The first tradition I've decided to start this year is to make an ornament for the Christmas tree. I only need to make one each year and eventually I'll have a tree full of unique, handmade ornaments! Sounds pretty good to me! I've seen knitting patterns similar to these little guys, but I wanted something quicker so I put together this crochet pattern. And I wrote it out so you can make one (or more) too! I made a bunch and gave a few to family members as Thanksgiving presents.

G Hook

20 yds White yarn

Polyfill

4 yds Other color yarn for scarf

Black, Brown, and Gold Embroidery thread

Needle

sc: single crochet

inc: 2 sc in one stitch

dec: 1 sc over two stitches

Make a 6 stitch magic ring 

Row 1: Inc around (12)

Row 2: *sc 1, inc 1. Repeat from * (18)

Row 3: *sc 2, inc 1. Repeat from * (24)

Rows 4-7: sc around

Row 8: *sc 2, dec 1. Repeat from * (18)

Row 9: *sc 1, dec 1. Repeat from * (12)

Row 10: *sc 1, inc 1. Repeat from * (18)

Rows 11-13: sc around

Row 14: *sc 1, dec 1. Repeat from * (12)

Stuff with Polyfill

Row 15: dec around (6)

Row 16: dec around (3)

Scarf:

Chain 43

Turn, sc in 3rd stitch, sc all

Embroider hands, eyes, and mouth.

Attach 6 inch length of embroidery yarn in a loop at the head for hanging.

Tips:

To mark the beginning of each round, I like to use a bobby pin. Just clip it onto the first stitch and it will hang there out of your way but holding your place!

If you make one, let me know! I'd love to hear how it went or see some pictures! Here's the Ravelry page.

And thank you for the birthday wishes! I had a good day of hanging out with my sister. She made me a yummy meal of some of my favorite foods and gave me lots of cool prezzies from Etsy and Jaffa Cakes from London!

I went crafting crazy this weekend! I woke up Saturday morning and was in the mood to make some stamps (a snail, a mushroom, and some plants), then I sewed up a few drawstring pouches, made a woodland scene wall decal, and then I came across a knitting pattern. Not just any knitting pattern, but possibly the most adorable scarf ever imagined! I bought it immediately and went to town on my yarn stash. You know in cartoons when someone digs through a drawer and throws item by item out over their shoulders? That was me with my yarn. I settled on some super soft malabrigo that I had forgotten about. 

I even wore it to the store today. I felt a little silly and it certainly wasn't cold enough for a coat, scarf, AND hat but I had to! For some reason I've become incapable of taking a picture without this total bitch look on my face. I'm really sorry, I swear I'm not as bitchy as this bitch below would make you believe.

And I find this picture hilarious:

Yes. That is a Christmas tree up in the background. I couldn't help that either.  :D

Now I need to get to work on my birthday bucket list. It's taken me months to think of enough items to put on it, but I've finally done it. I'll put it up on my birthday of course, which is next Tuesday!

I admit I may have gotten a bit carried away when naming this. I'm a fan of alliteration, ridiculousness, and the word 'butler' so it was inevitable.  Moving on...

 I'm allergic to metal so I have never needed any kind of jewelry box or case or whatever you call the place you store jewelry. However, I needed somewhere to put kitty charms before they're dispatched to their homes and thus was born the Beastly Bling Butler!

It's a very easy, relatively quick, and quite inexpensive to make. A quick break-down of the process:

Step 1: Paint the wood your desired color. You could skip this step and leave the wood alone too.

Step 2: Paint the animals. You could also skip this step or paint them different colors.

Step 3: Cut the animals in half. 

Step 4: Glue the animals to the wood at 1 inch intervals. Mod Podge really holds these suckers on. No need to worry about them coming off from the weight of your jewelry.

Hang using your preferred method. I'm thinking of using some of those double-sided sticky things as they work well but come off easily when you want to move things around.

I got some magnetic strips and glued tiny pieces to the butts to make magnets. Put them on your fridge as a midnight snack deterrent! 

It's time to announce the winner of the custom kitty charm giveaway! I noticed that some of the comments were showing up more than once, so to make it truly fair I wrote all the names down on paper, checking to make sure everyone got their proper entries, and drew a name from a hat.

Her cat, Misty, is the sweetest looking kitty! I'm going to enjoy "charming" her! 

Last week I made 2 charms for Viviana of She Likes Cherries. Her cats are so gorgeous! I was really nervous I couldn't do them justice in their charms.

Thank you all for entering the giveaway!