Note to self, don’t buy the Santa stamps next year just in case the holiday cards don’t get sent until a week after New Years. Like this year. Ah well, they did get out, and I hope they brightened a few mailboxes.
Santa stamps
I do like sending holiday cards. They are good practice designing images for cards, and this year I had my kids not only help with ideas, but actually get into Illustrator and assist with making elements. And addressing envelopes is good hand writing practice for me. Even if they go out late.
Well a tiny bit of snow, but it is more than we’ve seen here since we moved in. I yelled like a kid out of school, woke my eldest so she could see actual flakes, had everyone in the house look outside, then let the teenager go back to bed. As a teenager, she was not impressed. I’ve had to modify her request (made at 10 years old) to be woken up to see snow. Honestly, it was a tiny dusting of snow, not impressive, but I do enjoy watching the snowflakes float through the air. We usually get freezing rain, which is only pretty on the tree branches when it is over, and makes driving a bear.
My aunt (on my husband’s side) gave us girls chicken feet socks! We all wore them to go out with the hens. The hens were not fooled, but did check to see if the colors on the socks were edible, then went back to demanding mealworms.
You get a picture of my dog today, because he is so darn cute, I haven’t shared a picture of him in awhile, and my graphic work picked up which means my craft work has lagged. Time for a puppy post!
Griffin
He is 1/2 Lab, 3/8 Schnauzer, and 1/8 Greyhound , according to the DNA results. He is my best dog, although he does tend to get himself hurt in the yard. The latest bout was a tangle with the wire fence New Year’s Eve. Probably spooked by fireworks. He is despondent that he’s not allowed walkies until he heals more.
Yes, I’m still stash busting. I had yellow and blue yarn of the same weight, so decided to try a spiral crochet hat. (Yellow and blue are Down Syndrome awareness colors.) I really like the technique! It makes a seamless round, is easier to keep track of the start of a row, and the center looks neat! This particular stripe is rather bold, but I’m definitely going to try this again with other yarns.
Start of two color spiral
For this hat I chose a half double crochet (hdc) stitch because I think it comes out softer and more dense. Crocheting a flat circle with hdc is a bit trickier than with double crochet. I increase by odds, rather than singles, until the circle is larger. Each hat has been slightly different on the count because I’ve used different yarn weights and hook sizes. For this two color hat, I put 2 single crochet and 3 hdc of each color in the magic circle, this helps the center spiral stay neat. The first row (which is half of each color), I did an increase in all 10 stitches. The second row I increased in one stitch, and hdc in the next. This is the same for the start of a double crochet circle. In the third row it deviates: I increase in one stitch and hdc in the next 3. Fourth row increase, then 5 hdc. (See? 1, 3, 5… odds.) This works for awhile, then I usually have to go back to just adding 1 hdc for each round.
Crocheting while tending a fire made to create hardwood ash for the chicken’s dust bath
I finished this hat cloche style. From the circle to the tops of the ears I did no increases, then I increased only in the blue row. Although I stitched the whole hat one color around at a time, I finished with the colors ending on opposite sides of the hat, and decreased stitch size (hdc, sc, sl) to blend in the end.
