A Bit of Knitting and Crochet

Recently I've taken to doing some knitting and crochet.  In my last post I had knitted but not seen up a little Christmas stocking, but now I've completed three.

This was from a free pattern from Little Cotton Rabbits and because they are so small each one takes me an evening to knit and they look so sweet. One at least will go to my sister who asked for one and he other two may have new homes too.  

Underneath the stockings is a crochet mandala. This was from a pattern in Crochet Now magazine who have been asking for mandalas to swap for mental health.  This was worked with just one variegated yarn, which I bought for just £1 at my local Wilkinsons store.

Sometimes it takes a photo to get a sense of the texture in this piece. It was interesting to make haven't ever done this before. It took a couple of evenings to crochet this and not having to change colours means there was just the beginning and finishing ends to darn in. I'd like to try this in a plain coloured yarn with some texture.

The Christmas tree has gone up now. Familiar decorations adorn the tree that we've collected over the years, the Pirate from Penzance, some little cross stitch pieces, Bugs Bunny and Alien we bought years back from America years ago, Dutch decorations from our holiday last year and our new flashing reindeer.  This is probably the last year for this tree as we haven't got a small table to put it on and is to short to stand on the floor.  Just two and half weeks away from Christmas now.