Tag: stockings

Another year…

On By Michel McDonaldIn Blog, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Well, another year has passed. I can’t believe time seems to be moving a bit faster every year for me. It seems like 2024 would still have another 6 months left, but no, it’s almost finished. 1 more day.

What have I accomplished in a year? Well, my Etsy shop was very busy this year, busier every month this year since I started. Mainly due to a single item though. A simple friendship bracelet.

I added a listing for lesbian friendship bracelets with the same designs I have for my rainbow friendship bracelets, but I used the lesbian pride flag colors. I also did the bear flag colors and that wasn’t as popular as the lesbian. So this is the bracelet that someone wanted. They sent me a message asking me if I could make this bracelet and they took a screenshot from the Disney+ show Agatha All Along. I said let me see if I can do it and I opened up my friendship bracelet designer program on my computer and figured it out. Of course I did have to Google the design and I found it right away. I just had to change the colors to these specific colors which are the lesbian pride flag colors.

After I sent this bracelet off to this person, I decided to add it to my lesbian pride flag friendship bracelet listing and wouldn’t you know it? Some other people did a search for Agatha all along friendship bracelet and they found it and they bought it and so many people wanted this bracelet. I added three sizes so that it could accommodate small, medium and large.

Two people from Germany bought one (each) and someone in Norway bought one and someone in Ireland wanted to buy it, but they couldn’t afford the shipping from the United States. I got sales on this bracelet in many states and after making it so many times, sometimes everyday, I had to remove the item from my listing because I was in agony. These bracelets take time to make and they take a toll on my hands and my back.

I will eventually make up a whole bunch of bracelets for that listing and I’ll make a whole bunch of the Agatha bracelet as well because I know people will want it again. And I’ve already bought the string for it and have cut it and it’s all ready to go, I just have to start working on them. But I need a break because I’ve been working my fingers to the bone on crafts this whole year, and my hands are about ready to fall off. Not really, but you know, jokingly.

So other things that I’ve been working on are Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas box cards as well as a Christmas Advent calendar and also I’ve been knitting Christmas stockings.

The Advent calendar went to my cousin for his son and of course the whole family could enjoy it because I filled it with so much candy LOL. The Advent calendar is from SVGcuts and the fireplace box card that you see on the left side is actually from simply crafty svgs. And then there are two Christmas friendship bracelets in the front that come from an Etsy shop called The One Eyed Artist.

The Norwegian Christmas stockings are from Arne and Carlos. I posted about the stockings a couple of months ago when I made them. I’m making more because I bought so much yarn that I don’t know what else I’m going to do with it other than make a ton more stockings LOL. I’ll probably be working on these until it gets too hot to work with wool yarn.

I’ve also been reading a lot more. I made it a mission to read everyday no matter what. Even if I just read one or two chapters a day, at least I’m reading. I did the Goodreads challenge this year and challenged myself to read 30 books and I exceeded that by reading 48 books. I’m still reading a book and was hoping to finish it to make my Goodreads challenge 49 books, but I don’t think I’m going to make it.

There is one book that I have that I would like to read. That is the entire Wizard of Oz story, but it’s all one book which means there are 15 books that will count as one book unless I decide to add the books individually on Goodreads as I read them. It will most likely take me forever to read it because this one collection in one book is over 2,000 pages and I think I’m going to need to read it in stages lol. So I will add each individual book to Goodreads as I read them.

I have a lot of other books in my Kindle library to read, so I have no shortage of books to keep myself busy with. I also have a lot of books in my Nook that I can read as well.

I’m not doing the New Year’s resolution thing because I think that’s stupid. Especially when a lot of times people never follow through with it. They always say I’m going to start losing weight and I’m going to go to the gym and then they never do and they end up gaining weight. I’d rather just do it if I’m going to do it. I did lose 75 lb in 2023 with ozempic, and then it stopped on Thanksgiving Day and 15lbs have come back on gradually, but I’m still doing ozempic and I’m still trying and I’m doing my best despite the constant junk food being put in my face and constantly being asked if I want to go to fast food places. I have the ability to say no, but I don’t seem to be doing that very well. So that’s something I have to work on.

I am having heart issues because apparently my pulse is too slow. It was 41 the other day at the doctor’s office and they’re sending me to a cardiologist. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about. I checked my Fitbit watch and my pulse seems to be around 100, but then I checked my pulse on my blood pressure machine and it’s around 40 something to 50 something.  So, I guess my fitbit is not really telling me my true pulse rate. I’ll see what happens.

Well, Happy New Year and let’s hope that this year is a good year.

More Norwegian Christmas Stockings

On By Michel McDonaldIn craftsLeave a comment
House and Julefugler Christmas stockings from Arne and Carlos.

I have made another Norwegian Christmas stocking from Arne and Carlos. I don’t know why the second one with the birds is bigger because I used the same exact knitting needles and the same yarn and I did the toe the exact same way and both of the stockings have the same number of stitches, so I don’t know why that one is bigger than the other, but I guess it doesn’t really matter.

In my previous post about the house stocking, I was saying that I did not like the toe nor did I like the heel, but it is growing on me. I wasn’t sure if I was going to do the same toe but it is in the instructions and I don’t want to veer away from that. So I just did the same thing with the birds and I’m working on their latest stocking which is a mystery stocking that they’re doing every day for November, from November 1st until November 25th, 2024. They’re giving you six rows a day, and when the stocking is finished, they will add the full pattern to their blog for free, and then in December it will go into their shop and you will have to pay for it. Most of their stocking patterns are $7, so I assume it will also be $7.

You can find them at http://arnecarlos.com and also you can find their YouTube channel with lots of knitting instructions.

I did buy a bunch of stockings on their website when they were on sale for $2.80, so I bought pretty much every stocking pattern that they have. There was one stocking that I did not buy because it had cars on it and I just don’t see myself making that for anyone.

There is enough yarn from one skein of each color to make these two stockings, and there’s still enough that I’m working on making a third stocking. So these stockings are actually a lot cheaper than I thought they would be to make. I like the green color that I’ve chosen as opposed to a darker green because I just feel like this lighter green gives it more of a vintage look.

The yarn was $5 each skein, and so far I have enough for three stockings, so that’s about $5 a stocking. The first stocking took me I believe 3 days to make and the second stocking took me a little longer because I had other things that I had to take care of. The stocking that I’m making now is going to take longer because they’re only releasing six rows at a time every day this month, but otherwise I’m sure it would have only taken me a couple days to make.

Because of this project that I’ve chosen to do at this very moment in time, I decided that I was going to also resume knitting my socks. I started making this pair of socks, I don’t even know how many years ago, and I didn’t finish it because the other two pairs of socks that I had made had holes in the bottoms and I started thinking what a waste of time that was making socks for them just to get holes in them. I told my aunt that and she said you know you can fix those and they are really easy to fix, so I thought well if I can fix them then I guess it’s not a waste of time. So I decided to continue making the socks. And since I finished making this pair, I started making the next design which I’ve already started and you can see in the left side of the image.

The sock yarn is called Premier sock yarn. It is really thin and they have so many different designs and I bought 8 different designs, and so far have made 3 pairs of socks. The top left, middle left and bottom middle are the ones I’ve made. Now I am making the top middle.

I decided that I will make the socks, but I won’t wear them unless it is a special occasion. This sock yarn cost me $8 a pair to make. They are $3.99 for just 1 skein which only makes 1 sock. That is a very good reason to only wear them on special occasions, because they are so expensive.

I’m not quite sure what I’m going to do with the stockings, but I’m sure I will figure it out. I think it would be nice to just hang them by the fireplace this Christmas just as decoration.

Christmas in July

On By Michel McDonaldIn craftsLeave a comment

Trim the Tree Stocking Counted Cross Stitch Kit
In 2010 I made some Christmas stockings for my life partner’s grand nephew’s Andrew, Jordan and Noah. Andrew and Jordan got the embroidered stockings and Noah got the felt stocking because he was a baby at the time and it was a baby stocking in my opinion.

These were all stocking kits that were given to me when a friend passed away. She was a hoarder who had TONS of craft supplies that she never used and held onto for decades. Those stocking kits (link above) were from the 1970’s and I’ve seen them recently on eBay for as high as $250 each. Not the felt one, but the embroidery stockings. I wanted to make Noah a more adult stocking in the same style, but I can’t seem to find any that I can afford, so I bought a counted cross stitch pattern instead.

I would much prefer to make the embroidered stocking like the one Andrew and Jordan have, because they are easy to make, but I will have to work with what I can afford in this case. So I sent my life partner an email with a link to a website called The Stitchery with the stockings in the search box, and he picked the one in the image at the top of this post. I think it’s a nice stocking for a child, but it doesn’t quite match the other 2 stockings, not that it has to match, but they are a family, and they should have stockings that sort of are in the same family of stockings. But, the stocking Noah has now isn’t in the same family as the embroidered stockings for Jordan and Andrew, so I guess it doesn’t matter anyway.

This stocking project will keep my brain busy and I won’t have any time to obsess over every little thing happening in the news that I see on Facebook, which is good because I’m close to having a nervous breakdown. Crafting calms my brain, and my heart, and I have high blood pressure so this will do the trick to keep me alive to see another day lol. Crafting has always been something that I’ve used to calm myself down. Everyone has their own coping mechanisms, this is mine lol.

Christmas Pictures

On By Michel McDonaldIn Holidays, PicturesLeave a comment

I am very happy today because a few days ago I found out that the person who had taken photos of Christmas lost his fanny pack which had his camera, wallet and 2 cell phones in it but someone else took pictures too.  She took them on a disposable camera so the quality of the photos isn’t as good as a digital camera but who really cares?  I got photos of me with the kids FINALLY!

On the left is baby Noah, in the middle is Andrew and on the right is Jordan then in the back is well, me…

I was really happy with the look on these kids faces when they found their stockings because even though they were empty, they didn’t care because they have a stocking with their names on them to use every year with a cool picture on them.  That was all that mattered to them.

Andrew was the first to find it.  I was watching him and he was ear-to-ear smiles and he was really excited about it.  Then he was yelling for Jordan to come see his and he was really excited too.

That’s what made it all worth it to me.  The months that I spent making them all boiled down to one thing, how the kids liked them.  It was worth all the numbness and pinching in my hands to see the looks on their faces when they saw them.

I hope they enjoy the stockings for many decades.  Except for Noah because his stocking is a baby stocking hehe.  I’m obviously going to have to find another stocking to make for him.

Additional pictures:

No Christmas Photos To Share

On By Michel McDonaldIn crafts, Holidays, PicturesLeave a comment

I am very sad to say that there will be no photographic memories of our time in San Diego for Christmas. I didn’t take any pictures but there were lots of pictures taken of me that are now gone.

Chips brother took all the pictures and I’ve been waiting for him to post them all on Facebook. I emailed him yesterday asking him if he could please post them so I can share them here but he responded to me by telling me that his fanny pack had been stolen. His fanny pack had his blackberry, wallet with credit cards and his camera.

I’m very sorry for him that he now has to replace all that stuff but unfortunately there is no way to replace pictures.

What kind of person steals your fanny pack 2 days after Christmas? And what kind of person doesn’t say “you know what, he may need this SD card back at the very least to keep his memories with him always?” then mail it to him with no return address. I mean really people, you’re just going to turn around and sell the camera, it won’t go down in value if it doesn’t have an SD card in it.

All I can do is describe some of the photos.

When I showed the stockings to him, he wanted me to pose in front of the tree with each stocking one by one then with all 3 and since I don’t have 3 hands I had to rest one on my chest and since it was felt, it stayed on my chest. That made everyone laugh.

Random pictures throughout 2 Christmas parties in 2 days.

When the kids saw their stockings under the tree they were very excited and they got their picture taken holding them. Then everyone wanted to get the picture of the kids with me since I made them so Jordan who is the oldest and who got the santa stocking stood to my left and Andrew who got the snowman stocking sat on my left leg while Noah who got the angel stocking sat on my right leg while I held him since he didn’t want to be there lol. All the stockings were being held up to show them and the 2 kids had a huge ear to ear smile on their faces.

That last picture was really the picture that I was going to post here but since it’s now in the hands of a thief, I can never share them. So thank you to the Grinch who stole my Christmas moment from me.

All 3 Stockings Finished

On By Michel McDonaldIn crafts, Friends and Family, Holidays1 Comment

I am beyond happy right now at this very moment because I finally finished the last stocking today. Well, I finished it yesterday but today was the daunting task of sewing all the pieces together to form actual stockings.

The Noah stocking was all felt that you cut out and sew sequins to and then stuff them as you sew them to the stocking. It was quick and easy and since he won’t be a baby for that long it’s more like his baby stocking. He won’t want this to be his stocking in his teens, trust me lol. I have more stockings that I can make that will be more grown up for him in his later years.

The Jordan and Andrew stockings are both by the same company and they are the same style of stocking, just different pattern obviously. The kits were so old that the yarn was constantly falling apart throughout the process. I had to take my sweet time with them to make sure I chose pieces of yarn that would work and not pull apart as soon as I yanked on it when embroidering them on.

Before this, I had no experience in embroidery. When I was 18 years old I bought some embroidery stuff and tried to learn but it was just too boring for me so I gave up before I could even learn. Now look at me.

Well, all I have to say is I hope these kids appreciate the work I put into making these stockings for them. They are probably too young to even tell the difference if I spent months on them or if I bought them at Wal-Mart lol. That’s ok, the adults know the difference and that’s all that matters. When the kids get older they will probably ask about them and then they will appreciate them a bit more.

Friends of the Snowman Stocking is Finished!

On By Michel McDonaldIn crafts, Friends and Family, HolidaysLeave a comment

I started making this earlier this year in May (you can see the date and time on the left) but halfway through making it I got bored with it because this was my 3rd stocking that I was making. So I figured, I still had about 7 months to finish it, I can certainly wait until November or early December to continue working on it.

I started working on it a few weeks ago but I could only do so much in one day because of my back. What I thought would only take me a couple of days to finish ended up taking a heck of a lot longer.

There are probably a few flaws in it like the fox’s mouth for example, I just could not get it right and that was my 5th attempt. I figure if this is the only way I can get it to look then so be it. I can’t make it any more perfect than that. After close examination of the picture I see that I missed a spot on the fox’s ear lol. I ran out of that color so I had to use the same color as the face. Screw it lol.

Tomorrow I will sew all the stockings to their felt backs then I will get another picture of all 3 of them together. I’m too tired to do that tonight because my back is absolutely killing me. I have one more day to go before time is up but I will get it done tomorrow.

Christmas Crafts

On By Michel McDonaldIn crafts, HolidaysLeave a comment

I was looking through a drawer today and came across some plastic canvas books that were given to me last year and there are 5 books with Christmas ornaments.

I’m going to try out some of the things that I have yarn for since I have a crap load of plastic canvas to work with but I don’t have the yarn to do everything.  Some of these need gold thread which I don’t have.

It’s not all plastic canvas though, there is 1 book with filet crochet projects like an angel that stands up (which means when you finish crocheting I guess you put glue on it so it stands up.  And there are stockings and ornaments which are both crocheted and knitted.

One of the things I think is cool are the 3D christmas trees.  One of them is furry so it looks really neat.  It has little miniature ornaments sewn into the tree.

If my Kodak all-in-one printer didn’t require ink to be able to scan then I’d have pictures available but I don’t have any ink right now.  Maybe once I get some things done or a bunch of things done I will take pictures and put them in the crafts section of my main website.

Safe Holidays

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, Holidays, PSPLeave a comment

I just wanted to wish everyone very safe holidays. There isn’t really much going on here. I’m knitting stockings for Christmas and I want to make some ornaments for the tree which by the way we haven’t decorated yet hehe. I put it up but it hasn’t been decorated.

I want to buy a PSP for myself because I deserve a treat, however, I can’t find one anywhere, not even on the internet. I don’t want a used one because my neighbor told me his has a virus, yes a virus. They can go to websites and you can catch a virus from a website so if you go to a website with a PSP you can get a virus and I’m sure used ones are at risk. I have a 50/50 chance of buying an infected PSP so I just feel I might as well buy a new one.

The Core ones which are $165 or something. The ones that come with a game are $199. I could buy a Nintendo DS but those don’t go to websites nor do they play movies or let you view your photos or work as a mp3 player. I also saw a PSP with GPS capabilities, I assume you can buy the GPS for any PSP. I will have to wait until after the holidays to try to buy one. I’m sure they will be on sale after Christmas and/or New Years Day.