Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all!

I'm gonna take a few days off from blogging in order to eat and spend time with family. Have a Happy Holiday, where ever you are!

it's the most busiest time of the year!

If you are my mother, stop reading!! Right now!

This month has absolutely flown by. Between closing my show and crafting for the holidays, I haven't had a free minute. Chris and I did, however, make it to the 60's Twister Christmas party, and dressed the part:

My dress is vintage, and I think I am officially, completely obsessed with sheer sleeves. I think this dress might make another appearance on Christmas. If you couldn't guess, neither of us actually played Twister, due to injuries sustained earlier in the day from taking down the set from our play. So consider us dressed as the "chaperons" of the party. 

photo by Emily Hoskins

Last night I finished my mother's Christmas sweater vest! I knit this sucker in just under a week, and I'm pretty proud, considering I didn't have much free time.

Excuse the poor "blocking" picture. The dreary weather makes for some sad pictures. But it's done, and I'll do a full break down of the pattern soon.

Still left to do - buy a few more small things, make a few small things, and wrap EVERYTHING. Wish me luck! 

Giveaway Winners!

Thank you to everyone who entered the Sew Mama, Sew giveaway! Extra thanks to those of you who are new followers or said you'd book mark my blog and stop by later. Always nice to have new friends!

It was so fun to read through all 215 comments. I loved hearing about your holiday traditions and stories. So many good ideas, and some really funny stories.

Without further ado, random.org tells me that the winner of the ornament is Sandy and the winner of the brooch is Kim! 

If you didn't win and would like to purchase a holiday ornament or brooch, please stop by my etsy shop. Anything that is ordered this weekend will be shipped on Monday. Thanks, everyone!

It's the day of the (holiday) Giveaway, y'all!

Another giveaway, you ask?! Tis true! 

Once again, I am participating in Sew Mama, Sew's Giveaway Day (Welcome, new readers - I'm Katie, nice to see you!). Myself and hundreds of other generous bloggers will be giving away goodies all week, so click the image below for more details.

Now on to what I am giving away!

There will be two winners, chosen at random. Winner #1 will win their choice of felt holiday ornament (pictured above, more pictures on my flickr and in my etsy shop). 

Winner #2 will win their choice of felt brooch, below. Please note that I will make these to order, so you can pick and choose which styles and colors you like. 

To enter, simply leave a comment and make sure your email address is somewhere in there. The giveaway will close at 9am on December 17th, and I'll pick two winners at random at that time. I will ship internationally, but please note that I cannot guarantee that your prize will get to you before Christmas - sadface. 

Ps. If you want to make my day, in your comment you could also share some sort of holiday story or tradition or anecdote! Good luck!

on the Doctor and felt...

If you are my sister, do not look below! Don't do it!

I have a confession: I like geek television shows. Anything sci-fi or fantasy, I love it. I'll save you the list for now and just say that Chris and I are currently watching Season 2 of Doctor Who on Netflix. Thanks to my habit of watching nerdy TV while knitting or sewing, my coffee table has been turned into making-central:

I've been doing pretty well on the gloves. Hopefully I'll finish those up this weekend and then tackle the sweaters. In between that, I've been making felt ornaments for some etsy orders, and doing a few other present type projects.

Do you see those little felt roses up there? Those were discarded from a project (just didn't work), and now I'm thinking of turning them into a little brooch. It's a little bit holiday, but also could be worn year round. I'll keep you updated on that. 

So back to Doctor Who. I'm watching it for the first time, and I have to say, there is a lot of yelling and screaming. It's a very loud show. It seems like every episode has a crowd scene where a large amount of people are attacked and have to run screaming while guns are being fired. And for that reason, I think it will never be one of my favorite shows. I like my panic a little more creative. 

a holiday check list

It finally snowed in Chicago.

Saturday I woke up to a ton of snow, and it's been about 20 degrees ever since. But I'm not letting the cold weather get to me. I'm all about the holiday spirit and I kicked it into high gear with the Christmas present-making and decorating. 

My holiday to-do list includes:

- knit a sweater vest for my mom

- make a few tree decorations with felt and lace (inspired by Emily, Danielle & Mandi)

- make this yummy dark chocolate marshmallow mint cookie bark from C'est La Vegan

- knit a cardigan for my great aunt

- figure out what to wear to a holiday Twister-themed party (I'm thinking 60's mini dress with leggings)

- make these yummy cherry bombs from Emma's blog, From Scratch (perhaps to take to Twister Party?)

- figure out a way to wrap presents using stuff I have around the house (I will share my ideas with y'all!)

I'm not worried. I'll totally get it all done. Especially the knitting. I can totally knit two sweaters in like two weeks. (Does sarcasm work over the internet?)

HUMbug - Tom Kurzanski's cute cards

If you're looking for your Christmas cards, look no further!

I loooove this Humbug card, drawn by Tom Kurzanski. In addition to being my friend, Tom is a pretty funny guy and a talented cartoonist. You can find his drawings all over the web - he draws the web comic Post Apocolyptic Nick and he recently offered some adorable baby shower downloads at Sew Mama, Sew! (aka my favorite website ever). 

Click over to his etsy shop and check out the other cards. In addition to the Humbug, I'm partial to the Abe Nog.

Happy December!

I feel like December is really winter. November is just like - "maybe it will snow, but hopefully not." Once I went to the beach in November in Chicago, so really, I will probably never be able to take it seriously ever again. I mean - I swam. in. the. lake. So yeah, November is not winter.

But December - it's cold. 

And on that note - the giveaway! Thank you to everyone who entered - reading your stories was amazing. Random.org tells me the winner is...

Jingle, I'll email you today about the particulars!