Spoolin' around

I found another use for a spool of Lion Brand cotton yarn: to hold embroidery thread as I wind it on plastic spools! Very fast and handy. Newly groomed Dodger is an aluring background to yarn.



Here's a peek at my snazzy canvas shopping bag project:

California hat

I knit most of this hat on the four-hour flight to Los Angeles around Christmas. While I was there, a Californian asked me if we needed winter hats in Tennessee. Yes, it gets cold.

I knit an all-ribbed hat in this yarn for a Christmas present for my sister Anna, and learned the lesson that one ball of yarn is not always enough for a hat. There was a four-inch gap at the top of the unfinished hat. I had to go to multiple Joann's to track down the yarn again. I think it was a seasonal yarn, Reminiscence by Debbie Mumm in the color Carnival. It has dull colors in the wool (50%) and bright, shiny colors in acrylic (50%).

I have a knack for knitting hats a little big, and I did it again. Whoops.

January Knitting

I've got a couple of WIPs, a hat and the Chevron Hand Towel. I would like to knit Paul a hat to match his gray scarf, but the caculations have made me procrastinate so far.

More secret projects in the works, and I bought yarn at Michael's yesterday. This is Tweedle Dee by Moda Dea in the color Surf and Turf.

Sock elephant

I was not going to knit or make any gifts for Christmas, but then my sister Anna requested a sock elephant, and Anna means business. She even gave me a package of Original Rockford Red Heel Socks (sock monkey and elephant instructions always included), and specified that although she would not mind an Indian-decorated elephant, under no condition was I to make a cruel, circus-decorated elephant.

I bought a Indian-looking napkin at Target and made the blanket and headdress. I made the tassel out of gold jeans thread, and used ribbon in my stash to tie on the outfit. When I started making the sock elephant it looked extremely odd to me, like a bizarre sock monkey, but I think it turned out alright in the end! Anna was pleased.

Merry Christmas

Happy Holidays

Happy New Year

Can't catch me

Doggit

Emilio and Alfred

Cliff and Bernard
Here's some Christmas crafting I spontaneously picked up one Saturday after being inspired by My Paper Crane's (scroll down). I named them alphabetically as I made them, and made them all different, mostly by changing the mouth. I think the gingerbread men make cute little gifts.

Materials: pencil, scissors for paper, scissors for cloth, tracing paper, pins, brown felt (I got the wooliest kind I could find, i.e., not 100% polyester), teeny rick-rack, white hand quilting thread, brown hand quilting thread (you could use embriodery thread, but I think the hand quilting thread is easier and sturdier), red pom poms, black marker, 12mm googly eyes, pink embroidery thread, hot glue gun, embroidery needles, polyester stuffing (polyfill).

Draw a gingerbread shape on tracing paper, cut out, pin to felt that's folded so you're cutting out two shapes at once, cut out felt.

On one piece of felt, use a needle and white hand quilting thread to tack on the rick-rack. Sew every three or four bumps. Sew on the pom poms. Next, plug in ye old hot glue gun. Decide placement of googly eyes, dot the fabric with a marker. Glue the eyes to desired location. Embroider mouth--I used undivided embroidery thread.

Ta-dah! A gingerbread personality!

Now pin together the front and back of the gingerbread man, leaving the face where you can see it--there's no turning in this pattern. Whip stitch around the edges of the arms and legs with brown hand quilting thread. Before sewing up the head, stuff the arms and legs with polyfill. I used a pencil to get the stuffing all the way in there. I didn't stuff them as much as possible, just enough to give them a third dimension.

Whip stitch most of the head, leaving a small gap for more polyfill. Add more stuffing to the body. Now finish up the whip stitching. You have a gingerbread man!

M-D washcloth

I really like this striped version of Sugar n' Cream yarn. Color: Country Stripes.