Sunday, December 27, 2009

Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and are looking forward to 2010.

I've been pretty quiet this holiday season. I didn't get a chance to share any of my holiday baking experiences, mostly because I did all of my holiday baking on Christmas Eve. I was so focused on my holiday knitting/sewing/crocheting that I couldn't even think about baking until I was finished. But I did finish! My final project was a crocheted afghan for Emma and I finished it at about 5:00 pm on December 23.
Emma's Afghan

I knit a scarf, of my own design, for Ethan. It was made from yarn he picked out when we visited Diva Yarns in Port Townsend in August.
Dragon Scale Scarf 2

I made 2 pair of felted slippers, one for Cliff and one for my step-dad. They each
already had a pair, but Cliff completely wore his out.
IMG_3061 Slippers

I sewed 3 aprons... one for each of my nieces and one for Ethan. I found some great "Cars" fabric a couple months ago, and he'd been asking for a new apron just for the kitchen. Here is my oldest niece holding up her apron:
Katy's apron

I also made 8 sets of potholders to give to other family members. I gave most of them away and forgot to take photos first, but here are two sets that I have left:
IMG_2989 hotpads

I also made 3 more ornaments for the kids, a piece of ribbon candy, a pair of mini mittens, and a Christmas light bulb. Cliff kept talking about coal in stockings so, this year he got some! Meet Grumpy the lump of coal:
Grumpy the lump of coal

And with that, I managed to complete 55 items for the 52 craft challenge! However, my New Year's Resolution for 2009 was to knit an adult-sized sweater, for me. I did start the sweater, and had hoped to have it done by Christmas, but had some issues with it. It is still a work in progress... I haven't abandoned it and hopefully I'll have it finished before the weather turns warm.

One of the gifts I received from my mom was 2 ounces of Merino Top from Nestucca Bay Yarns in a beautiful colorway called Riverstone. Its SOOO pretty, I almost don't want to try spinning it. My Christmas present to myself is a SPINNING WHEEL!!!!! My wonderful friend Deb has decided she prefers spinning on drop spindles to a wheel and has offered to sell me her wheel for a wonderful price, I just couldn't pass it up! I don't have it yet, but it is an Ashford Traveller and I can't wait to get it in my hot little hands and teach myself to spin on a wheel.

That pretty much wraps up the fiber-related holiday goodness around here. I found some amazing new recipes for holiday baking and I'll update you on the happenings in my kitchen in another post.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Erin,
    From my experience, you should absolutely start spinning with the yummy Merino From Nestucca Bay Yarns.... I also thought using a "junkie" yarn at first was best, but now I know that using a better quality fiber will make you a better spinner, and your first handspun will be out of that delicious merino that you will always treasure!

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