Another Productive Weekend

19 days till Christmas
17 days till we drive home for Christmas
less than 17 days to get everything wrapped before going home for Christmas!

Time is flying by so my crochet hook must fly through skeins of yarn as well!

The first part of Saturday was spent picking up, taking down Thanksgiving decorations, dusting and then decorating for Christmas.  By around 3 p.m. I was fairly exhausted from all this so I sat down and crocheted and finished this:

I used this pattern with Loops and Treads (from Michaels) Charisma in Red with a P hook like the directions specify.  I did the 4 rows the pattern calls for and if this had been for me, would have probably liked it a bit longer.  It's a gift for someone with a shorter torso than I so I believe it will be perfect for her.  The black border is just a single crochet with a K hook and JoAnns Sensations Beautiful in Black.  Gave it a really nice touch and just makes it perfect for the recipient that will be receiving this on Christmas Day.  Last night I attempted a simple hat to match using an L hook but after a couple attempts, ripping out and starting over it's still too big for any normal human head.  I was too tired and cranky at that point to rip it all out and start over, the thicker yarn is really throwing me on this one vs. all the hats I've made in the past.

Saturday night was Crafty Saturday with the girls while watching Christmas movies.  My craft for the night was a wedding picture project that I needed to get done and ordered ASAP.  I just fiddled on some ongoing projects once that was completed.

Yesterday was consumed by laundry.  7 loads to be exact.  And that's 7 industrial loads (works into about 2 1/2 each in a standard washer....)  I didn't really have that many clothes that were dirty, I swear.  2 loads were new material that had come by mail, 1 was towels and 1 was bedding which left 3 loads of clothing (the usual whites, darks and other colors loads)  It was after 3 p.m. before it was all dry and back in the apartment.  I started around 10 (and had to make a trip up to the CVS for more detergent while the first load of fabric was in).  I folded all of Jon's clothes which is a bit out of character for me, but he was writing a paper for class all weekend so I was in a giving mood to help where I could.  This meant most of my clothes have not been folded or put away yet if they are folded, but at least all the shirts are laying flat waiting for me to fold them :-)

I've been dealing with a lot of chronic neck pain lately which leads to many headaches and yesterday was no exception.  Instead of continuing the picking up that I should have been doing in between runs back and forth to the laundry room I sat on the couch and crocheted while watching Harry Potter.  I had this done shortly after all the laundry was done:

After 2 tries to take a picture of the hat this morning I'm still not happy with either of them.....it's much cuter on, but I did not believe the new owner of this gift would appreciate the make up off my forehead all over the instead of her new hat!  Another Lion Brand pattern was used for this project.  I used "I Love This Yarn" in tweedy sage which looks really great in person.  It's also very soft, but thanks to an "I" hook and all those single crochets its holding it's shape nicely.  I didn't follow the pattern 100% for a couple of reasons:  it didn't take me as many rounds as the pattern called for to hit 132 stitches and I also decreased one additional row from what it called for because it seemed to large on both mine and Jon's head at 66 stitches.  I also did not join each row at row end, I instead worked in continuous rounds w/ a stitch marker to avoid the yucky ridge I get when I join rounds on anything circular.  Lastly if I were to make this again I would probably make the brim smaller.  I debated this as I was making it yesterday but opted to follow the pattern.  I think it's a little on the large side, but that's on my head....maybe my head is small....

One other project that was finished this weekend were these:

I've mentioned these a few times before and they're finally done and ready to be wrapped up for Mom.  This is the first project I've done using "crocheted ribbing" and actually am looking forward to making myself a scarf after the holidays using this stitch and some pretty yarn

Sunday after the hat was done, we decorated our Christmas tree (which was purchased on Friday after work).  It's a very pretty tree this year, perfect size for the space!  and lots of room for all those presents once they're wrapped!  See:

More spa cloths were created over the weekend as well!  I dug out my cotton collection this time too so now my options are plentiful (about a month ago I specifically purchased what I had planned on using for Christmas gifts this year while on sale).  The more I love these and the more positive feed back I get on them both online and in person the more I've want to make for gifts.  When I got the perfect person possible in my office as my Secret Santa this year, I was really surprised with myself for not knowing what to get for my "big gift"  The obvious choice all along should have been to do this:

I'm still waiting on my latest order from Avon to come in the mail so it's not wrapped yet, I'll be sure to take a picture of the finished project prior to Thursday to share.  I also wish that this picture had come out clearer, it doesn't do justice to the speckled yarn and how great all 4 of these look together....

Speaking of Secret Santa, they changed the rules on us a bit this year.  Instead of just getting a gift ($20-25) for the person whose name you picked from the bowl like last year to trade during our Holiday HR Lunch, they made it a 4 day event.  For the 3 days prior you have to secretly leave a small gift for your person w/ no name.  On day 4 you give you big gift at lunch and they have to guess off of their 4 gifts who it is from.  Apparently this is how you "do" Secret Santa, I've never heard of this or done it this way before.....it's caused a bit of stress but I do love what I came up with for all 4 gifts now that I have them.

I have pictures of tomorrow and Wednesday but after rushing out on my lunch to get today's gift card I forgot to take a picture!  This will be more fun starting tomorrow, but for today it was a FroZenYo gift card :o)

It felt good to get all these gifts done over the past 2 days, there are still many more to do along cookies to bake.  I do wish I had picked up more this weekend, but thanks to "Harry Potter weekend" on ABC family I spent as much time as I could doing all this!

Oh, I worked on this scarf this morning as well:

I really do love this yarn!! (hehe)  I actually started this after Thanksgiving when I was looking for something mindless.  It was going to be for me as well, but I do believe it's now a tentative Christmas gift.  It's tentative because I don't know if I'll be seeing this person over the holidays....it's a good project for when I have 15-30 min to sit down and watch the Today Show before heading into work either way!