greetingarts

appreciating it all

Two weeks ago was teacher appreciation.  I took a few days off work so I could help with setting up posters and decorations at the start of the week, and the faculty luncheon on Wednesday.  It was wonderful to be back in the classrooms, and I was surprised at how easy it was to fall back into the volunteer thing!

I sewed some ruffled streamers for the decor, made Jessica's Chinese Cabbage Salad (again!  I love this dish), and baked three dozen devil's food cupcakes, decorated to look like apples.  I saw the idea on a blog some time ago, but I can't for the life of me remember where now.  Anyway, I thought they turned out quite well, and even though it was super hot, there was a minimum of frosting droopage.  I used mini pretzel rods for the stems and fresh spearmint for the leaves.  The cupcakes turned out quite moist, too.  I love my two-tiered cupcake carrier that I bought years ago.

For our past and current teachers, I crocheted some pencil bookmarks with perle cotton and a steel crochet hook (one I inherited when my grandma passed away, I thought about her as I was crafting), and knitted an i-cord pencil keychain charm.  No patterns, I saw the bookmark online a while ago but just winged it, and then made up the keychain pencil as I went along.  I made five gifts in all, but forgot to take a group photo.

We only have one more Monday left of this school year, and by the end of this month, we'll officially be on summer break.  It's been a very difficult year for me personally at home, at the girls' school, and adjusting to work.  I'm really looking forward to slowing down, enjoying my girls, and clearing out the clutter in my house this summer.  Well, maybe not the last thing so much, but I'm sure I'll be happy *after* it's clean.

over the rainbow

A belated birthday gift for Jessie, a 65" long rainbow scarf, less than 3" wide.  I used all scrap acrylic yarn, garter stitch, and size 10(?) needles.  The fringe was made just by cutting the yarn extra long after every row and leaving a long tail before beginning the next row.  But if I ever make another, I won't do it that way, I'll make white fringe afterwards so that the white could signify clouds.  That would be cute.

 

birthday socks

Can I tell you again how much I love doing the 2-at-a-Time Socks?  These were officially my first finished items of 2012, but since they were a test knit for Gardiner Yarn Works and also a birthday gift, I couldn't/can't blog about them.  If anyone's interested, I'll let you know when the pattern is released.  They are a fun knit.

Pop on over to Regina's and see how great they look on her feet!  I'm so glad they fit.  She takes *way* better photos than I do, too.  Happy birthday, my friend.

can't see the forest

Well, Christmas vacation has officially started.  Kids are out of school, parents are arriving tomorrow, and yesterday was my last day of "work" (it was a traditional Christmas party at the owner's home with turkey, ham, and all the fixin's) until February, and most of the decorations are up.

There was a lot of hubbub leading up to the kids' last day of school before Winter Break.  Remember those candy corn necklaces I made for Rebecca's class for Halloween?  Well, she decided long ago that I should start a collection.  So she wanted the Christmas trees from Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi.  Good thing I started early (before Thanksgiving?) because when Jessie saw them, she wanted them for her class, too.  I made a few snowmen (winged it myself, but Anna's pattern is inexpensive and up for sale here) in case some people didn't celebrate Christmas, but those took a lot longer.  I ended up making 56 of the minis, more or less... 31 necklaces for Rebecca's class, 20 necklaces for Jessie's, and 5 pins for the teachers.

But I stayed up until 1:30 the morning before, and forgot to take a group shot!  So you won't be seeing the forest of Christmas trees, or the fleet of snowmen.  You'll just have to take my word for it.

And I think I'll start doing the Valentine's hearts on January 1st.

making Halloween

Here's a bowlful of Mochimochi Land's knitted candy corn, almost ready for passing out to Rebecca's classmates on Friday.  I need to add jump rings and cord for necklaces, maybe sew pin backs onto a few for her teachers.

And I'm doing something entirely different for Jessie's classroom favors... not done yet, so I'll wait to share that.  I'm room mom, too, so have a paper plate mummy craft planned, and a fun spiderweb yarn ball game with treats and prizes.  Can't wait!

i do

I do still craft (a lot, actually), even if I hardly blog anymore.

This little couple was made for Rebecca's 3rd grade teacher (last year - she was so great!), who got married a couple of weeks ago.  I used Jean Greenhowe's Little Gift Dolls book, and it all went together pretty simply.  There are a lot of little parts that need to be sewn on separately and it's not knitted in the round so there is seaming, but all the characters in the book are just too cute not to attempt.  I'm glad I finally found a reason to make two of them.

They were probably about 6" tall, and I used acrylic worsted weight yarn.  I pretty much followed the patterns exactly as written. 

They were very well received, and the newlywed said the dolls would have a special place in their new home.  I hope they bring them good luck and good fortune, and a long life full of happiness together.

miniature baseball jerseys

Recently, I knitted up two miniature baseball jerseys for a friend who wanted them for her niece's baseball-themed baby shower.  I used the ribbed miniature sweater pattern found here, then printed the Dodgers and Angels logos in an appropriate size, cut them out of felt, and appliqued them onto the fronts of the sweaters.  I think the Dodgers one turned out best.  The yarn is just worsted weight acrylic, and I think I used size 5 double pointed needles.

  
And here's a cutie pie picture for size reference, and just so my family and friends can see Jessica's gappy teeth again.  I'll be sad when the front teeth grow in!

no more SSS

Single Sock Syndrome.  Most sock knitters I know have been afflicted with this at some point or another.  You make one sock, and then... you're over it.  You're either tired of the pattern, or you've forgotten to write down how many rows it took to get the leg up to 6 inches, so... you're left with a single sock, to lose in a drawer somewhere, totally useless.  But you spent a lot of time on that sock, and the yarn was really great and now you have another ball leftover.  What are you going to do with that one?  So it all just sits there, wasted.

 
Well, I don't think that's going to happen to me any more.  I've had this book for a long time, and finally was able to give it a try when Jessie asked me to make her a pair of green socks (she wants me to put eyes and smiley faces on them, too, but we'll have to see about that...).  It worked great!  I used size #1 Options Harmony Wood fixed circular needles from KnitPicks in the 40" length, and loved every minute of my knitting.  And when I was done, I was truly *done.*  With both socks.  At the same time.  And Jessie could wear them right away, and they fit great!  And with the second book, Toe-Up 2-at-a-Time Socks, you've got every single pattern contingency covered.  Amazon even offers the book on Kindle!  No more excuses for SSS, unless you're knitting for a one-legged person, in which case, I meant no offense.

no spam for Easter

I got a great big heaping helping of spam last Friday.  This one was a doozy.  I'm so sorry if you got my "teary-eyed message from a hotel in London." I can assure you I wasn't there and I didn't get mugged.  If I had, I would not send emails to every. single. one. of my contacts asking for money to be wired to me.  Of course, I was irritated when I first heard about the spam, but I figured, oh well, that's okay, I'll just send an email to my contact list telling them sorry and to ignore the previous message.  But when I got home and accessed my account, I found that I had nothing there.  No saved emails that I was going to get back to later, no archived and categorized messages of things I'd been keeping for the past 15+ years, and no contacts.  Not a single solitary one.  Those effing spammers cleaned out my entire account.  I'm trying to get the contacts restored via Yahoo!, but so far no response.  Needless to say, I am through with Yahoo.  I've set up a new gmail account, you can send me an email by clicking on the link in the top left sidebar.  You can now contact me at greetingarts (at) gmail (dot) com.  And please do, that way I'll have your email addresses again.  I lost everything, even my own parents' email info!  Luckily I remember my sister's...

Anyway.  That was my whole Friday... and Saturday...

But on Sunday we had Easter fun. 

 
I made a few Easter Peeps pins, one was given to Rebecca's teacher on Friday, and some were for the kiddos.  I used the template found here, just reduced it way down so that it was a little less than 2" tall.

 
I attached a miniature one onto a hair tie, so Jessie could wear it as a bracelet.

 
I knit up some tiny baby bunnies (we call them mini dust bunnies) and put them in a few Easter eggs.  The rest had erasers or jellybeans.  We went to Grandma and Grandpa's house, invited a bunch of the relatives, had an egg hunt, dyed eggs (32!), decorated cookies, and ate a lot.  Like a lot a lot.  Very nice afternoon. 

Now it's back to dealing with the spam.

not a Laker's scarf

I recently finished a scarf requested by one of the office workers at Rebecca's and Jessica's school.  It's not a Laker's scarf, though it certainly could be... the colors are the same. 

 
It was made in her daughter's high school colors, and she loved it.  Now a bunch of her high school friends want one, too...  It was simple enough to make, on large-sized needles, a k2, p2 rib, but the color changes were annoying since they couldn't be carried up the sides, and all the yarns were different weights and brands and it was just a bit odd to knit up.

 
I guess I'll have to get over it or figure out a better way to make it, if I've got more orders coming in.  Even Rebecca wants one, since she'll be attending the same high school in the future.  Yikes!