enforced vacation. GUESS which one I picked. And no, it's not because the hotel doesn't want me... the manager has actually begged and PLEADED for me to stay, and said repeatedly that if Teleperformance doesn't work out, I have a job waiting for me at the hotel. I don't think that's necessarily completely true (what would they do with the chick they hired to replace me?), altho this place does have more turnover than something that turns over a lot. But we are going on VACATION. Like four nights in St. George. Mark even made the reservations. I am STOKED.

On a side note, Byron decided he wanted a pleco to go in the aquarium with his giant snail and my crayfish. I wasn't so sure that was a good idea. He had his doubts but decided to try it anyway. The crayfish had a rather expensive snack. So remember folks... crayfish are predatory. Stupid fish.

Shade garden = planted!

We have planters all around our driveway. This would be lovely for my wannabe green thumbery, except for the car port. And the neighbor's car port. Yeah, about 75% of those planters get MAYBE half an hour of direct sun. You know, if I'm being generous. Fortunately I have just discovered that many of my favorite flowers are part shade -- hydrangia, bleeding heart, azalia -- and many shade plants have interestingly colored foliage. THERE ARE SHADE PLANTS! This baffles Byron, but some of the things I've planted will die if they get direct sun. So whoever decided that some of the planters were useless and filled them with wood chips can bite me. Whoever filled the remaining planters with ivy and gravel, on the other hand, has a date with my shovel. I mean, seriously, WHO'S IDEA WAS THAT?!

Jen Driggs, call Kim

Well, you don't have to CALL me, but your blog won't let me read it any more because I am not invited. :( And I don't have your email address, apparently (could have sworn I did, somewhere...). Anyway, I would like it if you added me to the approved readers list. :)

Ravelers are kind, generous people

This is all the yarn I recieved yesterday. Birthday presents for my girl! I asked for yarn on the Random Acts of Kindness board to make things for the NICU/bereavement program at the local hospital. Ravelry is the awesome!

This is going to be a dead baby post

So if you are easily depressed, I won't be too offended if you choose to skip it.

Shortly after Emersen was born, I expressed the (to me very understandable) sentiment that I wished I had died, it hurt so much. Everyone around me, panicked, rushed to reasure me that no, I was much better off alive, as if I had died, too, I would miss so much, particularly that I would miss so many things with Elspeth. Her graduation. Her wedding. Nobody realized, I think, that I had already missed all those things with Emersen, and so much more... her birth (the drugged, traumatic ten hours I got does not count), nursing her, changing her diapers, teething, everything. Parents do not realize how lucky they are to stay up all night with a screaming, colicy, teething baby. It is a gift from God, and I missed it all. Today I'm missing her second birthday, and it hurts pretty bad.

Happy birthday baby. I love you.