A Long-Overdue Christmas Wrap-up

 It's been a tough month.

On the crafting front, I started Sue Spargo's Christmas tree pillow project. I cannot actually afford any of her kits, though, so I worked out of my stash. In the process I changed some motifs and stitches to suit my tastes, such as adding a manger scene because Christmas isn't secular for me, and eliminating most bullion knots because those are the devil's stitch. What I have so far:

I also stitched this freebie from Momentoell. I like the chunky effect she gets by using 6 or even 12 strands of floss. The lovely, soft colors are a nice change of pace, too, from the usual embroidered Christmas tree.

Not much jewelry making happened, but I did remake a bracelet (which apparently I never photographed) with several Christmas-themed charms into a necklace. No point in wearing a bracelet if my wrists are covered up in several layers of long johns and wool sweaters (it's so cold where I work).

 

My middle son gave me a skein of acrylic yarn for Christmas. I love the color, but it is too scratchy to wear so I crocheted a garland. This worked up so fast and fun I made a second with a different yarn.

He also gave me more buttons, so I made a button garland for the tree.

And I finally finished my youngest's quilt: 

On the book front, I read three Christmasy books:

The White Priory Murders by Carter Dickson: An enjoyable locked-room mystery, where, amusingly, Dickson had two characters immediately propose the most obvious explanations to accuse each other. John Dickson Carr was name-checked in the locked-room mystery Wake Up Dead Man, too, which was a fun little easter egg.

Snowed In by Catherine Walsh: a cute holiday-themed contemporary romance, related to her previous novel, Holiday Romance. I enjoyed it, but it lacked an effective structure to hang the story on.

Golden Age Christmas Mysteries ed. by Otto Penzler: some of these would better be classified as spy thrillers or adventures, but all were enjoyable. The collection runs the gamut from light-hearted, comedic stories to darker, melancholic ones, so there's something to suit most tastes.

I think that about wraps it up. Aside from the food, cancelled trip, car troubles, pretty snow fall, improv king cake ...

Belated Crafty Halloween Post

I was so busy finishing up some crafts, helping my kids prep for Halloween, and the usual ridiculous drudgery I never got a chance to show off what I made in October.

Those cheapo witch's hats you see in stores this time of year are too small to fit my giant head, so clearly the solution was to make one of my own:

The pattern is the Twisted Witch Hat by Stephanie Pokorny. I used two strands of black worsted weight yarn (I have GOT to stop picking patterns with multiple strands of black), and counted on both Stephanie's instructions to go up a hook size at a certain point and my own loose stitching to get the right circumference. And because of said loose stitching, I eliminated a few rows in the crown and brim (also, I ran out of yarn). The curl at the tip is maintained with 16-gauge floral wire. And to make it pretty (we need more beauty in the world) I crocheted some flowers, using the patterns here and here.

Earrings!

I've seen variations of the adorable floral ghost earrings for a couple of years now, so I finally made a pair for myself. The two skull pairs of earrings are part of my ongoing effort to create the perfect calaverita/sugar skull earrings. I'll get there someday.

A Bit of Crochet

Well, more than a bit. I lost on the bus the wonderful hat my mom knit, and because of her arthritis she can't make me another (and I'm terrible at knitting, so that's out). It was big and slouchy and perfect for covering my ears, so I set out to find an hat to crochet that would be easy to adjust for maximum coziness. The "Ribbed Wonder" fit the bill; I especially liked that the rows are vertical, making it super easy to adjust for my giant head. Of course, I was so focused on the width I didn't pay attention to the fact that it is much too long for me, and I have to cuff it twice to avoid looking like "Dumb" Donald. But I love it!

 I find it amusing that as I've learned how to crochet I've gone from a ridiculously complicated hat to a moderately complicated one to the easiest possible style.

I also needed a way to store in my shower bars of soap that are likely to melt away if they can't dry properly. With only the vaguest idea of what to look for, I stumbled upon the notion of soap savers, and found an easy one to crochet. I didn't have any fancy linen yarn but acrylic seems to do the trick, and if it doesn't last I can always make another.

I still have to finish my sweater. Two years and counting!

Jewelry Round-Up

Tassel necklaces are trendy, so who am I to resist? I didn't have enough beads to go all the way around, though, so I'm not entirely thrilled with the result.

My husband gave me this leather wrap bracelet for Christmas:

I love the charm, but more is more so I punched some extra holes (the bracelet was also too big) and added a couple of vintage milagros, a green bead that is a tiny image of the Virgin Mary, and a quartz chip that looks like a coarse grain of salt.

I bought a kit to crochet three bangles in the best colors ever (don't look too closely at the first one I made; this kind of bead crochet took a while to get the hang of).

I love these bracelets so much I made matching earrings -- brick stitch with loops instead of the traditional fringe.

Instagram is filled with lovely spring bracelets made from a motley of pastel stones, so I made my own (although my bead stash leans more towards bright colors).

Three of Hearts

I planned to make only one heart this year (I have a lot going on), but it quickly turned into three.

The crochet heart was a free pattern from Fresh Stitches, and perfect for the small skein of pink yarn I had.

The mixed media heart is from the latest issue of Quilting Arts. I layered different yarns and scraps on a fabric heart, covered it with netting, and secured it with machine stitching. I then beaded and embroidered the top, sewed on a backing heart, and stuffed it.

The last heart is made of beaded filet stitch from The New Beadweaving by Ann Benson. I'm glad I tried this new stitch (based on filet crochet), but it was pain to work with.

May this next year be filled with more love for our fellow man.

Christmas Crochet

My friend finally wrote up the pattern for the pink pussy hat ornament she crocheted, and I leaped at the chance to make one for myself:

I embellished the Christmas tree I made a couple of years ago:

I crocheted crowns for Three Kings Day (should have done it ages ago):

I plan on reclaiming them soon, so I can save them for next year.

Gifts for Others

I already blogged about the Minecraft quilt for Beadboy2.  I also made a scarf for Beadboy1 (crochet, this time; no more knitting for me!):

And a Flash t-shirt for Beadboy3 (which, within an hour of being put on, got covered in blue paint,  hot cocoa, and who knows what else):

It's not Christmas if I don't stitch something for my mom:

The pattern is from Better Homes & Gardens's Christmas Quilts & More. I simplified the design somewhat, used several colors of thread, and trimmed the dishcloth in a holly print fabric.

Happy New Year!

Granny Square Fingerless Mitts

Now that I've joined the ranks of the smart-phone using, I needed gloves that are touch-screen compatible. Which means I also needed fingerless mittens/gloves/what-have-yous to keep my hands warm on my cold commute. I looked at some patterns on pinterest, but they seemed beyond my abilities, especially the ones that make actual little tubes for one's digits. Granny squares, on the other hand, I can do, and Annie's A Granny Square Christmas had the perfect pattern:

The pattern may have been super easy (make two squares, so them together leaving a gap for the thumb, crochet a few more rows above and below), but it took me forever to pick out the yarn -- at least three colors, worsted weight, same material, preferably from my stash. I didn't succeed, and used yarn of two different weights in three different fibers (don't tell the Crochet Police! Or my aunt, the self-described "yarn snob"!)

I love granny squares. I'm itching to sew together these into a pillow top, and I want to buy some nice cotton yarn in, say, five colors, to make a sampler, but I'll wait until the new year; I'm way behind in my Christmas projects.

Just in Time

Since we apparently are going straight from summer to winter, I decided I'd better get cracking on a new hat for myself. So while watching/surviving the baseball playoffs I crocheted this:

It's the Chunky Chain hat from Annie's Christmas 2018. It stitched up quite a bit faster, and more easily, than the green hat, although because I have a giant head I did have to remake it a few times before I found the right number of stitches to adjust the size.

And look! The perfect button was in my stash:

The Red Sox are going to the World Series, yay!
via GIPHY

Easter Eggs

I did a little pre-Easter crocheting:

I found the patterns here, here, and here, but because my wooden eggs were different sizes from the ones recommended (and my yarn was a lighter weight), I adjusted and added to the patterns quite a bit.  The one on the left is for my mom, the middle one for me, and I'm not sure what I'll do with the third.

One Can Never Have Enough Purple Necklaces

I got French General's beaded crochet kit for Christmas, so I made a super-long sparkly necklace that perfectly matches a cardigan, leggings, and my winter coat (guess what my favorite color is!):

Inspired by Black Panther's costuming and jewelry (such a good movie), I pulled out Zulu Inspired Beadwork by Diane Fitzgerald and made the flowerette necklace:

Holiday Round-Up

Simply Crochet no. 63 came with a kit to make a festive llama.  I was skeptical of the color combination at first, but by the end I found it adorable:

There was a small problem with the kit, though -- not enough yarn, even though I used the smallest recommended hook.  I had to improvise on the ears, hair, and tail, using the scraps left over from the other body parts.

The llama wasn't the only crocheting I did. Back in November, I made the Granny Ripple tree skirt from Annie's Trim the Tree 2017 issue.

It's not quite big enough to go around our tree stand, so I may add another motif or two next year.

There was a lot of yarn left over. In addition to adding to the skirt, I am knitting a scarf for Beadboy2 (slow going) and I crocheted a couple of simple ornaments:

For the Three Kings Day party I threw, I made some simple beaded stars to give to the guests:

Finally, some stitching. Once everything else was made, I had the time to stitch a couple of ornaments for myself. Mmmcrafts's Partridge and Pear (LOVE the series):

And from the 2017 Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments issue, the 2017 Christmas Bauble by Patricia Ann Designs:

Bunny Foo Foo Now Has an Egg

Pattern from here.  I used a plastic egg (the kind for kids' egg hunts; there are currently a bunch floating around my living room) rather than a styrofoam one.

Little Bunny Foo Foo

Last month I itched to start crocheting again, maybe a cute little brown bunny to sit next to Maggie Rabbit.  After searching pinterest and ravelry, I settled on this pattern by Lisa Power.

I used buttons for the eyes, and felt for the nose.  There weren't any specific directions for sewing the bunny parts together so I had to figure it out myself, with mixed results.  Originally I planned a dress for her like Maggie's, but then I was inspired to make a crown of flowers from some scraps of Liberty fabric (and they hide the messy joinder of the ears to the head!).

Here they are together:

Winter Woolens

The winter coat I received for my birthday required a new hat -- the old one, knitted by my mom, was a bright magenta that went well with my old black coat but clashed with my new, wine-colored one.  Buying a hat wasn't an option (my head is too big), so I decided to use my newly acquired crochet skills to make one.  The pattern I picked was the Chain Link Slouch Hat by Jennifer, which was overly ambitious on my part -- half way through the hat I finally got the hang of the chain pattern, and then had to rip out almost all of my progress because I realized I had been doing it wrong.  I also made the hat shorter, so it fit like a cap rather than slouching at the back of my head.  I am quite pleased with the results:

The deep purple mittens and scarf my mom knitted went beautifully with the new coat, but of course I promptly lost one mitten.  No way was I going to try to crochet that, but I did have a deep purple wool sweater that I felted years ago.  Using Martha Stewart's guidelines I cut out four mitten shapes and sewed them to each other on the machine.  They were rather plain, so I added some lazy daisy flowers in various colors of tapestry wool.  This was a super-fast and easy solution to the lost mitten problem!

Now I'm all set for the commute to my new job.