Christmas & Crochet

We had a gift exchange with our needlework group at Borders on Tuesday. There were 16 of us participating. There was a nice variety of ornaments including crocheted, felt & embroidered, chain mail and store bought. We all had to "oooh and aaah" over all the items and talked about how they were made. I got John's chain mail "Persian dragon scale" made into a Christmas ornament (that wasn't luck, when it was my turn to pick from the gifts, I asked "which one is John's?).

I can now tell you about the trip to the new JoAnn Fabrics and making the ornaments. I bought a bag of 2 inch Styrofoam balls, a bottle of brush on craft glue, and 3 small, plastic crochet hooks. I started by brushing glue on a small portion of the ball, and then winding yarn around as if I was winding a ball of yarn. I selected the Red Heart Holly & Ivy variegated left from the round afghan. When the ball was almost covered with yarn, I put a small amount of glue on the middle of a crochet hook, and then shoved it through the Styrofoam. With another hook I took the end of the yarn and made a chain long enough to serve as a hanger, slip stitched to the beginning of the chain, and then made a few more chains, then I put one of the chains onto the hook in the ball. Quick, easy, cheap, but so "Crochet". I actually made one for the exchange and one for myself, plus one extra.

I had finished most of my shopping and wrapping (not all, because daughter #2 is not coming home until Jan. 2nd, so we are leaving packages under the tree till then), so I started on a new doily. The fingers have been itching for a new one! It's a Patricia Kristofferson design from Absolutely Gorgeous Doilies. I took it along to work on at MIL's in the evenings. I've now finished about 24 of the 29 rounds; and thinking of what colors I might use to make it again with the overlay stitches in a different color from the background.

I also started another scarf for the Special Olympics project. I had one in Tunisian, and one in double-hook, and hadn't made any progress. I wasn't thrilled with the designs, but wasn't sure that if I started something new that I'd like it any better. But, I grabbed the 365 Crochet Stitches a Year and found one that I liked. It's Feb 7th, and called Winding Roads. I worked lengthwise, made 2 rows of blue, 2 rows of white and then 2 rows of blue. I finished it in about 24 hours, and I'm happy with it. I frogged the other two, but still think that I might make one more. We're packing them up on Tuesday night at Borders.

We spent Christmas day at a cousin's house. She's a collector, and her husband is into historical stuff, the house was filled with fun things to look at. I was fascinated by all the crocheted items of course. She had some crochet made by her (and my husband's grandmother), some items picked up at antique stores, and a doily that I had made from a pattern that I found in a book at the "Antique Pattern Library". I had forgotten that I had made a doily for her, but I recognized the pattern immediately. She also had several doilies that were made in two colors, white and a pale ecru. I've never seen any with these two color combinations, but it was quite nice.

Hope everyone enjoyed all the holidays that this month contained, and wishes for a Happy New Year!