Birthday Fail

Mr. Carlee had a birthday.  He is pretty relaxed about birthdays, and doesn't have high expectations, but even with the bar set low, it didn't go as planned.  After a busy day at school/work (he's a grad student) he came home to two crying children.  I don't know about you, but 4-6 is the hardest time of day at our house.  Kid 2 is up from his nap, everyone is hungry, tired, and sick of each other, and I'm busy trying to get supper on the table.  We usually all cry a little.

The requested dinner of quiche was a success thanks to my awesome pie crust recipe (I promise I'll be sharing soon), but then it was downhill.  For my birthday, a few months ago, Mr. Carlee made me the most delicious chocolate cake.  He had some issues getting it out of the bunt pan, but it wasn't a disaster.  For the record, we have the worlds most annoying bunt pan.  It would be great for making rice krispy squares or buttery rolls, but it is horrible for cakes.  There are way too many sharp points and no matter how we grease, spray, or flour it, the cake always gets stuck.  I will be hunting for a new one at the thrift stores.  My attempt, while still delicious, was much, much worse.  Shame on me. Mr. Carlee is a saint, and he says he didn't mind.

I wish it had stopped with the cake, but the gift I made also was a fail.  I actually first made these mittens for a gift last Christmas using this pattern, but I didn't think to account for leather's complete lack of stretch.  The liners (made from a soft felted wool sweater) were perfect, but I needed to do something about the main mittens.

Nearly a year later, I finally got around to 'fixing' them.   I added a gusset all the way around the side seam, and this helped a lot, but they were still too tight around the thumbs and the thumb wasn't quite in the right spot.  At first he didn't complain, but he started pulling and talking about how they were tight on this thumb and kept twisting.  So I did what every 9 month pregnant lady that had just worked on a handmade gift would do, and threw them on the floor and cried a little.

Once I pulled myself together, I got out he sissors and set to work at cutting a new thumb hole, and drafting a new thumb piece.  Mr. Carlee can look forward to recieving this gift again, possibly next Christmas.  I hope by then I will have it right.

For the record, I have a nice evening planned for us in the near future, so I'm not a complete failure, and he's really happy with the book I picked up for him.