Creative Successes...or not

I decided to skip the customary "Christmas post" this year.  However, I am going to say we had a lovely Christmas and we hope you did too.  One of the best Christmas gifts I got was a whole ton of yarn.  It's true.  My mom set a big red bag down in front of me and it was filled with all different kinds of yarn and the needles I had asked for.  Then Elizabeth got me two skeins each of two really pretty yarns that I had pointed out to her before.  Seriously, I got a ton of yarn.  Therefore, I have been knitting a lot lately.  I found the cutest pattern for a hat that's a daffodil.  Adorable.  And one of the yarns in the bag my mom gave me was a pretty bright yellow, so...

I know that's not the best background for this picture. This hat was also my very first experience with two-color knitting at the same time.  It was kind of intense, but I think it came out well and made me want to really understand colorwork knitting.  This yellow yarn was a very large skein, so I made a pair of my favorite booties to go along with it.

As you can see, I had a little trouble at the front of the one on the right, but apart from that, I think they look awesome.  I also practised a little bit with knitting stripes.

Much better than I anticipated for my first try.  And just for fun, I used some of Elizbeth's yarn to make mittens for myself.  I love them.

But not all my creative Christmas presents had to do with knitting.  My mother-in-law bought me an adorable sewing box and stocked it with many of the essentials, which I did not have.  It was an incredibly thoughtful gift.  For some reason, though.  I cannot make my sewing machine work for me.  I was attempting to make curtains for Nathan's office and I could not get the machine to make real stitches.  I tried everything I could think of and things that were suggested by others.  Then, somehow, the tip of the needle in the sewing machine broke off.  I don't understand how that happened.  I hope sometime in the near future to get the machine figured out.  I have high hopes of making myself some cute summer skirts and sundresses.