Days 62 to 66: preparing for a weekend FULL of crafting with family and friends, with some fantastic causes to support!

stretchy bracelets for a great cause!
I have a great friend who teaches at the Crouse Hospital School of Nursing.  They regularly make trips to Guatemala through their Global Health Initiative program.  She came up with the idea of collecting the stretchy band bracelets to bring with her the next trip there.  This is her post from her brilliant Facebook event:

"While I was visiting my niece, she was working on these loom bracelets made out of stretchy bands. She had a ton of them made. I asked her what she was going to do with all of those and she said “I don’t know I just keep making them”. Then I had an idea, why don’t you give them to me and I can give them to the kids that come to our clinics in Guatemala. She was super excited about this and started making more. She asked a lot of questions about the kids we going to help. It made me so happy to see her energized by something, learning about the work that we are doing and thinking about others that have so little. I know you are saying stretchy bands how will this help the kids. The medication we give to the children to treat parasitic infections tastes awful, it’s very bitter! The bracelets will be used as reward for taking the medications, I know it’s a bribe but I am willing to bribe and beg so that these kids get the much needed medications in there sick tummies! 
As part of a team of faculty and students at Crouse Hospital College of Nursing each year we take a team to Guatemala to host six free medical clinics in rural villages. During these clinics we focus on primary health care, treatment of parasitic intestinal infections and vitamin replacement. The villages and places that we work in are very remote and the villages lack cleaning drinking water and sanitation. During our time in the country we treat over 1200 people. This year our team will be traveling June 3rd – June 13th and hosting six clinics. To learn more about our initiatives please visit Crouse Hospital College of Nursing Web site.
If you are interested in having us come teach or speak to your class or youth group we would love to! Just let me know.
We are also in need of pencils, flip flops and Over The Counter Medications. If you would like to donate to our mission information can be found on the Crouse Health Foundation Website, under global health initiatives.
Bracelets can be dropped off at 115 West Oneida St. Oswego NY 13126. A bin will be placed in the enclosed front porch! Or we can pick them up, message me and someone from the team will gladly come and get all donations. I will need to gather up the bracelets by at least May 19th so we can pack them! If you want to include a "made by" tag on your bracelets that would be great the kids are going to love to see that kids in the US are thinking of them and took time to make them something from there heart!
Peace and Love and much thanks – Carrie Kangah"

I have amazing friends, who recognize the power of giving, and that it comes in all kinds of shapes and sizes.

Starting tomorrow, my 10 year old niece and her 6 year old twin sisters will stay with me through Sunday evening.  Saturday we are having friends over (kids & adults) for a making jewelry party.  I have SO much stuff, it's insane! We will be making jewelry for ourselves, and the younger ones will have fun making stretchy bracelets for kids who don't have the luxury of making funky jewelry in their spare time.

There are more happy causes on the immediate horizion, but I think this post is good for now.  I have family & friends to prepare for!!!  Happy crafting!

HUGE recap: days eleven through fourteen!!!

Prepare for LOTS of photos, because I've been busy!

Day eleven: traveled from Liverpool to Utica for Rich's official pinning ceremony.  He's received his promotion, so he's now a sergeant and a NCO.  The drive is just over an hour, and since Rich is driving, I have plenty of time to work on crafts.

Trek bracelets

Working on Trek bracelets

Before you question, NO, I was not driving while crocheting.  Rich had some down time at the armory, so I took the opportunity to work on some gifts.  These two bracelets crocheted with cotton yarn are in a pale turquoise color, my niece's favorite color.  She's almost 10, and on 1/11/14 the family celebrated her birthday since my parents are leaving for Florida before her actual birthday.  This is the Trek bracelet pattern link.

crochet cotton bracelet & earrings

Sergeant Walters!

I kept going with the crochet cotton, and after much hemming and hawing, came up with this set for her.  I was unsure about the size vs. the clasp, and reworked the bracelet more than once to come up with something that met my satisfaction.  I made matching earrings as well.  This is the crochet flower bracelet pattern.


After such a productive day, we went to my parents' house for the birthday celebration.  As it was also my oldest niece's mom's birthday celebration, I made her a matching bracelet also.  She didn't care for the huge clasp, so I made her one with the smaller heart clasp while the cake and ice cream was consumed.  My 10 year old niece has twin 6 year old sisters, who both at different times silently sidled up to me while I was crocheting the bracelet.  Neither would say anything, but I knew what they wanted.  30 minutes and a smaller crochet hook later, we ALL had matching bracelets (I kept the big clasp bracelet for myself).

bracelet power unite!

Day twelve: Sunday.  VERY tired this day.  Worked on the cowl for about 10 minutes.  Well, more like five.  I kept my commitment, and that's what matters.  No pictures, no need.

Day thirteen: Monday.  I am cat sitting for friends.  They have two cats, one of which is in remission from intestinal cancer.  I brought the cowl with me, and spent about 45 minutes at their house.  The cat in remission still needs medication twice a day, and both cats are on wet food only.  After giving meds, feeding both cats, scooping the litter box, I sat for long enough to remind both cats that humans still exist, and I finished the cowl.  This is the cowl pattern.
I didn't take a picture of it.  It's a bit big around, but that's because I added extra stitches, thinking I have a fat neck.  Turns out I really don't.

Also on day thirteen, discovered a realistic CAL, a Crochet ALong hosted by mooglyblog.com.  Tamara is taking the full year to construct this afghan, which for me is realistic since I have so much else going on.  MooglyBlogCAL link  I have a good amount of yarn on hand from when I had planned a blanket with 13 or so colors, so I see no problem working up this afghan.

Day Fourteen:  BLOGGING!  I found my yarn for the 1st afghan block.  I don't think I will get very far with the block, but blogging and planning is enough to satisfy me.  Happy crafting!

Day seven: earrings = mission accomplished!

Day seven!  Made earrings to match the bracelet I made yesterday.  Just for scale, the left picture shows the project against a ruler in millimeters.  Yep, it's that small.  I may need a magnifying glass and/or reading glasses to keep this up.  The bracelet was well received.  Looking at the earrings, the middle isn't the same.  Snap, I may make a 3rd earring to try to match one of the already made ones!

Day six: working on some new projects

Day six is a day of new projects.  The crochet thread I bought goes well with a bracelet pattern from PetalsToPicots: flower bracelet.  This one is for a co-worker who could use a bit of happiness in her life.

I'm going to make earrings to match.

This bracelet is for another co-worker.  This is for her daughter.  The picture is pretty crappy.  The yarn is a dark denim blue.  The pattern is from Felted Button:
Trek Bracelet pattern.Crocheted with cotton yarn, it has the flexibility to enlarge or shrink depending on the situation.  All together, it's been a productive evening, and I can say day six has been a success.  If I can keep from freezing on my way to work tomorrow, I have two items to give away which makes me smile.