Christmas And Crafts

This is going to be a very picture heavy post.  I realized it's been almost a week and I haven't posted the Christmas pattern and thank's to Flauta Mom's comment on Wednesday's post, I realize that I haven't shared pictures of my crafted goodies for quite a while.  So, please bear with me while I show off a bit.

I'll start off with the Christmas pictures first and then we'll move on to the crafty ones.  Some of the crafted goodies were gifts, some were just because and some were purely for me.

Anyhow, this top picture is of our tree at 6:00 in the morning Christmas day, after Momma, Daddy and Santa had left all the goodies under the tree.  You can see the three stuffed stockings to the left there among all the all other goodies.  Yes, there were lots and lots of goodies under the tree, and Boo's train from last year is there circling the tree and presents.  (Boo loves the train, loves playing with the train, but doesn't like to run it... odd little boy that he is!)

Here's Boo opening his stocking.  He had plenty of goodies hiding in there.  I love these stockings; they look huge, but really don't hold all that much.  That's both a good and bad thing for the stocking-stuffer.

 One of the few things that Boo actually asked for this year was "a new Trey".  So, Santa obliged and brought Trey a new friend.  After several days, Boo finally decided that yes, Rocky is a good name for the new dinosaur.  (He wanted to name him Trey, but we told him that would be too confusing as we already have a Trey...)  Anyhow, this is Trey and Rocky meeting for the first time and they really hit it off.  No jealousy here from Trey.

 Here is Boo trying to open the present from Uncle Jon and Aunt Becca.  They got him this really awesome play mat from Ikea that has roads, some construction and even a race track and a helipad on it.  The thing is almost as tall as he is when it's rolled up!  He did manage to get it open and it's now on the floor in front of his bed.  We've had several fun adventures playing on it.

 After downing his breakfast, Boo settled in on the sofa with the new puppy from his stocking, Rocky, Trey, Snake (I made that one for him...) Baby Trey and Kelly and his new Mobigo game.  He looks way more than three in this picture!  Where is my baby?

Here is two of the gifts that Gak and I got Boo.  In the background you can see the kitchen stuff and he's playing with the toolbox.  (Only after Christmas did Boo and I go to Ikea and I found that they have some really awesome aluminum cookware and utensils that I could have gotten for what I payed for the plastic stuff... oh well, live and learn.)  He really has fun with both, but I think the real hit is the tape measure.

Here is Boo opening his gift at Amma's house.  He got a brand new Kermit the Frog.  I had one almost just like it when I was little and loved it to pieces.  Now Boo has one.  He really loved The Muppets when we went to see them last month.  Kermit has been a favorite of his, but he also really likes Walter, the newest Muppet added to the crew.

Now on to the crafty pictures.  I'll try and limit how many pictures of each project I give.  There are a few that I'll have more than one picture of, just because I kinda need to for the details.  These aren't in any chronological order, not really in any order but *shrug* it'll do.

Above you could somewhat see an "S" that I had made Boo that I turned into a snake.  Here is the "B" Bear, "Z" Zebra and "R" Raccoon I made for Billy, Zoe and Rachel for Christmas.  This all started when I made the M-bunny for Mary this fall.  No, I didn't get a picture of it, but it's an "M" made out of the same pink as Rachel's "R" and looks like a bunny.  I think my bear looks a little more like a cat than a bear and the raccoon... well, I wasn't going to try again.

I got a new jacket this winter (and there's a bit of an adventure behind it, which I won't go into... let's just say I made an "oops" and leave it at that...).  So, since I had a new jacket, I needed a new hat.  I'd been eyeing up a pattern on the Lion Brand website for a month or two and I found some luscious cotton yarn in the perfect color at Juniper Place Yarns, my local yarn store and did this up in just a few hours.  The hardest part was the little pom-pom on the top.  I love the hat, even if I'm less than in love with the jacket (at least the jacket only cost me $30...)

These two pictures are of the blanket that I made for Jon and Becca.  It's a combination birthdays, wedding, winter holidays and housewarming.  This is a very unique blanket in many ways, including the fact that the base chain is 78 * 2 (they were both born in 1978) and that the row repeats are 10, 1, 4, 19, 12, 9 and then 10 and 1 again.  This would be Jon's birthday and Becca's birthday bracketed by their wedding day.  So, like I said, this is a very unique blanket.  I hope they enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it.  This was a year long project and labor of love, as I kept changing things up along the way, even as late as the second round of the edging.

These three pictures are the ones that Flauta Mom asked for the other day.  This is my new little nook touch in the sleeve I made.  As you can see, the pink button on the front is totally not needed thanks to velcro, but it really put the finishing touch on the project.  This was a bit of leftover denim from a project I never did get around to doing and lined with a piece of gray flannel left over from my cloak I made many, many years ago now.  There is a bit of fusible interfacing in the back to add a little stability and the reason you see the selvage on the back is because it's actually a pocket.  I really love this little case.  It's cute, unique and totally me.  And the fact that I totally winged it and it turned out great on the first try is even better!  (And that I only put an additional $4.95 into the project for the button, the rest was all "leftovers" that had been paid for years ago.)

 This peach colored blankie (the color is much nicer in person, trust me) is the one that I made for my friend Cynthia at work.  She's due any day now with a beautiful baby girl.  Cynthia really loved it and was so happy to get it.  Ellen also made her a blankie, which was very different.  Cynthia was so amazed to receive both of them.  I'm glad when I can make gifts for people who enjoy them.  I know they'll get much use out of both of those blankets.

***UPDATE: I just got an email from Cynthia that Summer Aurora was born 12/29!! ***

This is a fashion scarf I made for me with some yummy lightweight cotton yarn I got at Juniper Place Yarns.  The pattern is called Clapochet and can be found on Ravelry (or at Crochetkitten.com).  It's actually quite warm and I can wear it so many ways.  I love wearing it with just a plain white, cream or gray T-shirt and it really looks great when I pair it with my denim or bright red corduroy jacket.  I wish I'd had it done before Jon and Becca's wedding, but it was really too warm for it.  No, I don't have a picture of me wearing it, the rocking horse will have to do.  I have received many compliments on it.

These last two pictures are of the socks that I just finished today.  Yep, I finally made a pair of crocheted socks.  I love them!  I'm totally hooked on hooking socks now.  I have enough yarn in other colors to make two more pair, I just have to decide which two patterns I want to try.  You see, I've collected several sock patterns over the last few years because I've just been dying to try it.  I mean, knitters shouldn't get all the fun of making socks.  These are a little heavier than a pair of trouser socks you'd get in the store, but not quite as heavy as some of the athletic socks I've got in my drawers.  Almost like a thin hiking sock.  The yarn is part wool, part bamboo and part acrylic I think.  (I'm too lazy to go get the wrappers on the other side of the room.)  It didn't take all 100 grams of the two balls, I have about 35 grams left.  This was a top down pattern where the cuff is crocheted up and down in rows before the rest is done in rounds around the one edge.  I really like it, but I think I want to try a toe up pattern next, just to see the differences.  Yes, this is the project I've rambled on the most about, but it's the one I literally just finished and the one I've been dying to get to for years.

Anyhow, I've got yarn for a scarf to go with my hat, two more pair of socks, another Clapochet as a gift, a scarf for Trey and I really should make new hats for the boys now that winter is really here.  I just hope I can fit it all in and still manage to pay attention to work.  It's weeks like this that really make me wish that I could work two or three days a week and be Momma and Crafty Momma the other days.  Oh well, I don't have that luxury, so I'll try and squeeze in the crafty time when and were I can and hope that I don't let it interfere with work too much.

Anyhow, this "short" picture post has taken me almost 45 minutes to write.  I'll get the rest of the pictures uploaded to flickr tomorrow I hope.  Gak has another 3-day weekend and hopefully we're getting together with Michelle at least tomorrow and hopefully until some time on the 1st as well.  (Her travel schedule got changed yet again, but that is the way it goes with her job...)

Peace to all and may your creative juices flow and your holidays be merry and bright.