Forgive me but....

It's beginning to look a heck of a lot like Christmas around here.

I know, I know. I can hear you saying "But Amanda! Thanksgiving is TOMORROW! Don't be one of "those" people"!

Well...I've been living & breathing Christmas cross stitch patterns since August and we KNOW August is too early to share things of red & green nature.

Christmas is very low on my favorite holidays list. Halloween would be first (does that surprise you?), Valentine's Day second and Christmas falling around number 30. I don't even know 30 holidays off the top of my head, but Christmas is that low on the list. Sooooo if I'm feeling festive, I have to jump into it ok?

Here are Christmas-y things that I'm excited about:

Gingerbread Lane! AHHH! Part two! Part TWO! Gingerbread men having snowball fights! The most tacky house on the block with a giant glowing Noel sign!

The 12 Days of Christmas launches this week. I stitched the sample and o m g is it CUTE! It's very warm and traditional but with Ashleigh's kawaii spin on it.

We will be having an after Thanksgiving sale! All weekend long! Make sure you "like" us on facebook so you can get the promo code.

I absolutely positively will not be mall shopping this weekend. I plan on stay very cozy at home & online shopping. My plans this weekend involve the Dr. Who special (don't tell me anything!), knitting Christmas socks, reading and keeping an eye on the shop.

Christmas socks!

Ok so I have one done, I'm using Poste Stripe, Humbug AZ. After seeing The Knit Girllls mention Fish Lips Kiss Heel, I thought I'd try it.

And it is FUN! It's $1 for the PDF which I have mixed feelings about. I truly believe that people should be paid for their work and this PDF is HUGE. Like, this should be $5-7. She made freaking video tutorials and tells you from start to finish how to make awesome fitting socks. And, when I had a question she emailed me back right away. If you want to try a new heel or knitting socks, this is definitely a good pattern. I had to watch the videos a few times, it's not hard- I'm just kind of slow at learning new things. And it fits great! I just hate seeing people work hard and not get paid what they are worth!

AND THEN!

I found this girl's ravelry page. Be prepared to drool over absolutely gorgeous sock photos. Seriously. How does she make yarn and socks glow? I'm not sure but I'm a huge fan. I took the plunge and bought my first skein of Socks That Rock Mediumweight in a color called "Holiday Inn". I know Michele and Ashley have made cute stuff with it and I really like their projects and then seeing Gail's photos just threw me over the edge. Seriously. I was so excited to see my skein looked EXACTLY how it did online, this rarely happens to me! It's the most beautiful blues, into ice colors into rich reds. It's intense. My plan is to make a pair of monkey socks because my pair is looking rough because I wear them ALL the time. More than I should admit to wearing per week probably. ;)

I've been on a bag sewing kick, I found this etsy shop, JAM PACKED full of kawaii Christmas fabric so I bought a few fat quarters. Can we talk about how much I love online shops that will cut fat quarters? I don't need a ton of fabric and rarely can justify buy bigger cuts so fat quarters = best. I made myself a scrappy drawstring pouch, it has boxed corners on the bottom so it'll stand up, with a traditional block called "Christmas Pine" (I found it in EQ7), it's 7 inches finished and then I just used up some scraps to make it bigger.

That gingerbread fabric? Um yeah. I begged Ashleigh to design some gingerbread man fabric for me to match gingerbread lane. I'm so in love!!!! But she got a Christmas project bag too, so don't think I force her to do my bidding always ;)! It's hard to tell but I used Sulky Holoshimmer thread to top stitch both bags, they have glitter linen in them. My featherweight will sew with metallic thread like a champ! High 5!

One more thing, that Christmas quilt in the background? It's by Audrie and it's my most favorite thing EVER EVER EVER.

Ok, I have to go to Chico today and I need to wash my hair. Let's talk about long hair in the winter: it turns out you have to blow dry it so you don't freeze. ;) Girl problems right?

I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow! :):)