This is one battle I won't lose

You know the saying "pick your battles"? There are some you just can't...WON'T lose. Maybe it's with your kids (often mine are with my students) The battle I'm currently in is with yarn and a crochet hook. For some reason I'm determined to crochet this adorable hat for Stella. Of course, I could just BUY a crocheted hat for her. It's not as if I can't find any I like. In fact, I've found a ton that would be adorable on her. At first it's the thought, "I could make that for a lot less than $30." It's no longer about the money. Now it's about my pride. Tens of thousands of people crochet every day, I WILL figure this out! After all, I taught myself to knit... I'm not having issues with the actual stitches, it's the counting them I can't seem to get the hang of. If there are 7 on a round and you're supposed to increase in each stitch so that you have 14 on the next round I always lose track of where I start/end. I've tried marking them and it's just not working. It WILL though - eventually.

I'm still working on Salina (which isn't helping my crochet cause any.) I'm knitting it in the round, adding a couple of inches to the body (the pattern only calls for a 14" body!). I'm almost ready to split for the arms.

The other night I was trying to make dinner and Stella was in the kitchen with me doing this:

At first I had no idea what she was doing. She just kept putting her head down on the floor with her butt up in the air. Then Jim said, "I bet she's copying Jessica tumbling." The daughters of the amazing woman who watches Stella during the day are in gymnastics. They are always tumbling, doing handstands, etc. She was at home trying to copy the big girls! I somehow manage to fall more in love with this beautiful girl every day!