Spider Invasion!

Ana and I had so much fun making these!

Now we are considering going through all the old jewelry to make more!

The Legend of the Christmas Spider

Author Unknown

A long time ago , a mother prepared for Christmas Eve. She cleaned and scrubbed her home, chasing the spiders from the living room with her broom. The spiders fled to the attic and listened to the excitement below as the Christmas tree was put up and decorated. When all was quiet again, the little spiders crept back downstairs to see the beautiful tree. They were filled with happiness as they crawled along every branch, admiring the glittering beauty of each ornament. But alas, by the time they had finished climbing through the tree, it was completely draped with their dusty, gray cobwebs.
When the Christ child came, He smiled as He looked upon the happy little spiders, however, He knew the mother would be heartbroken when she saw the shrouded tree. So He reached out and touched the webs and, blessing them, turned them into silver and gold. Now the Christmas tree sparkled and shimmered and was even more beautiful than before. Thus the custom to have tinsel of silver and gold and a spider ornament amongst the other decorations on the Christmas tree was born.

Busy, Busy, Busy...

I have lots of crochet items to post but only have time for a few a day:

A young friend left  her Barbie behind and I made her a special holiday dress without a pattern--then I saw there were patterns on the web!

Another friend requested an elephant hat for her baby...so I made two ensembles to pick from.
Watching tv and working on this project was so much fun!

  
And this dress is going to my Etsy shop...

By the way,  Handicraft Owls is offering free shipping this month only!  The code is Santa5.  You can get to it from the shop link at the top of this blog.

Staying on task

One of my main concerns was that I would not be able to read a pattern.  It turned out that reading it was not the problem...staying with it was.  I may start off with the pattern but as the project progresses, I start to see possibilities and my hands take off in a different direction.

 

New name, new craft!

Several months back, a friend taught me how to crochet and I have taken up the new skill with lots of energy and motivation.  It was something I always wanted to do but did not think I could learn to do.  Luckily, I had a good teacher and great friends to help me when I got stuck.  Here are a few of the articles I have been working on:

First attempt!

First tries at baby clothes included hats, dresses, sweaters, booties, and diaper covers: 

Hat with red flower and scarf to match