Crochet Accessory Wins First Place....

....in son's heart as padding for the strap of a musical instrument.

A tenor saxophone is a heavy instrument for a kid! All of the weight is felt at the neck. 

It only took about 20 minutes to crochet a rectangle of puff stitches with the softest yarn from my stash: one full skein of Moda Dea Aerie yarn. 

Then, seamed it into a tube while it was wrapped around the strap. 

Longer practice times are now enabled with this simple solution.

The fire red color probably has something to do with its success. It has been his favorite color most of his eleven years, with time out for blue and electric turquoise. Also, briefly in preschool years, sunshine yellow. Well, I should call it "Spongebob Yellow."

Crochet for the Classroom: 'Teacher's Gallon Friend'

Sometimes my son brings home school assignments that strike me as crochet-worthy. Maybe it's my imagination, but doesn't this look like a crochet design waiting to happen?
 
The body is a gallon and the arms and legs are the four quarts. They each have 2 pints, and each pint has two cups (or "fingers"). 

Surely this diagram would also help metric-using visitors to the United States who are confused by our strange logic of pints and quarts :-)

Here's what I worked out, and uploaded the downloadable pattern PDF today to my pattern shop at DesigningVashti and in Ravelry:

My son wanted to keep the original prototype (red at the center). We presented the new yellow-centered one it to his third grade teacher, Mrs. Karen Newhall. 
It now hangs at the front of her classroom.

Sock Alien Chooses Crochet for Fall Accessories Line

Even aliens can catch a chill. [Ravelry page]

News Item!! 

Some extraterrestrials use fashion
to express their individuality

The younger extraterrestrial populations (that we know of) seem to be turning to crochet for the practicality, fashion looks, and feel of luxurious comfort against their alien skins.

Important Developing Trend for Crochet

The number of crocheters will skyrocket (so to speak) if this popular hobby catches fire on other planets.

It will then become a beloved tradition across the galaxy in just a few generations. [Or however it is that aliens reproduce.]

Human crocheters can look forward to new crochet patterns by alien designers. Hopefully it will be easy to substitute Earth yarns.

This young alien sees crochet in the stars