A Hat for a Co-Worker

Kristi, a friend at work, asked me if I would be able to crochet a hat for her.

This hat to be exact.

Only this hat costs $42!!! (Which is a steal, as you can see...marked down from $85.)

As if!

Anyway, I told her that I was crocheting hats and not knitting, so I knew I couldn't achieve quite that hat.  And I wasn't sure about the bow at all.  But I'd give it a shot.

This is my end result. 

It's not quite the same, and the bow is raised on top the hat (3D & not woven in), but I think this is about as close to that hat as I can manage.

I don't know if Kristi will like it or not, but Bekah modeled it for me.  If Kristi doesn't take it, the girls have claimed it!  Ha ha!

Another Owl Hat Complete!

I finished another owl hat, this one, for Rebekah.

She picked out the colors herself.  I wasn't sure that they would look good together, but she insisted that they would.

I think she was right.

What'd'you think?

I added a little border around Bekah's hat - trying something a little new with this one.

I like the way it turned out. 

The girls look adorable in their matching hats!

Another Genealogy Find!!

Well, actually, this one found me.

A fellow genealogist found some old tin types and scanned them in and emailed these to me.  He wasn't sure who this was.  It was just labeled Jose Whitwell.  Well, it looks like this is Josephine (Whitwell) Revelle, my grandmother's great-grandmother.

I have an older photo of her, and they are strikingly similar.

Included in the email was this gem. 

This is Mary Jane (Dickerson) Whitwell, Josephine's mother.  I had a really poor copy of this photo, so I'm quite glad to get this one.

To keep everyone straight, here's the line:

Me:

My mom:

My grandma:

My great-grandfather (Don Barnett)

My great-great grandmother (Martha Jane "Mattie" Revelle Barnett)

My great-great-great grandmother (Josephine Matilda Whitwell Revelle)

My great-great-great-great grandmother (Mary Jane Dickerson Whitwell)

I'm so excited to add such awesome photos to my collection!  I just love it!

Maybe We're Going a Little Heavy on the Social Studies

I told Lydia to stop passing gas, and she told me

she couldn't

"because it's a natural resource."

Interesting People

Tuesday night, at dinner, Lydia was telling us all about everyone's "pocket person."

Two girls chose to do theirs on Bethany Hamilton, the girl who was attacked by a shark (Soul Surfer).

One girl did hers on Amelia Earhart.

Another did hers on Cleopatra.

And two girls did theirs on Taylor Swift.

And this is where our story begins:

Apparently, Sydney stole Elizabeth's idea and did her project on Taylor Swift.  But really, it was Elizabeth's idea first.  But Sydney did a good job on her Taylor Swift.

So I asked Lydia, "Is Elizabeth in your class?"

"Yes."

"Oh, well, you never really mentioned her, so I didn't know you had a girl named Elizabeth in your class."

And Lydia said, "Well, nothing really interesting ever happens with her."

Then she started counting the reasons why:

"She's always listening...

she doesn't talk much..."

I don't even know if she was going to finish that sentence or not because I was already dying laughing.

Yup, nothing interesting in the little girl who follows the rules.

Too funny.

Lydia's Pocket Person: Kate Middleton

Lydia is studying biographies in her Reading class.  As an at-home project, each child was to choose a biography from the library and then make a "pocket person" of the man or woman the biography was about.

Lydia chose a biography of Kate Middleton.

Yes, of course Lydia would choose a real-live princess!

Here is Lydia with her Kate Middleton pocket person.

(And yes, of course this photo involved a wardrobe change.)

Here is Lydia labeling her pocket person with her name.

Yes, of course she signed it "Princess Lydia."

All kidding aside, Lydia (and Mommy & Daddy) worked really hard on her pocket person.

Each child was given a person cut-out that they were to decorate as the biography person.  Then they were instructed to add three different materials to the person.  Our materials were the "lace" over the paper dress (Lydia's design), the yarn for hair (Lydia worked the glue gun and I placed the hair), the jewels on the tiara and earrings, and the blue sapphire engagement ring (Lydia).  The person had to be placed on cardboard or posterboard to make it sturdy (Daddy).  And there had to be five pockets on the project that contained information about the person.

Lydia, David, and I all worked together to make the roses into pockets. 

Lydia scoured her biography to find information about the main topics she had to put in her pockets.

Name: Kate Middleton

Born: January 9, 1982, Reading, England

Main Accomplishment: Marrying Prince William

Hardship: Head Surgery

Influenced by: Her parents, Michael and Carole pushed her in school.

Interesting Facts: She's NOT a princess, but a duchess.  Prince William gave her his mom's engagement ring.

Lydia was SO proud of her finished project!  I can't wait to see what grade she gets on it!

Rebekah's Replacement Garden Girl Hat

Since I messed up Bekah's first garden girl hat, I told her I'd make her another one.  She asked if this one could be black.  I finished it Sunday and was really pleased.

Too cute, right?  I love(d) it!

Until Bekah tried it on.

Wow! That flower is HUGE! 

Didn't look so huge until I had her try on the hat!  Wow!

Back to the drawing board (again).  Sheesh!

I made this little flower for a friend's hat, so I thought I'd try it out on Bekah's hat.

She loves it!  So, after re-working her garden girl hat again we've finally got a winner!

I think this one better reflects Bek's personality that the crazy flower anyway!  =)

Another Art Lesson with Rebekah and Neve - Initial Art

Neve came over this Saturday for another art lesson.

Lydia tried to convince me that she needed to be in on this art lesson... 

...and drew a dragon to demonstrate her killer sketching skills.  Ha ha!

(She crocheted next to us while we drew.)

This week, we continued with the focus on the grid (which works for Bek), but left each square of the grid open to free creativity (which works for Neve).

The girls practiced their grid skills by drawing their initial on the grid 

and then practiced their shading skills by free-style drawing in each of the squares on the grid. 

I didn't get a photo of Neve's finished product... 

and Bekah and I didn't finish ours this time... 

...so I guess you'll have to be satisfied with viewing three unfinished works!  LOL

I know that I was just drawing to demonstrate, but I really had fun with this one.  I think I might want to finish mine!  =)

The Hats Are Complete!!!

Here's the first "garden girl hat" I tried, using the pattern I found online.

See? I told you it was a bit wonky.  Bekah laughed at it every time she put it on.  She let me take a few pictures of her with it on before I tried to salvage it.

In the meantime, I added the elastic and flower to Lydia's garden girl hat.

Here's the finished product.

I've got one happy customer!

I think it turned out super cute!

After working the elastic in Lydia's hat, I thought I'd give it a shot in Bekah's.

Here's the finished product.

I finished it after the girls went to bed, so I had to have someone to model it. 

(David wouldn't do it.)

In the morning, Bekah modeled it for me.

She said it made her feel French.  She said I should put a picture of her in Paris, France - in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Here you go, Bek!

Does she like it?

Oui oui, she does!

And the Crafting Continues: Pom-Pom Scarves

Like I've said in an earlier post, we've been quite crafty lately!

The girls had a snow day last Friday, and David had a meeting first thing in the morning.

So the girls and I hung out in Merridee's, sipping hot cocoa until his meeting was over and then I could go to work.

After enjoy the best hot cocoa I've EVER had, the girls and I set about working on our latest craft endeavor:

making a pom-pom scarf!

I saw this pretty pom-pom garland on a blog I read, and I thought this would make a cute scarf!

So we picked up a pom-pom maker and set to work.  I started on Bekah's scarf first.  It's so easy, even the girls can do it!

I find it relaxing to wrap the yarn around the arms of the pom-pom maker!  The girls seemed to like it too.

Here, Lydia is demonstrating how we tie all the pieces together after snipping the yarn all the way around the circle.

Remove the arms,

take it off, and voilà!  You have a pom-pom!!

I continued working on the scarf myself, while the girls were asleep, and catching up on my favorite show. 

I got all of Bekah's pom-poms made and set to work on Lydia's.  Bekah chose turquoise (of course), and Lydia chose some eye popping blue and pink yarns! 

I kept getting distracted with other cute crochet ideas, so it took me a bit to finish, but finally, I got them all done!  And I love how they turned out!

Here are the girls modeling their wares!