In Between Time...Post Christmas

Welcome to my post Christmas post! 

I've been very, very busy over the last few months. I made all my Christmas cards this year, as seen in previous posts, and I made some Kahlua/Coffee Liquer as well. Here are a few more things that I was busy doing. Some will have links to free patterns or paid patterns. 

This first one is "The Baylie Bear Cowl" purchased through The Velvet Acorn on Etsy. Made for my granddaughter. It is actually made using the Lion Brand Thick & Quick, which is a nice thick bulky yarn. It's really quite beautiful in real life...the photo really shows the white through it, which you don't normally see. I wish I had a photo of her wearing this...if you check out the Velvet Acorn, you'll see how it looks.

This is my 5 way Braided Infinity Scarf. My inspiration came from Sewing Daisies  Rapunzel Scarf. Unfortunately, mine is black, which makes it hard to photograph. I didn't have a pattern but just tried to figure it out myself. In addition, her scarf isn't braided all the way through, but does up with 2 buttons. Mine is braided all the way through without a break and goes around the neck twice. I will be working on a pattern for a 7 way braid infinity scarf over the next month or so...with a better photo!

I made up a few of these Minion Hats to give away. The pattern is a free pattern by Damn it Janet, Let's Crochet. It is a good pattern that works up fairly quickly and is easy to follow. However, you cannot sell anything made from her patterns, which is too bad. I actually did make the eyes from another free pattern by Crochet by Jennifer, on Ravelry. She offered three sizes of eyes, so I used the larger one.

Here are some Boot Cuffs I made up. These worked up quite quickly as well. The free pattern is created by Vanessa from Crafting on a Dime. 

Anna, from Frayed Knot Crochet Patterns offers this pattern for free on her blog. She calls it her "Easiest Headwrap Ever" and I just love this. I made it in this blue, but will make more for sure! The first picture shows the front and the second the back. The flower is included in the pattern as well.

My grandson is sporting the Sir Knight Helmet Hat I made him...all his pictures look like this because he doesn't stop moving!! The headpiece moves down to cover his mouth and chin when it's really cold out there...which it tends to be here in Kamloops this time of year. This one is a paid pattern from Cute & Crafty Crochet on Etsy. I did have to make a few adjustments to get it right, but it ended up pretty cute! 

Here's some soap I made for this Christmas as gifts and for myself. This first one I called 

"Christmas Cheer"

This one is "Three Wise Men"...English Rain scent. Both of these had a bit of body safe glitter on them.

Here are the two bars above with a 3rd bar. The Rose Clay Spa Bar has rose clay and activated charcoal added to the base. It should be a really good cleansing bar..especially for people with oily skin. 

The Pampering Massage Soap Saver was from a free pattern found on Moogly Blog. I found it a bit difficult to follow...my bobbles seemed to go a bit crooked, but I still like it. 

Here is another Soap Saver (Back side) from the same pattern along with a cold process bar of Chai Spice soap. Note the thin layer of cocoa in it. This one smells amazing!! I'm so happy with it!

My cold process chocolate soap also had an incredibly delicious fragrance!! 

One of my friends gave her DIL a bar of my chocolate soap which she thought was fudge...Yup...she took a big bite out of it!! It smelled that good!!

This soap was my FAILED bar...it cracked on me!! That is usually caused by overheating, which I think was the case here. It is, however, a lovely bar of soap with gorgeous mica tops and mica throughout.

Last, but not least, I made up a few of these Birds Nest Necklaces. They were really fun to make! See Sarah Ortega for a tutorial on these.

I hope you've been able to find some inspiration here for some gift ideas. I realize many of them are crochet projects....and I highly recommend you try crochet...it's easy, rewarding and quite popular right now.

I can't believe tomorrow is the last day of 2013!!

I wish you all a truly Happy New Year!!! 

May this year bring you clarity, focus, warmth and true happiness!

Thank you all for being such loyal followers, especially through the last few months while I've been trying to figure a few things out. I appreciate the time you've taken to leave me all those wonderful comments over the last year.

Many blessings!
Carmen