Of Pillowcases and Prayer Shawls

I had this problem. My boys sleep in toddler-sized beds. They use pillows. They don't use sheets, just blankets. The problem was toddler beds + pillows + blankets - sheets = no way of getting fun pillowcases for my boys. They have plenty of sheets for their beds. There is no need of sheets. However, they each have one pillowcase that they have been using for quite some time. On laundry days, I take the pillowcases off of their beds after their naps, wash them, and put them back on before they go to sleep that night. And poor Deacon's pillowcase is the Spongebob one that Josh used for an entire year in Iraq way back in 2004. Yeah.

So, Saturday I went out yarn shopping. While I was out, inspiration struck. While I was at the craft store, I purchased a bunch of cloth to make my own pillowcases for the boys. I'm not sure why it took me so long to think of doing this, but I'm so happy I finally did. And I apparently picked the right time to think of this because the when I was there, all their novelty prints were on sale. Now the boys have a Thomas pillowcase:

A Sesame Street pillowcase and a Buzz Lightyear pillowcase (I'll let you guess which one is on Zeke's bed right now):

And two "Cars" pillowcases (there was only a bit extra left on the roll so I got it for an additional 50% off and made two "ghetto" hemmed cases with it):

All in all not a bad little haul, and I am quite pleased with myself.

And while I'm displaying my craftiness, I thought I would also share with you, my latest two knitting projects (well, the two that are finished, I'm still working on Omi's blanket).

As I thought I mentioned once before but can't find the post where I mentioned it, I've joined the Prayer Shawl ministry group at the church we attend here. We meet every other Wednesday and knit and chat. Once someone's shawl is finished we pray over it, and it is sent on it's way. It's really a very cool thing.

So, my first shawl I made for my friend Erin. Erin is getting ready to do some really cool and amazing things for the Lord, and I am just so impressed and excited for her, that I really wanted to do something for her to show my love and support, and a shawl seemed perfect. Being the first shawl I've ever made, I had fun making it. Even though I got worried that it might not be long enough (and one of my friends that I knit with suggested I make it a poncho instead), and even though Erin's favorite color is pink, it was such a neat thing to be a part of.

After I finished Erin's shawl, I wasn't sure what to do next, so I took a little through my little stash of yarn and decided that I needed to just make something out of a bunch of yarn that I had leftover from another project I had done awhile ago. This shawl, once we have our next "meeting" and it gets prayed over, will go in the church's prayer shawl basket for whoever in the community needs it.


And there you go. I've already started my next shawl (and I'm really excited to see how it turns out), and I'm probably 75% of the way through Omi's blanket. I feel so productive all of a sudden.