Christmas in July

Procrastination, anyone?

Here are some Christmas presents I made this year, that I guess have taken a while to post about. Yeah, that's how I roll.

I decided to do sets of crocheted coasters as gifts last year, with varying color schemes personalized for each recipient. Each coaster would have a solid color base and a crocheted lace doily applique of a unique pattern which were adapted from various snowflakes I found around books and the internet; adapted enough to not look too seasonal. The yarn I purchased was acrylic for the base and cotton for the applique, so entirely machine washable, and heat tested to make sure they had no problems with hot mugs. Then I found little metal tins which would hold each set.

White on beige for my father and stepmother, since it's a classical color scheme she prefers.

White on blue for my aunt and uncle, since blue is her favorite color.

Red on black for my grandparents. I inherited my preference of red from my grandmother, who takes her love to a marvelous degree. These would fit right in with her decor.

A marvelous success! They turned out just as I had hoped.

A brand new person to make stuff for!

Congratulations Susan and Eric! My nephew James Kelley Laird was born on Monday, May 9th at 7:14 am, and was 7 lbs 9 oz.

Now I know you must be thinking, "Holly, you must have been working on making baby things for MONTHS by now! There's no way they'll all fit in this blog!!" Well, unfortunately you are incorrect. I've been crazy-busy with studying for finals and rehearsing for the opening of the most amazing musical ever, so I arrived in New Jersey for my first visit with James without a stitch to show for him.

A mistake which was quickly remedied.

Eric had wanted to do a plaster impression of his tiny little baby feet, so we got to work on that.

Now James isn't much of a complainer, but he certainly squirmed a fair amount, and even with his big brother Greg's help, the footprints got a bit smudged.

We poured the plaster of paris over the gel mold of his tiny-winy-wibby-wubby feet (I couldn't resist just one ridiculous baby-talk-extravaganza), and then we waited. And then my materials engineer brother realized that plaster and ceramic are far too similar to enable an easy separation of their interface. Whoops.

So after many, many hours of Eric scouring the edge of the plaster with toothpicks, we were able to extract the mold, and enjoyed the results! Huzzah!

Eric has decided to tell James, when he's old enough to wonder why his left foot looks weird, that he had a club foot and required extensive surgery to look like a normal human being. This strangely enough reminded me of stories my dad would tell me when I asked him probing questions. Clearly Eric is already showing signs of great paternal aptitude.

Then I proceeded to crochet James a monkey hat and a pair of baby boxing gloves. You know, I never really played with dolls when I was a kid. I have decided that this is probably because dolls don't make the incredible squirms and grimacing faces when you wake them up from their nap to play dress-up and do photo shoots.

I love you, James!!!