Happy New Year!

I hope that each of you had a lovely Christmas holiday and New Year celebration!  I took off the past couple of weeks to spend time with friends and family ... especially to focus on my husband and children.  It was a much needed break and I feel refreshed and ready to move into 2012!

I didn't take much of a break with crafting during my absence.

I've added a few new flowers to the Marie Collection - last night I stitched my 53rd flower!  I have a few more cut out and ready for stitching.  Today I listed my first purple cashmere flower pin - I love it and hope that you do, too!  I conversation with a dear friend, she mentioned she has a purple merino wool sweater that's developed a hole and would I like it?  OF COURSE!!!  She'll be receiving another token of my gratitude soon!  The loden green cashmere hoodie that she donated in the fall is finally felted and ready to be cut apart!

Here's a flower pin I stitched in time to give...

Marie No. 048 Cashmere and Merino Wool (Christmas gift for an aunt)



I've been working on a sun hat for myself.  I started last Tuesday while in the car-line to pick-up my first grader.  I'm working on the brim of the hat now, so it should be ready to be photographed this time next week - should I not injure myself again!  Last Friday at pick-up I slammed my right thumb in the car door and all of my wonderful stitching plans for the weekend were wiped from the slate because it was quite painful through Saturday.  Sunday night I started stitching again and today I started crocheting again.  For this sun hat I've used raw silk that my mother gave to me, double strand for the cap section and triple strand for the brim - with a tighter stitch to make it stiffer.  I have a couple of gardening hats that always leave me quite sweaty because of no air circulation in the cap section, so the cap of this hat is very loose and open stitched.  The brim is close stitched and hopefully will shield me from too much of the sun's warm rays in the garden and on the beach this year.  If I'm successful, I'm planning to add similar women's sized sun hats to my Crochet Creations Section on Etsy.

Recently I've added a couple of neckwarmers and a new grey merino blend crochet belt to my shop.  I think they're so much fun - adding a new twist to something already in your closet!  Here's a neckwarmer I crochet in time to give...

Crochet Neckwarmer with Flower and Loop Closure (Christmas gift for sil Rhonda)

I've sketched out many different cards for Valentine's Day, Easter, and Mother's Day.  I plan to work on those in the coming week and to list some by next week.  I can barely believe it's only five weeks until Valentine's Day, I only just put my Nativity away today. Snowmen are still about the house, but as soon as we have the first big snow - I'm done and pack those away, too.  No need to have snowmen inside and out!  I'm not a huge cold-weather fan, I would happily move farther south if we have the opportunity in the future.

I've applied to a few craft events for March and April.  Once I receive official acceptance, I will announce dates and locations.

I hope that you found time to refresh and ready yourself for the new year!
Thank you for reading and have a blessed week!