Finished!

These were made from fabric samples. Tote bag love!

I decided that I liked the appearance of the medium single eye so I made #3 & #4 with one medium eye.

The mouth was the “hardest” part of the project.

I’m not finished with the minions just yet. There may be a couple of evil minions in progress. We shall see if I can make the Christmas deadline. (Ha, ha, ha)

Minion Beanie 2...Child Size, two medium eyes.

The first of many Minion Beanies this Christmas.
Very Fast, very easy and very fun.

The knitting machine got a workout and I made 6 stockinette shawls with crocheted borders. I'm clearing out my yarn stash in anticipation of starting over in the new year. These are not the most creative combinations but I tried to match the yarn as best as possible without excess waste. The majority of shawls are 75 stitches wide and 285 rows long.

We had our office Christmas party and I won this bag filled with Popcornucopia popcorn in the white elephant exchange. Yummy!

More milestones…today is my youngest son’s 20th Birthday. It’s all about him today so I will let the memories wash over me and say Thanks to God for blessing me with this gift.

It was 12 years ago on his 8th birthday that my husband & I took cupcakes and juice boxes to the school to celebrate. I remember it so well, I was a bleached blonde and one of his classmates was whispering to another student asking, ” who is that?” ”That’s his mom!, Wow, she’s pretty!”

That was the day I started blogging.

Now my son is 20 years old and attends college. I am no longer a bleached blonde and I’m widowed. The other day I overheard them talking and the friend said, “Wow, your Mom really looks young.”

But this is his day and it’s not about me. And so I blog…

Today is/was my late husband's birthday. It is still a day to celebrate because he did exist and made a difference in this world.  He was the father of three and as long as we are still alive he will be remembered.

He is deeply missed every single day. It's been two years and nine months since he died.

These puzzle blanks were decorated and needed a container of sorts so I went into the studio to brainstorm.

After awhile I came up with these small fleece pouches sewn from leftover squares.  A coworker made no-sew fleece pillows for friends and gave me the leftover corner squares. I used shoestrings for the ties and it worked out perfectly.

The way things work out constantly surprises me.  The coworker gave me 16 squares and I needed exactly 8 pouches. Awesome! 

Using a serger and sewing machine made this project a breeze.  I love it when everything falls into place exactly like a puzzle.

This is a free Lion Brand pattern - Tea Wrap - size K hook - unlabeled cone yarn (nylon-acrylic). Counted the beginning chains as stitches and changed the dcs to trcs. The stitch counts didn't always come out correctly so I did fudge it whenever that occurred. I ran out of the darker shade of vanilla so had to do the last section with a lighter shade.  The neckline is not completely straight so when wearing the shawl the top will fold down as pictured.

I could not decide which configuration I preferred so I took pictures of some of the combinations so I could compare. 

Basically, it's crayon art that is cut into quarters and framed. (Kind of what my brain feels like most days.)

Simple...what could go wrong?  (I do hope you understand that I'm joking. Although, on the other hand, I'm totally serious. You can only imagine what can go wrong and often times does.)