New Title and Finishing the Last Post

When I started this blog at the first of the year, I tried to come up with a creative title. I couldn't think of anything great at the time, so I just settled for "Aunt Sally's Yarns and Stuff". Well, it recently occured to me that I should have named the blog "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally" so I changed the name.

Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally is what many of us memorized (or should have) to help us remember the proper order of operations for evaluating mathematical expressions. Since I am a math teacher who is called Aunt Sally (not really my name, see the profile) this seems like a better name for this blog.

The math geek in me thinks that I should include an explanation of the order of operations, but the rest of me says that it is the weekend and I should be knitting. Besides, my mother and Kim read this blog and they don't like math.

And now for the rest of Niece K's birthday gifts:

Once again, I apologize for these annoying spaces. Keep scrolling. Any suggestions?

	Note the $60 lace. No, the lace did not cost $60, but the only place around here to buy lace is Wal-mart and I kept finding other things I needed. The pattern is McCall's 3261. I substituted lace for the ruffles and used top C with bottom D. I can't ever seem to do anything just like anyone else. Not that I'm complaining about that.
	More overalls. The pattern is Kwik Sew #2921. These are made out of Care Bear fabric. Niece K loves her Care Bears and has a large collection. She has assigned "Purple Heart Care Bear" to her daddy. I find it very amusing to see my tough brother (police sergeant) holding his Care Bear.
	I found this rocking chair on clearance. It was white, but needed a paint job. So I changed it to Niece K's favorite color.

So, what did she like the best? Well, I had everything in a big gift bag with the rocking chair on top. She took the chair out and admired it briefly and then returned to the gift bag which she promptly picked up and dumped out. Ignoring all the doll clothes, she went straight to the Care Bear coloring book and crayons that I put in the bottom. Having experienced life with a 3 year old, I was not surprised. She and I did have good time playing with the doll clothes later on in the day.

Niece A was also present that afternoon and she had much fun drawing on the Disney Princess stationary that I had gotten her. So I have decided that next Christmas both girls are getting an assortment coloring books, interesting note pads, crayons, markers, etc. I'll just sew doll clothes when the notion strikes. Its more fun that way.

Birthday Present Finished -- Finally

I give up -- Blogger will not let me finish this post. Hopefully it will let me show the rest at another time.

*****

It seems like forever since I have had a chance to post anything here. In case you have been wondering where I've been, I'm usually at work, on the way to the soccer field, at the soccer field, or on the way home from the soccer field. For example, yesterday we drove 2 hours to the field, stayed there 3 hours, and then drove home 2 hours. At least I got in about 1.5 hours of knitting during the warmups. No knitting during the game since I am the self-appointed team photographer.

The T-man's school soccer team had an undefeated season and won the region championship this week. Now, the only soccer left is a traveling team with the local recreation department. That season is not going so great, but the coach is wonderful and Mr. T's skills are improving.

Somewhere in the middle of all this, I managed to finish Niece K's birthday present. I do not know why I am getting a huge gap after this paragraph, but if I take the time to research the problem, I may never finish the post. Scroll down for doll clothes.

	A simple shirt and short set. The shirt pattern is from Kwik Sew #2830. This is one of the easiest shirt patterns you can use. The sleeves fit in perfectly without have to adjust to fit. It also does not have any facings. I think the shorts are from the same pattern.
	More mix and match separates.
	Purchased bags for niece and doll with patches added.
	A line dress from one of Joan Hinds' books. I'm too frustrated to look for it right now to get the title.