greetingarts

lemonade stripes

Another item for my knitting guild's summer charity challenge.

 
 It's a granny stripe blanket, found on Attic24.  I used an I hook, I think, and Berroco Comfort Chunky (Chalk and Buttercup), which is such a nice, soft, easy-care yarn.  For the fringe, I just did a slip stitch, chained 8 (or was it 10?), then slip stitch in the next stitch, all the way across the row on each end.  Makes kind of an easy loopy fringe.  I thought I'd put all the specifics up on my Ravelry projects page, but... I guess not. 

Super fast.  Very satisfying.

first day for both

It's the start of a new era. 

 
My two kiddos both started school today.  New principal, new rules, no dawdling to take photos, no walking the girls into their classrooms.  I was okay with it, and it probably made it easier on them and me, but I was a little upset at not being able to catch a meaningful photo.

 
I sent the kids off with the traditional first-day-of-school mascots, knitted pencils this time, tucked into their backpacks so they'd know I was thinking of them all day long.  The moment I laid eyes on them in Anna's  Knitting Mochimochi, I knew I was going to make the mini pencils for the girls' first day.  So fast and easy, and *adorable*!  If you remember, I made Rebecca a crocheted one for the first day of first grade, and was already thinking of doing a knitted version this year.  But now I didn't have to do any of the brainwork.  I used fingering or sport weight stash scrap yarn (pink and yellow- cotton, beige and grey - wool, double strand of embroidery floss - black) and #2 double pointed needles.  Took less than an hour or so each, I'd say.  I wasn't crazy about the way I embroidered the eyes, so I glued on little 5mm half-ball eyes that I had in my stash.  A review of the book should be up on A Crafter's Library within a week.

 
And four teachers got faux apples to celebrate the first day with the students.  I saw the directions here and knew they would make quick, easy, and inexpensive treats.  I didn't spend a fortune on Jelly Bellys though, I got some red candy-coated peanuts (I think they call them Boston Baked Beans?!) in bulk at a grocery store, and it was less than a quarter of the price I would have paid for the Jelly Bellys.  I put the candy in snack-sized baggies, folded the baggie in half and turned it upside down (so the zip part is hidden on the bottom).  I cut up some green bendy straws for the stem, inserted them in the middle (where the fold is) and tied a green ribbon bow. 

I hope it will be a good year.  Nothing like 101 degree weather (and tomorrow is supposed to be 104!) to say "Welcome back to school!"

last days of summer vacation

I'm trying to make them go as slowly as possible.

 
We spent a few days at Pismo Beach, with my parents, sister and her family.

 
We had great weather, not too cool, and made some amazing finds.  This is just a small fraction of it.  I found perfect heart-shaped stones, and even whole, unbroken sand dollars, about a dozen of them.

 
Even a couple of live ones (which my brother-in-law gently put back into the ocean, of course).

 
School officially starts next Monday the 23rd, and tomorrow the volunteer stuff begins already.  Community Club (it's like the PTA) budget meeting tomorrow, teacher welcome back luncheon on Tuesday, Kindergarten orientation Thursday evening.  I have a knot in the pit of my stomach, but I'm sure it will go away as soon as the school routine gets established.  It's just that I really am going to miss my baby.  It will be an adjustment.  Don't get me wrong, part of me is looking forward to some spare hours to myself for the first time in almost a decade, being able to listen to my music, exercise, take a leisurely shower and get some work done, but part of me is going to miss my little one running errands with me, climbing up on my lap as I try to type in a blog post, and asking me what I want to order for our tea party lunch.

So I might be scarce around here for a few more days.  Just savoring the last days.

next

How many of you read your blogs through a reader, like Bloglines or Google Reader?  I know I do.  I used to keep all my favorite blogs bookmarked, and would scroll through them religiously once (or twice... or more times...) a day, checking up on them and hoping that there would be new posts.  But after I hit about 70 blogs, and had 26 folders attempting to organize them by alphabetical order, I gave in and registered for Bloglines, then made the switch to Google Reader.  But I never liked the static look, and found myself kind of losing touch with the whole bloggy spirit, the connection between myself and the writer.  It's easier for me to lose track of who/what I'm reading, and let it all go by in a blur.

Enter... Google Next!  My new best friend and favorite discovery!  I read about it on crafterhours, who learned of it here, and immediately changed my settings.  It was so easy to do, and now it's back to visiting each blogger's unique home, seeing their banner, wallpaper, background, sidebars, and soaking in their style.  Thank you so much, Adrianna, for tipping me off!  You really should give it a try, if you don't know about it already.  Go to Settings > Reader Settings > Goodies > Put Reader in a Bookmark.

Yikes!  I just realized I have 194 subscriptions in my Reader.  Time to pare down...?

missed my calling

In June, after the kids got out of school and before our annual passes were blocked out for the summer, we spent a lot of time at the Happiest Place on Earth, and California Adventure, the smaller park located across from the main one.  One of my favorite things to do there is to attend Animation Academy and learn how to draw a Disney character while sitting in their comfortable, air-conditioned, art studio theatre.

The kids like it too, of course, but I could sit there in the studio all. day. long.  The Imagineer demonstrates how to draw a different character every half hour, and you get paper, clipboard and a pencil without eraser, then sketch along with him.  We've done Mickey, Daisy, Tigger and Pooh.  Three in one day, because I kept wanting to go back. 

Can you guess which Mickey was drawn by which family member?

There's also a book that has the same steps the Imagineers use to show the audience how to draw (over there in my left sidebar under "playing").  We checked it out from the library and are having fun with it at home, too.

So did you guess which one is mine?  Do you think I missed my calling?  I think my husband did, for sure!