Reverse Lent: Week 1

The first week of Reverse Lent is coming to an end and I am already behind. I knew when I set this goal that it would be challenging, but I believed I was up for the challenge. Unfortunately, I didn't anticipate how busy I would be or the sudden onset of my seasonal allergies. Apparently it wasn't just the weather that missed the memo it is still winter. Anyways, I am not giving up on my Reverse Lent, but I just don't have a blanket to share with my readers today. I was feeling down today that the blanket wasn't finished, but I ended up reading my friend's blog that followed her own lent journey and felt inspired. Her blog features a new entry for each day of lent and reflects on her day, including the new lessons she has learned about God. As I read her posts today I thought about the things I have learned as I worked on my own lent journey.

 First, a little about the blanket I am working on as this week ends. I used a single crochet stitch to crochet the blanket in Red Heart Super Saver yarn in Grey Heather. The blanket is a little over half way done and when finished will be accented with Red Heart Super Saver yarn in Turqua. The blanket will be embellished with Turqua roses. The finished blanket will be simple, but will make a sweet gift for any foster child. 

 I mentioned earlier that I have been busy this week and it has been difficult to maintain steady work on the baby blanket, this hasn't been made any easier with the increased fatigue associated with allergies. The point of this is not to complain, but to point out how easy it would be to quit. It doesn't matter the extent of our problems, whether they are little or big, but how we choose to respond to our problems. The friend, whose blog I was reading, has faced so many challenges these last few years, and yet has never given up. She has faced tragedy and loss, but never once quit. She even had the strength to inspire others who were hurting along the way. I have watched how her family has handled their challenges and been inspired to follow her lead. 

This week I choose to face my challenges with my head held high, to persevere, and to not allow my challenges to weigh me down. As I finish the first blanket and move onto the next, while still maintaining my other responsibilities, I am going to do so with a smile on my face. Not because there won't be challenges, but because I know that I am blessed. 

Pattern Review: Crochet Cloche Hats

Crochet Cloche Hats

A few weeks ago I was challenged to make one of these hats for one of my little cousins. The picture came from a Facebook post that was shared to my page and the post included a link to the pattern. My response, as it usually is, was that I would look over the pattern and give it a try. Unfortunately, what I didn't know at the time was that the original pattern was written in Russian. The link had another link for the pattern translated into English. This link is the link I used when trying to make the cloche hat.

I spent hours trying to decipher the pattern and have the instructions make sense. Finally I gave up on the written instructions and just focused on the pictures, but unfortunately the pictures didn't show each step of crocheting the cloche hat. In trying to make the pattern work I read the translator's note, which said that the translation was considered troublesome for many people in trying to make this hat. I was very frustrated when I read this because I don't think the translator should have shared the pattern, knowing the translated pattern was done poorly and therefore unusable. I then used Google to try to find a crochet stitch to replicate the pattern, but couldn't find the exact stitch.

Since this hat was meant to be a gift for one of my little cousins I continued working on replicating the hat shown in the picture and managed to make my hat look similar to the hat pictured, although far from identical. I am still working on finishing the floral applique for the crochet cloche hat, but I think my cousin will enjoy wearing it for Easter. I still need to find green yarn to make the leaves, but then I will post pictures of the final hat. If this hat is something that you want to see more of then please leave a comment below. I will be posting more hats for Easter in the next coming weeks.

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Update: finished pictures of the Easter Hat

Organizational Tips: Kid's Art Work

Children are wonderful, for so many reasons, but especially for their love of gifts. Children love to create art and pickup little "gifts", which they then eagerly share with the adults in their life. You have probably accumulated numerous pieces of artwork and/or little gifts whether you have kids of your own, have little ones in your family or life in general, or are a teacher of young children. These organization tips are mainly for parents, but can be useful for anyone with young children in their lives. 

Tip#1: Choose your child's favorite artwork or your favorite piece of their artwork and put the pictures in frames that match your decor. Depending on preference you can create an art gallery or hang the artwork in your office. Don't want to display the artwork in frames? Display the pictures in magnetic frames on your refrigerator.

Tip#2: Create files for each of your children. Throughout the year put their artwork in the files. Try your best to record the date, the child's age, and the child's description of their artwork.

Tip#3: Once a year have the child go through their artwork and purge the unwanted art. Choose a number to keep ahead of time. Make a scrapbook of your child's kept artwork. The description of the artwork will be a great keepsake in the future. An alternative to this is photos of the artwork and then creating a photo book on Shutterfly or Snapfish.

Bonus Tip: Photos of your child's artwork can be made into cards or photo gifts for family. Custom thank you cards can be made for each child using their favorite artwork. Parents of young children can type or hand write a standard thank you message and have the child practice "signing" their name. Relatives would love receiving this thank you card.

If you have more ideas of how to store children's mementos or artwork please share your ideas below. Areas of organization you want to see more of in the future? Comment below and I will include tips for those areas in a future post.