Merry Christmas!

To you and yours and be back soon with some photos (finally!) of all the Holiday crafting I can show you at last.

All the best, Carolyn

Felicity in Charcoal

 

This is probably the warmest hat I've ever made or had.  Charcoal wool alpaca from Rowan and wool Latte yum (Ravelry notes here)

 

I knew I didn't have enough brown for a whole hat and wanted the latte to be the lower border (don't even ask why, I have no idea) so I knit this from the top down, just reversing the m1 and k2tog directions.  Not only did I use up the Rowan, but that pom pom is the absolute last of the Latte too.

Lookie!  It goes with my warm warm cowl. Ready for snow.

Christmas Card Hanging Ball Decoration Tutorial

 My mom always made these when we were kids.  She hated to throw out the pretty cards, but there's no real reason to keep them, knowing you'll get a ton more next year.
So: some way to display them.

 I put all the cards we get in an envelope and pack them away with the decorations. The following year, get them out and get cutting.  

Using a jar lid or other round object about 5" across trace circles on the cards.  You will only really see the center of the circle, so if you are tracing around a photo, try to center the faces in the center of the circle.  

Cut them all out - you will need 20 circles for each ball.  

Smaller circles make smaller balls - but the smaller they are, the harder they are for small hands to fold and tape them together.

Fold each circle in from the edge three times to make a central triangle shape.  The corners of the triangle should be at the edge of the circle, and the triangle sides should be even lengths (that's called an equilateral triangle for you math geeks out there)  Here's a photo.  I eyeball the first one, then use that as a template for the rest.  They don't need to be perfect, because the finished shape has some wiggle room (sorry, Martha!)

If your kids haven't already been helping you trace, cut and fold, definitely call them over because this is the fun part.  Start taping the triangles together by the rounded edges.  I use a piece of tape over the rounded part (the outside of the ball) and a second piece taping the backs together on the inside.  Tape five together to form a circular domed piece, then keep going.  Everywhere points meet you need to have five together.  Eventually you'll get to the final two triangles to be stuck together all around to close up the ball. 

It sounds complicated but once you start it is magical how two-dimensional circles naturally want to make this geodesic sphere.

Figure out where you want the top of the ornament to be, then get a helper to hole-punch a hanger.  I hung mine up in the entry - just using tape at the ceiling
(they are paper after all and hardly weigh anything)  

This whole project was great with kids - cutting, folding, taping, and having to be careful of something fragile they were working on (tongues hanging out of mouths - adorable!!!) 

Of course you can make these balls out of anything - old coloring sheets, toddler custom-colored-on card stock, photos.  They don't store well (ask me how I know) but they sure are a great way to reuse last year's cards and bring people to mind as you write their cards this year.

  Happy Holidays!

Yarn Wreath for the Front Door

My super talented sister made this - AND sent it to me in time to put up this year!  See, I could have handled one of those things but not both.  Isn't it so pretty?  Not only did she wrap the wreath herself, she made the red and green flowers - how cool is that.  

As you can see, Virginia is waiting for snow, which makes driving easier but holiday cheer more difficult - unless you have a gorgeous new wreath to look at on your front door, that is.  Thanks, G!

Mitred Crosses Blanket Done

  from this: 

to this.

I love it, and do you know they raised $18,000 for 

Mercy Corps in Japan?  Those crazy Mason Dixon knitty ladies. 

J loves it.  I think it really suits him.  And all from stash or free yarn.  My Ravelry notes here.

yes, it did take a ridiculously long time to actually sew it together - only because I organized it all in a bag then put the bag out of sight and forgot to work on it.  And I'll admit the sewing up seemed daunting.  But I used crochet and once I started it kind of flew by.  Cheered on by the recipient, who wouldn't crochet faster?  Still needs a wash but that can wait. 

Right now there are naps to be had and stories to be read snuggled up in it (it is warm warm warm!) 

Playset Reset

A new Fix-it Friday.

  From this - monkey bars are mom-heart-attack-inducing high, swing and rings not as much fun as climbing into the tower, which is difficult to say the least.

 To this.  Easy access to the tower, whether it be a pirate ship (arrr!) or princess castle.  

Almost instantly J had rigged up a bungy cord milk crate bouncer.  

Great plans are afoot for a snow slide.  All we need is the snow.

Thumbprint Reindeer

Found this on Pinterest, made a Mommy, Poppa, and two little reindeer.  Well, actually there were a ton more reindeer - what child can stop stamping? - but these were the most representative. 
Have seen them made into cards and gift tags but I'm not sure what to do with this card yet. 
Thank you dollar store googly eyes!

Handmade Ornaments by kids

Well, you get the idea.  The kid made ones were really easy, great motor skills crafts, and kept everyone busy for at least 40 min.  AND look darling on the tree.  I cut card stock circles, made slits around the edge (embellished by J with the hole puncher) then let them wrap away.  J also made a tree out of punched holes which he laced himself.  I had a pile of embroidery floss from a lovely friend - what a great use for it.  There was a pile of felt too, so J and I made the star (I cut and helped him sew) and then there was a pretty plea for a princess ornament.  I'd seen a bunch of felt mushrooms on Pinterest lately so I made one of those too, with Sweet P helping place the dots and sitting on my lap while I sewed.  I'm not totally sure how the bunny I made a while back got in with the Christmas stuff, but she went up on the tree too and seems quite content. 

And in the top row I must describe two important ornaments - a precious glass horn from Germany from Mr. Sycamore's childhood.  And a first for this blog - a Memaw Craft!  Mr. Sycamore's mother made half a dozen of these little sock children one year from a pattern in a magazine (and still she claims not to be able to sew on a button).  Thank you Memaw!

A Little Quilted Tree Skirt

 But not for me... here are my squares for a collaborative project with my multi-talented sister to use some of Mom's stash to create a tree-skirt for the tree at Grammy and Gramp's house where we'll be for Christmas Eve.  We started with this pattern from Crazy Mom Quilts and I can't wait to see what we come up with!

 

 UPDATE: 

 

Well, here it is!  Sister G did a FANTASTIC job putting it together, quilting, and binding it.  

Even the shelf elf approves.

Thank you G and thank you Crazy Mom Quilts!