Joyeux Noël

I hope everyone has been having a wonderful Christmas! My whole family was together and I was able to play with all my nieces and nephews. 
One of the fun activities before Christmas was making cookies and a gingerbread house. We don't usually make a gingerbread house, but we thought we'd make one since there were more people home to help. My Dad had the idea to make an Eiffel Tower out of gingerbread, so he drew out some paper templates and we got to baking. It wasn't easy and we hit some bumps on the way, but it was built and is still standing four days later!
My Dad piped on the beams, colored in the park and made the trees, so I was more of an assistant. 
It was fun, but next year, I think we might scale it down and do something a little easier, like our house. 

Merry Christmas, everyone and have a happy New Year! <3

doilies in my future

(The doily is 17" across.)

One of my good friends got married last month and as part of her wedding gift, I wanted to make her something. Since I waited until a week before the wedding to think of something to make, I was quite limited on what that gift could be. As I flipped through the numerous crochet magazines that my mother-in-law has in her collection, I found a pretty doily. I liked it because it was made of pink, yellow and green besides white. The only crochet thread that we had was white, but I still wanted to make it. I had never made a doily before, so I needed to see how it would go. As I got going, it was turning out well and at that point decided I wanted to give the doily to my friend. I'm not sure if she's a "doily person," but I thought that it was really pretty. Of course I didn't get it done until after the wedding, but it's always fun to get gifts in the mail, right?
This pattern didn't scare me away, so I hope to see more doilies in my future.

I can't believe Christmas is coming up so soon! I still have lots more crafting to do (i.e. sewing and crocheting.)
I hope everyone is having a fun and festive December! I think it would be more festive if there was snow. I can always hope for a white Christmas <3

some beautiful clothes

For all my nieces and nephews, I have been crocheting their birthday and Christmas presents and they're all still young enough to not be sick of it yet. At the rate I'm going, I'm sure that they will complain about it  someday, but that day is not today, so I will keep on crocheting!
One of those special little ones I speak of is turning one next week! Of course I had to make her something cute and in this case pretty fashionable. Last Christmas I gave you my heart, oh wait, no- last Christmas I gave my mother-in-law Linda Permann's Little Crochet book. This pattern comes from that book. It's the "Ribbed Cardigan" in the 6-12 month size. This particular niece is quite petite, so I made her that size. If it doesn't fit her, I'm sure she'll grow into it. It's better to make something too big than too small.

 

I wanted it to be a neutral color so it could be worn with anything and it just so happened to be that brown was the only color I had in the right yarn weight. I hope that she loves it and that it keeps her warm this winter! Have a happy birthday, Allison!

 

If you have any little ones in your life, Little Crochet is a great resource to make them some beautiful clothes; maybe a good Christmas gift? I think so!

 

Keep creating and making thoughtful gifts for the special (little) ones in your life! Happy handmade holidays! <3