Teacher gifts (and a pattern!)

So the end of the school year is nigh and I feel this compulsion to make something handmade for my kid's teachers as a Thank You for putting up with them all year.  Which doesnt exactly jive with my complete lack of free time...

My son has 3 teachers, a bus driver, a bus aide and 2 therapists.  There are probably at least 6-8 others who interact with him at school regularly, but I had to draw a line somewhere (the joys of special ed!)  My daughter is actually in an integrated pre-K classroom, so they have an extra teacher, bringing it to 3.   Ten handmade, not too expensive gifts needed to be thrown together in <4 days.
 
So I decided on $5 Starbucks gift cards and thought it would be cute to whip up a little pouch for each of the gift cards.   I also picked up some handmade beeswax lip balms from a local farm at the Dunwoody Green Market and added some chocolates to fill the pouches.   I couldnt find a pattern that met my needs, so I did a little trial and error and came up with something workable, that I will share, but just so you know...I am not a pattern maker!   Mine are all different sizes and shapes and I do a lot by eyeballing.  So follow if you dare....

In the end, they were super quick and a great stash buster!  It took approx 10 mins to make the pouch and maybe another 5 for the drawstring and 5 for weaving in the 2 ends and assembly.    The kids enjoyed decorating the cards and picking the color combinations for each recipient.   

And if I was smart...I would get started on Christmas presents yesterday, but I am not.  So expect a frantic blog post of a similar nature in 6.5 months.  







The Easy-Peasy Gift Card Pouch
Hook:  H
Yarn:  Peaches and Creme cotton

Ch 9
SC in 2nd ch from hook and the 7 more times.   (8sc)
2 sc in last ch.  
working around other side, SC 8
join with first sc and from here, work in the round.

18 HDC around for 9 rows.
1 sc, 1 slip stitch

Ch 4 (equals 1 DC + 1 ch)
sk 1 stich, DC (reapeat around and slip stich to 3rd ch of first ch 4)

Then ch 60 or so for the drawstring.  Weave drawstring into the top row between DCs and weave in ends.  

Commissioned work!

A photographer friend asked me to make her an owl baby hat.  So we looked around and found a pattern for something close to what she wanted.   She did not want sleepy eyes, so I winged it on the open eyes.  

Visually, its super cute.   But I think the hat may be a bit too tall?  Or I just need a real 0-6m baby to test it on.   Not sure about the two-tone look.   And the cheap bulky yarn I picked up at Walmart today for my test run crocheted up a bit stiff.  I think I will take the hat to the local yarn store and ask them to help me pick a natural fiber yarn that will crochet up soft and fluffy, since I kinda have Teh Yarn Dumb.  

Now to see if the friend who commissioned the work likes it. 

Something cute

I'm making a concerted effort this month to use only on-hand yarn.  It's been a bit of a challenge - of all things white has been my nemesis and I have been untangling errant piles of white yarn just to complete projects.  But it feels good to see some space developing in my yarn drawers.  Will the day come when I am not stuffing yarn in between my table and the couch when guests come over just to get it out of sight?  Perhaps. 

So in the spirit of stash-busting, I wanted to make a little something to throw in a package for our friend in the Netherlands.   I had this lovely blue yarn that was nice and soft.  I found a pattern that was lightweight and spring-y and added a flower for pizazz. 

Unfortunately, this lovely hat fits my 3 yr old perfectly.   So no matter how much experience I get with crochet, I still cannot seem to size a hat to save my life.   

A tale of two Buttercups

Thanks to the magic of Boomerang, my kids like a bunch of shows that are so old, they dont have the characters lining the shelves of Toys R Us.   The Powerpuff Girl obsession in this house is one example.   So when I first started crocheting, I was thrilled to find this pattern and it was one of the first "big" projects I ventured on.  I was still very new at crochet and probably my biggest mishap on the dolls is that I did not use the right yarn.   I find the best yarn for dolls that will be played with is the cheap-o Red Heart Supersaver, because it crochets up very thick and stiff.  Nonetheless, my original PPGs were floppy, loose and had tons of ends coming out.   Not to mention the debacle I made of Buttercup's hair. 

  VS

So with a PPG birthday on the horizon, I've decided to take my slightly more honed crochet skills to this task once again and whip up 3 more girls.

And I think I rocked the heck out of Buttercup's hair this time!   I just started with an oval and sorta increased and decreased and lucked into the flips being in the right place.  I am thrilled with how she turned out.  

Original Buttercup looks like the "tweaker" sister who embarrasses the family at Thanksgiving.  

Is this becoming an obsession?

Kids are on spring break week.  I cant read, I cant study, I cant clean.  The only productive use of my time is crocheting while they skate around the front yard.    I'm having too much fun with all of the patterns from the Angry Birds collection.

First up, Egg Bomb Chicken.   

Yes, he actually drops the egg bomb when you squeeze him.

 
Next up,  blue bird.   He doesn't do any tricks, since I am not sure that even the most skilled pattern maker can figure out how to make a crocheted bird turn into 3 crocheted birds.
 

Helmet Pig!

And the whole gang so far:  

In the queue...Yellow Bird, Black Bomb Bird and a couple of smaller pigs.  Oh and 'stash pig, of course!

Angry Pig!

So continuing with my Angry Birds collection, I had to make a pig.   She also has patterns for all of the other birds.  The cardinal is free, but the others are only $2!  I will be making more pigs (because I love Cliff Clavin pig with the rockin' 'stash) and all of the birds.   Yeah, we're just a bit obssessed.  But here is today's fun:

King pig!   Set up and ready to go.  (grunt, oink, snort)

There's a ticked off bird.



Add a homemade sling shot.

After several attempts, where we realized that neither my husband and I are engineers, we had some pig killing success.  



Cute Easy Gift idea

An invitation to a Birthday party of one of my daughter's friends was a perfect opportunity to make something cute and fun.     I've been eyeing this cute Tic Tac Toe game pattern, but made a few changes. 

• Well first, color.   I had to girly it up.
• I made the front and back both approx. 9x9 squares.   I didn't like the idea of piecing together 9 little small squares to make the front.  I just crocheted single crochet rows on top of the pink to make the divisions.   Pretty easy.   
• I left one end open when I sewed front and back together, as a pocket to hold the pieces. 
• Instead of X's and O's, I made flowers and leaves. 

I wasn't sure if the gift needed explanation or not, but luckily my daughter was right there at the moment of present opening and announced loudly..."ITS A TIC TAC TOE GAME!!!"  Mom seemed worried that it was fragile, but I assured her that all my crocheted creations are kid tested and well handled during the manufacturing process, so no worries.