Even though our weather is warm and summer-like, when I went to the studio this morning, the place seemed so cold and forlorn. It was as if nothing was alive there, nothing was happening, that life itself had cooled to the point it was leaving. Wanting to do something, and being out of the cotton white yarn I used for these, I picked up the pink yarn I had used on the tiny baby's swing.

This may have seemed like a detour, but I learned so much from making the tiny model I wondered why I had not made one before like this, with the basket-like feature for the baby to sit in.

So between calls from Werner's kids [today is his 90th birthday] and during his rests and reading in his new books I crocheted on such a swing for the 21 inch babies. In the evening we were sitting in the studio talking about poetry and deciding not to eat until 6:30 [Cordelia sent marzipan and birthday boy had eaten his] when the UPS man came bringing a big box. Yes, it was the poly fill I was waiting for. Now there was no push to get Werner to go to town tomorrow. I thought that since we were eating late I could get "caught up" by stuffing all the babes. As 6:00 rolled around my hands just gave out. It is much more work stuffing the firmer fill into the vinyl parts but it does a much better job of filling and shaping. I have used the plastic plugs BB makes to firm up the joint (at 49 cents each) but having the whole limb compactly filled gives the stability the joint needs when it is tied to the cloth. I will still use the squishy poly-fill that they call 'supreme' for the body because that needs the softness it gives but I am convinced that this new  (to me) form of the fibers is the best for the limbs. It is so tight and compact (it almost feels like cotton but it is poly) that there is no way, I think, for the beads to get around or through it in order to leak out the end. This means I do not need to wait a day for the glue to dry on the felt circles I have been closing these holes.

This single column of poly fill weighs 5 pounds. That gives you an idea of how much more compact it is. And in the deal, Amazon sends it in a perfect box for mailing babies. I am feeling very rich tonight and Werner is very happy with all his birthday books.