Christmas Afghans

My youngest son, who is 14, started asking me to make him an afghan several months ago when I was working on the one for the guest room. I really kind of thought he would forget about it since he is a teen. He was pretty persistent. When I was in AZ for Thanksgiving I decided it would be a good time to start. I knew I would have some down time and they wouldn't be around.


I had asked him in the beginning what colors he wanted. He said blue, white, and black and silver. Grey was the closest I could get. While I was at it I asked my 16 year old if he wanted one and he said sure. Asked what colors he wanted he replied grey, black, white, and purple. I thought that it was hilarious that they were only one color different without consulting each other.


I wanted them to withstand a bit of abuse and so I did them double stranded. Stripes seemed the obvious choice to make them look masculine. I did the same pattern for both. I crocheted them for speed. I knew I couldn't knit them fast enough. I found very large boxes to put them in for under the tree. They both seemed to be surprised. (Must be those teen boy brain cells). They loved them and put them right on their beds.

CJ's 

Nathan's

Halloween Placemats

Okay, one thing that I find very easy to do is go overboard on a new project. It's like the over achiever in me waiting to get out.

I mentioned several weeks ago that I had seen a really cute Halloween wall hanging in the quilt shop a couple of weeks ago. I let it sit in the back of my mind for a while and then had this brainstorm. I decided to make placemats for the nieces and nephews for Christmas this year. I found all of the fabric on holiday clearance. I'm going to do a set of six. One each year. This year is Halloween. I'm excited about it. Although the kids might think it a bit strange when they open it on Christmas morning.

I got all of the nieces and nephews done and mailed today. I cut the back bigger and folded over to make the bias. I now know I hate that method. From now on I will put on a separate one. Much easier!

I still have the four for our family, the two for Ann and the two for my in-laws. They will have to wait until after Christmas. Too much to do.

Kasandra's Stockings

I spent the Thanksgiving holiday with my daughter down in Arizona. She was having emergency surgery. She came out fine. I was able to spend Thanksgiving day with my family down there.

After dinner we gathered at my sisters house and we were all visiting. The subject of Christmas came up and my niece mentioned that she had to go find some stockings. She got married this year. I offered to knit her some. I mailed them off today. I have to admit that I think they came out really cute.

I did Christmas vintage colors. Her's is a wine red, her husband; hunter green and her little girl; green and wine stripes. On the girls I did a picot edge at the top to make it a little more feminine.

I love this pattern. I have used it for year's. I made all of my family cross stitch stockings years ago when my kids were little. They were tons of work and totally covered with stitching. We put them up until Christmas Eve night. On Christmas Eve we take out the knitted ones that I did and put them up. They stretch really well and can go in the wash if something gets spilled on them. It's a win, win in my book.

Picked Up Quilt

I got a call yesterday that my quilt was done at the quilt shop. I was so excited to see it. We used purple thread on the top and green on the back.

They did a great job. I love the pattern that I picked out. I think it really goes well with the fabric. Now I just have to get it bound.