Christmas Dreams - page finish

I finished another page of Christmas Dreams today.  This is my ninth page, and I do think this page was the quickest to stitch - it took me just one week.   I enjoyed stitching Santa's hair/beard and his red coat.  So, this is how Christmas Dreams looks tonight:

I also made another little crochet hat for my little great-niece, using a partial ball of super chunky wool I found in my wool bag. The wool came in a bulk lot, from a garage sale, some time ago.  Once again I didn't have a pattern, and just stitched it 'by feel'.  It worked up so quickly I was surprised.  I was watching a movie when I started, and I finished stitching just as the movie finished. When I finished off the last stitch I sawe that I had used all but about 30cm (12") of the wool, so I think it was meant to be.  I made a white rose to brighten up the hat, and found an old button to finish off the flower.

Gifted Gorgeousness - July post

Here we are again - it's time for the Gifted Gorgeousness Report, once again.  This month I finally started working again on my HAED Christmas Dreams (chart, fabric & most of the floss bought with gifted money), I made five Christmas ornaments to give as Christmas gifts, and I got my crochet hook out again, to make two beanies for a friend's birthday, and another poncho and hat for my great-niece.

Christmas dreams had been relegated to the craft room since the end of April following a death in the family.  I moved it back downstairs to my stitching chair in early July, and I am very happy to say that I have now completed my eighth page, and hope to have the ninth one finished by the end of July.  Here's where I was in April:

And now:

Big excitement - Santa's ear has appeared!

My ornaments:

Fronts

Backs

Crocheted poncho and hat (modelled by Annabelle):

And my crochet beanies:

So, a very mixed bag this month! 

Crochet and more crochet

I do have the crochet bug at present.  It is so very many years since I did any serious crochet, but I just can't seem to get enough of it right now!  I had forgotten how rewarding crochet is.  I love watching my projects grow so quickly.  Another bonus is how easy it is to unpick unwanted rows or add a few extra.  This came in handy with the pink/purple poncho I made for my great-niece recently.  As you can clearly see, it looked as though Annabelle had borrowed her big sister's poncho.

So, I unpicked the neck edging and added some extra rows, to bring the poncho further up onto Annabelle's shoulders.  I made an opening at the back so it would still easily fit over Annabelle's head, and I moved the flower up a little.

I was so pleased with my efforts that I decided to crochet another poncho and cap for Annabelle.  This time I used a twisted double-treble (twisted treble for US readers) stitch for the body of the poncho and cap. I made this one shorter at front and back.so it is more like a little cape than a poncho.  Because I like making flowers, I added a rose to this set too.

A friend whose long hair is usually worn up in a bun complained that she couldn't find a beanie that was large enough to fit comfortably and come down over her ears.  So I decided to make one for her, in her choice of black wool.  I found a pattern on-line by Yarnspirations.com, called Stay Stylish Crochet Beanie that looked promising.  After a little trial and error and several fittings) I made a beanie that fitted my friend very well, and she is very happy with it.  I had to make a few changes to the pattern - adding extra rows to both the body and the band.  I also added a crab stitch edging and a flower.  I would have had a different coloured flower and possibly a contrasting rather than matching band had I been making this for myself, but my friend wears predominantly black, and black is what she wanted.  Here is the finished beanie with band turned up all round (my friend will turn it up at front only when wearing it).

I have promised my friend another beanie once she decides on a colour, and I may make one for myself.  And I have a yen to make a little summer dress for Annabelle's birthday in September - so I'm not putting my crochet hooks away quite yet.  However, I have no current crochet project, so I have retrieved Christmas Dreams from the craft room and set it up by my stitching chair.  I have made a start on page 8 (which is actually page 13, since I am stitching it sideways) and hope to finish this page before the end of this month.  Here's where I am tonight.

And that's all from me tonight.