Yarncrafting like crazy!

Oh man...I am definitely feeling the holiday crunch now.  I have been making stuff left and right, and I love it, but I am still quite nervous  about getting everything done.  But this is the norm...I never finish everything right on time, and luckily, I see folks at different times throughout the holidays which helps.

The other thing that is hard is not getting to share so many of the fun things I am making, as I might give away to family and friends their gifts by posting it here.  But...I can share these little baby socks I knitted up for my niece.  I doubt she'll be checking here (you know...since she is not even 1yr old yet...but kids are getting computer skills younger and younger....lol.)

They are so cute!  I wish everyone was tiny...would make my life yarncrafting much, much faster.

Ash

PS - How does anyone get anything done when there are so many wonderful patterns on Ravelry?  I absolutely love all the inspiration, but now I have too many ideas....hmm... (If you are on Ravelry, say hi to me!)

Handmade Felt Advent Calendar Semi-tutorial

Every year I go off about advent calendars.  I always want to make something, and eventually end up buying a crappy one with the not-very-good chocolates in it.  But this year, I created both an advent calendar and a way to display the cards we get. 

I call this a semi-tutorial because I feel like it's pretty simple in the end.   And I am not always the most precise person.  But I took lots o' pics to share!

First, I cut out a big piece of felt.

I made it big enough to hold 25 pockets and wrap around a dowel to hang it.

Then, I decided on a color scheme.  I wanted to do purples and blues so I cut out a bunch of little pockets of different shapes and sizes.

Then I found some ribbons, ric-rack, cutouts, bows and vintage buttons for decoration.

At the bottom there, you can sort of see a ribbon with ribbons streaming from it.  I wanted a way to display the cards I get.  So I strung ribbons from the bottom so I could hang my cards from it.

Then it was time for some decorative stitching around the pockets, the cutouts and add the numbers.

I switched up the stitching on each of the pockets and added the buttons.  In order to make things go a bit quicker, I did the stitching and then I hot glued on the pockets.

Then I added some lettering at the top.  

Finally, this is what it came out like....

You can see the are little candies sticking out of the pockets.  (And you can see that it was actually quite nice today outside.)

It was a lot of fun to make, and did not take too super long.  I can see getting even more creative with the colors, embroidery and cutouts.  

Happy crafting!

Ash