Christmas in August

The time to knit stockings is not during the holiday season when you want to be making gifts, so I curl up in the air conditioning to hide from the heat and knit. We are officially legally adding to our family very soon via adoption from foster care! The inspiration for our son's stocking pattern comes from kente cloth to acknowledge and embrace his biological ancestry. In joy our family wishes you joy as well... in August, even though it is traditional to wish such a thing in December. Big gifts can come in any month! 

Why Vitamin D Reminds Me of Redemption

 This morning I woke from vivid and dark dreams into pain and... gratitude.
This is my brain. This is my brain without Vitamin D. Deprived of D I am not able to process calcium which allows me to think clearly or maintain bone and muscle integrity. Something I don't understand happens to my iron and my heart races. No amount of water quenches my thirst. I feel panicked. My skin is too sensitive. I feel like I am wearing a lead body suit. Every move wearies me.

I am so thankful.

It wasn't long ago that I thought this was normal, that everyone lived this way and I was just not as good at coping as everyone else.
I am thankful that now approximately 95% of the year I don't have to struggle with this because there are supplements I can take to stay balanced, except for around the winter solstice. I have learned many lessons from this experience and I am thankful for most of them. The others I am still working on!

Most of all I am thankful for such a graphic picture of sin and redemption.
I was born into this mess, and I didn't know the truth. People assured me I was perfectly normal, or suggested self-help techniques to elevate my mood, but the truth is that in and of myself there was nothing I could do. I didn't even know that there was a real problem because I was right in the middle of it all and I had experienced nothing else.
That's the way sin is too. I was born into it, suffering from it, but unconscious of the source of my need and the answer to it. Miraculous rescue had to come from outside of myself when all I had earned was death and destruction. Praise be to my Savior!

Since Vitamin D is a tiny little example of the grace of the incarnation to me, maybe being weak during the advent season is not such a bad thing after all.

Two Solutions for Yarn Floats, and the Last Stocking

It only took, what, 4 attempts? 5? to get this last stocking done. Sometimes that's how it goes, right?

So here it is. Fireflies and Fir Trees. I like it, it looks magical. I ended up putting 4 stripey stitches down the back to make up for the smaller chart so it is the same size as the other stockings. 

Below is the inside of the stocking. When you are doing color knitting, also known as intarsia, you have to do something with the yarn that isn't being knit. It can kind of hang out on the back, as seen at the top of the stocking, but the rule of thumb for floats, as they are called, is that they shouldn't be loose for more than 3 stitches. So every fourth stitch the color isn't used, you twist around the working color to keep the excess in. 

I wanted to show you another technique, here on the bottom of the work, which is used in cultures that practice a lot of intarsia knitting like Scandinavia or Peru. They twist the yarns with every stitch. This yields a stiffer yet more elastic fabric. It is also a bit slower, but once you get the hang of it, it isn't irksome. I knit with both yarns on my finger at once rather than dropping yarns, twisting, and resuming. I reach over and under the unused yarn as I go, to keep the excess yarn worked in. The advantage is that there are no floats at all to catch your fingers in.  

Scandinavian Stocking Design Process

The design process is so personal and different for everyone, but I am always really inspired by seeing people's processes. Maybe you'd like to see mine? 

The only stated goal I remember having for this year is knitting family stockings. This is the last one, and it's only September! I fully expected not to do them and freak out about it on November 15th, to be exact, so I am high-fiving myself on not procrastinating. Above are the first three stockings. 

The first and third charts were adapted from Poetry in Stitches by Solveig Hisdal. It turns out it's out of print and I could make bank if I were willing to sell it. But don't ask, because I am not. Don't go buying that book for stocking patterns either, because there aren't any in there. Nevertheless, it's been worth it's expanded price tag to me. I browse it once a month or so.

 For the middle stocking I wasn't finding anything that sang to me. I wanted a floral border with movement, so I charted it myself. The most important thing about charting intarsia designs is to remember that stitches are wider than they are high. Thus, you chart the thin man and knit what ends up looking like a gnome.

I don't know how I decided I wanted to do fireflies and firs, unless it's from this picture, in which there is a conspicuous lack of fireflies. "Why fireflies?" you ask. "Fireflies aren't a part of Christmas in your hemisphere." Do they have fireflies in other hemispheres? I don't even know! Properly speaking, pine trees have nothing to do with the first advent of Christ any more than fireflies, but no one questions them. 

So in this picture I am playing with different sizes of bugs. The originals on the right are from Lesley Stanfield and Melody Griffith's The Encyclopedia of Knitting. It's a title that sounds pretty conclusive for such a small book, but its strong point is really in design ideas rather than technique. I reach for it twice as often as the more exhaustive Vogue Knitting Book. In any case, I arrogantly thought I had it all figured out here, and just needed to chart the repeat. 

    
This is the repeat, and I started knitting and recording my steps in case I ever needed the pattern. Oops. The repeat was 2 stitches too big. How did that happen? It looked funny. 

How to get rid of 2 stitches? How how how? How to do it when I was so bleary eyed from needing a nap that I couldn't chart the simplest pine tree, much less a repeat?  

I ended up shrinking the bug more, but it decreased the pattern from 28 to 24 sts. The nature of the pattern doesn't gracefully allow a decrease of 2 sts, more's the pity. I decided to just deal with it. 

Then I knit it up, and the trees were too stubby while the areas around the fireflies were too open. The trees could be pulled in, shrinking it up more, or I could find another solution. I decided on little star pinpoints, and now I think I am on the right track. What do you think? You think it's upside down. I'll just have to ask again when I am done.

When you are making something new do you tend to plan it all out, or just dive in? Are you more inclined to seek perfection, or settle for speed?

Stocking and Waiting

Sometimes you just need an attainable goal. I started Christmas stocking number 3 out of 4 yesterday during the long rain. It is the first of the series I fully graphed myself. I like the swirliness of this one.

I also started reading the Humanure Handbook because poop is probably what we do best around here these days. At least we could get some flowers out of the bargain, right?

I can't fully decide why these days and nights are so long and tiring right now, but every day for a few months now I wake up thinking the next day has got to be shorter. This season has to change at some point! And no, being told that motherhood goes by too fast is not encouraging at the moment. I may sound melodramatic, but I am actually really encouraged. At times in the past I would have just given up and been dragged along, but I genuinely recognize that this period of fatigue and babies has got to be temporary, as aggravating as it is!

A Blur

We are slowly settling into our new normal. The picture gives you a little idea of it: The double carry. The blur. And I can't get both girls heads in the frame at once in this format. That all seems about right. This week I've felt less overwhelmed than I have in a while. What a relief!

For the last five Christmases years I've agonized over what I've termed in my head "the stocking issue:" Should we go traditional? Quirky? What is traditional anyway? And what kind of quirky? Should they match or be unique? If I were to answer those questions, how would I decide what medium to use: Sewing, or knitting?  Pieced? Solid? Felt? Lace? Intarsia? Stripes? Handspun? Millspun? Suddenly the mist cleared and I started knitting red and white Scandinavian style patterns. Thus we get the visual impact of matching without being identical. They will be unique to our family, but essentially Christmasy. Alas, I did not get this idea until just before Christmas, and it has taken about a week to finish the first one so I've totally missed Christmas 2011.  That's okay, the girls won't remember this Christmas anyway!

I hope you had a great Christmas, and a great Thanksgiving, and a great Fall, for that matter! Ready for the New Year? Here it comes...

How To: Make Your Own Felt Advent Calendar

The rush of awesome Christmas projects that flood the craft blogs in December is agony to a procrastinator such as myself. Who has time to make treasures between making treats and presents and trying to make or keep traditions? No, if anything Christmasy is to be done in my house, it had best start now! Which is why I was thrilled to receive this beautiful advent calendar from my very talented sister this Christmas. It only needed to be quilted and bound, and it took me 5 months to  get around to it  do it! I asked Anna to answer a few questions for us:

Q: Could you please tell us a little about your style?

A: "My style... I love small prints. I love needlepoint pillows. I love embroidered things... Pretty much if you find it at an estate sale for a woman in her 80's, I will like it. All of my friends refer to me as "an old soul," not because we believe in reincarnation, but more because I would fit in a lot better if I had been born at the beginning of the 20th century than at the end. I am currently obsessed with grey and white, as far my decorating goes, inspired by a fabulous shower curtain from Target."

Q: Where did you get the idea for this advent calendar? And where did you get the silhouettes from?

A: "I got the idea from a fabulous website that I discovered one day while browsing the web for free knitting patterns. I LOVE this industrious wife and mother's innovation and style. Totally me. Anyway, she had instructions for a similar calendar, and it made so much sense to me to make a reusable advent calendar, rather than the kind you throw away once the windows are all open! Her calendar can be found here. I am obsessed with felt, (Tacky Felt Projects, I call them...) and so this was right up my ally. I decided to take a different twist on it though, and instead of making the them snowing presents, I made it the best present of all... my precious Savior. I cannot draw for anything in the world, unless I have something to go off of, so I had to steal someone else's art."

Lydia's Note: Because she drew it, not printed it, it was not actually stealing. However, I searched for "free nativity scene silhouette" and came up with lots of copyright free options you could re-size and print for patterns.

Q: I love your choice of colors here, as always! But what made you think "Christmas! I think I'll use pastels!"?

A: "I'd love to say it was my idea, but it was pastels in the photo. But that is something that I loved about the photo. And of course, traditional doesn't quite come natural to me. My colors do vary from the photo... But I guess I was going for the rising dawn look? I don't know. Just took some felt and went with it!"

Q: How did you put it together? (Materials, adhesives, did you have patterns for everything or just eyeball some of it?)

A: "I just looked at the photo and freehanded the characters onto a legal pad, cut out the paper pieces and pinned them onto black felt, then cut out the felt. I'm quite sure there must have been an easier way, but the long way is therapeutic. That's what I like to tell myself. Everything came from Michael's and Hobby Lobby, as (regrettably) we do not have better stores in Odessa! The felt is from Michael's. The background is just muslin from Hobby Lobby. I used textile glue (which was kind of difficult to use, because it doesn't spread well and is a pain to squeeze out of the bottle...) to affix the felt to the muslin. If I were ever to do something like this again, I'd explore different options. If can sew, maybe that would be a good option, but I personally didn't want the stitches to show... I was going more for the flannel-graph look! The beads came from Michael's. Just seed beads and nylon bead thread. The stars each have a snap on the back to attach with each day of December leading up to Christmas. I put beads on the stars to distract from the ugly stitching for the snaps, (and because color in unexpected places is always fabulous!)"

Lydia's Note: Other options for the felt might be hot glue or a fusible web like Wonder Under or Heat n' Bond.

General Instructions to make your own calendar follow after the jump:

Away in a Manger

Little Lord of nothing now–
yours were swirling star streams,
yours the secret flame of bursting bud,
the too-full laughter of the Trinity.

Cry rough cloth, clinging cold,
cry new need,
cry aching inadequacy of
mother-love.

Merry Christmas

Long Winter's Nap

Loving
The new armchair that arrived for me yesterday



The sparkle of brass at Christmas



My house with the white picket fence
Is it time to read yet?

How To: Make a Dried Orange Wreath

Dried oranges are classic for Christmas, and your house will smell great long after you are done baking them.
Once I started making wreaths this year I just couldn’t stop. They make great gifts if you can part with them, and are charmingly inexpensive.
I made 3 options to choose from here, but I can think of more, and I am sure you can too!

The basic instructions are listed first, with additions for each wreath listed separately.

Supplies:

• knife
• wire cutter or old scissors
• cookie sheets
• hot glue gun and glue
• 1 straw wreath form
• 1 foot floral or other heavy wire
• 1/2 yd fabric
• 4 lb bag of small oranges

Instructions:


1. Slice oranges into rounds between 1/8” and 1/4” thick, and spread on cookie sheets.



2. Bake at 200˚ until the slices are golden brown and pretty dry, with no mushiness to them (about 6 hours), turning every few hours or so. The more humid your area, the more you’ll want to be certain the slices are completely dried out. If you scorch a few by accident it won’t hurt! This is not an exact science, so expect some variation. If you don’t have 6 hours at a stretch to bake oranges, you can do it a few hours at a time over a few days with no ill effects.



3. Use floral wire (mine here is actually the wire recycled off a bundle of spinach!) to make a loop at the back of the wreath for hanging. Use a dot of hot glue to keep it from rotating up.


4. Tear your fabric into 3” strips, and wrap the wreath form, leaving the wire loop exposed. Secure fabric ends by tucking them in, or with a dot of hot glue.



5. Hot glue dried orange slices to completely cover your wreath form.





Glam
This wreath has serious holiday appeal-- pun fully intended! It will take you right through Christmas into the New Year without skipping a beat. I can't think of a wreath more completely of-the-moment than this. The texture, the glitz... I'm in love!
Supplies:

• 1 spool fine gold tone wire
• 1 250 count pkg gold paillettes (small hole)
• knitting needle or barbeque skewer

Instructions:
1. Cut about 20-25 lengths of wire between 22” and 29” long.



2. Wrap each length of wire around the wreath so that the long ends face the front. Twist closed.



3. String a paillette onto one tail of the wire, and twist to hold in place. Repeat until there are 3-5 paillettes on each tail of wire. Coil the excess around the knitting needle or barbeque skewer like a spring.

4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 every 3” or so around, staggering the long ends toward the outside or inside so that they fill in the wreath.




Classic
You can't go wrong with this Christmas classic. It brings steaming gingerbread and hot cocoa to mind, not to mention how good it smells! For this wreath I really layered the orange slices to get a dimensional effect.

Supplies:

• 12 cinnamon sticks
• 2 cups fresh cranberries

Instructions:
1. Glue cinnamon sticks to the front of the wreath at different angles.

2. Glue fresh cranberries onto the wreath wherever they look right.




Crafty
Once again, a holiday wreath that is just as comfortable the rest of the winter. The prints of the ties clash charmingly!

Supplies:

• seam ripper
• iron
• pinking shears
• 3 silk neck ties

Instructions:
1. Open up each necktie with seam ripper. Remove interfacing, and iron silk flat.

2. Cut 4 strips from each tie measuring 2” x 7” and trim the ends at 45˚ with pinking shears.

3. Tie strips in knots making sure the printed side is up, and glue in place.

Wood Burned Checkerboards

Do you prefer vintage or modern style Christmas? Kitsch or polish? I definitely fall for kitsch. Daniel gags over colored lights on a tree, while I think they add a special something. I love felt ornaments and glass balls. Tinsel isn't really my thing, but maybe that's because I don't enjoy vacuuming so much. I absolutely don't love Hallmark -style Christmas decor. I was thrilled to find a big box of tacky-tacky Christmas ornaments in the barn. I feel the same way about gifts. To me, your birthday is when you get a to-drool-for present. I want my gifts to be old-fashioned too.
Our gift theme this year is something along the lines of Reindeer Games. Given that none of my family read this (as far as I know), I feel free to post some of the things we've made. These are some checkerboards, and I have to say I think I want one too!

The sewing elf motif just came to me, and I drew it on. This is a rarity for me: I usually agonize, erase, change my mind, etc., but these guys were easygoing. I did all of it with a cheapo wood-burning kit from a hobby store. The colors are India ink because I wanted translucence. These other photos are of our tree trimming. My brother and his wife spent the night and we induced the holiday spirit in our hearts with cocoa, carols, and the sweet, sweet smell of pine.

How To: Make Advent Cinnamon Ornaments

Life is exciting in the little rock house these days. We moved our bed from the tent out back to the living room two weeks ago, because I was sick. That six and a half month saga is closed! Since then we have been sandblasting walls, framing, and generally preparing for a barn-raising, or more accurately, a bedroom drywalling, our church’s diaconate is throwing for us.
I have been sewing, but not as much as I ought to. The wind was somewhat taken out of my sails when I couldn’t get up and running by the end of November as I was hoping. However, I did get financial things accomplished, and I have an Etsy store, there’s just nothing in it yet. So don’t look for me, just wait. 

I’m loving the start of this Christmas season. We are listening to Blackmore's Night's Christmas album, and drinking hot apple cider.

In preparation for Advent, I made these (inedible) fragrant cinnamon cookies as a nightly devotional. This week is the Hope/Prophecy week of advent, so each little ornament has a verse on that subject attached, and its shape has something to do with the verse for the day.

Cinnamon Ornaments

¼ cup flour
3 T cinnamon
2 T applesauce

Blend well, roll ¼ “ flat. Cut shapes with cookie cutters or a knife. Use a drinking straw to make the hole at the top. Bake on a cinnamon dusted cookie sheet at 325 for 30 min turning once. You can use more cinnamon for darker cookies. Sometimes I also use nutmeg.