greetingarts

merry making

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas (or Hannukah or winter solstice or Thursday the 26th). we had a very nice one even though my parents got sick and were unable to travel to see us.  They're feeling better now, though, so that's okay.  The weather has been totally unbelievable, hovering right around 80 degrees during the day.  C-R-A-Z-Y, don't you think?

More and more, I'm opting for simple rather than fussy, and it's suiting me.  The teacher gifts were quick and easy to put together with cello bags ordered online, and modified cupcake toppers from Target.  Well received, and didn't cause me undue stress.

I was even able to finish up two baby gifts that a friend requested for her nieces.  I didn't remember to take a photo of them completely finished with their matching colored bows, but you get the idea.  They are about 12" square, crocheted moss stitch pattern, with a simple border and kitty heads and arms attached to the center.  No real pattern, just winged it.

Looking forward to a nice break, and the coming new year.  It always surprises me now how quickly the years go by, though I know it makes me sound old to admit it.  But I guess the best I can do is fill each day with moments to remember, and try to savor everything.

Happy rest-of-December to you, we'll be playing and eating and thoroughly enjoying the last of 2013 every way we can.

red white and blue bracelet

A few weeks ago, Rebecca's pen pal from our sister school in China came to visit.  She brought some cute little gifts, and Rebecca wanted to give her something in return. 

She asked me to make a patriotic bracelet, and this is what I came up with.  I had a little (really little) pattern I was going to post, but now it's been so long and I can't exactly remember what I did.  I do know I started with a foundation single crochet, and the whole thing just took a few minutes.

Quick and easy, now living half a globe away.  Hope it reminds her pen pal to write!

looking ahead

I was going to title this post "don't let the door hit you on the way out," but didn't want to broadcast such negativity and bad vibes.  Truthfully, I can't wait to see the back end of 2012.  This has probably been the worst year of my life, starting on January 1st and ending with the loss of my grandfather the week before Thanksgiving.  I'm so ready to kick 2012 out the door, and usher in a new year of better things.

These last two weeks have been great, though.  The girls and I managed to fight off colds, we played many games, baked, crafted, snuggled, discovered Pound Puppies.  Woke up really late, ate a lot of sweets, spent a lot of time together.

I even managed to keep up with the advent calendar this year, and did some crafting.

I didn't have time to take photos of everything, but I made Oreo elf shoes for all the girls' teachers (past and present), and crocheted 35 of these snowflake necklaces just in the nick of time for Rebecca's class.  It was all a bit stressful, because I was working like a madwoman at my paid job up until December 20th, but I am glad that I got at least some of the crafty stuff done that I'd planned.  I'd wanted to decorate the teachers' lounge and give them milk and freshly baked cookies every day for the last week before winter break, but I just had to give up that idea or go 100% insane and turn into a crazed maniac.  I'm sure everyone is happy with the decision I made.

Tonight is going to be mellow.  We're going to have the newlyweds over for dinner, put together a Lego camper van, play some games, and ring in the new year with sweets, snacks and sparkling cider.  Tomorrow will bring a dim sum brunch with the in-laws, and hopefully the start of a promising, healthy, joyful new year.

Looking forward to 2013, and all the possibilities of a clean slate.

bunny foo foo

A quick crochet for a newborn.  Can you tell what it is? 

It's one of those little blankets with the stuffed animal parts attached, for the kiddo to drag around with her when she gets a bit older.  There are a few translated patterns and wonderful inspiration from Brittas Ami.  I love how it turned out.

whoooo's there

No, I haven't forgotten about my blog.  Actually, I think about it all the time, about posting, about whether or not anyone is still out here, reading.  But the fact is, I hardly ever turn on my ancient computer anymore (it's my iPad all the way!), and when I do, it crashes every three and a half seconds (there it goes again!), is slower than molasses, and takes for.ev.er to boot up.  Sorry, Computer, but those are the facts.  Anyway, I need something in between my iPad and old desktop... something with a quick bootup time, but has an actual keyboard and where I can download my photos so I can post.  And doesn't cost a fortune.  Hmmm.

Anyway, I made some birthday gifts last week, sort of following this free pattern and using some stash acrylic yarn.  For my husband's brother and bride-to-be, whose birthdays are just a day apart.  They both love owls.  Hope they aren't checking my blog, I haven't given them their presents yet!

pond friends baby gift

Made this for a baby shower gift for a coworker.  While I don't think *he* appreciated it overmuch ("That's cool - what is it?"), all the double X chromosomed people at the shower just loved it, and I hope his wife will think it's cute.  I got the pattern here and pretty much followed it as written, though I left off the tails (under time pressure, of course) and changed the wings slightly for the dragonfly.  Oh, and I used safety eyes instead of French knots. 

The frog's neck is kind of giraffe-ish, isn't it?

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.

heartstrings tutorial (finally)

Oh my gosh, I can't believe it's been over a month since I last posted!  I am a terrible blogger.  Life just never slows down, does it?  I guess you can make these fast and easy little hearts for Mother's Day, though, or do you really need a holiday to say I love you, or pass on a little love?  They would be very cute as pins and small enough to stick in the mail, too, just because.

 

For most of the hearts I made for the girls, I used a B hook (2.25 mm).  The yarn was sport weight (DK) I think, a little thinner than worsted.  They finished up about 1" across, but I used a thicker hook (a D maybe?) and worsted weight yarn to make a bigger guy, about twice the size.  Of course, you can make any size you'd like by experimenting with yarn and hook sizes.  This is really good for short odds and ends you might have lying around.  You'll be working in the round and only have to weave in the ends when you're done.  I use one of the ends to sew up the middle of the heart, which probably makes no sense to you now, but hopefully will be clear later...

Heartstrings pattern:

ch - chain
sc - single crochet
st(s) - stitch(es)

Start off with a magic circle.  If you don't know what that is, click on the link (which will take you to a YouTube video) and be prepared to have your crocheting life changed.  Anyway, then ch 1, and make 3 sc into the circle.  Close up your circle, as tightly as possible.

Round 1: Make 2 sc in each sc around.  (6)
Round 2: *Sc in next st, 2 sc in next st.*  Repeat from * to * around.  (9)
Round 3: *Sc in each of next 2 sts, 2 sc in next st.*  Repeat from * to * around.  (12)
Round 4: *Sc in each of next 3 sts, 2 sc in next st.*  Repeat from * to * around.  (15)
Round 5: *Sc in each of next 4 sts, 2 sc in next st.*  Repeat from * to * around.  (18)

Round 6: Sc in each of the next 9 sts, skip the 9 sts remaining.  (9)

Round 7: Sc in each of the next 9 sts (which are ones you created in Round 6).  (9)
Round 8: *Sc next 2 sts together, sc.*  Repeat from * to * around.  (6)  Fasten off.

Weave end through the last six stitches, pulling tightly to gather.  Stuff the heart and stick the yarn tail to the inside, using it as extra stuffing.  You really need very little stuffing if you're making the same size I did.

Now, join your yarn to one of the unworked stitches of Row 6, and repeat Rounds 6-8.  If you have a bit of a gap in the valley between the humps of the heart, just use the tail of this second hump to kind of sew them together and then hide the end back inside the finished heart.  Finish up with two teeny puffy paint dots for eyes, string on some satin cord or glue on a ¾" pin back, and you're done.

You can make a whole slew of these really quickly, much more quickly than it took me to get this post written!  Sorry, and thanks for waiting.

heartstrings

I can't believe I actually did it, I finished all 55 Valentines gifties for the girls' classmates and teachers, two days before Valentine's Day.  Whoo hoo!  Must be a record for us crafters, or... maybe just me.

These little hearts are about 1" across at their widest point, and most are on satin cord for necklaces, continuing the collection from Christmas and Halloween.  I put pin backs on the five for the teachers.  These are crocheted, though, not knitted like the previous ones, but I don't think anyone will notice.  The fantabulous little cards are from the oh-so-generous Jessica of zakka life, and they were just perfect for this project.  Now the necklaces won't get tangled up, turn into a jumbled mess and take forever to distribute.  These will be a piece of cake.

One of the greatest things about this project is that I got to turn lemons into lemonade...  I had a great skein of red wool yarn I'd been saving for years.  When I was going through my stash early in January, I realized I had some unwanted visitors and sometimes it's not so good to save things.

The whole skein had been eaten through, and the yarn was broken up into random, various lengths.  So I turned them into miniature hearts, and used up about half a skein that probably would have gone into the recycle bin (actually, I don't even know if you can do that!).  Win, win.

If anyone ever wants a tutorial on the hearts, let me know.  I can do them with my eyes closed.  Really. 

more temptation

Oooh, this one looks fun, too!  And it eats yarn, which I think might be useful...