It's The Most Seasonal Time Of The Year

You know that song, "It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year" by Andy Williams? It goes, "It's the most wonderful time of the year/ With the kids jingle belling/ And everyone telling you be of good cheer/ It's the most wonderful time of the year." It got stuck in my head the other day, but I was singing to myself, "It's the most seasonal time of the year!" for a bit before I realized I'd gotten the words wrong.

Well, during this most seasonal time, I've taken a moment to update my Silent Snow pattern.

I wrote the pattern a few years ago, but I've learned a thing or two since about making patterns look more attractive. I felt that the previous images really didn't show off the stocking or ornament as well as I had hoped.

And as I've been exploring what might make a pattern stand out, I felt that the traditional look of putting it against a fireplace or by a tree wouldn't do me any favors since the grey seemed to blend in too well with both locations. I thought that photographing it by brick would echo the feeling of a fireplace while still giving the yarn the contrast it needed.

So I know that it is a wild time for all the knitters out there, but if you find yourself needing a little stocking ornament or an extra stocking for a family member.... for example a new spouse... then you can find the pattern on ravelry or on the bear-ears website.

As a slight aside, I was redoing the images for this pattern while my index finger was still too sore to knit. I picked out this sprig of berries, not realizing that there were hidden thorns. I can verify that, Pyracantha, also known as Firethorn, lives up to its name. My thumb was indeed on fire and I was unhappy to have both my left thumb and left index finger out of commission. Also, I didn't know that this was called Firethorn until I rapidly googled things to make sure my thumb wasn't going to fall off. I'm fine, but I would highly recommend leaving Pyracantha well enough alone.

Operation Christmas Tree

We have a Christmas tree! Why is this a big deal? Because this is the first tree I have ever had. Growing up, we didn't really do Christmas. No tree, no presents, no lights. I was ok with a lot of that, except for the tree part. I've always wanted a tree. Because we've never had a tree, we don't really have any ornaments, or more importantly, a tree topper. I have a collection of lights from when I used to run shows. It was a great way to light an area without it being too bright. And I talked my Dad into helping me string cranberries and popcorn. But since I'm a knitter, I decided to knit up the tree topper.

I used the Stjärna pattern as a starting point. But I made some mods to make it fit on top of the tree. The star is made in two halves, so I used Judy's Magic Cast On (Which I learned specifically for this project. It's a way easy cast on. I should have tried it out sooner.) After completing the first side of the star, I put 2 stitches before and 2 stitches after the original cast on on a stitch holder. Then I provisionally cast on 4 stitches to make up for the "missing" 4 stitches. After finishing the second side of the star, I stuffed it then picked up the 8 held stitches, plus 2 extra stitches on either side of the held stitches. 

I then knit a tube the length of the star. On the last round, I k2tog all the way around, then threaded the yarn through the remaining 5 stitches and cinched it tight.

The toughest part was shoving the tube into the star. I had pulled the yarn at the end of the tube into the star. If I had been a little wiser, I would have threaded the yarn at the end of the tube into the top of the star and used it to help me inside our the tube. Eventually I got it.

Tada! A star on top of the tree. (I did put a little plastic on top of the tree to keep sap from touching the yarn.) I've been enjoying it each night.

Even Scooter has his own stocking.

So does anyone else have any yarn/ knitting/ fiber craft decorations on their tree? Any suggestions? I've got a thread started up on the Bear Ears rav group and I'd love to see pictures or pattern suggestions.