FO Friday – Christmas in July

I know it’s the end of August, but I never talked about a crochet-a-long (CAL) I participated in at the end of July.  I don’t like participating in mystery-a-longs, especially when I have to pay for a pattern because you never know what you’ll be making.  This one didn’t even give a clue – it just said something related to Christmas.

Like most MCALs (mystery CALs), the clues were released over a number of days.  After the first day … I still didn’t have any idea what I was making.  It looked like an extra-large washcloth with a slit on one side!  This is how it turned out:

At first, I didn’t care for it much, but it’s growing on me.  That slit became the heel portion of the stocking.  It was an interesting design as it used short rows on the heel.  I’ve done short rows in knit, but never crochet.  It’s the same concept if not perhaps a bit simpler.

While we were camping I thought Little Chick needed a hat.  I decided to try making a hat similar to the Simple Summer hat I made … oh, my! It’s been 3 years already!  This time I made a bigger hat with a larger brim.

Unfortunately, this was about as long as she wore the hat!  She didn’t want to wear it except for posing (she’s such a ham!)

I finished one more Underground Crafter Sampler mystery square this month, but I’m still about 4 behind.

I’ve been spending most of my time working on a test knit for someone on Ravelry.  It’s a dress and it’s taking me a lot longer than I expected.  I finished the skirt last week.

The weather and mosquitoes even cooperated one day that I could sit outside and knit – while my family wrestled around in the grass :-).

In other crafting news, I was inspired while visiting my aunt and uncle a few weeks ago.  My aunt has been making quilts – including this beautiful scrappy strip quilt.  Isn’t it great?  I’d like to make one of these!

My husband has been busy crafting too.  He made this beauty for me as a surprise!

It’s a yarn swift.  Here it is all folded up.

I have an electric ball winder that can be helpful in winding skeins into balls, but the problem is even if you’re careful with hand-holding the yarn it still seems to get twisted.  Using the swift worked perfectly and we only had to slow or stop a couple of times while winding this large ball.

I think Papa enjoyed seeing it work just as much as I did.  I’m such a lucky gal to have a handy, helpful husband!