Learning to Crochet

I have wanted to learn how to crochet and knit for years and years.  Well, the time has finally come!  I've signed up for a beginning crochet class at Renaissance Yarns at Kent Station with my girlfriend, Darlene.  It came about because we are trying to make sure that we stay in better contact.  Our lives have gotten busier and busier with kids, sports, husbands, housework and jobs that we deciced that we needed to try to make more of a conscious effort to schedule time together.  So, that's how the crochet lessons came to fruition!  We are both loving it and have become quite addicted.  Nancy, the owner of Renaissance Yarns, is our very patient and encouraging instructor.  

The yarn shop is absolutely gorgeous and filled with beautiful colors and textures...

I hesitated to post this photo... it's so unflattering, but it definitely shows the concentration that we need at this stage of the game!

A display of my first chain!

A shot of the first four rows of my practice piece.  For those of you who are crochet novices... it's not supposed to curl up like this.  This happens to be loaded with mistakes and wouldn't lay flat!

This next shot is the homework that we had for the first week.  I stopped when I ran out of yarn.  You can see that the sides of my sample are uneven.  All week long I didn't realize that I should've been counting my stitches!  :)

Another shot of the gorgeous yarn that's keeping me motivated to keep trying and learning!

Class #2:  more confidence, learning new stitches, and starting an "official" project... a scarf!

Just starting my scarf....

It's Sunday night and I finished the first half of my scarf.  I'm quite pleased with the outcome!  I only stopped because I ran out of yarn.  I'm kind of stuck at this point because I haven't learned how to incorporate another ball of yarn.  I may have to stop into the shop this week to have Nancy help me get going again!  I don't think I can wait until my Friday class.  :)

Mosaic Project

My friend, Stacy, and I are the art docents in Hayley's sixth grade class.  We were recently asked to coordinate a class project to be put into the school on-line auction.  Stacy and I have always wanted to try a mosaic project, so we decided to tackle a stained glass mosaic top coffee table with this group of sixth graders.  Wow... we had sooooo much fun with this and were so pleased with the final result, but we certainly did not know what we were getting in for!  It took about 7 hours alone of prep time (we cut up all of the stained glass) and Stacy drew the design on the table.

We had each of the 30 kids work on the table.  We did this over a period of four 2-hour sessions.  It was so neat to see how all of the kids got in to this project!  They were all very serious about puzzle piecing in just the right stained glass.  They definitely took a lot of pride in this project!  Some of the kids even gave up their recess time to continue the work!

Stacy and I did have to put in approximately 2 more hours of this on our own... there just wasn't enough time to get in another session with the kids.

It was so neat to see the progress made each day.  I think at this point, Stacy and I both knew that this was going to turn out beautifully!  In the photo below, you can see the how Stacy mapped out the pattern with lines and the names of what color goes where.

Stacy and I decided to leave the grouting to the grown-ups.  We were concerned about possible cuts happening with this process.

Aerial view of the completed table...

Side view of coffee table...

Close-up view of the pattern with the grouting...

Well, I think Stacy and I would both agree that this was a most enjoyable project.  Even when working with crazy sixth grade kids, this was a very relaxing craft!  We are both going to get together and do another project in the near future.

Easter Happenings...

The Deti Family had a fun-filled Easter weekend.... well, actually it was a fun-filled week leading up to Easter because we got Egged!  Fortunately I don't mean Egged in the traditional sense... no raw eggs were smashed up against our windows or house thank heavens!  The kids came home one afternoon and found this sign on our front door and discovered that candy-filled eggs had been left on our front porch in and around our front yard.  Thanks Lisa... it was too, too cute and the kids were just tickled! 

Saturday morning was spent volunteering at our church Easter Egg Hunt.  Hayley and her friends worked the event and got into the act as well.  During the week prior to Easter the youth spent a couple of hours stuffing plastic eggs with candy and helping to get the church ready well.

Saturday afternoon Luke had a soccer game, so Wes took him to that while I spent that time prepping all of my food for our Easter Brunch.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos of the food, but it all turned out delicious!  I made a Sausage and Apple Quiche and an Asparagus, Tomato, and Bacon Fritatta that were beautiful. 

Saturday evening we spent at Grandma and Grandpa Deti's house dyeing eggs....

Cousins Dylan, Cody, and Ashlie got into the act too...

Dylan's eggs turned out gorgeous...

This was the aftermath.  Did I say how much I enjoy this event being held at Grandma and Grandpa's house?

Sunday morning we made it to church and had a lovely (photoless) brunch and then we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's house again for our annual Easter Egg hunt.

Happy to discover that Hayley doesn't think she's too grown up to hunt for eggs....

I had to include this photo of my cutie pie niece, Lauren.  Love those toofers and crazy, happy eyes!

Kickin' Up A Storm

Spring Soccer Season has begun and Luke's off to a good start!  He's playing a lot of defense and doing a great job protecting his goal.