Milet mittens

These gorgeous mittens and kit were a Christmas present to myself. I LOVE how these turned out. As with most of my mittens, I lined these with cashmere from a thrifted sweater. They are perfect for the 10-25F degree days we've been having this winter. It's been comparatively mild so far this winter.

Christmas Socks (for me!)

During that same trip to the craft store, I was inspired to knit up a pair of holiday socks for myself. I did the striping with two different yarns and worked on making jogless stripes. I also learned how to make clean stripes while knitting rib stitches. Pretty cool!

With the exception of mis-matched toes (one is two rows longer than the other), I think they turned out really well. I'm not sure how that happened (probably just not paying attention) but once they are nice and worn in, it won't even matter.

 

Socks in secret

My youngest daughter got to complaining about not having any hand knit socks since she grew out of her last pair. I picked up this super wash yarn at the local craft shop and knit up this pair for her in secret, mostly after she went to bed in the evenings. I finished them in time to wrap them up and put them under the tree for her. She's going to be surprised - and they'll be perfect for the ice skating and sledding yet to come.

Flannel Quilt

I surprised myself with some extra time this holiday break and cut and sewed another quilt top! This one is made of mostly blue flannels and was a joy to cut and assemble.

This is another quilt kit - my preferred way to sew quilt tops these days - this time from Bluprint (Craftsy). It is the Marcus Fabrics Blue Boxes Flannel Quilt Kit.

I was a bit nervous after reading some of the reviews. Lots of folks talked about crooked prints and running out of fabric. I had just enough and not much to spare (I didn't run out) and I also wasn't too bothered by prints not lining up exactly. I can see how this might annoy some quilters, but I am not a perfectionist. I am more of the 'let's see if we can even pull this off' kind of sewer - so I was thrilled with the final result.

The finished top, batting, backing, and binding is already with Heather at Blue Turtle Quilting. She thinks this one might be done by mid-February!

Holiday Quilt (quilted)

Just in time for the holidays! I got my quilt back from Heather and hand stitched the binding down. What a fun addition to our living room this winter. And as my daughter says, "Quilts are in heavy rotation in our house during the winter - we can always use another one!"

Alaska Hat

I fell in love with this hat pattern the second I saw it!  It knit up fairly quickly and fits my head perfectly, although it is not a snug hat.  Depending on how it wears over the next couple months I might consider adding a fleece liner to make it beautiful and windproof.

The dark purple is a lovely accent, but it does obscure the tree line a bit.  If I were to knit it up again, I would start just after or at the end of the dark color.

Sweet Home and Six Completed Sets!

I think I can probably admit myself to the Alicia Paulson fan club.  Just yesterday I put the last stitch in the 18th of her 18 holiday ornaments when I completed her "Sweet Home" kit.

[Even though we don't have a blue door, or stone archway, my youngest daughter suggested putting our house numbers above the door.  I love this special touch!]

I have process photos here, here and here, but I don't have full photos of each of the ornaments.  There are three that slipped by without being photographed (snowflake, deer and cabin w/red door)

Instead, I have the following photos of the 18 completed ornaments below. They run up our banister and hang from some fake garland with safety pins.  I know that someday - when the kids all move out and on to having their own trees - our tree will feel bare.  And we'll be able to put these ornaments on our tree when those years arrive.  Until then, they can hang in the hallway for us to enjoy all season long.

They are a bit out of order since the kids help hang them up, but you can see all the kits and/or pattern sets here:

Snowy Day

Night Before Christmas

Winter Cabin

Sweet Home

Ice Skating Afternoon

Walk in the Woods

Drachenfels Shawl

And just in time for the really cold weather, I finished off this shawl.  It is thick, cozy and super functional.  It took a long time to knit up, but I am glad that I stuck it out.  Thanks to Craftsy for a fun kit and lovely yarn!

Longstocking Monkeys

And a cozy new pair of socks for me to welcome the cooler fall Wisconsin weather.

(2.5) of (4) French Hens

These adorable french hens are staring to populate our house.  I've completed 2.5 and have them on hold for a bit.  I just might need to give myself until the holidays to finish the last two - wouldn't they make perfect stuffers, though?

Each of my daughters is getting one that is unique, but using the same three colors.  They are just adorable.  Yarn is from my stash; pattern is by Susan B. Anderson, published in Taproot Magazine.

Night Creatures

For my birthday my girls gave me some yarn to make these fantastic Night Creatures mittens.  I was inspired by one of the color combinations I saw in ravelry and went for it with a great red accent.

The pattern calls for a knit lining, but I've had pretty good luck with upcycled mittens and decided to make a quick cashmere lining instead.

I made a quick trace of the mittens, machine sewed them to fit my hand, pinked the edges and then hand sewed them in place. 

More Hats...

By my count, I am about three years into about 8 years of helping to sew hats as a fundraiser for our elementary schools.  The fleece selection this winter is exceptionally colorful!

Sweater Ornaments

I decided to challenge myself to make one sweater ornament per week for the next year.  I am considering participating in a small neighborhood maker fair with some friends and this would be the base of what I would offer.  I've got plenty of sock-weight yarn around the house so my supply is well-stocked.  At about 2.5 hours per sweater I am hopeful I will be able to find the time each week.

Pussy Hat

My Mom really reprsented for our family this winter as we embarked on the solidarity women's march in Madison, WI.  Over 100,000 people gathered to demonstrate their commitment to opposing the new administration.  She sewed pink pussy hats for all of us - and family friends.  Craftivism at its finest. 

As a knitter I did feel pulled to knit a hat, but was unable to find any pink yarn in Madison or online with enough time to actually knit one.  My yarn is on backorder and should arrive sometime in February.  I have a feeling that we'll be wearing pussy hats for a couple more years yet, so there's still plenty of time to knit one up!

Handmade Halloween

This years Halloween was pretty fun.  I returned to my favorite mask designer, Oxeyedaisey, on Etsy and purchased her fox and skull mask patterns and went to town.  I made all the masks from wool felt this year, and purchased pieces from Prairie Woolens - what an amazing selection they provide!

I stayed with a traditional skull for my husband but worked embroidery into my mask and turned it into a Catrina theme with flowers and a veil.

The pirate designed and developed her own costume from the (sadly) increasingly neglected dress-up box.  My three woodland creatures took a bit of help from me.

The fox was straightforward and we added an improvised tail from flannel and fake fur.  The hedgehog mask was purchased from on The Masked Menagerie on Etsy.  I self-designed the body suit with lots of inspiration and a tutorial from Alida Makes.  The whitetail deer was improvised off the base pattern from the fox, with inspiration for coloration and details from Magical Attic on Etsy.

Overall the costumes turned out great and the masks will be heirlooms in our costume closet.  Indeed, this holiday I loaned out our wolf, rooster and hen masks to friends for Halloween fun!

"Who" knows what next year will bring...maybe a family of wise owls?!