November 28, 2009
Quick Christmas Present
The cross-stitch angel is coming along well. I finished the face and hands and hair, and am working on the lion now. The angel’s hair uses the same colors as the lion, so I figured I’d just go ahead and do them both, even though I had planned on doing the lion later. After the lion, then most of the remaining colors only have a few stitches each (other than the wings), and most of them involve metallic floss. So I’m getting very close, though I know the outlining will take quite a while. I always feel like I’m almost done when I finish the main stitches, but many times the outlining takes almost as long to do! Especially since in this case, the angel has a lot of decoration lines and not just simple outlining. Plus beads, I almost forgot!
On the crochet front, I saw a scarf pattern in an email from Lion Brand Yarn a few days ago, and realized it would be perfect for a quick gift to make for another family member. I grabbed some yarn I had left over, even though it was weight 4 and not 5 as called for in the pattern, and started and finished the scarf in one day! That was despite having to start and stop dozens of times to take care of the kids. So that’s done, and I’m going to make another one, from some 5-weight yarn I found in my stash, for another family member. With the 4-weight yarn, you can’t see the corkscrew effect as much, but the yarn is so soft and fluffy, it is still wonderful. The yarn I used was Yarn Bee Infatuation, in rattan color, about 1 1/2 skeins. The original pattern is the North Pole Ruffle Scarf pattern #90326AD on the www.lionbrand.com website, if you’d like to look it up.
I also decided to start on a little sweater for my baby boy, size 18 months. He has very little warm clothing (not that we need much here in Texas), but I’d like to make him something. And the size is so small that it won’t take too much time or yarn. I’m using some more leftover yarn I had, which is hopefully enough. I’ll put in pictures of it later, maybe with him wearing it, if I get it finished soon. I also started some crocheted pillows for my girls, but put those aside for now to do more pressing projects. So many things to make!
I finished the angel tree topper, and I think it looks pretty good. Very angelic! It really didn’t take too long to make, and was inexpensive, compared to a store-bought topper. The porcelain doll head cost $1.88, the doll cone $1.79, and the wings were $3.99 (plus shipping since I had to order all those parts). The wreath cost about $0.50, the fur $3.99 (but I used less than half of it), and I already had more than enough size 10 white crochet thread. I couldn’t find a plastic ring the right size for the halo, so I made one out of wire, crocheting around it. I’ll take another picture of her when I get the tree up in a week or two.
I finished all the green and purple shades on the cross-stitch angel too. Not as much of those colors as the red and whites/grays. There are still some more purple shades in the dress detail, but they all have metallic threads blended in, so I’m waiting on those. Next, I believe I’ll do the skin and hair, and maybe some of the orange highlights – just a few stitches for that color, I believe. It’s going to be close, but I’m still hopeful I’ll finish before Christmas. If not, well, the person I am giving the picture to as a present will understand, and be willing to wait a few more days, I think! (She may be reading this blog, so I won’t give away any more information yet!)
Here is the latest picture of my cross stitch angel. I just finished the lighter medium red color, which really fills in the overdress and sleeves. I think will do more of the green next, and then purple, and save the face, hair, and wings for later. Several of the colors have a strand of Kreinik metallic added, so I want to save those for later since they can be trickier and take longer, trying to keep the thread intact and laying straight. I tend to work with shorter lengths when using metallic thread too, since it twists up so easy and when it gets tangled, it usually breaks.
I finished the dress part of the angel tree topper. I didn’t quite understand how to do the arms at first, but now I see that the long tube you crochet goes through the dress sleeves, and you attach one hand on each end. I was originally thinking that you made 2 of the arms, and each one just stuck up into the sleeves and somehow attached to the angel head, but the first one I made was way too long for that! It makes much more sense now!
Finished the medium gray on the angel. The shading created by the different gray colors is really beautiful, and make the dress look quite realistic. The sheep look better too. There is outlining to do afterward still, which will make it all stand out even more. I’m now doing the “very dark red” color. Not too much of that, since it is more of a edge color. I’m not sure what color I’ll do next. Green? Purple? Or start on the face, hair, or wings? I think I’ll leave the lion for last.I’ve gotten a bit more done on the crochet angel topper. I’m more than halfway done with the dress, so it should get done fairly quickly, and hopefully in time for decorating the tree starting after Thanksgiving. Once we decide where to put the tree, that is. I have an extra table in the living room right now, for the kids to eat on and do their crafts, but it’s sitting right where we usually put the tree, so I guess I’ll have to rearrange something.
I’ve gotten about a third of the angel tree-topper dress done, as shown in this picture. Hopefully I will get more done on it this week. Hopefully I can also keep the 4-year-old from swiping the dress for her doll!
