First Haircuts

I gave the girls their first haircuts this weekend.






Sarah's front view before





















Back view before





















Side view before














Getting her hair cut

















Front view after

















Back view after




















Emily's front view before.




















Side view before
















Back view before





















Getting her hair cut
















Front view after






















Side view after


















Back view after
















The doll even had to get her hair "cut".

Mini Vacation

My parents went to Traverse City for a week and we went up to spend a little time with them.

The bathtub was a "boat" and Sarah liked to play in it.

She even slept in it!

Emily slept in the corner.

William slept in a Pack-n-Play

We couldn't be right on the beach and not play in the sand!

Here are a few shots of William and Emily laying on the floor.

My Bathing Beauty

After playing outside, Emily got her feet and legs quite dirty. Rather than draw a whole bathtub of water to clean her up, I let her wash up in the bathroom sink.

Easter Egg Dyed Shorties

I knit some shorties using the yarn that I dyed with Easter Egg dye. I was going for red, white, and blue, but when I dyed it, there looked like there would be quite a bit of purple, too. When I knit it up, though, there is only a few stiches here and there that are purple. Of course, there is only about as much white, too! Over all they turned out nice, but I think I will still try for a more traditional colored red, white, and blue yarn!







Front















Back














William wearing the shorts.














The shorts also fit Emily (2 years old and 23 pounds)

















While I was doing the cast off on the last leg, Sarah took my needle and was "knitting". What she ended up doing was sewing the shorts closed with the circular needle!












Front side

Back side

Dyeing Wool With Easter Egg Dye

With all the Easter egg dyeing kits left over after Easter, I decided to use some to try my hand at dyeing wool yarn.


I decided to try using the microwave for dyeing this time.

I didn't want to have to unwind the skein and then rewind later, so I decide to try dyeing it as it came from the store!











I soaked the yarn in water with a drop of dish detergent for 30 minutes, then rinsed it out.














I put the dye pellet in 3 tablespoons of vinegar.
















I wanted to do red, white, and blue yarn, so I did red and blue dye.
















After the dye pellets had dissolved, I added ½ cup of water to each cup.













I poured the blue dye on one end and the red on the other.









Next, I cooked the yarn in the microwave on high for 2 minutes and then let it cool for 2 minutes. I repeated this again.











On the bottom, the blue and red had run together, so instead of red, white, and blue, I had red, purple, and blue. So I decided to flip the yarn over to get the white dyed, too. I cooked and rested 2 more times.














Here is the top side.












Here is the bottom side.

Spring Yard Work

Ever since the snow melted off the front yard, I have wanted to get out and rake. Thursday was a beautiful Spring day just perfect for yard work! I worked for 3 hours outside.





This is what our front yard looked like.










In case you can't tell, those spots on the lawn are ACORNS. And no, I didn't move them so there would be more in the picture. That's how thick they were!










I raked the acorns and dead grass into piles. If you don't get them raked up before the new grass starts to grow, they are next to impossible to get out.














I gathered up the piles in my lawn bag and brought them out back to burn.












This is the after picture.













See, no acorns!











Of course, there's more lawn that needs attention! I started with the area with the highest concentration of acorns.














Here are some of our tulips starting to grow!