Updated pictures of Shirley the Turtle

I fixed Shirley's hat and I'm deciding on whether or not to make her a cute little scarf.  In the meantime, I took her picture on our back deck.  It was really windy and I'm glad she didn't fall off.  I put a little purple washcloth underneath her to keep her clean.  What do you think of her?

If you would like to try to crochet a sweet little turtle of your own, find this very well-written, easy to follow pattern by Pepika at her Etsy shop here.

National Crochet Month Post #14--Shirley the Turtle Amigurumi

I am going to be very tired tomorrow morning, but I was determined to finish this sweet little turtle amigurumi today.  At 11:01 p.m., I have 59 minutes left in #NationalCrochetMonth here in the central time zone.

I made this sweet turtle for my cousins Janet and Ellie in honor of their mom Shirley.  They asked me to make a turtle as a mascot for their Walk to End Alzheimer's team Slowly But Shirley.  Aunt Shirley was a lovely woman and she is greatly missed by her family.  My dad is now experiencing dementia-like symptoms and I would love to see more awareness of brain related maladies.

I still have to tweak her hat a bit and take a picture of her with natural light, but I wanted to make sure I got this posted today.  What do you think of her?

I bought the pattern for Shirley from www.pepika.com.

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It's been a lot of fun sharing various crochet projects with you.  I wish I had been able to post more, but I will continue to do so even though National Crochet Month has ended.

Have a wonderful day!

-J

National Crochet Month Post #13--Amigurumi Woodland Birds

Spring has sprung here in my part of the world.  How is the weather like where you are?  We still have cold nights and some chilly days, but you can tell that warmer weather is nearly here.

One of the best things about Spring is the plethora of birds that show up at the feeder on our deck and in our yard.  Of course, we have our fair share of winter birds too.

But soon we will have yellow finches and red finches too.  While we are waiting for those lovely creatures, here are a few birds I have crocheted myself.  I used Stacey Trock's pattern from her Craftsy class called Woodland Animals.  They are super easy to make and so darn cute too!

This one was made with baby-friendly eyes.  

I love my sweet little birds. Happy crocheting!

#NationalCrochetMonth

National Crochet Month Post #10: Wristers

We have been blessed with warmer weather for the last few days, which makes everyone just a little more cheerful, I believe.  So imagine my surprise when I walked into my classroom today to a very chilled environment:  it was a mere 63°Fahrenheit!  I had to get my space heater out of the closet so my students (many of whom were dressed in shorts and t-shirts) would not freeze their derrières off.

When I sat down at my Mac to open my grade book, my hands were super cold.  So I brought out these wristers I made back in January and went about teaching my class while wearing them.  A few girls asked me about them and were impressed that I had made them.  One even asked if I would make some for her.  As much as I would have loved to sit down and start crocheting right then and there (if for no other reason, so I could warm my fingers up even more), I had the very important task of teaching French to my French 2 class that hour.  But the experience made me decide to make wristers my Day #10 topic.

Here I am wearing the first pair of wristers I made.  They are really fabulous and warm, and they still allow you to use your fingers for fine motor activities.

Of course, this is a Lion Brand pattern and I used Lion Brand Unique yarn in the Passion Fruit colorway.


I have also made another pair for myself using Harvest.

And I made a pair for my daughter using Oceania. She didn't really want me to take her picture and hence, no smile for Mom.

I love these wonderful little wristers.  Why don't you try your hand at making some too?


Oh, and if you didn't quite believe that my classroom was that frigid today, take a look at this:

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Pax.

Quality Time

I like to think of myself as a crafty kind of gal, but my prowess does not usually extend into the kitchen.  However, my kids and I decided to make some delectable things this weekend, which turned out to taste pretty darn good.  Most likely, this was due to my children's very presence.  I really enjoyed spending quality time with them.  I hope they decide to take over kitchen duties for me permanently.  ;)

My 15-year-old son and I made this yummy homemade pizza:

And my 11-year-old daughter and I made these scrumptious snickerdoodles:

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And then I made a couple of batches of soap; Twigs & Berries and Monkey Farts:

I will post more on these soap when I remove them from their molds.

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I have also been crocheting.  I made these wristers using Lion Brand Unique yarn in Harvest:

And this adorable little junior bluebird of happiness.  I will admit that he was made unintentionally small because I made an error while following the pattern.  Namely, I left out 9 rows of crochet.  But I still think he is cute!

How is YOUR weekend going?

Gros bisous!  
--J

A couple of new soaps

I wanted to share a couple of new soaps I just put in my Etsy shop:

Sensuous Sandalwood Handmade Soap

and Sandalwood Vanilla Handmade Soap:

These two soaps have lovely fragrances.  The Sensuous Sandalwood is more masculine whereas the Sandalwood Vanilla has a sweeter scent.  

Find them both at my Etsy shop here. 

Have a bright, sunshiny week!  

Soap Saver Mania

Well, school is back in session soon, which is bittersweet news for teachers.  Yet I must say I feel like I've been fairly productive this summer.

I've been able to indulge in my love of making things with my hands.  I have made many types of soaps, and a variety of crochet projects.

My most prolific project has been my soap savers.  As soon as I finished my first one, I couldn't stop making them.  In fact, once I made a soap saver with each of the balls of cotton yarn that I already owned, Michael's just happened to have a sale so I went out and bought 15 more balls!  Good thing they offer a teachers' discount!

To date, I have made 13 different styles of soap savers.  I love seeing how the colors come together as they come off the yarn ball.   Here are the ones I've made so far.  Let me know what you think!

 Natural Stripes

 Peace

 Black Currant

 Kitchen Breeze

 Psychedelic

Lime Stripes

Moondance

Field of Dreams

Batik

Candy Colors

Fiesta

Country Stripes

New crocheted item--soap savers! Plus, a few project updates.

Yes, I am still working on my green and white king sized afghan:

and my red, white, and blue afghan:

but those are long-term projects that I work on little by little.  However, when I want to work on something and finish it rather quickly, I choose a smaller project.  Having finished my amigurumi cat Limey:

and begun working on a polar bear for Lizzie:

I decided to try to make a project I've been wanting to make for quite some time:  a soap saver.  What exactly is a soap saver?  Well, do you ever have tiny pieces of soap that are just too small to use effectively but too big to throw away?  I know I do!  And making my own handmade soaps makes me want to conserve my handiwork as much I can.

We hved several small pieces of soap in that category:

I made this fun soap saver using a pattern by Lion Brand. It is a simple design using mostly single crochet.  I used Sugar'nCream yarn by Lily in Moondance.  It is really pretty .  I love how the colors changed as I crocheted.  Of course, I was watching McLeod's Daughters as I worked.  Yes, I am still watching it.  I just watched the pivotal episode 26 in season 4.  Those of you who are fans know which one I am talking about, but I won't spoil anything for those of you who haven't seen it.  :)

After I was finished, I posted a picture on Instagram, which then went to my Facebook page.

My cousin Janet rightly asked me what a soap saver is.  I explained exactly what I said above and then I told her I would use it and let her know how it works. So this morning, I put the leftover soap in the soap saver,

 I tied it tightly with the drawstring,

 and then I took my shower.  I realized you need to get it thoroughly soaked before it will be effective.  After that, I used it like I would a washcloth, but this time with soap built into it.  It lathered up nicely and smelled great.  Plus, I loved using up soaps that I wasn't quite ready to say good-bye to.

I hung the soap saver by the drawstring to my shower caddy to dry out.  I love my new soap saver!

After finishing the Moondance soap saver, I realized I had already started on one many months ago, but I had never finished it.  {The story of many of my projects.}  So I found the one I had been working on and finished it off.  This one was made with Fiesta by Peaches & Creme.  I can't seem to find this particular color of yarn for sale anywhere, so my guess is this color has been discontinued.  I just listed this item for sale on Etsy. Here are some pics:

This is my last full week of summer break.  I hope to make the most of it.  Have a bright, sunshiny day!

--Jenn