Brrrrr! (sort of)

At last, a cold front! Time for a sweater, maybe some mittens, and the inevitable struggles to keep a hat on the Kiddo. The temperature outside isn't below freezing yet, but at least we're moving in that direction. I actually enjoy the short days and the ritual of wrapping up in coats, scarves, mittens, hats. Isn't that weird? You can take the girl out of Wisconsin but, well, you know.


On the other hand, winter brings that dreaded month between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I can't be the only person who wants to hide someplace for all of December, can I? Making lists, assembling packages for the mail, digging the Christmas decorations out of storage, finding time to purchase and carry home a tree, etc. It's all very festive and comes with so many implied expectations and the resulting stresses of those expectations.



We don't do big holiday celebrations at our house, and our families generally keep Christmas gift-giving fairly simple. But with selecting gifts for my four sisters and their spouses/boyfriends and children, Todd's sister, our parents and my Grandma, even simple gift giving starts to feel a bit overwhelming. Last year I wanted to make gifts for everyone and, with the last-minute assistance of my Mom, managed to finish most of my plans and lob it all into the postal system before it was too late. But it really was stressful, and I swore I would keep it much simpler this year.


So these mitten ornaments are the sum total of my hand-made Christmas gift-giving plans for 2006. I've been obsessedly cutting, stitching, and embellishing for the past week, and it's actually been fun instead of stressful!


Tomorrow I'll (hopefully) post the instructions and a pattern so you can make your own little mitten ornaments. They are quite simple and fun to make, and you could invent a million ways to decorate and embellish them. I stuck with undyed wool felt, but just imagine where you could go if you started using brightly colored felt, or maybe even old striped felted sweaters! And you could embellish with beads, lace, or the embroidery stitches on a sewing machine. Endless possibilities!


Whoa. Must stop myself from getting carried away over here. We don't want repeats of last year's crafting frenzy, believe me!

More photos here.

Update: the pattern is available here.