Holiday crafting season

It's now officially the start of the holiday crafting season. I realize that I have been crafting all year long but that's just me (or a small minority of addicted crafters). Since I'm getting down to the wire on my socks for everyone project I cast on another men's sock. It's a twisted rib pattern found in the book "knitting (man)ual" and featured in the knitpicks new catalog. I really like the way the sock looked in the knitpicks catalog and went to my library and checked out the book. The sock in the book was poorly photographed and styled and I could see why I just went right by it. The catalog was clear and showed how nice the ribbing would look. It's an easy 9 stitch pattern repeat so the number of stitches around had to be adjusted a little.

This sock does have a problem though. I'm running out of yarn to finish the foot. A visit to the local yarn store is in the works to see if they have more of this. What's worse is I don't remember when or where I bought it. I think it was in the fall but I'm only guessing. If all else fails at the store I'll search on like and get the sock done by the holidays. I do have more backup yarn to knit with.

Another in the extremly limited series of stitched holiday cards. This one is very different for me and comes with a printed card to put over the stitching. Very nice.

A more modern interpretation of the holiday season. This one is a favorite, loved the modern vibe from the wondering reindeer.

Now a problem that has got to be fixed. This is a quilt on the frame that I started quilting over a year ago. I put it aside, wrapped in a sheet and forgot about it. The gang of cats got to it, pulled down the sheet and attacked the batting showing on the underside and made a big hole in it. It's only batting but before I can get back to the quilting the batting has to have some surgery. Luckily here is enough extra on the end so I'm hoping for the best. I'm going to to do a clean cut across above and below the damaged areas and then rejoin the two sections with whip stitching. The quilt top will get rebasted on the frame and then the quilting can begin. This time I'll make sure it's wrapped up securely each time I walk away from it. The gang of cats think that a quilt frame with quilt is the 'most excellent' place for a nap. I do love them and they are great craft companions. Now on to surgery and yeah, where is all the quilting thread and needles.