Doppler Effect

I was just preparing for Thanksgiving....now, it's December 8th. I had a feeling back in September when I started crafting and shopping for the holidays that the season was going to fly by at warp speed. Sometimes I hate it when I'm right.

Sometimes.

Usually I like it very much. :)

In the last week, I've been all sorts of crafty but not much to show for it on the crocheted or knitted front. The afghan of the sandman has been worked on but it still has so far to go. I know the finished product will be so lovely - but I just can't seem to sit down and plow through the final rows until the border. The project has been ongoing for too long. I've lost patience with it and just want it to be done. I also lost a crochet hook while working on it. No idea where it went even though I lost it in the living room. The couch cushions have been searched, the couch lifted to check the floor and even the chaise was shook to see if I could hear the little hook inside the frame. I have another hook of the same size but I do hope to find the other one. It was a beautiful shade of lavender.

I've also been working on the sock-a-long with "C". Not much progress there either since my time is focused on the afghan and I've been dozing on the train instead of knitting. Good thing we don't have a deadline for completion (a stress-free knit-a-long). I also have a fear that I'm going to run out of yarn before the pair is finished. I'm making a men's medium sock and the weight of the yarn, the size of the needles and even the gauge match the pattern. It's just that the first sock looks really wide.

I also decorated my first ever gingerbread house. I don't really love it - mainly because I was lazy and used the frosting that came with the kit instead of making my own royal icing (which would have been a better consistency to hold the piping detail). It looks festive but I would have liked to do a lot more detail work on it.



This was a pre-baked kit that came with the frosting, tray, candy, gingerbread house, tree and scary looking gingerbread men. That's why my gingerbread man looks like an island medicine man with the crazy gummy headdress and multicolored beads all over. Just looking at him makes me laugh.



I used some fondant to make the snow man. He's definitely not for eating (it's a solid ball of fondant) except for the candy attached to him.

I'm hoping to make one of these from scratch next year - bake the gingerbread myself so I can have open windows. There's a way to melt down Jolly Rancher candies and make them into stained glass windows. Then you can put a light inside the house so the windows have a nice glow.

And maybe - just maybe - I'll contemplate the idea to someday enter the National Gingerbread House contest held at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC. Of course, this wouldn't happen for a number of years and I should first just visit it in person. Did somebody say road trip for next fall?

And lastly - here's a photo of the ladybug cupcakes I made for my boss' farewell party last week. She's the woman who inspired the ladybug coaster pattern.



Look at all those updates in one post! Whoooosh! Right past you before you knew it, just like the past few months. Let's hope the rest of December slows down a bit so the holidays can be enjoyed and savored rather than rushed and frantic.