I wish I could show you everything that we’re currently making. I think you would be a bit shocked to see the amount of things we are producing. On December 26th-ish it will all be revealed…

In the meantime, Jay is still working on the entertainment center for his sister.

The doors are assembled. The shelves have been completed and put in place. The hardware is being constructed and painted. I believe he has an order arriving this week for the rest of the hardware. I have even practiced the finishing technique that I will use. Of course, I didn’t take a picture of that. Too many other things going on!

Jay did a beautiful job on the doors. This is the first time he’s ever made this style of door.

A closer look at the shelves…

He has also been working on one of my Christmas gifts. This one required a lot of input from me, so that’s why I know about it and am doing the finishing work on it.

It’s a little recycling center for the library. Currently I have a 13 gallon garbage can that sits by the desk in the library, and this is where we throw all of the recyclables. I wanted one that I can put two bags in (one for the cat food cans that the shelter will turn in for scrap money and one for the rest of the recyclables). Then I wanted a little space on the bottom to put a plastic tote where I can place the glass jars.

This sounds a bit silly, but the City has restricted the amount of things that can be recycled. They no longer accept glass (so I drop it off at a separate glass recycling location) and they will accept very little plastic. It’s a bit ridiculous. I’m not a tree-hugger by any stretch of the imagination, but I hate throwing stuff in the landfill that I know will sit there for hundreds of years without breaking down. Especially if it can be re-used.

Jay has been working on other projects, too, but I can’t show those to you yet. They are Christmas gifts. He asked me to make him an elf hat to wear while he’s doing all of this work.

So I made him a hat and then fixed his belt. The loop was falling apart so I bought a piece of leather and some rivets. He thought it was silly that I would pay more in total for the items to fix the loop as compared to just going out and buying another $12 belt. This belt is still perfectly good! Again, I hate throwing stuff away that can still be used! Now if something happens to the loop, or if some other leather item needs repair, I have the materials to make it happen.

The last post I made on the blog showed off a few more of the hats that I crocheted. Well, I turned them into the organization last week. Before I handed them over, though, I tried to take a picture. Here are the 41 hats that I made:

They are all scrunched on my cutting table, but I didn’t have anywhere else to place them for the picture. These aren’t the only things that I’ve been crocheting. I’ve made about five more hats, three ear warmers and two cowls. Plus I’ve been working on a blanket for a friend’s baby. On top of the other gifts that I’ve crocheted. This is what it looks like on my end of the couch:

It’s a mess! Once all of my Christmas crocheting is done I need to get back to the Project Linus blankets. They’ve been severely neglected!

Okay. I think that’s about all I can show you for now. I have to get back to my finishing area to do some sanding and staining…