Smelting

Here is one smelt that I can reveal. My nieces and nephews will each get a uniquely patterned mitten to use as an ornament. I love knitting small objects because I can see progress quickly.

And I will show a follow-up to "I" of GAIN's gingerbread house. The photo here is her with her house in the display case. Seeing your work on display is always fulfilling and very fun. She thought that making the house was also fun. We also like to investigate the competition to prepare for future events.

"I" was the first person to turn in a house, which pleased the Park and Rec staff very much. I was pleased to see the new home of Park and Rec. Progress is pleasing. The one criticism that I have of the competition is in the operation. The shelves are glass, and entrants are asked to supply complete contact info on the bottom of their house. I could read everyone's info -- not safe at all in my opinion. Thankfully, we have not detected any stalkers since the houses went on display. I will certainly let the organizers hear my concern.

Crafting away

Last week was productive for crafting. The hat you see to the right, a gift requested by my niece's mom, was finished on Tuesday. I used Lion cotton and a nice wide rib for stretch. I added the multi-colored pom pom to show that it is a girl hat.

The other photo you see here is from "I" of GAIN. She made a gingerbread house a couple weeks ago for display at the Urbandale Public Library. We'll visit later this week to see all the other houses. She had fun making the house, and I really needed it in order to have a positive experience with royal icing again. My previous experiences with royal icing have been bad -- so stiff that my mixer broke. Twice.

In the tradition of Mr. GAIN's family, we "smelt" (did you ever see the Victoria Jackson and Paul Simon Christmas skit on Saturday Night Live?) our gifts for our family most of the time. It's traditional to procrastinate. I can proudly say that no one in our family is over 75% finished with their smelting. And of course, I cannot post our smelts here. No one can know who we're smelting for until the day we give our gifts.