Christmas tree

Some time in late November I had a potentially dangerous brainwave: I would knit all or almost all the tree ornaments. If the tree were bigger, it wouldn't have been a brainwave but merely a masochistic plan, but in this case there were very serious advantages. First of all, we don't have any ornaments. Each year, we'd make up new decorations, which in past years meant basically a lot of chocolates. Secondly, I do have yarns in the stash that were either impulse buys (carrot-colored Cascade 220 Superwash - what was I thinking when I got it?), leftovers in odd quantities, home-dying experiments (just one, again, orange, and I've no clue why), and acrylic from my knitting beginnings. You can see those on the tree and they look really nice, if I may say so myself.

A few close-ups:

There's a lion on top!

Patterns:
Mini Lion by Aine Marriott
Owl Ornaments by Emily Kintigh
Holiday Bird Ornaments by Purl Soho

***
I like Christmas a lot and really appreciate the holiday-related knit-blogging and talking about knitting gifts. Katie from Hoxton Handmade created a great advent calendar by posting on her blog every day - fantastic and practical advice on how to approach Christmas knitting and survive it.

And I'm really grateful to the Yarn Harlot and to Truscaveczka for writing about the significance of the holiday to those of us who observe it while not being Christian.

Great reads from bloggers with a good sense of humor, which is the key to making the most of the holiday season regardless of your beliefs. It's a dark time here in the northern hemisphere and we need some laughs when we lack sunlight.