Fast and Easy Christmas Stockings

I decorate for the holidays in drips and drabs, starting with wreaths and setting out little touches as Thanksgiving approaches. Every year I add at least one craft item.

Our old Christmas Stockings were getting worn, so I bought some new ones on sale, but when I hung them up, I realized I hadn’t gotten one for my dog. If you have a fur baby who’s a member of the family, you understand this.

Since the big stockings were knitted, I decided to knit Buffy a small one. Trouble is, I never learned how to turn a heel. Or is it called setting a heel? My knitting skills are limited. So, I turned to crochet and used a technique that doesn’t require shaping at all for either knitting or crochet. And the added thickness inside helps hold the stocking in shape.

For this project, you need yarn in two colors. (I used red and white.) A pattern cut in the shape of the stocking. I winged it, but children’s coloring books have lots of stocking shapes. You’ll also need a yarn needle and knitting needles or crochet hook G or J.

All you have to do is either knit or crochet 2 rectangular swatches in one color, big enough to cover your pattern from the lower right to the upper left. And 2 triangular swatches in the opposite color, big enough to cover the heel and toe area. (To knit the triangles, cast on 2 stitches and increase at each end, repeating until the triangle is big enough.) (To crochet the triangles, chain 2 and increase by 2sc at each end, repeating until the triangle is big enough.) Finally, knit in ribbing or crochet in sc rows a strip about 5 inches wide and long enough to go around the top of the stocking.

With all pieces complete, lay one of the rectangles on a flat surface, position the triangles in the appropriate places on top and lay the other rectangle over all. Now, position the pattern over your work, making sure the toe is hanging lower than the heel. Pin in place and sew all around the pattern, through all layers. Turn the stocking inside out. Whip stitch the heel and toe in place and sew the cuff strip to the top opening. Fold over the cuff and add a loop at the top with ribbon or crocheted string.

I’m going to add Buffy’s initial if I can find some black felt.

Now, the mantel is complete.

Even if you don’t knit or crochet, if you have a stocking pattern, you can sew anything together to create a festive stocking.

What was the best gift you ever found in your stocking on Christmas morning? Buffy will be excited to find a bone. But what is the perfect gift for a stocking?

Comment today or anytime before November 27 for a chance to win a copy of my Christmas novella, The Perfect Gift, either ebook copy or print. Incidentally, the perfect gift my heroine searched for would fit in Buffy’s little stocking.

It's Christmas 1963, and Macy Lance has it all. She'll soon graduate from a prestigious southern college, and a position in a top pharmaceutical firm waits for her. Best of all, Jonathan Tennent has proposed. But Macy has a secret. She isn't the woman Jon thinks she is. Knowing she must confess by Christmas Eve, she searches for a gift to rival the engagement ring Jon is giving her. Maybe she'll be able to convince his society-obsessed family she's good enough for their only son.

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Christmas Heirlooms

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Are you ready for Christmas? Or if you’re not ready, hope you're at least enjoying a fun Friday, looking forward to the celebration of our Savior’s birth.

For children, the joy of Christmas comes from the wonder and anticipation of the season. Older people more often find joy in memories that settle deep into the soul, built layer upon layer. Christmas heirlooms are the catalyst guaranteed to recall those memories of Christmases past, and all the joy they hold.

Every family has its own unique heirlooms. One of the most enduring is the crèche.

According to tradition, Saint Francis of Assisi created the first nativity scene in 1223 as a live representation of the Holy Birth. The Nativity scene inspired communities throughout Catholic countries to stage similar pantomimes.

As the centuries progressed, figurines of clay, terra cotta, and porcelain were produced to display in public and in homes. Besides Mary and Joseph and the infant Jesus, shepherds, sheep, angels, and the Magi were added to the setting. Displaying the crèche became almost as popular as the Christmas tree. Customs evolved, such as assigning the honor of placing the baby Jesus to the family’s youngest child.

The family crèche was a prized heirloom passed down from generation to generation, but it's not the only Christmas keepsake.

Whether store-bought or hand-made, ornaments are popular heirlooms. As the custom of decorating a Christmas tree grew, the need for ornaments naturally increased.

Victorians made most of their ornaments, and the instructions for constructing them were included the magazines of the day. Balls, bird nests, cones, and framed pictures were made of wood, fabric, paper, and whatever nature provided.

The late 1800s saw the rise of tin pressed ornaments, but the most prized ornaments were of blown glass, usually imported from Germany. These were so expensive a household would probably possess only one or two. Then sometime between the two world wars, American companies began manufacturing glass ornaments. After WWII, F. W. Woolworth made these ornaments available in his five and dime stores.

As the cheaper ornaments became available, hand-crafted heirlooms fell out of popularity. A shame in my opinion, because it’s the school projects brought in by grade-schoolers or things intricately stitched, embroidered, crocheted, and glued by mothers that hold the best memories.

When I was growing up we had a box of heirloom ornaments. A house fire destroyed them years ago, and only one of my crafts has endured to become a true heirloom. During a particularly lean year, I didn’t have enough in the Christmas budget to buy a nice Christmas tree skirt, so I looked through my left-over yarn. Not much was available in the colors I needed, but I started crocheting and this is it.

Half a lifetime later it still wraps around the trunk of our Christmas tree. Cats and puppies have played under it. Babies have chewed on it. Children have lain on it, playing games. Toys have snagged it. Large and small piles of packages have rested on top of it. After a wash, it’s good as new. I can’t imagine a Christmas without it.

That’s what an heirloom is—enduring through the years, bringing back the memories.

Does your family have a Christmas heirloom that means a lot to you?

Christmas is coming!

It that time of the year again!

Michele here to try and whisk you into the holiday spirit! If you’re a crafter you know it’s the time of year when you start planning your holiday project list.

This year I plan to make a Christmas afghan. I already have two, one my grandma made in the seventies, and the other came from my parent's cabin in Northern MI. I love those blankets. They have sentimental value because they are connected to someone or something in my past. I’d like to make something like that for my own children.

So, I need your help. Which throw do you like? I’ve posted a few patterns along with the link to the web site where you can find them if you’re interested. 

Please, vote in the comment section to help me out and don't forget to leave your e-mail address to be entered into our weekly drawing.

   Here's choice number one. I love the bright contrast and fun peppermint candies! 
And here's the link to the pattern: patterns/peppermint-throw-and-pillow

Choice number two. Another pretty one!

Here this link: Snowflakes-ribbons-throw

And the last choice. I like this one because I learned to crochet granny squares when I was in elementary school. (a LONG time ago!) 

Link to this cute granny square throw: Holiday-throw

                                                                      

All the above patterns are found on Red Heart Yarn's web site.

Thanks for your help! I can't wait to hear from you!

Happy crafting,

Michele

Crocheted Christmas Decorations

Merry Christmas everyone. You know the feeling. You’ve spent weeks decorating and everything looks perfect…almost. There’s a niche that seems forlorn. A gaping hole in the Christmas tree screams out for one more decoration. It happens to me very year…the bane of a perfectionist’s existence.

So I get out my crochet hook.

 

Years ago the crafty ladies in the office met during lunch to crochet, and one year we all made these cute Christmas boots. As you can see, they’re simply made. Thirteen mini granny squares whipped stitched together with a shell border and a chain tie. The toe is stuffed with a weight (I use a box of staples) and tissues. A small cup is wedged in the opening and filled with candy. I show canes here, but everyone’s favorite is silver bells (Hershey's kisses).

The Christmas boot candy dish takes no time to make and adds that homey splash of color to any lonely nook.

Now for the tree. I grew up in rural Georgia, and we went into the woods to find our tree, always a cedar. Pines are nice, but the cedar’s heavy scent permeates the whole house.

We had only twenty glass ornaments, carefully unwrapped and oh, so strategically placed. I was in charge of filling in the gaps around those elegant ornaments. My creative soul came alive as I made things of beauty out of foil and yarn, pinecones and paint, popcorn and berries. What fun I had.

 

Most of my ornaments are purchased today, but there’s always that empty place, and this year I crocheted this little Christmas cone. All it requires is a few yards of yarn and a bit of ribbon. I’ll insert the directions for my crocheting friends.

(With worsted weight yarn and G hook tie on, 2 sc for anchor row. Sc in rounds, increasing 2 sc in every round until you have 16 sc. Attach contrasting yarn, dc in each sc around. Ch 3, sc in each dc around. Make a chain about ten inches long, dc in each chain to make handle. Tack handle to each side at top of cone. Weave two strips of ribbon through each side at the top dc row and tie into bows.)

It’s ready to hang on the tree. Drop in a piece of candy as a surprise, or as I hinted to my husband, it makes a perfect hiding place for jewelry. Just saying.

Do you have hand-made decorations on your tree?