Crochet can make you cry…

I think I just had the sweetest moment in my teaching career this last Friday. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had many sweet moments with the kids at work, but never from such an unexpected source, in such an unexpected way. Those two 5th grade boys (the advocate and the recipient of Jeffy the Puppet) made me cry today. Not the kind of crying where I want to beat my head in frustration, but the kind brought on by a sweet surprise.

In our program, we have Friday movie day with popcorn and a treat. Since we have no homework on Friday, I allow the kids to share anything they like before the movie. This particular Friday was no different.

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Headless Crochet Jeffy the Puppet

I had to share what happened with the headless Jeffy puppet. I took the unfinished puppet to work to finish up the head. I had the WIP in my crochet bag. When the older kids got out of school, my fifth grader who requested the puppet walked in. The first thing he asked me was if I had started the puppet. I told him to go look in my crochet bag, hoping he would like what I had so far. I was dispensing snacks so I became distracted. Next thing I knew, he was playing with the headless puppet! I guess he liked it! LOL He even tried to make him a thingamajig with a pipe cleaner so he could move the arms. I helped him make a better one with a wooden dowel I had in our craft closet.

It always feels good when you make something for someone and they truly love it. Meeting someone else’s expectations can be daunting, even if it’s a fifth grade boy’s expectations, especially if it’s a fifth grade boy’s expectations! Let’s see what happens when the head is done.

Crochet Jeffy the Puppet Request

What have I gotten myself into? The kids’ memories have deep roots! Their memories are lousy for most things but then, one of them will remember that last year I made so and so such and such and why can’t I do it this year too? I’m blabbering so let me explain.

Today, I got unexpected pleas to make crochet items. The kids are always requesting things, and this year, I’ve moved away from making crocheted items for individuals because it was hard to keep up with demand. This year, I made things at my leisure and threw them in our prize box. I got good at saying no, sorry, can’t do it. Eventually, the requests started to taper off. I thought, “Good, they’re starting to forget.” Every now and then, one of them will remember we had a year where I made them all crowns when they made it to king or queen (an incentive on our star chart where they are the king or queen for the day and they get to pick our treat and what movie we watch on Friday). But that was several years back and I was counting on them forgetting, which they mostly did. I would happily make the crown for those that did remember because they were few and far between.

Life Size Crochet Doll WIP

What to do when I have a half-finished doll the kids are salivating to get their hands on? I let them play with it of course! Not sure if this was prudent, but it sure was fun. I’ve allowed the kids to play with her because I wasn’t sure I could finish her before the end of the school year. I’m glad I did  because they’ve been having so much fun with her. Especially the hair, they can’t stop messing with the hair! They even put this cute flower in it that came from a cupcake we had for snack.

The flower made all the difference!

One little girl shared her headband 🙂

Life Size Crochet Doll Progress

Picture it, three small children, smitten with half of a life size doll. I finally attached arms to my doll and three of my Kindergarten students couldn’t stop hugging her and dare I mention, one of them couldn’t stop kissing her. The doll is a bit heavy because I stuffed her body with rags but that didn’t stop them from picking her up and squeezing her (and kissing her).

Crochet Doll for a friend

My co-worker and dear friend has gone off and left me to go back to college in another state.😔

I’m so sad she’s gone but supportive of her decision and extremely excited about her new adventure. Working with her made my job such a joy every single day. Her last day was also our last day before our holiday break. I wanted to give her a gift that was both a Christmas gift and a going away present. I hoped to make something special that would let her know how much I would miss her.

I thought about the different things I could make but in the end, it had to be a doll. Although I make and have made a variety of things, I’m a doll maker at heart and I couldn’t send her on her journey without her very own doll. But it had to be SPECIAL. Not

Crochet Pikachu

One of my students asked if I could sell her a Pikachu so she could give it to her brother for Christmas. I had never made a Pikachu before but I told her I would try. I didn’t have much time since our Christmas break was looming and I only had few days left before then. Add to the mix that I had about another hundred projects I needed to finish but I really wanted to get this done for her. She and her mom are two of the sweetest people I know. I just had to get it done.

I approached the project in my usual way. I spent two days thinking about it. I know! I had no time to waste but it was a necessary step. I looked at cartoon illustrations as well as

Sun emoji or sunflower

There’s never a dull moment when working with elementary school kids. I’m always learning something from them. Take, for example, the ‘laughing so hard it’s crying’ emoji I made.

The laughing so hard it’s crying emoji

Yes, that’s what I kept calling it when the kids asked what I was making. Lucky form me, the kids know best. They referred to it as the ‘laugh out loud’ emoji. Admittedly, that made more sense. I started calling it that when it changed again. The student who claimed it out of the prize box was calling it the ‘L-O-L’ emoji. That was even better! My title for the emoji suddenly sounded so foolish. And to their credit, no one pointed out my silly name. They just called it what they thought was a better name. I don’t always get away unscathed. 😂

Another opportunity to be schooled by my students happened with my very next emoji. I had planned to make the sun emoji. The LOL emoji was born because one of my Kindergarteners wanted me to make it. The sun emoji was all me and the kids weren’t too enthusiastic about it. I was minding my own business and selected an orange yarn instead of yellow for this one. I had my two orange circles and the face done and was ready to start the edging to join the circles when another Kindergartner asked me if I was going to use the yellow yarn for the sunny edging. I asked her if I should and she said that absolutely I should. So I did. And I had to agree it looked good.

The edging was made using single crochets and picots.

Student Corner

I can’t describe the pleasure of seeing how many of my students have caught the crochet bug. I have a new 5th grade girl who picked it up very quickly and got very excited about making things as gifts. I didn’t get a chance to photograph her first finished piece before she gave it away but I have it on good authority (her mom) that it came out very nice and the recipient really loved it.

Today’s post will be about the current work the students are doing to highlight how proud of them I am. One of my 4th grade students finished this cute pillow over the summer.

Nice job!

She also made this cute purse (below).

A 5th grade girl finished a rag doll she started last school year and finished it up this year. Way to go!

So Cute!

And here are my students hard at work on new projects!

Looking fantastic girls!

Small Crochet Couch

I’m back in the swing of things at work and the kids have started making crochet request. I decided that I will not be making personal items for individual students this year but I will take suggestions for things I can make for the prize box or for our toy box. One of my students suggested I make a small couch for our doll house. I had her choose the colors from our stash and I whipped this up.

I wasn’t 100% sure about it at first but the kids grabbed it as soon as I was done and were happily playing with it. I guess it looks enough like a couch for their purposes. 🙂

They want a table next so that’s next on the agenda. Oh, and they all want a TV. I forgot the bed, they want a bed too. This isn’t sounding easier than last year at all! LOL