Continued...

I can only attach one pic at a time from ben's phone

Weekend

hanging out at bww after spending the afternoon at the aquarium. It's MLK day, no school. We're getting used to planning around school vacations :)

[sent from ben's phone]

Messy eater

every once in a while we let Ella "help" with the soft food. this is what happens.
(the brown stuff is prunes).
she expanded her menu to overlap with ours, and had some of our beef stew for dinner (i'm so flattered that she liked it!) and i just finished food-processing some of our chicken soup into a chicken puree for tonight.

The Israeli aisle

Thanks to Nicole(!), we discovered a Jewel-Osco supermarket that has a phenomenal Israeli aisle. yayy!

Haiti

the world is shocked by the magnitude of the disaster that hit Haiti this week.

personally, we share the pain of the two people we've come to trust with our most precious thing on earth: Ella.
Ella's daycare is run buy a couple from Haiti. Her teacher Coffy was raised there, and they both lived there with their kids for 6 years.
as of yesterday, they couldn't get in touch with his parents and brothers in Haiti. Yakini tells us that Coffy is broken (in fact, we didn't see him at all since the earthquake), doesn't sleep at night, and is thinking of ways to fly out there and look for his family in the rubles. it breaks my heart, and puts our daily troubles (e.g. Ella's sniffles that keep her up at night) in perspective.

we hope that everything is ok with Coffy's family and that once cell phones operate again they'll receive some good news.

big tub

look at me, i'm playing in the big tub!

splash! splash! splash!

Ella's Booties

i must document the pattern for these booties, because they are such a hit.
this is a modification of Granny's Love Baby Booties. i usually don't use crochet patterns, most of the stuff i've made was pretty simple. so i learned new things like hdc decreases.
i had to modify the pattern because the first pair that i made according to the pattern was too small for Ella's long feet :)


Ella's Booties

CA - purple; CB - lilach; MC - main color - grey; CD - black.
CA - white; CB - pink; MC - Grey; CD - black.

the top of the bootie is a Granny Square. i think you can make anything pretty as the first round (i'm thinking floral for the next pair). i used scrap yarn, the very thin yarn i used doubled so that it becomes as bulky as the bulky yarn.

== Option #1: Granny square ==
With CA: Ch 5, join to form a ring. Ch 3, 2 dc into ring, Ch 2, (3 dc into ring, Ch 2) three times, join to top of Ch3, finish off. Weave in ends.

With CB: Attach CB in any stitch and Ch 3 (counts as first dc). Dc in each dc around. Work (dc, Ch3, dc) in each Ch2 space around. Join to top of Ch3, finish off. Weave in ends.

== Option #2: flower Granny square ==

With CA: Ch 5, join to form a ring.
Ch1. 8 Sc, join
[Ch3 dc3tog Ch3 in next SC]x4 join. (see dc3tog below)


join next color in same space.
[Ch4 SC in the SC from previous row]x4. join.


Ch3, [(dc 2hdc 2sc 2hdc dc) in the ch4 loop, dc in dc from previous row]x4 join.

this completes the Granny square, 8x8 stitches.


== Ankle ribbing ==
here is where i modified to make the foot longer:

turn the square so you face the wrong side. attache MC yarn to a corner, ch3, Dc in each stitch, (9 total).

With MC: Ch 21. Attach to first ch3, being careful not to twist chain. This forms the foundation for the ankle ring.


Row 1: Ch 3, dc in each chain space around. Dc in each of the 9 dc stitches, join to top of Ch3. Count your dc stitches and make sure you have an even number. If not, adjust accordingly. This is the row for weaving ribbon through. (i didn't use ribbon -- ella would have pulled it out anyway...)

Row 2: Ch3 (counts as first Back Post dc), (Front Post dc in next dc, Back Post dc in next dc) around. Join to top of Ch3. [[see here for a front/back post dc tutorial]]

Rows 3-4: Repeat Row 2 for each of rows 3, 4. Finish off. Weave in ends.

== Foot of bootie ==


Row 1: Turn bootie upside down. Attach MC to free loop from the foundation chain of any stitch along side of bootie and Ch 1. Using the free loop from the foundation chain, hdc in same stitch and hdc in each stitch around. 2 hdc in Ch2 spaces of Granny Square instep. Hdc in each dc of Granny Square instep. Join.

Row 2: Ch 1, hdc in same stitch, hdc in each stitch around. increase 2 in the ankle. Join.

Row 3: hdc in each stitch around.


Row 4: turn bootie over, and make one round of sc in each hdc. join and finish off. i used CB to accent.

Row 5: turn bootie back to the right side. Fold bootie in half lengthwise and mark extreme ends of toe and heel with a pin or scrap of yarn. join the sole color, Ch 1, hdc in each stitch around to 6 stitches before toe or heel. [hdc decrease, hdc] 4 times. Continue hdc around. Join. See below for explanation of hdc decrease.

Rows 6-7: Repeat Row 4 for rows 5 and 6. in the last row, instead of the decrease when you get to 3 stitches from the marker join at the marker stitch, ch2, skip 2 and continue hdc around. Finish off, leaving an 8-inch tail.

== Finishing ==

Turn bootie inside out and weave sole seam together using yarn tail. Hold right sides of seam together and weave yarn through adjacent loops. Be sure not to weave too tightly. The sole of the bootie should be flat when finished. Secure and weave in ends.



Weave 1/8 or 1/4 inch ribbon through foundation row of double crochet around ankle. Tie in a bow. Make 2 booties.

dc3tog: *Work Double Crochet in next stitch omitting the last step* (2 loops on hook). Repeat from * to * twice. (4 loops on hook.) Yarn over and pull through all 4 loops on hook.

* Hdc decrease:
Yarn over hook, insert hook into next stitch and pull up a loop. Insert hook into second stitch and pull up a loop. Yarn over and pull through all four loops on hook.