Tuesday, December 8, 2009

NOT Holiday Crafting (Yet)

I haven't been blogging much, but I've been busy! And I haven't even gotten around to starting the holiday crafting. I know there are only 2 weeks until Christmas, and yes I am getting nervous, but with Thanksgiving travel and having a guest in town, I just haven't had the time.

Well, that and I was busy cutting this out:

Map, Hanging

This is a map of Boston, with all non-road land removed. I saw these beautiful city cutouts by Karen O'Leary, and I just HAD to have one. I taped a map of Boston onto a piece of white Mohawk Via Felt paper and started cutting, using a #16 X-Acto® blade. I sharpened and/or changed the blade fairly frequently. 24 or so hours later, and some hand cramping, and it's done! The white piece is framed and hanging on the wall, while the offcut map went to Young Sef's house.

I've also been test-knitting these awesome squirrel mittens:

Squirrel Sampler Mittens

Aren't they the cutest? The pattern is from HelloYarn (are you surprised?), and my test pair is knit using Hello Yarn Sock in "Coffee" and "Harvest Gold".

Squirrel Sampler Mittens - Lining

The lining is delightful Misti Alpaca Lace in Adrian's "Surprise" colorway.

And then I couldn't. put. them. down.

Acorns!

....so I knit these adorable mini-acorns from Pam Wynne. Aren't they sweet? The box-braid bows fit right over them, so they can be used to hold them together when not being worn.

So, um, yeah. That's what I've been doing. Now, on to the holiday crafting!