Sunday, April 24, 2011

Happy Easter!!

Easter at our house is a bit of a to-do. The Easter Bunny likes to do a scavenger hunt so that the kids can find their Easter Baskets. He/She does a photo scavenger hunt for non-readers and a clue scavenger hunt for older children. This year's clues included things like:

"It’s Easter Time again, my Dear
So read these clues so they are clear
The first clue leads to a kind of weird place
It has a picture with your face
It is a room on floor number two
and the place where you go when you need to go ........... (rhymes with two)
Don’t let the other eggs distract
or you will never find your baskat [sic]..... "


And

"The third clue is kind of easy
look upstairs and find something.... sneezy......
Think of the thing you need when your nose
Has turned from a button and into a hose......"


And

"For number four, you need to peep
In the place where Mom’s yarn does sleep
It’s in that room, upon the bed
Under the thing where you rest your head"


The Easter Bunny is kind of smart (even if his/her clue making skills are kind of lame) because clues for both children are in the same order and in similar places.... That way the parent taking pictures has an easier job....... and one child has a lower chance of finding the other's clues out of order.







The last clue leads to the Easter Loot...... 



And of course there are lots of other eggs to find...... I believe the Easter Bunny stuffed over 100 eggs this year...... he/she must be slightly off his/her rocker.....




We will be dyeing our Easter Eggs a little later today.... I meant to do it last night, but boiled the eggs and then forgot........ 




Saturday, April 2, 2011

Prizes

At the end of 2010, a group of knitters on Ravelry (knitters that live at my end of the city) decided to do a stash-busting challenge. The goal of this challenge was to knit mainly from stash and finish those WIPs (works-in-progress) languishing in closets, baskets and bags. Several members of the group joined the challenge, but rather than join myself,  I offered to organize prizes and moderate the contest. We set up a points system to track progress and decided to do a quarterly system.



COMPLETED ITEMS KNITTED/CROCHETED FROM STASH 
0-300m = 1 point 
300-600m = 3 points 
600-1200m = 5 points 
1200 -2500m = 8 points 
Over 2500m = 12 points
BONUS POINTS 
Yarn Spun 1 point 
Item Knit for Charity 1 point 
No yarn purchased 5 points 
New Skill 1 Point
WIPs 
More than 50% complete at 1 January 1 point 
Less than 50% complete at 1 January 2 points
MAXIMUM POINTS 
Items using less than 100m of yarn can earn maximum of 3 points.
DEDUCTIONS 
Each new skein/hank/ball purchase 1 point
EXCEPTIONS 
Yarn purchased to complete WIP 
Sections (or squares) knitted or crocheted for WCOBBS count as 1 point only
EXCEPTIONS FOR THIS QUARTER ONLY 
Any yarn purchased in Make One’s St Distaff’s sale counts as 2010 stash.

As the first quarter of the challenge ended last week, I spent some time this weekend finishing up the prizes. Firstly, I sewed up some project bags (I'm not a fabulous seamstress, but I get the job done) and stuffed them with various items donated by the members of the group. I still have a little tweaking, but here is a sneak peak...... 


Our end of quarter party is Thursday.... fondue and knitting...