Another Craft-In-Progress

Ok, so here's my next fiber project: This cute little hat that it knit/crochet and then felted (I got a kit for Christmas). Here's the finished product photo from the kit of what it can look like all finished.Here's my hat so far. I decided to try the crochet version since I can really use the practice on that front.

And since it's a felting project (ie. throw it in the wash and watch it shrink) it's a bit large at the moment :). But as soon as I get near a washing machine this baby's gonna felt! I'll post the results soon.

Xmas at Stop #4

At Stop #4 we visited with Brian's grandparents for a little while...

ate some dinner, then got right to the gifts.
Stacy had a "little chuckle" at Mel's expense - she tore off the price on the barcode sticker, but left the "sale price" sticker on.... oops!
Brian got a chocolate frog!

And there were a few duplicate gifts... all of which was a great source of laughter for the whole gang.

And Stacy loved her chocolate Obama likeness! (We knew she would!!)

Merry Christmas everyone!

Xmas Stop #3

Snapshots from Christmas at Mel's grandparents:
After Christmas lunch we watched old family videos of Mel's dad and siblings of when they were young, and took a couple family photos of our own.

Xmas Stop #2

Christmas morning with Mel's family:
Dad (with a bow on his nose :)) and Mom opening gifts.
Shelly with a beautiful new necklace.

Shelly, Brian, and Mel with handcrocheted blankets - perfect for watching movies on the couch!

Mom with gifts from her elves!

Mel's grandparents with a gift from Shelly

And how could I forget to take a photo of Mom's homemade cinnamon rolls?!? It's a Christmas morning tradition!

Christmas Morning - just the two of us.

Santa visited us!

Brian got a Mandrake plant (and the earplugs to block out it's dangerous screams)....it's a Potter thing.

And anything Lime Green is great in Brian's book!
Mel got goodies too, we just forgot to take photos! Flannel lined pants, toasty socks, a tool for my compost pile, etc.

Thanks Santa!

Elves in the Workshop

Since both our Moms are pretty big Potter fans we decided to spend one day at the super secret elf workshop and make custom Harry Potter pieces for them for Christmas. (We couldn't post this earlier since it would ruin the surprise!)

It's tricky to do since the paint colors are so muted when you paint them on. We had to keep reminding ourselves that they'd look much more vibrant once fired!

Here we are with our finished pieces (before firing).

And after firing... (you can see how rich the colors turned out after firing!)

Christmas Eve

A peek at our Christmas Eve....