Yes, crochet!

Being an aunty makes me crazy for baby crafting.  I've spend an inordinate amount of time looking up patterns -- seriously, I could be knitting until the GreyBaby starts kindergarten.

And yet, when it came down to it, I looked through my stash, found some sock leftovers, grabbed a crochet hook and went for it.

[crochet]

Yes, crochet.  It's much faster than knitting -- which is very handy because the entire first few months of a baby's life is one big growth spurt.

This hat I had to re-do a couple of times as the GreyBaby's head was bigger than I'd thought (or grew a lot while I was making it).  Good thing I see him at least weekly.  We had fun fitting parties (mostly while he was asleep). I finally finished, just in time for his first road trip!

[greybaby]

Isn't he just the cutest thing?!

I can hardly believe this was nearly two months ago!  Happy to report that the hat still fits, albeit barely, and he turns around so much now that the next one will have to have a strap to fit under those chins.

Oh, and did I mention that since GreyBaby, no less than four births have taken place.  With two more in as many months!  Just call me Jean, Jean, Crafting Machine!

Christmas crafting

The 30 hats in 30 days craze was a sudden urge of a project that ended up in failure (which is okay!); Christmas crafting is usually on the chill side in these parts --  intentionally so, so as to enjoy and concentrate/contemplate the Reason for the season.

I try to write Christmas cards each year, but don't stress out too much over them.  I still had a few purchased cards to use, a hodgepodge mix of designs bought on sale here and there over the years.  I supplemented those with some simple handmade ones, using a single stamp (picked up on a whim), my usual cardstock, and a shimmery ink I'd received years ago as a gift.  I was quite pleased with the results:

[xmas postcards]

When I ran out of those, I dove into my stationery stash and found some Crane's letter paper with a blue border.  I folded the sheets in half and stamped them with blue ink.  DC helped me out a bit and I realized that I should have enlisted him much sooner, because he did a great job!  It was a nice treat to take my time to write the cards --  60- or 70-something all told -- until Tuesday of Christmas week, under twinkle lights and with glasses of tea or wine.

[cardmaking station]

I also took down the leaves and, with DC's assistance, put up the crocheted snowflakes that I'd made a couple years ago

[snowflakes]

The only other truly crafty thing I finished was a crochet project that actually got done in time to gift to our friend in Phoenix (so it doesn't really count for Christmas).  The pattern is Drops' crochet collar with bobbles, which I worked up in doubled Malabrigo and my largest (size P?) crochet hook;  I omitted the crocheted edge (which I didn't know was there at all from the picture, because it's the same color as the model's shirt!). The inflections in this Cinnabar colorway gave the collar a lot of depth and texture, and it looks lovely on our friend, who has a snow-white complexion.  Sadly, this is the only photo I have of it:

[bobbles]

Thanks to limited Christmas crafting, the holidays remain devoted to faith, family, and friends -- the way I hope to always make it!  Hope you had a great Christmas!