Summer Happenings

Busy -- that's the one word that describes this summer perfectly. Here we are in the last week before school starts, and as usual, I am wondering where the time went. We've made road trips to Houston (freshmen orientation for our oldest son)

(selfie at orientation!)

and also to Dallas because we just had to visit my sweet great-niece Harper!

Of course, I had to take a new crocheted gift to Harper, a sweet little crab (she's a Cancer!).

(Pattern by Awkward Soul)

My own little Cancer turned 8 this summer. He wants a crab, too. :)

While the zodiac sign Cancer reminds me of these two sweethearts and my dad, the disease cancer brings awful memories. Its insidious nature has impacted me in more ways than I can even begin to say, which I would guess is true for many people. This year I have already lost two incredible women to this dreaded disease, and four more women I know are fighting the good fight. I crocheted some caps in anticipation of hair loss for the two women who are currently getting chemotherapy treatments.

(Free pattern courtesy of Oombawka Design)

The saddest part of cancer to me is the children. In 2011, a member of my extended family was diagnosed with leukemia and died just 6 months later. Sam was 8. The next year, his family started the Samuel Szabo Foundation with the goal of raising awareness of childhood cancers, funding childhood cancer research and supporting families faced with a diagnosis of cancer in northeast Ohio. 

I have started crocheting hats and caps to donate to SSF and will be posting photos and patterns here. Please consider donating to SSF or a similar organization -- only 4% of federal funding for cancer research goes toward childhood cancers. That has to change. 

It's Summer!

Why does this son look soooo happy?

It was the last day of 4th grade, and I pulled him out early to go have lunch with his grandparents! He will enjoy only a week off until his 2-week science camp starts on June 14.

While I usually only craft with yarn, every once in a while, I venture into paper crafting. I wish I could say I was particularly good at it. For a teacher gift, my friends and I (we have children in the same class, and we are the Class Moms) made a pot with paper flowers that held gift cards and notes from the students.



The idea came from Disney's Family Fun website, but we took it a step further. We used a longer pot to allow for more flowers. We also used styrofoam covered with moss instead of including a real plant. One thing I would have done differently is to make the spirals on the stems a little larger and a little 'looser' to allow for the double thickness of card stock.

Ms. A really enjoyed reading all of the notes!

Another WIP Begun

Besides keeping up with my Etsy shops and working on items for The Little Black Box, I managed to make a cute little seal and ball for DS3's 10th birthday. The pattern for the seal came from Easy Crochet Critters by Leisure Arts. (DS3 wants an entire zoo of amigurumi animals!)

I've also started a blanket for DS4. He's my summer baby so I hope to be done by July, when he turns 5. (!) It's Cotton-Ease yarn in stripes of Lime, Violet, Stone, Seaspray, Almond, Cherry, and Maize.

While working up the color combination for the blanket, I was intrigued by this trio (Seaspray, Almond, Cherry):

I quickly put the blanket aside to stitch up a long, skinny scarf in this cute combination. As soon as it's photographed, I'll be listing it at The Lavender Lizard.

A Project Update

I made mittens to match the Sock Monkey hat and shipped both the hat and the mittens last week. Here's the complete set:

I'm working on a Pikachu hat for DS4's Halloween costume. The face parts just need to be added to the beanie part. I think it'll be great!

My two youngest sons received an invitation to celebrate the third birthday of a distant cousin, so I made a little beanie as a gift. I love the colors!

A couple of weeks ago, 2 friends and I took our children (12 of them!) to a pumpkin patch in Medina, Texas. Despite a few raindrops, it was a beautiful fall day in the Hill Country, and everyone had a great time!