Busy, busy, busy

I have been working on another sampler and as of this morning I officially have 5 more rows to go and I am done!  I am so excited to give her away! The best part is that her new owner has no idea.  Don'tcha just love surprises?  I know I do, I live for them!  This is the second sampler I have made, the first one was done in 2weeks and 2days.  I started the new one within minutes of finishing the first one.  This one has taken me a little longer, 1 month and 8 days!  I love playing with colors and even more how they play out in a blanket.  I could potentially finish this girl up tonight and once I do I am back to working on my granny stripe.  

I have neglected her for sometime, I am sure I will have to do some sweet talking and I hope she comes around.  She is more than half way done and is a Christmas present!  Again I love surprises!  It seems as though everyone around me wants a blanket.  I cannot make them fast enough. Does this happen to you?  Of course I have two no-no three other blankets going aside from the granny stripe.  I have my ripple that is 3/4 of the way done (this is for me), another present possibly started and I do not like it as much as I thought. Or rather I decided it is WAY too boring for the person it was intended for.  The last is another also for me. In all the years I have been crocheting I have never made anything for myself.   Is this the same for you?  Needless to say I have to get these WIPS done!

A few years ago I had the opportunity to volunteer at an after school program. This school was in an undesirable area and the kids were off the wall crazy!  I guess I would be too if I felt like I was being locked in a cage.  The schools in Newark, NJ are very strict on who comes into the schools and they are serious about the safety of their children.  So in most cases there are some sort of bars or grated like panels on the windows.  So anyhoo, I went once or twice a week and taught a group of third to fifth graders.  They were a lot like me in the sense that they were looking for instant gratification!  They wanted that yarn to VOILA into dishrag or something!  I think one or two really got something out of it.  I then realized that even though I was there to teach them how to do something new, I got more out of the experience than they did.  I learned more about patience & listening.  

With that I was asked last night if I would like to teach an older group of girls how to crochet at a summer camp. Even though she is my bestfriend(Kelly), she still asked me if I would like to do this.  I love to crochet and think I do an okay job, but never really think that I am good enough to teach, but I was so excited!    

Kelly works for a company called PCCI, and I have also done many things with her as a volunteer and as the best friend.  I was a tutor and a coordinator of my own program.  I cannot wait and will definitely be posting pictures!

In my previous post this week, (Yep I said it previous post this week! That means two posts in one week, two days a part!) I was making pillowcases.  I finished them, I like them.  Yes I said I like them.  To anyone else they look GREAT!   As you know, anything we make and that has mistakes we are harder on ourselves than anyone else.  We see it, they don't!  I did indeed learn from these mistakes, and my next set of pillowcases will be Flawless( in my singing voice)!

These also have those fancy pockets on the inside so you cannot see your pillow, but that pictures only wants to load half way. I will try to add later!