A burst of creativity

Hey—I actually finished some things over half-term! It was a pretty crazy feeling; being all caught up on marking and having time do some more fun projects. Too bad my kids had homework this week… Ah, the double edged sword… I also did some cloths altering over half-term, but that’s not terrible photogenic. So, here’s what I did!

Unfortunately for blog fodder, there are some Christmas gifts that are just going to have to wait to be shown in all their glory, but I think I can pretty safely show these siblings ornaments—Captain Jack

And a Creeper for a certain teenage boy among my relations! He’s kind of a cute little green guy…

I also finished off one of these that I charted off a picture of a kit I found online. I sure hope the character is correct! I really like how it turned out though.

I also made some of these lovely paper snowflakes—way easier to make than they look, and possible to do with even rather inept children. I’m considering making some for the hall now…We’ll have to see how far the crazy train goes!

In some spare moments last week I also whipped up this little gem—it made me SO HAPPY! Nothing like a crafty release for my inner nerd!

The big thing this week has been trying to get my travel plans nailed down. I think the outline is there now—I just need to get confirmation from someone before I can buy tickets for a quick trip to OH and GA. I know December is going to fly by so fast and there are so many people I want to see and things I’d like to do! Continually praying for wisdom and help in knitting all these loose ends together.

Parting shot:

I've always wanted a pirate hat...

Hey-I actually finished something this week! First though, since Reformation Day was Friday, I want to share how I made my tricorn hat so I could be a very quiet steampunk pirate (not that I told anyone that!). After shaping two layers of felt into the crown using a bowl and some white glue, I cut out the two brim circles and stitched them on. Result- a very floppy hat!

Then I put glue between the layers and pinned them in to the tricorn shape and let it dry.

After that I just sewed some ribbon binding around the edges and put in a few judicious stitches to hold the shape. Voila—swash swash buckle buckle in the bush!

I whipped up a pair of baby socks to match the sweater I just finished; I took the lace pattern from the sweater and used it on the cuffs. They look slightly out of proportion to me and I have no idea what size they actually are (oh the difficulty of not having the baby around to try things on!), but hopefully they will be usable with or without the sweater.

I’ve also made some good progress on my dragon fire shawl. After adding several repeats to it I’m back in the pattern proper and about to finish the second chart. Yes, I am one of THOSE people who almost never knits a pattern exactly as written!

I’m working on a Christmas ornament for someone special, and I started a gift for my brother-in-law that is so barely started and boring right now that I’m not even going to post a picture. Other than that, I’m enjoying researching ancient Greece for history, re-reading the Anne of Green Gables books, and trying to not die of stress before the term can end. Just a month till I’m home!

Parting shot: