Christmas is a coming....

and the geese are finally gone ~ probably 'cause we have about 8" of snow on the ground and it is bitter cold!

Anyway here are a few of my favorite things. Most were gifts, a few I made myself.

I'm wondering if Barb's poor artist made it big time. This Santa was a gift which is signed by the artist, Audrey Miller. The little angel is an ornament I made when our local rec department offered a class in Swedish straw ornaments. Several were made but she is my favorite. The smocked and paper ornaments were gifts as was the Christmas bag with a tiny ball of yarn and two bitty knitting needles. The crocheted star and stocking are also my handwork. Tons of happy memories.

Then we have a couple WIPS ~ one almost done and one needing lots of stitches:

The stocking needs about four more rows of ribbing and a name stitched on. This was an interesting challenge for me. I've always knitted Christmas stockings from the top down on straight needles, until the leg and heel turn are complete then switching to double pointeds. This time I tried knitting from the toe up on one long (not quite as long as I would have liked, but it's working) circular needle. Had the toe all knitted and was starting on the foot when I realized it wasn't possible to use the pattern I'd planned on 'cause it was being knitted in the round ~ a real DUH moment. It was necessary to go digging through patterns to find something that would work. This is an adaptation of one I found online, using both different size needles and yarn. My short row heels leave something to be desired, but I'm hoping once all the yarn tails are tightened and woven in it won't be too bad. Too late now to start anything else. The quilt is being made to replace my Traverse project. Lots of stitching to do on that one yet but it was fun to dig through stash and use only fabric already on hand. That's a first for me too.