After Christmas

Marry Christmas to all of you! I had a very nice Xmas day with my family in Brussels. We had oysters and crab on the 24Th and my daddy cooked our favorite dish, "canard à l'orange", the 25Th at dinner. How delicious!

Here are the snowflakes I made for the Xmas tree and the hat I made for my sister :-)
Then we spent time playing cards, playing with the kitties and my sis' dog and simply being together. A very Happy Christmas, it's a pity my mom wasn't with us...

The pattern I used, from left to right: 1, 2, 3, 4

Nami preparing for Christmas

My new friend Nami the amigurumi cat really helped me this year preparing Christmas presents... Well he was taking a nap from time to time, but he was really helpful ;-)

Preparing for Xmas

Like last year I'm trying to anticipate Christmas presents working since November, and Like last year I'll never finish on time... But I have progressed a little bit anyway.

I've finished a little Santa's hat, those absolutely adorable fake maryjanes that I really love and a tiny purse for a little girl. I've done the cache-cols for my girlfriends, and right now I'm felting the flowers that I'll apply to finish them. I've used the bulky Blue Sky Alpaca, but I'm not 100% satisfied with the texture. A little bit too thick and not that soft (Rowan Polar is softer, thinner and the results are better, so I've just ordered another 10 skeins on the Net!).

I've also finished a beanie for a friend, nice easy patter. Worked in vertical rows of crochet Half Double Chains, and then sewed together. Lovely.

unfortunately I haven't progressed a lot on my sister's socks, and I'm not totally satisfied by the heel, some tiny holes are pretty well visible, doh! I guess I have to practice a little more before finishing a real pair of socks.

Snowflake galore

Christmas is approaching and I'm feeling in the mood for a snowflake galore. I know that it's already late, but there are so many nice patterns online that maybe I'll find something easy to make for a little Christmas tree... :-)

By the way, I've received the Blue Sky Bulky Alpaca skeins. The colors are pretty darker than expected and the scarf that I wanted to make... Well it's really really skinny!! :-((( How disappointing.
As you can see, the wool is pretty thick so it's not easy to find a substitute pattern... After many tries I've decided to make two bulky scarf collars, very warm. I've worked them in asymmetric ribbing, and the result is nice, I'll post a pic when I've finished them. I'd love to add to the collars a couple of crocheted flowers, jut to make them more interesting. Let's see what it gives... :-)