The Force Is Not With Me

I have finished Henry's R2D2 hat. Another accomplishment of which I am not proud. It started out fine and I followed all of the directions, but when I finished I realized I was going to have a problem. I have never mastered the art of multiple-color knitting. I don't know how to knit with two hands (I'm a thrower), and so I've never been able to get the tension right. Every so often I will work on a project that involves color stranding and it turns out fine. This is not one of those projects. The band of gray, blue, and black just above the ribbing was way too tight and had no give at all. There was no way Henry was going to be able to put it on his head. I took a big chance and tried an experiment. I cut the strands on the wrong side in two different areas, then knotted the ends together so they would not unravel. The underside now looks like "my first knitting project" and it actually did unravel in a couple of spots. The hat now has the proper amount of give, but you can totally tell where I cut the strands.




Here is a picture of my almost 7-year-old-with-the-emotions-of-a-13-year-old-girl, Ryan, wearing this thing of beauty. Leah, I'm sorry. I tried. I really did. If this does not cut the mustard with Henry, I will try it again! I pride myself in being a half way decent knitter and I've even managed to sell a few things on my Etsy site, but the Leah and her family seem to be the recipients of my duds lately. Leah, perhaps Henry would like a nice cupcake hat. That I think I could manage!

Speaking of my almost 7-year-old, Ryan's birthday is tomorrow. He is absolutely beside himself with excitement, which often masks itself in grumpy,sassy, disrespectful, scowling, stomping behavior. So it's been a fun week. The GameBoy Advance has been purchased, along with SuperMario World and Lego StarWars. A gift from Mike's sister arrived by UPS this afternoon and Eric had a complete breakdown when I would not allow him to "help" Ryan open it. I reminded Eric that his special day was just a few months ago, but he seems to have no recollection of that. I can only imagine how distraught Eric is going to be when Ryan gets a big pile of gifts at his party, including the beloved GameBoy Advance. I should be looking forward to this event, but it's really hard to be excited about a party that is going to bring nothing but grief to the 4-year-old brother.

I feel slightly more prepared for the party than I did a few days ago, now that I've spent my life savings on it. We'll see how it goes. A lot is hinging on my magic potions. If the kids don't like then, I may have to whip up a little "magic potion" for myself to make it through the rest of the day!