mathmom's blog

Last week, Ella found the bag of fiberfill and started rolling it on the carpet to make something somewhat yarn-like. She wanted to knit with it, but since she was rolling it back and forth instead of twisting it, it wasn't really strong enough. Daddy remembered that when he was a boy, he made a drop spindle and learned to spin with it. He offered to make a drop spindle for Ella, and tonight after dinner, we went down to the shop. We put together some found objects: a scrap of wood, a long thin bolt, a scrap piece of copper wire, some electrical tape, the only two nuts we could find that fit the bolt, and a very small nail. It's not perfect but it works. We grabbed a handful of fiberfill, and twisted some thread by hand -- enough to tie to the spindle, wrap around the shaft, and slip through the hook. Then we started spinning. Ella did some of the spinning, but fiberfill was really not intended for this, so it's hard to use and makes very unforgiving thread. Ella deci...

Eleanor is took a DIY (do it yourself) craft summer class. As soon as I saw the description, I knew it was just right for her, especially since it was taught by one of her beloved kindergarten teachers. In the class she made many things, including: a hat a water bottle holder a ring a bracelet a lunchbox a pencil holder a school bag many other things... The crown jewel was a "checkers board" made from a metal cookie sheet, with pink and purple squares hot glued down to them, with foam markers hot glued to magnets for the pieces. There were only rules for 7 across, and about 10 down, so it's not the standard game but still fun. My favorite was when Eleanor came home from the first day of camp. "I got to use a hot glue gun! I only hurt myself once! Or maybe a few times. Do we have a hot glue gun?" (I answer yes.) "Can I use it?" This week she's in a "keyboarding" camp (not a "typing" camp", apparently). They have ...