Sunday, December 24, 2006

Eve

Yesterday I set up my sewing machine and whipped up two new Xmas stockings for Bill and me. I embellished them with some of my favourite red and white (and off-white) buttons. I'm quite pleased.

I'd thrifted an already-felted lambswool sweater recently, and I used it for both stockings. (If you have any use for felted wool -- for patchwork blankets, pillows, or maybe Xmas stockings -- there are loads at thrift stores. Unfortunately, many of them have labels from fancy stores and are often priced as though they were actually wearable Gap/Esprit/whatever sweaters. I paid $5.99 for this one.)

I'm also very pleased with my tree. We finally got a tree on Friday, at Jean Talon Market. It's bushy, and it smells amazing, and my recently acquired Xmas balls look lovely on it. Here's a photo, mostly for my mom:

One of the decorations on the tree is a tiny Fair Isle stocking, which you can see in my new and improved knitting gallery. Other decorations are what you'd call eclectic, including a small plastic goldfish, a bleeding heart with real rose thorns, a little hula dancer, a pretty cardinal, a blue plastic soldier, a stuffed tree from Sri Lanka, and a paper pyramid with an image of Patty Duke on each side.

Well, I'm still off the Bloglines radar, and I must admit, it's felt a little lonely around here. I maintain this blog for lots of different reasons, and it turns out that comments from fabulous readers is a big one of those reasons.

I want to wish all of you the very best for the holidays, whatever and however you are celebrating. Be safe, eat lots, love your pets, enjoy your family/friends, relax. Have a good one.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

OK, you are officially MUCH smarter than me (not that it was in dispute). I just spent every evening for the last week knitting up Christmas stockings for the husband and I, which I decided we MUST HAVE, and which I then hand-felted in the kitchen sink ($2.25 US per load of laundry made this the best option). Your way is *much* easier.
Have a lovely holiday!

e's knitting and spinning blog said...

Hey I haven't commented but I've been reading:-) Happy holidays!

Anonymous said...

Merry Christmas Alison to you and your family. Have a wonderful holiday.

I love the Christmas stockings you made..very pretty.

The pets are taken care of :) Whenever I open a can of tuna, all h*ll breaks loose in my house. The cat starts meowing and my turtle Slash starts banging his shell on the side of the tank cuz he loves tuna :)

Your tree is gorgeous..love the different decorations and the cute little lights..what's with the patti duke ornament though?? :)

Anonymous said...

looks like you're ready for christmas!!! :) and a merry one to you.

Anonymous said...

We're off to have gumbo with friends, then all will troop over to church for 11 pm Eucharist. Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Kerry said...

I read your blog all the time, have done for over a year. You make me laugh out loud all the time, thank you! Merry Christmas.

Em said...

I'm a long-time reader, so thought I'd say Merry Christmas! :)

Anonymous said...

delurking just to say Merry Christmas!
Lauren

shannon said...

i'm one who doesn't comment much, but i'm here too!

happy holidays

Anonymous said...

i hope you're having a great holiday! enjoy!

btw, you're on my radar, just because i'm in the habit of checking! that said, your rss feed for my reader works.

Anonymous said...

You are definitely being read by me and I don't even do Bloglines. Your tree is beautiful and I love your collection of ornaments!

Anonymous said...

Doh! Why didn't I think of that? I just passed up an already-felted Banana Republic sweater at the thrift store, in the most gorgeous shade of blue - it would have made a sweet little stocking.

Just wanted you to know how much I've appreciated *your* commenting on *my* blog lately. And I'll be back in action as a regular Brainylady reader as of tomorrow, after the broadband guy comes out to install his magic - currently I can't access Blogspot blogs from home. So I have to do it from work. You know, when nobody's looking :)

Anonymous said...

The stockings look great! Merry Christmas!

Alison said...

Merry Christmas!

I've got you in Bloglines (though you did disappear, and I realized that it wasn't just end of the semester craziness when someone else I read linked you in talking about something you had recently posted about).

Also, and I haven't figured out what the pattern is yet, but I sometimes have trouble commenting on blogs using Blogger Beta. It first logs me in as a Google Group that I own, and while it offers you the opportunity to log in as someone else, it erases your comment if you do so. A few times recently I have not retyped the comment. Today from my parents' house there doesn't seem to be a problem; I think it might be mostly when I am on my own computer. Who knows. Stupid Blogger.

K. said...

Happy holidays! Love the tree!

anna said...

Happy Christmas! I love your tree and eclectic ornaments. :)

LaurieM said...

I have missed your blog! But you seem to be backed and I scrolled through the posts I missed.

The tree is lovely and I think eclectic is the best way to go.

Merry Christmas!

Anonymous said...

I just made my way here for the first time via Blue Blog. What a treat! I have to work today, but tomorrow will be for your archives. Merry Christmas.....

Chris said...

Bloglines found this post! :) Love the new look. And your tree is fabulous!! The stockings turned out great - but I've also noticed the weird pricing on unwearably felted sweaters...

spajonas said...

bloglines finally found you :) i think that they have been having trouble with google beta feeds lately. anyway, happy holidays!! sorry i missed your christmas post but your tree is lovely as are your homemade stockings.

Stacey said...

Hope you had a great holiday! The new blog design looks grAT!

Anonymous said...

Hi, Alison! Bloglines picked you up today. Your stockings are very cute. I love anything decorated with buttons!

Anonymous said...

happy xmas, alison! supercute tree and stockings!

Cari said...

Happy holidays, love. The stockings are adorable.

Anonymous said...

Love those stockings, what a great idea :)

Mia said...

Merry Christmas!!! a day or two late;)

And your tree reflects where you have traveled and lived in your life. It makes it very special.

And as to thrift stores marking the price on things that are not wearable, it is a trend here too. The managers are looking at trying to fleece us.