And just like that, it's over

 It was so hard to admit that the holidays were over this year. I left the tree up until the 7th. I usually have taken it down the day after Christmas! I just wanted to hold on to something pretty that reminded me of so many happy memories. 

I made several crocheted ornaments for our little tree this year. Some were from Hobbi.com's crochet challenges and some were from their free pattern library.

I made a panda sock that is only about 4" long. It's for my panda loving adult daughter.

This one is from the challenge.

This is from the challenge too. It's a Snow (man) cone. hahaha

This is an owl rug that I made from a ribbon yarn that reminds me of teeshirt yarn. I am going to give it to my oldest son for his apartment. I cannot imagine him actually walking on it though!

It was so peaceful around Christmas. One morning I captured this spectacular sunrise:

I have now made two pairs of fingerless gloves. My next challenge is one that has all the fingers. 

This is one of my favorite gifts. It is a yarn bowl. For those of you who don't crochet, you often have to count your stitches. Many times you will be interrupted by family and lose count. I like this idea, to count louder. 

I am getting better at sock making now. This pair is for my daughter. It actually fits her pretty well. There was a lot of un-crocheting but with each pair I am improving!

This is a public safety announcement: No matter how often you clean your lint trap in your dryer, you still MUST clean out the dryer vent hose every so often! We are lucky we didn't start a fire!

I have still not found my mojo for fabric. A friend sent me these blocks and I played with them a little, but my heart isn't in it.

I got as far as cutting some borders and sashing. This is all pinned on the design wall. It's been there for several weeks. Someday I will get back to the studio. 

In the meantime, I have been crocheting even more stuff. This is a panda hat. Guess who it's for?

I didn't want to slight the youngest son so I made him a fox hat to wear as he went back to college.

This shows how dangerous house cleaning is:

I was dusting our bookcase style headboard when suddenly I felt a stab. I couldn't see anything in my finger though. TWO days later it still hurt. I knew something had to be in my finger and it was hurting when I tried to crochet. It took some digging (ouch) but I finally got ahold of this sucker. Dang! No wonder it hurt so much!!!

Now I could crochet again! I used leftover yarn from the fox hat to make a matching scarf. I will send this to my son at college. My husband was thrilled to model it for me. 

I am still as sad as the little tree is now that the holidays are over and all the pretty trappings are gone.

For a little while the little tree will provide a perch for the birds. Our bird feeder is hanging above it. It seemed fitting to honor the little tree for a little while longer.

Till next time, happy sewing or crafting!