Step 1. Obtain pattern.
Step 2. Knit first sock to the toes.
Step 3. Realize you did the wrong decreases on one side of the sock and they don’t match.

Step 4. Drop stitches to see if you can pick them up.

Step 5. Decide that you don’t care if you can pick up the stitches, it won’t look as good as if you reknit AND this pattern is so much fun to knit, you just rip back to the heel.
Step 6. Realize you never rip that easily. The movie you’re watching must be THAT good. Also realize that if you’re going to reknit the foot, you’re going to have to stop just watching the movie and actually knit.
Step 7. Knit foot. Decrease for toes. Graft. Voilà!

No, this is not an old photo. It was taken 1/7/2014 - I haven't taken my tree down. I don't know when I will. It's pretty.

To see what others are working on, check out:
Tami’s Amis
Small Things
Frontier Dreams

Awhile back I stumbled across Voie de Vie online. Mostly, I’m a knitter, but I like to dip my toes in the waters of crochet when I find something I really fancy. Denise has more than one design that captured my attention and she just released a new collection called Romantique.

This lovely collection includes the Forged Joy Shawl


and the Moody Bleu Pullover as well as 6 other pieces.


If blankets are more your thing, you must check out her La Peinture blanket. Her use of color is stunning.

I think this will be the one I try first; I can already picture one of the kiddos in my life dreaming peacefully under it.

*photos used with permission of Voie de Vie

So, I’m friends with Bonnie and we exchange Christmas ornaments. Now, she’s quite the knitter, so I wanted to find something special. I ran across these cute sheep ornaments and knew I’d found it. My first take was too small to fit over the plastic ball I wanted to use so I stuffed it, but it just wasn’t quite up to snuff, so I went up to size 2.75mm needles and gave it another shot. Moneyball! (I still ended up stuffing it, but these sheep look more like king and queen sheep and not court jester sheep.* Practice makes perfect.)
 

Here’s the ornament doing a scene from Gone with the Wind.


Here’s the pattern if you fancy some sheep for your tree.

And look what Bonnie sent. She outdid herself and sent TWO lovely ornaments! This little sock is so perfect I had to ask her if she knit it (even though she mentioned knitting little sock ornaments on her blog – it looks that good).


Aren’t they too much? I LOVE them! Here are the patterns she used:
Yarn Basket
Tiny Sock Ornament

* No offense to any court jester sheep that may be reading this blog. I’m sure you’re all perfectly lovely.

Ps. Check out what others have finished at:
Tami’s Amis

Wisdom begins in Wonder

Natural Suburbia