No Crochet!!!!

I can't believe that I still don't have those soda tab necklaces done yet! I haven't been doing my homework at school during my long break between classes, so I have to do it at home and that cuts into my crochet time. I don't do thread work really well at school. I have to pay to close attention when I work with thread and I can't do that at school. I do have a couple more bath sets to do. Maybe I'll take those instead of the soda tab necklaces.

Anyhoo, I've decided to get back to doing homework at school during my long breaks between classes and use the time I have been doing it at home for crocheting. That way, hopefully, I'll be able to get the soda tab necklaces done in the next couple of weeks. It would be great if I could get them done by the Trainfest committee meeting on Monday, but since I've got 8 more to do, I don't think that's going to happen. I do have the original necklace made with sport weight yarn. I'm going to cut those little dears right off of there and use them for thread necklace number 10. I hope to get one done every couple of days. That will put me getting number 17 done in time for me to get them to the council office at the first of the week of Trainfest. I plan on dropping them off when I go to drop off my handouts and stuff to get copies made for my classes. I'm also going to get the bath set done by then for the auction they'll be having at Trainfest.

Wish me luck! I have a feeling I'm going to need it. :)

Test Day

I dislike the fact that most of my instructors give tests on the same day. Today I had two- math and business finance. I think I did okay on the business finance test. I think I flubbed on the extra credit on it though. I was really hoping to get full credit on that extra credit too :(

My math test only had 4 problems! I was okay for the first 3, but that last problem I am worried about. Well, maybe not real worried. After all, it's a little late now. But I'm going to be antsy about it until Monday.

I got my Critical Thinking test done and then my Business Law test. Those I got done on Monday. I have a income tax test on Tuesday. Then I'll be done with tests for at least a couple of weeks.

Books Away, With Hooks I Can Play!!!

Wow, I was worried I would get behind in some of my classes since I missed so much school at the beginning of the month. So far, other than missing all of chapter 2's lectures in tax class, I think I'm okay. I got an A on my math lab and today at home I got a really great start on my finance take-home test, finished my federal and state tax forms for tax class and I'm going to try to do my online test for business law tomorrow at school during my really long break between math and tax class.

I'm trying to get into the schedule that I originally worked out at the beginning of the semester. Since I have those long breaks 3 days a week, there's no reason why I should have much homework to actually do at home. That way, when I do get home I'll have all kinds of crochet time. Not to mention time to help the kids with their homework.

Gideon is missing mama's cooking right about now. I talked to him yesterday and when I asked him if there was anything he needed, he started listing off all this food :D Bless his heart. Him and Isaac are still cleaning in that house. At this rate, I don't know if they'll be able to have their house warming party on the 10th or not. He's still plugging away at it though. I'm proud of him!

Empty Nest Blues

Well, it's official. Gideon came home today after the family reunion to get the rest of his clothes and his movies and video games. Apparently the house is ready and Gideon and Isaac are going to be able to spend their first night in their very own place tonight. It's been heartbreaking watching him go through the movies and packing up all his clothes. He'll be coming again to get his bed. He's going to borrow Stephen's sleeping bag while he's awaiting the availability of a truck to be able to haul his bed. I guess I'll have to get used to him not being around. Oh, well, kids have to grow up sometime.

Crochet Classes are almost ready!

I am so excited about teaching the crochet classes at Trainfest. I'm just about all set. I have a lesson plan and I'm now thinking of someone to practice on. I think it would be a good idea to practice. I'm going to be hunting out some balls of yarn and making sure that I have enough of the right colors (solid colors, light but not white) and the right weight. I'm also going to hunt out all of my hooks and pack up my extras with the yarn and stuff I intend to take. I want to have extra hooks in case I have some that didn't get or forgot to bring their own hooks

I read a post to my CrochetPartners group that asked for crochet instructions to use for teaching a beginner class. The answer than I read pointed out the Craft Yarn Council of America's "Each One Teach Two" program. Not only are there really good diagrams and instructions to use for a beginner crochet class, there is also a certificate to print out to give to the students. I am so excited about that. So not only will my beginning crochet students get a Ghoul Scout SWAP to take home with them, they will also get a certificate saying they successfully learned to crochet! Groovy :D

For my advanced beginner crochet class I'll need to do more prep. I've got a lesson plan and I want to practice it too. However, the project for that class is using plarn (cutting plastic grocery bags into strips to use as yarn) to make a water bottle holder. I thought about using different colors of bags for each ball of plarn I make, but Mama suggested using the different colors in each ball to make variegated, maybe even striping patterns. I need to hurry up and finish those necklaces so I can play around with that idea and see what I like.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to make the plarn-making a family affair. I know I can get Dorinda and Stephen to help with the folding and cutting. I might even be able to get Steve amd Stephen to help with the joining and then Steve, Gideon and Stephen to help with the winding.

Planning Crochet Classes

I volunteered to teach a couple of crochet classes at the training weekend for our Girl Scout council in October. Now, I've really never taught crochet before, so this is all new territory for me. I'm going to be looking for some good graphics for my handouts. I know I've seen some I just don't remember where.

For my beginning crochet class, I'm going to have some crocheted stuff set out so people can see that crochet is not just afghans and doilies. I have a sweater, a bath set, a water bottle holder, and a table runner all ready to be admired and I hope to have a baby set (afghan, sweater, hat) ready, too. I'm also going to be wearing a necklace made with soda can tabs (although I suspect that some of my donated tabs didn't come from just soda cans ). This is also going to be my stash buster class. I'm going to use up a bunch of my yarn stash for the students to use. The class is only an hour and a half long, so I'm going to be concetrating on the slip knot and the chain stitch. If we have time, I'll move into the single crochet stitch. The project for the class is going to be a simple chain stitch (or single crochet stitch) SWAPs holder. I'm going to make myself one to be wearing with some SWAPs already pinned to it. The Ghoul Scouts I made a couple of years ago are what I'm using for the SWAPs. I'll be giving one to each of my students as a memento.

I'm also teaching an advance beginning crochet class. For that one, I'm going to have the same projects out as well as my Masters in Basic Stitches portfolio from the Crochet Guild of America. I'm also hoping to get some brochures for the Guild ready to set out for anyone who is interested. For that class, I'll be doing crocheting in the round. I'm going to have different granny squares to show off. I'm hoping that everyone who signs up for that class will already know how to do the double crochet stitch. The project for that class is going to be a water bottle holder made of plastic grocery bags. I'm also planning on going over some pattern reading and stitch anatomy.

For both classes I want to have a pattern or two for my students to take home and try out. I'm looking forward to teaching. I'll be a new experience for everyone involved.

Meet Bone-ita!

In order to advertise our Girl Scout leader training weekend event that's happening in October, I volunteered to make a milk jug skeleton that will be the end product of one of the classes. My own little Girl Scout Brownie contributed hands and feet as well as helped pick out the name. Her escort is my oldest son. He hates having his picture taken (in case you couldn't tell ).

She is wearing a SWAPs sash made with a Boye size I hook and Red Heart Super Saver "Pretty in Pink". My sweet Girl Scout Brownie also donated a SWAP and also made another one just for Bone-ita.

Long Time No See

I didn't realize that it had been so long since I had posted. My goodness!

Well, I have been busy with school-mine and the kids'. Steve helps with a lot, but I'm too much of a control freak to hand everything over to him. He has pretty much taken over cooking supper and making sure the kids do their homework and Gideon does a lot of the house work since he's not working or going to school. It has been great to have so much help. My baby girl is so proud of me going to college and likes to do her homework with me while I'm doing mine. I'm taking the summer off, however. I was getting burned out. I started out with straight As and had every intention of keeping my grades up as high as I possibly could. This last sememster I found myself not really doing my best and when it came down to cases, I found that I didn't really care as long as I passed. Not the attitude I want to have. So, I decided to take the semester off. It may put me a couple semesters behind in graduating, but at least I'll still have a happy marriage and children who feel loved instead of feeling like their playing second fiddle to my school work.

I have made sure to make time for crocheting. I decided to make matching bath sets for Dorinda and all her friends for Christmas and I officially finished the last one today. I used Pricilla Hewitt's pattern: Five Piece Bath Set and added a bath mitt of my own design. I used Peaches and Cream yarn with each set being in a different variegated color. Here's the face scrubbers in all the other colors I used:

I'll try to look up color names if you're really that interested, but I can't guarantee anything.

I also made afghans for the kids of a friend of mine that is going through a really ugly separation and I'm afraid it might turn into a bad custody battle. I did a crochet version of a knit afghan I found called Gotta Touch It Baby Blanket for the 6 year-old and the 2 year-old. I used a double strand of Lion Brand's Homespun instead of the Wool Ease. Unfortunately I haven't got pics of those. I did those a couple of months ago and the kids absolutely love them. The older one said she loves stuff like that because it was made just for her and nobody else has one like it. The baby won't take his nap without his, I'm told. My friend also has a 16 year-old girl from his first wife and I made her afghan with a plainer yarn, but a more of a pattern. I used the Adoring Hearts pattern that I used to make my cousin's baby afghan when his son was born, but it is in worsted weight yarn and in colors a teenage girl would like. I wish I could have had this afghan when I was a teenager :D

It turned out so great. She hasn't been to her daddy's yet to get it, but she knows she's getting one. Before the break-up, my friend had been married for 12 or 13 years. It's been hard on everyone involved.

Since I have a bath set for the little girl, I'm working on a Learn Your Colors Fish Counting Toy for the little boy.

I'm not sure about the teenager yet. I would like to do an afghan for my friend too, but I've promised my younger son an afghan and I need to do it first. He's been patient for over a year and has even changed his mind now about what he wants it to be. He did want keyblades from a video game called Kingdom Hearts and I even looked up his favorite ones and graphed them out, but lost the graphs before I could make the afghan. Bless his little heart. He's decided now though that he's moved on. Kingdom Hearts was a phase and he wants something different. He wants now pictures of symbols from horror movies: Freddy's glove, Jason's hockey mask, Pinhead's puzzle box. I just don't know if I'll be able to graph those. That's always assuming I can find good enough pictures of those things for me to graph from. Wish me luck!