Christmas in our house...

I've been so busy I forgot to post photos here. Between decorating the house, which takes a long time with the tree lights and ornaments, Christmas village and nativities, buying and wrapping presents, plus cookies, candy and food for tomorrow, I'm exhausted. It's a wonderful exhaustion, :) my favorite time of year. Here's some random photos from this month.

My daughter and I made our powdered sugar cookies, peanut butter and chocolate cookies. She decorated the sugar cookies. The Santa hat, minus the beard, is crocheted from a pattern here... http://www.redheart.co.uk/filesT/patterns/pdf/LW3878EN.pdf
The chocolate covered pretzels, peanuts and m&m mix is something we make every year and here's where I put the directions... http://soundinthemulberrytrees.blogspot.com/2012/12/christmas-pretzel-mix.html
The Christmas powdered sugar cookies is also made every year and they're found here... http://soundinthemulberrytrees.blogspot.com/2009/12/christmas-cookies.html

I made this tutu with two strips of ribbon from a roll, cheap at Joannes and the width is 7/8" for more stability to the waist. I also got the tulle at Joannes, cut the tulle strips 36" long and 5" wide for a length of about 16" when tied to the waist in half. She's four, waist of about 22", so I put the knots between 22" in middle of the ribbon, making sure I have plenty of ribbon to tie in the back and you can adjust to sizes up by taking out knots and moving strips over, reknotting to where you want the size. You can add to it at any time as they grow. The one I made in May had alot longer strips, pretty, but if they want to play in it, it needs to be shorter.
My older daughter just started painting the younger one's nails and came up with candy cane and penguins, so cute.

Gwen Stacy hat..

My daughter wanted the Gwen Stacy hat from the Spiderman movie. I found a free pattern for it on Raverly... http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/gwen-stacy How awesome these women put up free crochet and knitting patterns for us, love them.

I've come to not be afraid of using point needles, because I got some stoppers for the ends. I also have learned to make cables and bobbles. I hate making bobbles, they take too long, because I had to keep taking them out and doing over. LOL Mainly I've learned to not knit so tight. The first hat I made of this pattern was tighter using the 5 and 6 needles, so I went up to using 6 and 8 needles. I'm sure now the 5 and 6 needles would be fine since I'm crocheting a little more loose.My daughter likes beanie hats, so the 5 and 6 first hat is fine for her.

It's a cute hat, it's given me alot of practice and I'm getting faster at knitting. I think I'll make some more hats and try socks. This is so much fun, even though I spend alot of time taking out rows, because every once in awhile I miss one stitch.Doesn't matter just more practice. My pattern pages always look like they've been thru the wringer. I write on them, fold them, highlight. Then I put them in a notebook in a plastic cover, does that make sense? :) Anyone else trying to use them would probably go crazy.

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a good time planning for the Thanksgiving holiday. We're so cold here, but it makes it more cozy in the house. I'm excited about smelling turkey, stuffing and pies this week. :) Happy Turkey Day!!!

Knitting slouch hats...

Okay, so I'm getting brave and venturing past knitting scarves and afghan squares. I decided to make my daughter a slouch hat, there's all kinds of free slouch hat patterns. I bought a little book at Joannes my daughter saw and tried one in the color she wanted. The two hats,(one on the top of photo), is the book pattern from the side and pushed down. I followed the pattern, took each hat all the way out a couple of times, because they didn't look like the hat on the cover. Not slouchy enough, so the other one is more slouchy, that's from an internet pattern. Neither pattern is exactly what I wanted, so going to try more patterns. At this time, she now has three hats, by the time I finish she'll have a closet full of hats. LOL

I am having fun learning the different stitches, what they look like and how to do them and I'm loving knitting. I DO NOT like using the double pointed needles, they make me a nervous wreck and have to find stoppers for the ends. I'm also finding knitting is harder than crochet, which crochet will always be my first yarn love, but knitting makes such beautiful items. I'm starting to learn what the stitch looks like between knitting and purling, so I don't have to take out hours of work when I lose stitches. I know, I know, I'm a yarn perfectionist, anyway I'm going to find the right slouch hat pattern, I just know it. Anyone have a good pattern to link me to? I want one with alot of slouch. :D

Krispy Kreme and pumpkins...

Feels like Winter...

I absolutely love winter, it's so cozy, crafting, reading, twinkle lights, candles and...oh wait a minute, that's me all the time. :) Anyhow, now it's pull up a quilt and grab the hot cocoa,cause the chill outside makes it cozier inside.

It's the season of thankfulness, I'm thankful for my family, friends, a home, food, electricity, my crafts, and the holidays coming. My favorite time of year, and I hope everyone is enjoying it as much. I started painting my dresser, got as far as the mirror today. I lit some candles tonight and decided to take a few pics, just because.

More photos of the anniversary party...