photo shoot numero uno

Yesterday my husband, Blake, and I went out to take photos of my lovely creations. It had been raining earlier and I had just about given up on getting photos checked off my to-do list but Blake convinced me to give it a try. So we packed up my hats and headbands along with a wooden candlestick holder and a blanket and drove to a nearby park. We arrived as the sun was starting to dip behind the many trees and the park was deserted aside from a handful of joggers and dog walkers. We borrowed a lens from a friend that would allow for more interesting close-ups and right away I got über excited about how fantastic they were even on the tiny screen. After taking many pictures of the hats on the candlestick holder it was time to put them on something else... my head. I tried on all of the adult sized hats for photographic purposes and discovered something. It is very difficult to keep a severe case of the sillies from taking over when putting on all of these darling hats one after another. By the end I was just being ridiculous. For this reason there are several pictures that will NOT be used to sell my creations. But I thought, what the heck! why not share some on my blog...

Sometimes I find I have a cat hat on my head.

Doing the robot in my robot cap!

Rarrrrr! says the triceratops... okay, it was me.

Blake being a wonderful sport and also being ridiculous in a ski mask that kinda reminds me of Monty Python...

princess approved

I was reminded how to crochet at the end of this past summer. While visiting family in San Diego my husband went out with the boys leaving me with (dun dun dunnnn) my in-laws. Luckily I have wonderful in-laws and a talented mother-in-law, Sheila, who taught me to make granny squares that night. I was hooked from the very beginning and spent our drive back home, to Long Beach, crocheting. The granny square quickly became a granny hexagon and before I knew it I was up to my elbows in little amigurumi creations, scarves, hats and other lovely, soft goodies.

I have been so excited about this new hobby of mine that I even convinced myself it would be great to have a handmade Christmas. Every family member received a unique and thought out gift that I spent many hours creating on weekends and in the evenings after work. There were times when I regretted this choice and was kicking myself for thinking it would be “so much fun” to create something for every person. This was especially true the days leading up to Christmas that were full of late nights, trips to JoAnn’s and too many cups of coffee. Christmas morning, however, was so much fun! I am glad I didn’t give up and rush out to compete for parking spots and bargains with the masses of people in shopping malls. Will I do it again next year? Ask me when the stressful nights are not so easily recalled.

Along the way I have made a couple of items for myself. The item that gets the most use (aside from a sleeve I made for my starbucks coffee) is my owl hat. I am a preschool teacher by day and we had a day that was completely dedicated to learning about owls. I have had a soft spot for owls since I was a little girl. I had seen a photo of a baby wearing an owl hat in a magazine several months ago and thought that this was the perfect excuse to take a break from Christmas gifts to create something to wear myself. I completed it the evening before owl day and the reactions of the kids in my class were hilarious!

Check out that dress! Obviously she has VERY good taste!

Not long after, I spent the day at Disneyland with family. I packed my owl hat because at that point it was still new and I was... well... addicted to it. The number of days that it had been in existence was the exact number of days that I had worn it up to that point. I guess you could say that I liked it. As soon as the sun started to disappear I became chilled and decided to break out the owl hat. Within a half an hour of putting it on I received 4 compliments with one girl telling me she and many of her friends would actually PURCHASE something like that. Somebody wanted to buy something I had made? No way! The best moment, by far, however, was when we visited the princesses for photos. Princess Belle, of Beauty and the Beast fame, said she liked my hat! Princess approval! You can’t get much better than that!