Christmas Crunch

I'm not talking about something edible when I say Christmas Crunch. I mean that last week before Christmas when reality sets in and I'm anxiously trying to finish making gifts so I have something to wrap and put under my mom's Christmas tree for everyone. Over the last decade, it has become my normal mode of operation to work to the last minute, desperately trying to finish gifts on Christmas eve and morn. Sometimes, I fail to finish before gifts are opened. I got gifts finished much sooner when I lived half a continent away from everyone.

This year, I think I'm actually going to finish all the Christmas gifts before I go to my mom's. Now there is the matter of my mom's birthday on December 23rd. The socks I'm knitting from the Trekking XXL she picked out on Black Friday will not be done. I'm looking forward to 3 or 4 days of sock knitting in my mom's living room. This will allow me to try the first sock on my mom as it progresses, so I can make it fit well. All in all, I feel pretty good about the state of the gifts I'm making this holiday season.

My friends and family occasionally read this blog, so I can't say much about what I'm making. I've been quilting, sewing, crocheting and knitting. I found a pattern in a quilt shop that I thought was a great idea for gifts for everyone. I wasn't Christmas shopping when I found the pattern, but jumped on the idea and bought fabric to go with the pattern.

One item on the pattern's materials list was shoestrings and the pattern cover showed lovely colored shoestrings that matched the fabric. After a fruitless search for shoestrings that remotely matched my fabric, I wound up searching aisle by aisle at Michael's (craft and hobby store) for another solution. The pattern designer must have dyed white shoestrings to her fabric.

My solution? I bought some size 5 pearle cotton and I'm braiding 6 strands. It makes a nice cord.

That's all for now. Back to gift making.