so the new year has rolled in. the house is in order... bringing a fresh sense of calm and space here. mmmm... love that. we're back to our normal daily rhythms. the pace is so very different from just a few weeks ago. remember the holidays? the excitement? the comfort? the joy? the creating? the knitting, sewing, journaling and whittling (oh yes, at our house this year there was whittling)... it's sort of strange how one minute it's here and the next thing you know the sounds of the season playlist is giving way to all rebel rockers... i don't know, perhaps its just the pine-withdrawal talking, but how about a little handmade gift retrospective for the gift-giving season of 2008? sound ok? wonderful...
let's see. i think i began with the knitting. several surprise pairs of toasties knit... different colors and yarns for different people. i wanted to blog about some of the wool and this pattern back in december, but then that would be it for the "surprise" factor. so here they are just before being given...
i loved working on this knitting pattern from leslie each time around...
ok, next... remember i mentioned last month how i was very inspired by some of the toy crafts in living crafts? chuck and i both loved their cover idea of making this hobby horse simply out of a pair of socks, wool and a fallen branch. margaret has always wanted one of these, so chuck gave the project a whirl. (this was where the late-night whittling came in. some pre-christmas night's i felt as if ma and pa ingall's had just moved in and replaced us.) here's the finished horse (aka: old paint).
then of course there was some handmade from santa and the elves. for margaret there was this knitted organic wool doll sweater. looks like they too were inspired by the same magazine (downloadable pattern designed by waldorfmama).
(apparently he loves his sweater so much that he hasn't taken it off since the 25th). now to close out this little (not-so little?) crafty review... there was a new santa-made supply of doll clothes. (pretty sure he got the patterns from this book). a couple of simple dresses and pants for margaret's wee friends.
well, thanks for coming along on this holiday recap. the end result of an ever evolving list of creative ideas/to-dos during the month of december. hope you've enjoyed seeing some of our projects (be sure to check out the links) and here's to the spirit of christmas crafting big and small....