A Plethora of Poodles

And here you go. 13 "poodle" skirts. 8 with actual poodles. And a pile of matching scarves.

They still haven't figured out the shoes.

Showtime: 7:00 PM Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Of Costumes and Concerts

The kids performed yesterday as part of their borowide band program. My camera work leaves much to be desired ...

Not Carnegie, rather the stage of JHS 99, but just as wonderful. They brought tears to my eyes!

Today was spent sewing poodle skirts ... 7 down, 6 to go. (One pink and two each of the other colors.)
Imagine the neck ribbing almost done on the vest, armholes yet to be started.

Math and Crafts

The children joined the school drama club and will be appearing in "Bye Bye Birdie" in early May. School plays require costumes.

For the Sweet Apple Teen, Debra Sue (aka Sqidette), it means a Poodle skirt.

This prompted the statements "fast, divided 28 by pi," and "32 X 4 divided by 36," the latter in an effort to figure out the real yardage needed versus what we purchased.
I blew it. Before we even got to this point. I really should have reread the instructions instead of assuming that I could wing it. This skirt is supposed to be about 4 inches longer. Oops!

No Knees allowed. That said, the kids tell me that one of the other girls is smaller then Little Squid. So, this will be hers if she wants it. At least it gave me an opportunity to figure out what has to be done.

As I've volunteered to make all of the skirts if needed, this is a good thing. The girls are supposed to make their own. I really do not see that happening.

Then there is Little Squid's costume. He plays Harvey Johnson, a geek who is trying to get a date to the prom.
Can you say "argyle vest?" The graph was charted by Little Squid, hence the statements "69 is and easily dividable number -- use it instead" and "2x +1 is always an odd number." The first statement was originally "69 is an evenly dividable number" which prompted Mike to tell me to go back to looking cute since my brain obviously was not working.
There are also sweater pieces blocking but that is another post. One to be written after the sweater is assembled.

Crafting Over the Break

The break was not totally about going and seeing. There was some crafting going on.

Dumbo had another hat-ectomy. His hat attachment system (snap tape) was removed and replaced with buttons. Each new hat (made by Squidette) had two holes-worth of button elastic sewn into the bottom. They are not easy to put on but it does, indeed, work.

Then there were my experiments with HotSnapz wear.
First was the ear-flap hat. Double knit, it includes earlaps that are open on one side to allow the insertion of activated HotSnapz.
With the HotSnapz in place they act more as cheek warmers but were, apparently, a huge help as we crossed the Manhattan Bridge in below freezing temperatures.

Then there are the Footwarmer Slippers. Also double knit (after the cuff), they include a pocket for a HotSnapZ.
The one on the right has a HatSnapZ in it. (Please ignore the hairy legs.)
As you can see, they have the Little Squid seal of approval.
Yes, I ran out of green near the second toe.

Last on tap, my shopping bag. Initially I took out the sewing machine to go over all of the seams on our grocery bags. After a close examination, they all got a bit smaller as I worked my repair magic. Knowing that eventually they will be too small to be worth using, I grabbed some stash fabric (I have a small fabric stash) and, copying the bags that we love so much, set out to make one.
I even made an attached stuff sack but the thicker cotton does not fit in the bag. This bag is larger then the ones we have but it is doing a good job so far.

There was some more crafting, including attaching a border of squares to the woven blanket and some dye sampling. Mike has finally settled on a pattern for his next sweater so it is up to me to dye, spin and knit it.

Tomorrow ... back to work.