An Afternoon Hour

On Mondays, I have an hour alone with Andrew while Emma is in chess club. On Tuesdays, I have an hour alone with Emma while Andrew is at TSA (tech club). Sometimes we just run errands, but sometimes (with no small amount of effort) we manage to do something a little special.
After mulling over our options in the car, Emma and I decided to spend our hour at home today. We picked up some blackberries at the grocery store for our afternoon snack and she wanted to carry them to the back yard in her little picnic basket.

We wiled away our hour in the remnants of the warm sun, feasting on blackberries and a shared Honey tangerine.

We assumed pretend names and mysterious accents and discussed what fruits and vegetables we would be growing in our imaginary gardens. And I browsed my new yarn catalog from Knit Picks. Oh, so many things. So many things that I want to make.

Speaking of making, I got me a little bit of instant craftification this week. I made this super-cute little shirt for Emma.

I've had it in my mind to do a couple of really simple shirts for her summer wardrobe, and then to make up a sort of pattern, so I can make her several. This shirt started with a pillowcase dress tutorial and if I could find it again, I'd link you to it. As it is, I printed out the instructions and my dog threw up on them. I threw them away. So, if you want to make one, Google is your friend. Instructions are easy to find. Only, they're all dresses for little girls and I wanted to make a shirt for a big girl.

It took a little tweaking. Any others I make will have a nicer channel at the top for the tie. I made it too long in the arm hole at first, then I cut it down from the top and it was too short. But, you can't un-cut, you know, so I had to narrow the channel quite a bit and it's really too small for the fat, pretty bow.
But that's okay. It's easy peasy to make and it's perfect for summer activities. Like hanging around on the swings.

I promise I haven't given up on the satin robe. It's coming along slowly. I have to fix a couple things I screwed up, put on the hook-and-eyes around the waist and hem it. That's it.
And knitting progress is cold-molasses slow. It's going, but it's not going fast.
I really needed a quick project that only took an hour or two from start to finish. And I feel so much better now. I'm making one more shirt for her, a different one, and I already think I might make it differently next time. Pictures soon, I promise.

DAILY BLISS: Dudes. I found the secret to weekday-worthy steel cut oats! It's absolutely my favorite breakfast, and I found a natural foods store that sells steel cut oats in bulk - for a great price. The only thing is, it takes forever to cook. I found out last night, though, that you can bring the water to a boil the night before, stir in the oats, remove it from heat and let it sit overnight. It basically absorbs the water and you pretty much just re-heat it in the morning! Wahoo!