Finishing up

I'm almost ready for Christmas! I just have to finish up this cowl, which will take about an hour, and I need to finish off these last two Ice Drops. I can't believe how much I've accomplished this year!

I finished a hat for my Secret Santa. She loved it!

I had just enough yarn left to crochet a headband for her. She love headbands! The Secret Santa week was so much fun. I hope I'm asked to participate again!

Family starts arriving today. I still need to finish laundry, go grocery shopping, and do one last quick clean around the house. With the Christmas gathering at our house this year, I don't anticipate having time for blogging. So, I'll take this opportunity to wish all my friends a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Back to Chrome

I still can't get Blogger to work as it used to in Safari, so I'm spending more time in Chrome. I still prefer Safari, but I don't have the time to figure out what's going on, and I want to read and comment on blogs! I'm still having problems commenting on some, but at least Chrome recognizes that I'm signed in!

I finished my hat yesterday morning. I'm pleased with the way it turned out.

My order of pom poms arrived in time for me to attach one before leaving for school. I changed my mind and switched to a gray one when I got home, but I forgot to take a picture before wrapping it. After taking the picture, I noticed that the folded up portion looked a little funky. All I needed to do was stretch the hat in both up and down and sideways, and it looked great. The color looks very different in this photo. The first one is the true color.

As I'm typing this post, my cursor keeps jumping to another spot. I type fairly quickly, so I get some really strange sentences that need to be fixed. Does anyone else have this happen to them? The only thing I can figure is that I must be hitting the touchpad with the bottom of my thumb as I type. Either that, or my computer is possessed!

I am working on another cowl in Caron X Pantone. The stitch sequence is the same as in the last cowl I knit, but I cast on one more stitch. The look will be completely different. I do have to pay attention as I knit, because it's easy to split the stitches with this yarn. I wish you could reach through the computer and feel how soft it is!

I'm off to a good start on another hat. I only have six rows left to crochet before seaming. Now that I understand how the pattern works, it's going much more quickly. I hope to finish this one this morning.

I'm really enjoying working on projects that inspire me in the moment, rather than trying to finish a gift for a specific person. My great-aunt used to have a closet of gifts ready for giving, something I've long thought of doing. I often want to give something hand-made, but find I don't have the time to finish what I have in mind. A gift closet seems like the perfect solution!

Secret Santa spying

Last week, one of the high school teachers told me that I was in a unique position for Secret Santa spying. Since I supervise both high school lunch periods, and I get my steps in walking around the cafeteria, I should be able to pick up Secret Santa hints. Ha!

I'm sure you can imagine how loud it gets in a high school cafeteria at lunch time. While I can hear an inappropriate comment made across the room, I find myself asking students to repeat themselves when I'm standing right next to them. Aside from the noise level, these kids are very crafty. As I walk by, I hear them talking about sports, relationships, classes... I haven't heard one word about Christmas or Secret Santas!

My Secret Santa is especially good. We each know if our Secret Santa is a girl or boy, but that's it. To make things even more difficult for me, I've known most of these kids since preschool. So, it's hard to pick up on things that I may have said or done that would give me clues.

Yesterday, my Secret Santa gave me butterscotch hard candy and embroidery floss. No clues there. I love butterscotch, and I always had some at my desk when I was teaching. A piece of candy can be a miracle cure to a little one who's having an off day. How many butterscotch candies have I handed out over the years? I can only eliminate one student who wouldn't know this about me.

As for the embroidery floss... who can resist the beautiful colors and the softness of a skein of embroidery floss? The kids have seen me cross stitch with it, and they've seen me make Kumihimo braids with it. Again, there are no clues there to help me out.

I do know that the high school girls love sweaters, hats, and scarves made with soft, chunky yarn. I found a wonderful short row hat tutorial on YouTube. I should be able to finish the hat today, and my Secret Santa will be receiving a hat and cowl crocheted with the green Bernat Blanket yarn that she gave me on Monday. I'm pretty sure the color and style are right for her.

How can I be sure? I think I've guessed the identity of my Secret Santa!