Christmas Stockings

I made these stockings last year and I just love them. Doesn’t matter that we don’t have a fire place, they hang off the high window’s curtain.

I used a different red Christmas-themed material for each and girls get a heart mouse motif, boys get a star. Each mouse is a slightly different variation of grey/brown. Cute.
Hope I remember how to make them for subsequent kids!
Here’s what I remember…

Sew on ribbon
Sew cross stitch part onto front of stocking.
Sew both parts together
Sew around the fur

The first pattern I have written: basic striped beanie

So I wanted to make a basic striped beanie for my big brother got chrostmas. He is rather a fashion-plate so my intention for this is for it to be a functional head-keeping-warm device to keep in the ute rather than a fashion accessory.

This is based on a few different patterns but this is the best way I can think of to make a simple adult unisex beanie…

Basic adult beanie

Dk wool, 4mm hook

Round 1. Magic ring. 10dc into ring
Round 2. Ch 2. 2dc in each st (20)
Round 3. Ch 2. 1dc, 2dc around (30)
Round 4. Ch 2. Dc2, 2dc around (40)
Round 5. Ch2. Dc3, 2dc around (50)
Round 6. Ch2. Dc4, 2dc around (60)
Round 7. Ch2. Dc5, 2dc (70)
Round 8-12. Ch2. Dc around each st
Round 13. Pick up stripe colour. Ch1. Hdc each st
Round 14. Pick up original colour. Ch2. Dc around
Round 15. Pick up stripe colour. Ch2. Dc around. Break off stripe colour
Round 16. Pick up original colour. Ch2. Dc around. Break off and sew in ends.

Christmas advent calendar

So I wanted to make an advent calendar with pockets for each day. Originally I decided to find all different cross stitch patterns for each pocket but eventually, after almost a year of figuring I had heaps of time, I decided I better stick with the small motifs I found in a library book.
And I am glad I did, while I was initially reluctant to use anything that depicted a winter Christmas, I think having an overall ‘look’ that was similar made this work.
I will never work with felt again though. Yuck. It just doesn’t stay square, it stretches and completely pissed me off to sew.