Hunting and Dyeing...

This last weekend was very exciting, as far as Moodles was concerned. First of all, we spent the bulk of the weekend teething, and have FINALLY managed to produce two front teeth. The first day was done without any numbing agents for Moodles, because every time I get her a new tube of Orajel, the dogs seize it and eat it. No matter where I hide the stuff, they FIND it and they devour it... I have no idea why they crave Orajel and chapstik like steak, but they do. I have this mental picture of Maggie and Jasmine sitting on the couch, drooling everywhere, with their lips all slack and their tongues lolling out, pointing at each other and laughing like a couple of stoned idiots, each telling the other how ridiculous she looks. Do dogs do that? I can think of no other reason why they'd need a constant supply of Orajel.

Since Moodles is an only child, and bound to be somewhat spoiled, all she gets for Christmas will not be two front teeth. Though, those will certainly aid with the chewing. She still won't let me see the teeth, but I can feel them up there now when she bites my chin. (The chin biting is her version of a kiss... Adorable, yet painful.)

Through all the excitement of teething, I almost missed seeing the mouse that had taken up residence in my stove. However, I caught a glimpse of it on Sunday night, and borrowed a trap from my Mother-in-law. Because I am down with the rodent hunting, I managed to trap the little sucker with sunflower seeds inside of 45 minutes. The only problem now is... what the hell do I do with it? Wild mice don't make good pets, and if I let it go outside my house, it'll just come right back in. I have a feeling that I'm going to have to get Husband to drive it across town and release it in a park somewhere. It might get eaten by predators, or freeze to death, but at least then it won't be by my hand... And it also won't be in my cupboards, contaminating my foodstuffs. Moodles thinks that the mouse is awesome, because it's tiny and spastic, and fun to watch. She really wants to pick up the biscuit container that it's in and carry it around... Or maybe give it a good shake. Her fascination is duly noted, but I don't think she'll be permitted to have a rodent until she has mastered the concept of gentle.

Other things accomplished over the weekend, were the completion of the sweater I was knitting for Mom. I modified the original pattern to incorporate some picot edging for the cuffs and hem, and I opted to skip the sewn design and used a seemless shoulder pattern from Elizabeth Zimmermann's book Knitting Without Tears. The sweater looks really odd on me. Either Ms. Zimmermann was on crack when she worked out the ideal shoulder proportions for a sweater, or my shoulders are not right. I'm hoping that it'll still fit Mom OK, being as her shoulders are considerably smaller than mine, and she's probably not as pregnant in her proportions... (Gotta do something about this cursed baby-weight.) There's a Raglan Hybrid pattern in the book that I haven't tried yet, and I guess that'll be next. With any luck, it'll look slightly less stupid on me.

Last, but not least, I worked on an experimental dye technique that I used to decorate some t-shirts and onesies for Moodles and her cousin. I mixed black RIT dye with enough flour to make it into a pancake batter like consistency, and then I squeezed it onto cotton shirts with a fine nozzle cake decorating tool. (For the dragon, I used a stencil. The wording is hand done. My hand writing sucks...) After 24 hours, I flaked off the dried paste, and underneath was a nice permanent design, dyed through the fabric, with "acceptable" amounts of bleed. On the left, you can see one of the onesies that I made for Moodles, after it's been de-floured (Haha. Sorry.) and run through the washer and dryer once. The dye fades a little, but remains legible and friendly looking. One of these days, in my copious spare time, I want to do her up a couple of outfits that are covered in Mhendi art. This first run was limited, because I wasn't sure if my plan would work. Now that I know that it does, I have a ton of ideas... Also, I was trying to make outfits for Li'l G, and I'll admit... I was kind of at a loss for "manly" designs that I was capable of drawing. Most of my doodling is pretty feminine looking. I'll have to work at some tribal doodling for the little guy. Mhendi art would probably not appeal to his Papa's sense of appropriately masculine clothing.

And now I'm off to congratulate myself for actually mailing Middle Sister's Mint Chocolate Chip sweater, and Li'l G's dragon shirt - before Christmas. Next task? Write Grandma a letter with color pictures of Moodles. Not being internet savvy (The legal blindness kinda makes that tricky.) she prefers to get really-real pictures that she can put on her refrigerator. I'm on it!