Christmas Handmades

Since we had planned to be up in the snow over Christmas, I had committed to making hats and scarves for the kids. Here's what you get when you say, "Hey, guys? Would you mind wearing your hats for a sec so I can get a picture?" They are so silly!




This little matching set has earflaps, could you die? I loved this pattern, but really, if I didn't already know how to make one, I would have found the directions for crocheting in the round a little bit confusing. A few times I thought, "Huh... Wouldn't have gotten this from that."

But, I am so grateful to people everywhere who just create, write, and share, all out of love, that I'm still going to link to it, because if you wanted to try one, you should. I'm thinking I'll make a modified version for myself. Did I mention the earflaps?!?




Tommy graciously agreed to model the hat and scarves I made for my nieces, too. He insisted on 'voguing' for me here.






But, as you can see, he quickly lost interest during the costume change.

Gianna's purple hat and Kaziah's turquoise hat were both made from free patterns over at LionBrand.com It requires registration, but they don't spam and there are lots of free patterns there.

I wanted to get my grandniece ~ GRANDNIECE. The hell? ~ some model horses. Oh my god, did I love my model horses? Oh, yes, I did! I still do, in fact. I stared at the wooden barn with corrals and the model horses that go with them for about half an hour at the toy store. In the end, I had to admit that she's two. My Little Pony it is. With glitter.


In the meantime, I contented myself by whipping up a matching Starling Handbag in which to store them.

And there were a few handmades that are still in progress. A crafty Christmas is always a sharp lesson in 'letting go', in my experience. I still work on these snowman 'bluework' embroidery patches (I'll work on them a bit later tonight, when the kids lay down) that I will make into a quilt for Gram. I already washed and dried and ironed the sashing and border fabrics. Only three more patches to go; maybe this weekend will find it finished, unless it gets bumped. There are several unfinished projects vying for attention!

I'm no expert embroiderer, truly, and maybe this is a no-brainer, but here's my organization tip. I'm using about 8 shades of blue and 4 shades of green to make these patches. The skeins of floss are easily tangled, plus you have to separate the 6-strands into 2 3-strand sections before you get to work. That's a lot of loose string, my friends. So I had some old playing cards laying around (I was brushing up on my poker skills between needlework) and they made the perfect cards to wrap and store the different flosses.

And when I stood up the other night, after nesting into my corner of the couch for a half-hour of stitching, I had to laugh and take a picture. Always, always, present, for any crafting project? A notebook and pen and legos. Notebook because I'm a compulsive writer and, no matter what I'm doing, I stop regularly to jot down notes, lists, or ideas. Legos because anytime I sit still, for more than 5 minutes and for any reason at all, a boy will be crawling on me and playing with legos the whole time.