I cherish the time I get to spend with my family during the annual trek to the Pacfic NW. This year, we spent a couple of days in Lincoln City, and I got to see the beach in what was an unseaonably warm winter.
Alas, this is what I returned to. Snow. In my backyard.
As I unpacked, I realized that I didn't buy as much of a variety of craft supplies as I thought I did during my vacation. Ho hum. The only thing I bought was, erm, fabric...gobs of fabric.
And this little gem. 
My mama took me to a new craft mall that I've not been to and I fell in love with this ceramic tile. As I was making my decision, it just so happened that the artist (Sheri Medford) who painted the tile was working that day so I got to meet her and chat for a bit. Nice!
New year, new craft resolutions. I revisited the list for 2011 and was pleased to find that I did get around to achieving some of the resolutions on that list. Nevertheless, there's always room for improvement...so with that in mind, here's my list for 2012 (in no particular order):
#1 Craft more for my family! I love swapping, but I can't help but feel that I need to focus on my family for 2012.
#2 Destash. This is an ongoing resolution because I know I've been blessed with too much!
#3 Craft for the charities that the mod group has made a committment to donate to. It's so much easier to stay on track as a group!
#4 Make another attempt at completing 50 unique proejcts in 2012.
#5 Experiment with cooking dishes that excludes red meat. Fish and chicken will probably be staples in my kitchen, but I'm keen to try new vegetarian recipes as well!
#6 Catch up on all WIPs that have been neglected over the years. There's not much hiding in the woodwork, but I know of at least 2 knitting projects that I've stepped away from and never revisited.
I'm really looking forward to having a good year in 2012!
The grand finale for 2011...another pair of fingerless mitts (50 of 50). For these mitts, I used an uber soft 100% alpaca yarn (Plymouth Indiecita Alpaca) and this pattern.
These mitts were finished the night before I left for my vacation and I didn't get a chance to weave in the ends...but they're done now!
I had an insanely huge stack of magazines, catalogs and miscellaneous print media waiting to be recycled. Before I tossed them in the recycling box, I went through some of it and pulled out pages that were green. Yes, green...with a specific purpose in mind, of course.
Not long ago, I came across a picture of some Anthropologie-inspired earrings made with paper beads and decided I needed to make some paper beads. 
The earrings do not appeal to me, but I thought the basic concept was neat...and had the 'duh!' moment of realization that they might make cute tree ornaments! Yep. So here's my tree ornament (49 of 50)...and the second picture is truer to the actual colors. 
Came across this lovely pattern (48 of 50) for a cabled hat and decided it would be perfect as a thank you gift for my secret santa (who totally surprised me with all kinds of awesome goodies). Hope she likes it!
but it sure looks colourful! I was planning to stick with ultraviolet blue, but the girl who does my hair really wanted to try Pravana's Wild Orchids on my hair. Meh, it's just hair, so I agreed. We (yeah, I say 'we' like I had any say in this) decided to try for a gradation effect as well, so the strands deepens from fuschia, violet, to purple. Did I mention that I love it? I really do.
It'll be awhile before I pick up another cross stitch project, for sure. Still not quite sure if I should just frame this or sew a decorative door hanger pillow with the finished piece. Oh well, at least the stitching is done (47 of 50). 
or rather a modified version (46 of 50) of it. Didn't care much for the faux picot edging, so I subtracted that portion of the pattern from the top edge of the mitts and left the lower edges unhemmed. I am loving the slightly longer length of these mitts though! And for posterity, I've made gobs of notes about the modifications on the pattern sheet in the event that I decide to knit another pair of these mitts!
Back on a knitting kick! This pattern (45 of 50) called for 5 different yarns to create the stripes, but I decided to go with Debbie Mumm's Reminiscence yarn in a sea glass colorway. Not quite sure if I'll like the buttonhole thumb bit (most of the other mitts I've knitted offered more thumb coverage) but as I tried it on, it occured to me that the lack of the usual thumb guesset also means that these mitts may do double duty as cuffs! Awfully convenient, no?
Note: Dangit. I can't find these mitts *exasperated* Where did they go? They obviously hate being photographed
ETA: Found them! They were hiding in a bag with another knitting project! Yay!
More simple sewing and more destashing. I love baskets in all shapes and sizes, and lining them with pretty fabrics (44 of 50) makes me happy. It's darn near impossible to get one clear picture of the lined baskets, so I went a smidge overboard! 
The ho ho ho one is for sis, but the other one is perfect for the growing stash of mitts that I've knitted in 2011!
for my mama. She requested a pair of mitts (43 of 50) after seeing the ones I made for Q & S. This pattern has been on my ravelry queue for awhile, so I'm glad I had a reason to knit it! I found some Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino in my stash and thought it was perfect for this project. It's soooo soft and I loved working with it...that is, until I encountered knots in the yarn. 
Yes, more than one knot in a skein. Totally unacceptable, in my opinion, for high end yarns. Ugh. I only ended up using one skein of it (and had approximately 1 yard of yarn left), and I'm not sure what I'll do with the remaining skein. 
Anyhow, I like the finished product. It feels so soft...I hope my mama will be pleased with it.
Well truthfully, the shawl (42 of 50) was completed in October...but I was rather lazy when it came to blocking it. So glad it's done...and just in time for Christmas gifting. I hope the recipient will like it!
Simple is good. These dishcloths and barmops (41 of 50) are spiffed up with fabric strips from my stash. The Christmas themed barmops are for my sis, and the rest will be gifts as well! 
I was obviously optimistic about my ability to do cross-stitch. Early in November, I downloaded a freebie pattern ("Christmas Morning" by Felicity Hall) and figured I could get this done in a couple of weeks...right?
Here's what it looked like on the first day...
and here's where I'm at 4 weeks later.
Oy vey. Will I get this done by Christmas 2011?!?
Meet Mikey, the mischievious monster minion (40 of 50). I found him hiding among my teacups and mugs...probably up to no good, per usual. He was made with the RevoluzZza Monster (aka Monster Ninni) pattern! Eep!!! Mikey has been shipped off to his new home (hopefully he'll be good and won't cause too much mayhem there...), but I will be making a couple more to hand out to friends and family because I think everyone needs a wee monster in their life!
Measuring in at 18" by 21" or so, it's a decent-sized tote (39 of 50) for a quick trip to the library or market day. The design of this tote is based on a beautiful pillow I saw online.
It has been ages (hmmm, at least 8 years?) since I've played with polymer clay...and I've forgotten how much fun it can be. Saw some cute birdie-shaped pendants and decided that I could easily make a batch of them (38 of 50). I used translucent polymer and painted and sealed the pieces after curing.
ETA:
The birdies were missing something...and I finally figured out what!