cheer

merry christmas
Originally uploaded by Needleworks, Inc..

Happy holidays to you and yours.

holiday cheer

homemade candy
Originally uploaded by Needleworks, Inc..

We chose not to bake cookies this year at The Works. Instead I took a page from Orangette and made some chocolates. The easiest thing in the world to make. Also, I can make it while I do other stuff. Love that.

I had to make two batches because me and Master P couldn't resist eating a lot of it on our own. One had dried cranberries, raisins, hazelnuts and almonds. One had dried cranberries, currants, hazelnuts and pistachos.

The holiday knitting is 90% done! I'm gonna finish it tonight after wrapping presents and while watching Season 4 of Angel on DVD. Whoo!

(Does anyone subscribe to Daily Candy? Did you catch the blatant reference to D*** In a Box from last week's SNL? So FUNNY!)

unexpected nature

new necklace
Originally uploaded by Needleworks, Inc..

This is my new favorite necklace, from Erica Weiner, which I found at Artists and Fleas in Brooklyn. All of her designs are made from found objects and inspired by nature. I love her because she told me it was a great piece for layering, say, with a sting of pearls - just how I would love to wear it.

If you could see more, you would see my Killer Zombie Moose t-shirt, which is really just an image of a moose skeleton. It was from recovered stock of shirts from a silk screening factory from the 80's and a gift from The Urban Natrualist.

Tonight was spent frantically knitting Christmas gift and making some very simple candy. More on that later....

the crafts will kill you

tree skirt
Originally uploaded by Needleworks, Inc..

This is my cute tree skirt and my super cute silver tinsel tree. My mom bought it for me at an post holiday sale at West Elm. It was originally almost $70 and we got it for, like, $5! Yay!

The skirt is just pink felt cut into the shape of my coffee table and the little circles are the bottom of my can of Cafe Bustello. I sewed on a few ribbons to tie it in the back and, voila, tree skirt!

Over the weekend, I was talking to my mom, who is the orignial Crafty, Make-Everything-By-Hand Lady, about all the holiday projects I still have to finish and she said, and I quote, "Be careful. The crafts will kill you."

I'm gonna put that on a t-shirt.

Baking cookies with my baba....

I hope everyone takes a moment this season to honor tradition and get in the spirit. I spent a lovely afternoon with the cool women in my family, baking cookies. I didn't take the time to come home last Christmas and bake with my family. This year I was reminded of just how important and, well, fun it is.

Enjoy!

what i do sometimes

bags at craft fair
Originally uploaded by Needleworks, Inc..

I started this blog when I entered the knitting community. Not a month after taking a job at a knitting store, I realized there was an entire universe out there where people who were just like me existed.

See, my whole life I never had a friend who liked to sew or knit or paint flowers on recyled chinese take out containers or decoupage old chairs that they found on the curb. The friends I had, I suspect, thought I was a little weird and wondered why I spent time trying to make a dress when I could just go out and buy one.

But then I heard that one of my customers had a blog. "What exacty is a blog?" I wondered. And then I saw one. And another. And another. I fell into a whole world of people who decoupage chairs and who look at things and, more often than not, think, "I can make that," rather than, "I will buy that."

So, before I even knit, I sewed. Not that I'm an expert, but my mom always sewed and it was the first thing I learned how to do. Way before knitting. And I've been making handbags for people for, oh, maybe 8 years or so.

And so last weekend I went to the craft fair where I sell my handbags every year. (You may remember seeing this fabric before.) I thought I'd give you a little peek.

After this weekend, I intend to update my etsy shop. It's been up for a while but I've kept it under wraps because I wasn't 100% thrilled with my "inventory", but I'll update the most recent bags (which I am happy with and which I think are kind of cute) and then it'll be all up and running.

Shazam!