Elf Hats

In December, two of my children were sick for a couple of weeks. It was bad. On one of the Saturdays that we were stuck at home, I decided to sit down and make these hats. For one of these, I never even got up from start to finish - they work up pretty fast.

I found the pattern on the blog, Busting Stitches. I used Lion Brand's Thick and Quick yarn, which is thicker than what this pattern is for, so I ended up following the infant pattern, I think, even though the hats were for my 3 and 4 year olds.

Boxy Bear

I finished the last of the stuffed animals for my kids for Christmas. I really liked this one. It was easy and I found the pattern at this link. She has a couple of other boxy animals that I would be interested in making some day. This picture isn't great, but I think it turned out cute.

Creamy Textured Stocking

Here is the next stocking. This one is for me.

 

Like the last one, I got the pattern from Christmas Crochet for Hearth, Home & Tree.

Basketweave Stocking

I want to make new stockings for my family. I'm not sure if I'll get all five done before Christmas this year, but I'll see how far I get. I started with this one for my husband. This one used a basketweave stitch. I got the pattern from the book Christmas Crochet for Hearth Home & Tree.

It is full of mistakes, but I think it was pretty forgiving and looks okay. I plan on doing the next one from a pattern in the same book.

Giraffe

I finished my second animal for my kids for Christmas. The first was the frog, this one was a giraffe. I picked a giraffe for two reasons. One was that I saw this giraffe on Pinterest and I thought it was cute. The other was that I had found some yellow yarn for sale (practically free) and I bought without a plan and it had just been sitting around in my basement. This seemed like a good use!

I found the pattern from Flourish and Tots. The pattern was easy to follow and it was fun to make!

10 Snowdrifts Tree Skirt

This tree skirt was one of the first things I found on Pinterest that I wanted to make. I had the hardest time tracking down the pattern, but I'm so glad I finally did. I just used Red Heart Super Saver yarn in the color Aran. Now I kind of wonder if I should have done it in something more white, since it is supposed to look like snow drifts. Oh well, I like it how it is. I think it would even look pretty if the ruffles were different colors if you forget the whole looking-like-snow part.

Now I just have to wait until December to see how it looks with the tree. I started it early because I knew it would take a long time. I worked on it for about two hours every night for 3-4 weeks. I'll try to remember to update and put a picture of it under the tree. I can't wait to see how it looks.

Amigurumi Frog

I made my first attempt at amigurumi. I thought that my kids might like little animals for Christmas (I'm trying to give them some handmade things this year), so I started out with a little frog. Honestly, I don't love how it turned out. I made the eyes too big and when I embroidered the mouth and nose, it made the face pucker. When my kids saw the finished product, though, they didn't care about those things. They fought over who got to hold it for a few minutes, and then I put it in my hiding spot where it will stay until Christmas. Hopefully they will forget about it by then.

The pattern was great...the problems with the frog were my own. I found the pattern here. I read through the comments for the pattern on Ravelry and some people suggested putting pipe cleaners in the legs to help them bend. I followed that suggestion and I really like what it did for the legs.