We moved on to the Kitty Cafe. Which is great fun but of course that only last for an hour.
We spent a few hours making Sculpey things which is surprisingly fun until boredom sets in and you end up with a big block of beige, shiny red and sunshine yellow (even I don't want a hook in those colours...).
Pond dipping was a great success helped by the spiderman suit and Christmas pudding hat. Of course.
We caught twelve tadpoles, some wormy things, a snail or two and a few rotten old cans which we chucked into the bin.
Boredom and the quest to annul it reached crisis point on Sunday much to Chris's disdain....
When I came upon a bloody brill idea - WEAVING! Seb's a little too young to knit, although he's started sitting on my knee and helping me (in through the front door, round the back, out the window and off jumps jack... or something like that) but it's forgotten as soon as he jumps up to the next thing. Weaving seems to have stuck a little though.
I set him up by chopping up an old burger box, something like this:
(Borrowed from here).
I chopped the 3D bits off so that left me with just the flat square bit from the top. I washed and dried it good and proper. Then I made ten 1cm long slits on the two sides and wound yarn around and around the square, nestled it into the slits. Then I tried my best to tie the two ends in knots tightly so that it wouldn't come loose (I've got better at that but the first one, that I have a photo of, was a bit loosey goosey).
I used a big old plastic needle and some funky yarn that Seb himself chose to start the weaving for a couple of rows (warps?! wefts!? I'm specifically thinking of Carla when I say.... sorry! I know nothing!). And then it was time to sit him on my knee to weave under and over and under and over. The beginning of the row was always a bit iffy, working out whether he went under or over at the end of the last row but once he'd worked that out he was off! And it kept him out of trouble for a good hour and he's asking to do it again and again. I think I've struck 'shut the child up' gold! BOOM!
I chopped the 3D bits off so that left me with just the flat square bit from the top. I washed and dried it good and proper. Then I made ten 1cm long slits on the two sides and wound yarn around and around the square, nestled it into the slits. Then I tried my best to tie the two ends in knots tightly so that it wouldn't come loose (I've got better at that but the first one, that I have a photo of, was a bit loosey goosey).
I used a big old plastic needle and some funky yarn that Seb himself chose to start the weaving for a couple of rows (warps?! wefts!? I'm specifically thinking of Carla when I say.... sorry! I know nothing!). And then it was time to sit him on my knee to weave under and over and under and over. The beginning of the row was always a bit iffy, working out whether he went under or over at the end of the last row but once he'd worked that out he was off! And it kept him out of trouble for a good hour and he's asking to do it again and again. I think I've struck 'shut the child up' gold! BOOM!
Feel free to give it a go over the half term holidays and if you've got older kids perhaps make bigger versions with thick cardboard? And maybe they can weave under under over over and then under over under over. Or something. I'm sure there's a name for that... sorry Carla...
And that's it. Now I get to crochet for the rest of the day because I've had an idea and now I can make money out of my ideas! Imagine!
Love Eleanor. xxxxxx
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