Eggs-traordinary Keepsakes – Easter Fun

Are you sentimental?

eggsI am and it gets me into trouble sometimes. I find it difficult to let go of anything that reminds me of my family, friends, or just good times. It can be a battle for storage space between the things we need to keep and the things I’d “like” to keep. For example, I have storage boxes with cards/notes, my kids’ school papers, their baby shoes – not only their actual “first shoes”, but their first sandals, first sneakers, first “big girl” slippers – well, you see where I’m going here.

Even though I might be dubbed “overly-sentimental” in some cases, I think many would agree that holiday mementos are nice to save.

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Since it will be Easter this Sunday, I brought out some Easter eggs that the kids and I decorated years ago.

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It was our first attempt at blowing out the yolks before decorating them. We had read an article on how to do it and were very excited to give it a try. I remember that we poked a small hole on one end and then a slightly larger hole on the other end; inserted a toothpick to break up the yolk a bit, and then began to try what sounded easy in the directions . . . “just blow the yolk into a bowl”.

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Hmmm, well it didn’t seem easy! I huffed and puffed and finally did one – but whew!!! It was tough! Next my older daughter tried and she had about the same experience that I did. I began to think we’d only have a few blown-out eggs to decorate – since there was no oxygen tank on hand to revive us. 😉

eggsBut then, up steps my younger daughter to give it a whirl. Incredibly, she does it in seconds!!! We are amazed! She does another and then another – all quick as a wink. She smiles and says that she’ll finish the dozen. Her sister and I look at her in awe. After she finished the 12th egg, she suddenly felt a little queasy – poor kid!!! Luckily, the feeling passed quickly and the three of us had a great time decorating these eggs.

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We used plastic sleeves for the middle part of each egg, but we got a bit creative painting and dyeing the “ends” of each egg.

As I say, it was a long time ago. Since then we’ve had a good laugh about how it took the help of the youngest one to get those eggs ready for decorating! They’ve held up well over the years, though. Storing them in an egg carton has probably helped. I do still love to pull them out and be reminded of the fun we had that day. 🙂

Do you have things you just can’t part with?

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Easter Eggs to Knit

When my kids were young, I used to decorate for every occasion.

Now that they’ve left the nest, I’m not doing as much of it, but I do still love to have a decoration or two – at least for some of the holidays!

Lately, I’ve been having fun getting ready for Easter with these knitted Easter Eggs. If you like, you can click on the photos to make them larger.

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The pattern is from Julie of Little Cotton Rabbits.

She has very cleverly designed the knitting to fit over a little plastic egg – the ones you find around Easter for filling with candy or treats.

Of course, in this case, you use an empty egg! If you prefer, you can use soft stuffing, but I think the hard plastic egg gives a more realistic egg-shape.

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It isn’t obvious in the photo, but if you look closely, you can see that the egg on the right has a zig zag design!

These are a great project for TV Time. I plan to knit a few more in coordinating colors. Arranged in a basket, they’d make a cute centerpiece; don’t you think?

Hugs,

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