mini craftaganza

From time to time, members of the former knitting circle (when the triangle had more members) would get together at someone's house for a day of crafting (and wine and food, of course). We'd try to pick projects that could be completed during that one day. So a few weeks ago, S and I decided that instead of a normal knitting evening, we'd make Christmas stockings. S opted for Denise Schmidt's quilted stocking and I went for a felted sweater stocking, using the pattern from the book Warm Fuzzies. I like working with felted sweaters, although my husband hates having all the old sweaters and sweater pieces around the house. I need a craft storage plan, but that's another story entirely. But I have made a few baby blankets with felted sweaters in the past--the sweaters are easy to work with and projects go pretty quickly. I saw some really cool puppets made out of felted sweaters at Abodeon in Cambridge the other day and they definitely sparked my curiosity--I think I might have to try a puppet or two!

We each made one stocking that night, and I made a couple more before Christmas for the boy and the baby. Because we don't have a fireplace, here they are hanging on the stairway with care:

baby booties

After starting over more times than I care to admit, I finally finished e's baby booties. As always, the first one went really smoothly and the second one was AWFUL. This is exactly why I have never been able to complete a pair of socks...

The pattern is called Bitty Booties and I bought it on Ravelry.com. They weren't necessarily difficult to knit, but I think they just got confusing when I left them for too long and then came back to them and would then have no idea where I had left off.

The pattern for the hat is from the blog Lost the Thread. I used Malabrigo yarn, which I love. The hat doesn't fit the little one yet, but hopefully it will soon!