Well Received!

I was a bit worried, as Christmas was creeping closer, that my gifts would not be well received.  Last year I tried to crochet a stocking hat for one of my brothers and it was too small.  Anyway, I am happy to report that the hats I knitted for my family were very well received!  My little boxy pouches were also well received, but I didn't get photos when those were opened.

Anyway, here they are!

                           

They guy hats were all made following this pattern (ravelry link) and the hat for my mom was made with this pattern (ravelry link). 

I actually saw my brothers and my mom wearing their hats on the 26th, so I think it is safe to say they liked them ... or else they were just doing a really good job of humoring me! 

I think I might try the handmade thing for Christmas again next year...I just need to start in the spring rather than say the fall, I think.  I was feeling too pressed for time at the end which too a lot of my enjoyment away.  Plus, I really had a bunch of other things I would have liked to knit for other people, too!

A Crafty Kind of Weekend...and A New Assistant

I definitely had a crafty weekend.  I worked on a lot of sewing on small sized gifts for various family members.

These are the things that I managed to finish in between all of the other responsibilities/commitments I had over the weekend.

This is the group shot:

I made this little cosmetic bag following this tutorial.  It turned out rather nicely....I only had to rip out one tiny row of stitching.  I really having to do the rip out and try to avoid it at all costs, but this couldn't be avoided since it would have meant the zipper pull was facing the inside of the bag instead of the outside.  The other nice thing about this bag is that it is made out of laminated cotton.  While it is definitely not cheap, it seems like it will be incredibly durable and I have plently left which I will either use to make more little bags/pouches or else a reusable shopping bag.

As you can see, I also made a whole slew of the little tissue covers.  I have so many people I could pass these out to, depending on how many I actually get made.  So far I have 11(there is a matching one hiding inside the boxy pouch in the first photo).  So of the material I had left from Christmas projects from last year, some of it I bought new, and some of it was thrifted from the Great American Yard Sale. 

The thing that I like the most about all of these projects is that they are all quick and not too complicated.  I really like making things, but I want to me done, too.

I also acquired a new assistant over the weekend:

Every time I sit down at my sewing machine, Smokey the Cat climbs up and sits behind me.  He often sits on the back of our office chair when my husband or I am sitting there, but he can't sit on the back of my little folding chair.  He just squishes in behind me instead!

Today

the sun was shining in my little corner of the world.  Even though it was very, very cold outside the shining sun made all the difference.

Needed: Mental Health Break!

I really try not to talk all that much about my work, especially since I am a teacher and it would be really bad form to talk about my students in such a public place.

However, I am announcing right now that I waaaaay need a mental health break.  I have just 7 more school days to get through and then it is a full two weeks off.  Who cares that it will be busy with "traveling" (driving the 2 hours to my family) and Christmas and all those other things.  All I know is that I won't have to go to work or check my work e-mail for those  14 16 days!

Why am I so overwhelmed today?  Well, it did snow after all.  Today, my schedule was like this:

8:20 am - pick up practicum student at mutually agreed upon meeting place

8:35 am - arrive at School A, sign in,  and get set up to meet with student...usual instruction spot being used
by someone else, so I beg a table in the library just for the day

9:15 am - finished with student, pack up bag, walk to school office and sign out, trudge to car (oh, it has started snowing

9:30 am - arrive at School B, trudge in to building (yes, still snowing and it is very windy, too), sign in, wait....our usual table in the hall by the auditorium is not there and plus the classes are practicing their holiday stuff in the auditorium anyway, carry my rolly bag up the stairs and commandeer a table in the staff lounge since there is nowhere else to go... do paperwork for 7 minutes then walk back downstairs to pick up student

10:15 am- finished with student, pack up bag, carry it down the stairs, sign out, trudge back to car

10:30 am - back at School A (yes, it's not the least bit efficient, but that's how my schedule works this year), go to office and sign in AGAIN, chat briefly with secretary and show her my latest knitting project that has been complete (see previous post), go to see next student in building who is luckily on the ground floor

11:15 am - finished, sign out, trudge back to car in order to drive back to School B  (yes, School B, again)

11:30 am - School B, sign in, walk up to classroom.... oh wait, what's this?  student's not in her now...wonky schedule today due to Christmas program (this is a happy moment because I realize that I can actually take a full 30 minutes to eat my lunch, rather than trying to cram it all down in 5 or 7 minutes)

11:45 am - sign back out and trudge back to car.... must get fuel

11:55 am - fuel has been taken car of

12:15 pm - stop for lunch at sandwich place, even though I packed my lunch

1:00 pm - arrive at School C, early for a change, (this means I can use the washroom!), sign in, commandeer a spot before anyone else can take it

1:20 pm - student

1:50pm - walk student back to class upstairs, pack up bag, trudge back to car, yes it is still snowing, drive slowly to next school

2:30 pm - School D, sign in, go to pick up student...wait, where are there?  oh, note on board says they are in 'big gym'... go talk to speech therapist instead of going to 'big gym',  

3:00 pm - still at School D, touch base with teacher to let her know that I was actually there

3:10 pm - trudge back to car, yes still snowing

3:30 pm - drop off practicum student and begin drive home

4:00 pm - finally home, but I must check e-mails since this is the technology age and everyone wants to e-mail  

4:30 pm - write several e-mails to teachers

4:50 pm - leave a voice mail for a parent

Internet friends (well, okay, there are a couple IRL friends that read this, too), I'm tired.  Can you see why?  And this was just a "normal" day with the exception of the snow which made driving a bit slow.

This is a self-portrait for today:

A Finished Object

I know this isn't the best photo in the world, but it is almost always dark by the time I am home from work which means that I do not usually have the opportunity to take nice daylight photos.

This is a Hexagonal Market Bag.  I knit mine out of Bernat Handicrafter cotton mainly because I had it in my stash.  Also, it was a huge skein which meant I could knit the whole bag from the one skein and not have to worry about matching dye lots on the yarn and such.

I think it turned out pretty well.  Now, I'm just trying to decide if I want to keep it for myself or use it for a Christmas gift.  If I give it away, I will definitely be making one for myself. 

In a little aside, I'm just trying to make it thru the next week and a half until school lets out for "Winter Break."  The students are starting to get a little squirrely, classes have wonky schedules due to all of the extra activities, and it has started to snow and such which makes driving from school to school a real saga.

Oh, and I am thinking of trying out some new titles this week...I'm not going to change the actual blog address, just my header, if you will...  let me know what you like.

The Winners Are..

After a grand total of 76 comments, the following winners have been chosen: (I don't know how to copy the actual little picture from Random.org so you'll just have to take my word for it.)


Winner #1 Barbara said...


Im originally from Hawaii but I am now in North Carolina. I love it here!
December 3, 2009 2:17 PM

Winner #2 Anita said...


These are so nice. I'm a stay at home, homeschooling sewing mama of 11 in Pennsylvania. Thanks for a chance to win these!
December 3, 2009 12:48 PM


I have sent Barbara an e-mail and left Anita a message via her blog.  Can't wait to hear from both of you!  I just wish I had more potholders and dishcloths made up so that I could make everyone a winner.  There's always next year, I suppose :-)

Giveaway Day!

I am so excited to be able to participate in the Giveaway day for Sew, Mama, Sew.  I wanted to participate in the last giveaway day, but didn't get my act together soon enough to do so.

This is what I will be giving away:

In this photo I have two crocheted potholders and three crocheted dishcloths.  My plan is to break them up into two groups:  a)1 potholder and 2 dishcloths    b) 1 potholder and 1 dishcloth  and choose two winners.   

How will I choose the winners?  Please leave me a comment, any comment (but only one comment)....let me know about yourself or where you are living.  I've been thinking about changing the name of my blog so if you have any good suggestions for that, feel free to pipe in with a new blog name.  I will ship my items internationally, so all are welcome to comment. Please, make sure you have a blog or leave your e-mail address so that I can contact you if you win.  I want to share the goodness with everyone!

The giveaway will be open until sometime on Dec. 6, maybe afternoonish?  If the comments are closed then you will know the giveaway is over.  I will use a random number generator to choose the winners.  The first person whose number is drawn will get first choice of items since there is nothing in the group that really matches!

Thanks for participating!

ETA:  I really want to be able to contact you if you win, so please, please make sure that I can link back to you somehow.  I have already figured out that there are several commenters that I don't think I will be able to reach if they win. If you are on blogger, check your profile to make sure that you have your e-mail linked to it, even if you don't have a blog.  Pretty Please...I want to give you my stuff!