I ended up not doing much in the way of Christmas projects for 2018.
The advent scarf went into hibernation mode. (I'll pick it back up again, eventually, when I'm in the right mood.)
I did make some progress on those long (long, long)-overdue hedgehog mittens, but they're also in time-out. Next up is attaching the eyelash yarn "spikes", crocheting and attaching the ears, and embroidering the face. (You see why it's in hibernation, right?)
One thing I did finish was a quick project to use up the leftover novelty yarn from the hedgehog spikes. I didn't have much left, but it was too much to just toss-- and yet I didn't want that stuff in my stash. It's not the kind of yarn I enjoy working with, these days. The obvious solution was to use it up right away, so I decided to make a small cowl for my young niece to use for playing dress-up.
(Young'uns are among the few groups of people who still like fuzzy eyelash yarns at the moment, I assume.)
I decided knitting it would be easier than crocheting, and I think it probably was. There wasn't much to it-- just casting on 15 stitches and knitting garter stitch until I ran out of yarn, then joining it into a loop. To add a little extra flair, I crocheted and attached an accent rose in white yarn.
I think it turned out alright, considering it was a last-minute "out of nothing" extra gift.
The one other Christmasy project I worked on and finished were some crocheted snowflakes. I wanted to make a few to hang on our Christmas tree and to decorate a couple of gifts, so I crocheted a few Merrymaker Snowflakes (pattern by Julia Hart) and another one or two of Julia Hart's Frostwoven Snowflake.
Then, when I went to block them, I remembered that I'd crocheted a few other snowflakes, years ago, but had never blocked them. (Typical!) Amazingly, I managed to find them without too much trouble, so I blocked them all at the same time. (I don't remember the patterns I used for those older ones, unfortunately.)
Here they all are, blocked with heavy starch...
First, the ones in the "Merrymaker" pattern:
Then "Frostwoven":
And finally the NOIDs:
I'll be curious to see how the starch holds up over the next year in storage. If they're floppy by December, I may reblock them with watered-down glue, but I'd rather avoid that if possible.
Crocheting snowflakes isn't my favorite thing to do, to be honest. It's basically like crocheting just the beginning of a doily, each time, and the first few rows of a doily are arguably the most difficult, in some ways, because there's nothing much to hold on to. They are usually fairly heavy with picots, too, which many crocheters don't enjoy making-- but I am happy with how these turned out and how they looked on the tree, so I might try to make a few more for next Christmas. A garland of them would be very pretty, and if you made just one or two every month, by December you'd probably have enough.
One thing's for certain-- there were plenty of beautiful, free patterns available online, the last time I looked-- and it's an extremely affordable hobby, considering how many snowflakes you could get from a single ball of even best-quality crochet thread.
The advent scarf went into hibernation mode. (I'll pick it back up again, eventually, when I'm in the right mood.)
I did make some progress on those long (long, long)-overdue hedgehog mittens, but they're also in time-out. Next up is attaching the eyelash yarn "spikes", crocheting and attaching the ears, and embroidering the face. (You see why it's in hibernation, right?)
One thing I did finish was a quick project to use up the leftover novelty yarn from the hedgehog spikes. I didn't have much left, but it was too much to just toss-- and yet I didn't want that stuff in my stash. It's not the kind of yarn I enjoy working with, these days. The obvious solution was to use it up right away, so I decided to make a small cowl for my young niece to use for playing dress-up.
(Young'uns are among the few groups of people who still like fuzzy eyelash yarns at the moment, I assume.)
I decided knitting it would be easier than crocheting, and I think it probably was. There wasn't much to it-- just casting on 15 stitches and knitting garter stitch until I ran out of yarn, then joining it into a loop. To add a little extra flair, I crocheted and attached an accent rose in white yarn.
I think it turned out alright, considering it was a last-minute "out of nothing" extra gift.
- - - - - - -
The one other Christmasy project I worked on and finished were some crocheted snowflakes. I wanted to make a few to hang on our Christmas tree and to decorate a couple of gifts, so I crocheted a few Merrymaker Snowflakes (pattern by Julia Hart) and another one or two of Julia Hart's Frostwoven Snowflake.
Then, when I went to block them, I remembered that I'd crocheted a few other snowflakes, years ago, but had never blocked them. (Typical!) Amazingly, I managed to find them without too much trouble, so I blocked them all at the same time. (I don't remember the patterns I used for those older ones, unfortunately.)
Here they all are, blocked with heavy starch...
First, the ones in the "Merrymaker" pattern:
Then "Frostwoven":
And finally the NOIDs:
I'll be curious to see how the starch holds up over the next year in storage. If they're floppy by December, I may reblock them with watered-down glue, but I'd rather avoid that if possible.
Crocheting snowflakes isn't my favorite thing to do, to be honest. It's basically like crocheting just the beginning of a doily, each time, and the first few rows of a doily are arguably the most difficult, in some ways, because there's nothing much to hold on to. They are usually fairly heavy with picots, too, which many crocheters don't enjoy making-- but I am happy with how these turned out and how they looked on the tree, so I might try to make a few more for next Christmas. A garland of them would be very pretty, and if you made just one or two every month, by December you'd probably have enough.
One thing's for certain-- there were plenty of beautiful, free patterns available online, the last time I looked-- and it's an extremely affordable hobby, considering how many snowflakes you could get from a single ball of even best-quality crochet thread.