Teacher Gifts

Wanna know how I spent my afternoon?  Making teacher Christmas gifts!

Bracelets are such a great gift for teachers.  My Sister In Law is a teacher and absolutely hates the typical "apple for the teacher" kind of gifts.   I figure that most teachers probably feel the same way, so I'm making all of the kids' teachers these pretty glass bead bracelets.

I'm letting the kids pick out what they think the teacher will like.  I didn't make any of these with specific teachers in mind, I just had lots of fun playing with different color combos. 

I'm going to be making some more for my etsy store.  If anyone is interested in any of these for Christmas gifts, just let me know the colors your prefer and whether you want gold, silver or bronze findings and I'll put some together for you.

 

Flash Your Christmas Decorations!

It's that time of year, when your house comes alive and is cheery and bright.  I challenge you all to flash the interwebz with your lovely Christmas Decorating!

I'll go first.


The Main Tree (there are four, but the rest are all small and scattered around the house):

The Mantle ( my apologies, I couldn't get the lighting right and every pic I took was grainy):

My cute little hutch:

The Clay Pot Nativity Set that I made last year:

My goober of a helper:

Okay, that's all for today.  Now I wanna see yours!  Leave me a link!

What a Cat's Scarf Style Says About Her

The Daily Mail over in England had an article today about what a man's scarf style tells about him.    I thought I would do something similar to show you the completed Old Shale Scarf, but with a Cat.  That's Female.  And named Widget.

First off, is the Old School Look:

 What this says on a cat?  Please God, let this fall off of me and we'll pretend this never happened.

Next up, The Snuggler:

 

 

What this says on a cat?   Don't hate me because I'm beautiful.  Hate me because I'm superior to you in every way.

The next in line, The Undercover Agent.

What this says on a cat?  This one's not working.  The dangly bit was on top of my head, hiding my identity, but it fell off and now I look like a dork.  But this look is fabulous for elongating the body!  Dear God, am I one cat or two?

And last, but not least, The Artiste.

Or maybe not.

What this says on a cat?  I've had enough of the fashion modeling.  F-*bleep* off!

Widget did, however, like the tail that I forgot to weave in though.

It got the big dew claw up!  As opposed to the thumbs up.  that is.  Umm, please ignore the random blurry finger in the last shot.  Obviously the camera woman sucks at taking photos.

*Many thanks to Felicity Cloake for providing today's inspiration!

Afghans, Not Just For Babies Anymore

Plato said that Necessity is the mother of invention.  Do you think he could have been referring to my need for a snow scene under my retro silver and blue Christmas tree that lives in my office/dining room?

This was a baby gift for one of my sons from a great grandmother.  She'd probably have a cow if she saw how her crocheted afghan was being used now.  But isn't it better that we use it and not just put it into a box that's forgotten in the attic?  Here's a closeup:

I love finding alternate uses for items, especially when they've been given to us by family.  It makes things so much more special.

I'm Back

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving.  Me?  Well, there were enjoyable things, good/bad things and some downright scary things. 

On the enjoyable side, I finished one sleeve on my current sweater project and only have one to go.  I'm about an inch into it.  The food was fantastic.  My Mom should be a professional chef.  I've gained three pounds because of it.  Wait.  Maybe that should be in the bad things category.  I also finished the scarf WIP.  If I remember, I'll block it tonight, but don't hold your breath.

Good/Bad Things - Yay!  We're not moving to Raleigh!  Now I don't have to figure out all the moving stuff.  Boo!  Now there isn't a job in the foreseeable future.  The whole thing fell through based on several factors.    Now I just have to deal with the depression that has set in with the two adults in the household and keep it from affecting the two kids.  It's hard for me to be all creative when I'm depressed.  I tend to pick up books and read to escape reality and this severely cuts into my knitting time.

Downright Scary - A family member was given some scary results on some medical tests.  The person has to go back for more tests to confirm the first tests, so we'll know more at a later date.

Whew!  It was quite the Thanksgiving Holiday this year.  November has not been especially kind to us.  Let's hope December will take pity on us and cut us a break.