It's beginning to look alot like Christmas

Our family decorated the Christmas tree this past weekend. I actually left most of the kids' ornaments where they put them, I'm not as fussy as I used to be...once you have children, Christmas really is more for them. The tree is covered in 24 little white mittens I hand knitted 2 years ago. I got the idea from Martha Stewart when she had an "Advent Tree" on her show that had 24 mittens, each with a number counting down to Christmas. I wasn't ambitious enough to knit numbers onto the mitts, but I like them all white. The next year, I crocheted a "scarf" to use as garland. I started making that in June so it would be ready for December. I was far too busy this year to make anything new, but I'm thinking of knitting little caps for next year's tree. Maybe by then my kids will be a bit more adept at knitting and they can make them instead!

We also went to see the man in red on Sunday. We waited over 2 hours, which might explain why the kids look a bit worn out.

Earth Tones

Most of the baby items in my shop are pastel "baby colors". I never intended it to be that way when I started...I wanted to make things in non traditional baby colors. Well, it didn't turn our that way because I fell in love with a certain cotton yarn that is only available in pastels. This week I decided to try a 50/50 cotton acrylic blend yarn. It feels just like 100% cotton, and this one comes in a variety of colors. So far love it, and have made a baby tassel hat, a pair of booties, and a pair of mittens all in the same brown taupe color. I have found that customers like to have coordinating pieces to choose from. I'll be purchasing some navy blue tomorrow for a custom order, but still have to find chocolate brown. Unfortunately, this particular yarn does not come in that color.