Project Sharing

I've been doing a lot of knitting and crocheting lately and I have some projects ready to share. I had planned to get a bunch of stuff done and share it all in one big blog post, but I don't have all the photos taken yet. I think it'll be best if I share them in several smaller blog posts.


I'm still technically finishing my Christmas knitting... things I would have liked to give as gifts had I had more time. Sure, I could tuck them away and save them for next Christmas, but what fun would that be? I just can't be that disciplined.


So, I finished another hat and fingerless mitts set and have given them to the loveliest of young ladies. The blue and grey look great together and look especially beautiful on her. (No, that's not her in the photo, silly!)

On Valentine's Day we had a valentine exchange between some of the women who work in my building. The idea was to exchange children's valentines like when we were kids. A couple of years ago we did this and it was fun going to Walmart and looking over all the themes and choosing one that I thought was the most "me". I can't remember which theme I chose, but I remember all of us laughing at the choices we made for ourselves. Who loves Winnie the Pooh? Who relates to Hoops and YoYo? Who thinks they are a super hero?


This year there were quite a few more people who wanted to join in the valentine fun. At risk of seeming like an overachiever, I decided to make my valentines. I (of course) wanted to make something with yarn, most likely involving a heart, something quick and easy to make, and I wanted it to be something useful that wouldn't be just tossed out later.


I finally settled on these heart bookmarks.

I stitched them up and added vintage buttons from my mom's and mother-in-law's button boxes.

Then I attached my little valentine wish. "Slip this crocheted heart bookmark between the pages of a book you love. Enjoy!" I thought this was a nice generic wish (what do you say to another woman you work with?) while subtly explaining what this silly yarn thing was... just in case they weren't sure.

That morning at work it was really nice to see so many of us arrive a few minutes early and scurry around from department to department delivering our valentines. One woman even had a decorated box on her desk to collect them in. Another woman taped the ones she collected up around her door jam like Christmas cards. It made her office look so festive. In a time when we are experiencing tough times, budget cuts and layoffs, this simple little activity was really good for morale.


This bookmark project was a  "use what you have" project. I've done some other projects recently using only materials that I have on hand and I'll be blogging about them soon. Until then...