Christmas is over, maybe I should just give up that goal. 4 months ago

Mostly.

I’m just going to do the baking/cooking tomorrow. Everything else can go.

If I have time I might do a little, but, shoot, I’m tired and I still have to wrap.

So.

Just finished the boy’s stuffed shark and it was a close thing. I was not sure I was going to be able to make it. It seemed tricky and the machine broke and time was going bye bye… but I just did it. Bit the bullet and cut it out and sewed it together. I am a lazy seamstress. I don’t pin, I don’t measure. I eyeball the whole thing and it came out pretty good. I should have looked at a source before I cut out, because sharks are a bit more detailed than I made it, but it’s close enough, and I did want it simplified. That was an endeavor, but not as hard as I thought it would be and it came out really nice.

I also had the kids each make their sibling a stuffed animal. But I left it too late so I ended up sewing it all, though they designed them. They’re not quite ready for the sewing machine though.

I also made some cornstarch clay and the kids made little presents to give to grandma. Don’t know if they will be dry in time, but oh well grams.

TOmorrow I have to make cookies, caramel sauce and play dough. And wrap. That always takes the longest. I wish I could make some coquito, that makes the wrapping better.

Phew though. That shark was stumping me. And I’m glad to let go of a lot of the things I thought I would need. 5 months ago

Still to do
Stuffed shark (sewing machine broke, put me behind, but it’s better now)
finish neice’s stuffed kitty cat (needs a face, non choking risk, so embroidery.)
note pads (finish/glue)
bookmarks (coney island cyclone, animals, ?)
play dough
caramel sauce/chocolate sauce
santa truffles
linzer cookies (request from mom, really mom?)
choc chip butterscotch cookies

I enlisted S to do the clementine crate doll bed, but I still have to make the mattress.
Also enlisted S to make the hidden book safe, but…Will he manage both? Let’s see. 5 months ago

So far, I’ve finished

felt food: two slices of bacon, two eggs, two pancakes, and syrup and jelly. (still to do? two cookies w pink frosting, two slices of bread and some toppings?)

felt monsters and monster hunters: One good guy (he needs holsters and goggles.) One bad guy (he needs a werewolf head for when he’s a werewolf) Two bad monsters, a big black spider and an orange snake with a green tongue.

Two mini arrows with ten bows each. They are made out of popsicle sticks fishing line and q tips. I painted one with orange designs and one with pink designs. Would like to make a quiver out of felt and a pouch for the whole kit. And maybe a target for them to share.

Started and working:
Two stuffed dolls, one pink which will have yellow felt hair, and one brown which will have purple felt hair. I have designed them and cut out their patterns. Need to sew and stuff and do faces. I have vintage doll clothes that I actually made them to fit.

One stuffed animal made out of raspberry velour for my neice. I used the same pattern as the girl dolls just slightly bigger. I think it will be a bunny. Maybe it should be a teddy. Don’t know. It needs ears. Also needs face, stuffing and to be sewed.

One set of note pads. Handmade. My first time. I cut out my paper, clipped it together, stamped one set. Have to stamp the rest and glue it and see what happens.

One Do It Yourself Game Board. I think my kids want to make their own game, so I am making a game board. I took a sturdy cardboard and gessoed it white on one side. It’s drying. I will gesso the other side and make two game sets. One one side, I will do a path meandering through the board, like Life or Candy Land. On the other side, I will just do spaces on the outside, like parcheesi or monopoly. I will cut out some cards so they can put suggestions or whatever on it. Perhaps I’ll cut out some paper so they can make money. I will make dice out of paper clay. I might paint the spaces so they have bright colors, but other wise, it’s just a game board blank and they will be able to make their own adventure/challenge.

A hidden book safe. I chose the book and glued the sides. it is drying now. i will have to cut out the insides and that might take a while.

A doll bed made out of two clementine crates and scrap wood. I actually want to make it adjustable furniture so it will be a bed with the mattress on it, or it can be two chairs. And maybe we make another mattress that makes it a bunk bed. Needs to be nailed together and painted. Need to make a mattress out of cardboard, stuffing and fabric.

Stuffed Shark. Far behind. have only designed it and chosen fabric. Turquoise is ok right? It’s a little intimidating. But I should just cut it out, simple, and get it ready. I want all the dolls cut out before I take out the sewing machine, so I can do it all at once.

Still to do:
caramel sauce for the grown ups
chocolate sauce for the grown ups
chocolate chip butterscotch cookies for the grown ups
book marks (just photocopied, I think.)
Art work? For the boy needs to be painted, for everyone else can just be printed, I think.

Plus dinner tonight.
Excuse me. Must put a meatloaf in the oven. 5 months ago

As usual. Always way behind.

I started the kids on some presents for the grandparents. Ivy is making stuffed felt christmas tree ornaments. Gabriel doesn’t want to sew, so we’ve decided he’s going to write a book about “GABRIEL-LAND” which is this made up adventure game he concocted. He told me what happens at each level and I wrote it out. Now he’s going to have to draw each page and then copy what I wrote out onto his page (he hates writing but he has to do it) and then I will photocopy them and staple them together.

I started designing a box of stuffed monsters for Gabriel. They will be made out of felt and upcycled tshirts. I will put them in a box and paint some backdrops of various adventurous landscapes to engage his imagination in his games that he plays.

For Ivy I think I’m going to make her some felt food. I haven’t designed it, I think it’s basically self evident. I mean, a pancake is a pancake. A cookie is a cookie. Some bacon. Eggs. Ok, maybe I should design it.

I’d still like to make them some new stuffies, but we’ll see. I really should get out a calendar and plan my actions, because otherwise I will end up on christmas eve freaking out… well, i have to go to my aunt’s so… yeah, i’ll be freaking out… with eggnog! 5 months ago

Some Ideas for family presents. Take it easy, don’t go crazy.

I’d like to make some homemade liqueurs. Orange liqueur or Coffee might be nice.

Or I could make the grown ups some coasters out of felt and embroidery floss.

These two would be for the grown ups.

Now for the kids… this is more difficult.

For G

A box of small stuffed monsters. In the box, I’d like to paint some monster hunting sets. And perhaps I’d like the good guy team, too.

A painting to feed his imagination.

A new stuffed owl or other stuffed animal. The buffalo he asked for years ago?

A coupon for stuffed animal hospital, so I will fix his Hoot Hoot.

If I get ambitious a cardboard hideout/house.

For I
A box of felt food? She has lots of dolls. I think she’d like the felt food. On the top of the box, I could make a mini kitchen. So she could play with it, too.

A painting in pink.

A stuffed cat. In pink, of course.

A coupon for stuffed animal hospital, so I will fix her purple monkey.

If I get ambitious, I can make her the cardboard barbie dollhouse. It looks hard, but maybe I can start with part of it, and work on it as we go. 5 months ago

This one’s for my SIL. (I’m not married legally, but…we’re still pretty much married.) Pink is her favorite color. I was never too keen on pink, but this color spoke to me. I am loving how it turned out. 6 months ago

Lauren’s cabled scarf – DONE. Two more (easy) scarves to go. Hot damn, I’m an addict. 6 months ago

FINALLY, they’re done. I finished the first one fairly quickly, but the second one seemed to take forever. I got bored and wanted to work on other things – the dreaded Second Mitten Syndrome. Anyway, here they are.

Disclaimer: I hope I don’t offend anyone. They’re meant to be playful and silly, not rude and offensive. My bf saw a pic of these and fell in love with them. He’s going to be so surprised and delighted when he opens these up. 7 months ago

The two skeins of yarn I needed to complete the two remaining afghans have been received (bought from ebay), so now I can finish those up. Aside from the throws, I need to make a scarf for my SIL, finish KJ’s mittens and hat, and figure out what to make for my pops. I’m really on the ball this year, because I started way early. I started planning these gifts in Feb and was working on them in March. It’s nice to not have as much pressure on me as I did last year to get them done in time for the Big Day. 7 months ago

Mark: moose hat – DONE
Mom: autumn afghan – working at least 1 row per day, about 55% completed. Need to buy another skein of “fall” yarn to complete.
Mike’s mom: Holiday throw – DONE
Mike’s grandma: Granny throw – about 85% complete. I ran out of yarn for one of the colors. I only need about 1 foot to finish the project, but I’ll have to buy another whole skein of yarn. Sheesh.
Cindy: snowflake throw – DONE
Mikey: snow mittens – First mitten is done, and I’m about 15% into the second. I’m also making him a hat, which I just started.

I’ve tried working on one project at a time, because I think that seems logical and rational. But I can’t stand it. I get waaaaay too bored. I prefer to flutter around from one to the next. It keeps life exciting. :) 7 months ago

Oh, dear. I’ve hit a wall. I knew when I decided to make all of these throws this year that I was biting off an awful lot. It’s catching up to me, it seems.

I’m starting to develop symptoms of tendonitis in my left hand, so I’ve got to take a few days off to rest. It’s very hard to do! I did get to work on the Noel throw for about 45 mins today, however; so all is not lost. I expect a few weeks of rest, wearing a brace, and then limiting my crochet time each day will result in a remission of symptoms. Here’s hoping.

I believe my problem stems from the way that I hold the yarn. I don’t loop it through my fingers the way most crocheters do. I hold it between my first and middle finger, similar to how people hold a cigarette. This places a ton of pressure on my ring finger and wrist. So today, while wearing my brace, I sat at the table and forced myself to crochet the ‘correct’ way. It still feels unnatural to me, but I will get used to it. There was no pain, so I believe this may be the remedy. Still, I’m going to take it easy.

Knitting and crochet = super addictive. These are very hard to give up, even for a short time. I’m trying to distract myself with different hobbies. Perhaps this is an opportune time to learn how to use a sewing machine, since that’s another hobby I’ve been wanting to learn. 9 months ago

has been started and I’ve made considerable progress. 12 blocks (consisting of 4 small squares each) and 13 large squares in total. So far I’ve got 4 blocks and 2 large squares made. Screwed up on one of the squares but think I solved the problem. 10 months ago

Finished the second throw today. I think it turned out really cool; but, alas, holiday-themed yarn looks a tad out of place in mid-July. (I wonder where Christmas in July came from.) If the picture doesn’t thrill you, look at it again in December when it’s frosty outside. I guarantee you’ll love it then. Right now I look at it and see “HOT. Too damn hot to be working on afghans.”

Anyway, my MIL is gonna go ape when she opens this up on Christmas Day. Can’t wait!

The Brilliant Twilight hat I knitted for K is done, as well. I originally planned on giving that to him for Christmas, but it will likely wind up being a birthday gift instead. 10 months ago

The blankets are all coming along. I started them plenty early this year, so I could avoid the stress of a time crunch. I’m very pleased with how things are coming along.

I started this project yesterday:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/brilliant-twilight

It’s Fair Isle on fingerling weight yarn, but it’s already a quick knit…and a welcome diversion from the endless Stockinette stitch of the sweater that I’m working on concurrently. I fell in love with this pattern as soon as I saw it and knew it would be perfect for my guy. It reminds me of the sky in the Peanuts’ holiday specials. I always loooove the colors they use in that animation, especially in “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” I hope he loves it as much as I do. I’m certain he will. 10 months ago

Home for the Holidays afghan – 69/110 granny squares complete
Entrelac – had to frog two rounds because I screwed up. Re-did one of those rounds and will finish the second one today possibly
Noel throw – 6 motifs completed.

I now have all of the gifts started. 11 months ago

The heat wave has finally eased up, although I don’t know for how long. Temps are back in the 70’s where they belong (I’m biased). Needless to say, with temps in the 90’s and humidity out the wazoo the last week, I accomplished nothing with this goal. It was just too darn hot to be working with heavy yarn. So I worked on my socks instead. Anyway, tonight I spent about an hour making some more motifs. 11 months ago

My projects are:

1. Snowflake Throw – sister-in-law
2. Granny Ripple – Mom
3. Entrelac blanket – brother
4. Home for the Holidays Afghan – mom-in-law
5. Granny’s Noel Throw – Mike’s grandma

It seems like a lot to do, but I absolutely love crocheting blankets. I also love Christmastime. These blankets are all REALLY easy too (but don’t look like they are!), so they crochet up relatively quickly.

So far the Snowflake throw is done; the Granny Ripple is almost halfway done; the Entrelac has been started; and I did 5 motifs of the Home for the Holidays Afghan last night. It feels weird to be working with Red Heart Holiday yarn when it’s 85F outside. :)

I’m not yet sure what exactly I’m making for the fella yet. I’ve got several ideas. For instance, I know I want to knit him a pair of socks. I’ve got the yarn in my stash already, so that’s a definite.

I hope all these projects go over well. Christmas seems so far away, but I know it’ll be here before I know it. 12 months ago

My sister-in-law’s throw is complete. Here’s a pic of what it looks like. Abigail (my cat) seems to like it a lot. Curiosity killed the cat, or so they say.

This pattern is found for free on Red Heart’s website and is called “Dusty Snowflake Throw.” It was great fun to make. 12 months ago

I’ve already started working on mine. I’m crocheting several blankets this year for family members, so I started early. The first one is almost finished, and I’ve got a second one already started. 12 months ago