I'm a crafter, by the Grace of God!

I have been attending for the last eight weeks, a group called M.O.M.S. This stands for Ministry of Mothers Sharing. It's a great program, offered at churches all over the country, and is a wonderful way to get together with other moms in a similar or even different life stage than I and compare and share our struggles, and our successes, and our spirituality.

Today we did an inventory of sorts to try and sort out what talents and gifts we have been given by God to use for His Glory (and for our satisfaction) in our lives. I have been given the gift of craftsmanship! Of all the totals, that one was a fifteen, with the next closest being thirteen, teaching.

I have been feeling called lately to start a ministry in my church by using my gift of knitting and crocheting for the good of others who are more needy. I thought I would get together a group of women (or men!) from our parish and make hats, or blankets or whatever we could, to donate to the local shelters, and to the Essential Pregnancy Service, a non profit organization that helps local pregnant women with their pregnancies, offering free pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, classes, etc.

I was not surprised that this would be my talent, but I am always amazed by God's timing. I am finally at a point in my life where I feel I can really give back to those that could use my kind of help! And I am so grateful to be able to use my gifts to their benefit. I will be emailing my priest and hopefully have more information about it soon.

I have recently come up with a pattern for a ribbed crocheted hat, as well, so I'll be testing that one out for our first meeting, hopefully in the next month or two.

I can't tell you how excited I am by this! And just so grateful.

Yarn for Longies Swap, part 2

I did another yarn for longies swap, and I just sent off the longies yesterday. This time my partner wanted stripes (ugh!) and a hat. Well, I didn't end up having enough for the kind of hat she wanted, so I asked her if I could embellish the back of the longies, instead. She had wanted a cloche type hat with a big flower. But because I had single crocheted her longies, I didn't have enough, so I used the leftovers to make this:


The front is plain, and the flower is in the middle of the back. But I didn't take a full on picture of the back! I don't know what I was thinking. Clearly I was blinded by my awesomeness, and just forgot. Anyhoo, here's the rest of my pics...





And, I was working on a new gusset, which I got the idea from the Honeysuckle pattern from Ladybugz Farm, but it's not a graduated gusset (her's is kind of hourglass shaped), it's just flat. I know I'll do this one again.



I have another set of longies on the needles, and finished up my Cap'n Jack ones, I just haven't posted pics yet. Why? I love them so much Khloe wears them all the time! But they are drying right now, so hopefully I'll get a picture up soon.

Very busy, lately...

But not with crafting. =(

I started watching a new infant last week. She's eight months, and very cute, but not used to me. There is definitely a learning curve watching a new child. She's also a little spitty, and I'm not used to that.

But, now that I have twice as many daycare kids as I had before, I am now struggling a little to keep up with my projects. I am doing a yarn for longies trade, and normally I would have them done by now, but I am really slow this time. And stocking for HC has taken a hit, as well.

But, I do plan on taking some time now that my oldest daughter's softball season is over, to do some knitting, crocheting and paper crafting after school on the days when I have another set of hands to help keep an eye on things with me.