May 30, 2008
Lexi's birthday party
A bit of footage from Lexi's first birthday party.
May 23, 2008
Lexi's birthday crown
I finished Lexi's birthday crown last weekend and managed to snap a quick picture. She hates wearing hats, so getting any photo was definitely a challenge!
I knit the Felted Halloween Crown pattern from Lion Brand, using less than a skein of their Lion Wool yarn (100% wool, excellent for felting). It was super easy, since it was completely in garter stitch and only required a single increase or decrease per row. I was a bit risky in the felting; I just threw it in with a pair of jeans, and set the washer for a quick, hot wash. I have a front loader, so pulling it out to check in the felting progress isn't an option. This didn't quite do the trick, so I ran it through a long hot wash, which resulted in a nice, thick piece of felt.
The crown came out a little bit too short after felting (I knit the smallest size), so I stretched it while it was drying. My original plan was to use velcro to fasten the ends together. I wound up using two pieces of 1/2" elastic instead, although I sewed them on such that the crown is now a bit too big for her! It fits Elliot quite nicely, though, so maybe he can use it for his birthday, too. (Although he says he wants a blue one.)
Ferry to SF
Michael is in town this week, so we took Elliot on the ferry from Jack London Square (in Oakland) to San Francisco on Tuesday. We got to the ferry terminal early, so we wandered around and looked at Jack London's house from Alaska and the outside of Heingold's First and Last Chance Bar (where Jack London used to hang out).
The ferry ride was fun, but Elliot didn't really like being outside (too sunny and too windy).
San Francisco was breezy and crowded, so we didn't stay very long. The ferry dropped us off at Pier 41. We had lunch down the block at Boudin, which was incredibly crowded, but we got to see them making bread. Afterwards we wandered around Pier 39, rode the carousel, and watched the sea lions. Elliot got weary pretty quickly, so we took an early ferry back to Oakland and called it a day.
May 15, 2008
stairs
Lexi started crawling up the stairs yesterday! She acted as if she'd been able to do so for weeks, although as far as I know she couldn't a few days ago. Now I can't just let her roam around the ground floor on her own anymore, since we don't have a gate at the bottom of the stairs.
It's too hot to write anything else. We're having a heat wave in the Bay Area this week. A few days ago we were still running the heater in the morning, and this afternoon I turned on the air conditioner for the first time this season (the outside temperature is about 100F this afternoon.)