Christmas Miscellany

Where to begin? I'll show you some of the market faces, friends with whom I sell stuff each week. Here are Kip and Pat, good buddies all around. They both sell baked goods.

And meet Geri and Christine. Geri sells hand-sewn aprons. Christine sells fresh produce and jellies.

Joe and Phyllis moved to town this past year. She makes biscotti doggie treats, and purses from cigar boxes.

Jacob and Candice sell pork products. We call them "the kids" - haha!

Julia was sleepy at the market, in spite of coffee.

This is Lily, the great dane, sporting a nice bandana.

Several puppies came to market with Santaware on their backs.

Geri made these adorable doggie bandanas with velcro closures. This one looks so good on Sophie, Joe and Phyllis's dog. Sophie is a particularly good dog because her mommy makes the doggie biscotti. All the dogs in town love her market table and sit pretty when they come by.

Everybody's favorite beagle came to visit us too. He was banging away at Joe and Phyllis's table, greeting everyone.

I couldn't resist a picture of Jennifer behind her husband's sign. Who's the local honey?

A local store always has fun comments for the passing public!

I sang with a small a cappella ensemble at the Episcopal church. One of our members, "Wick," played Santa and read "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" for everyone. He's a natural!

This house in town caught my eye. I like their blue shutters. Their wreaths, instead of being green, are made of grapevines. Isn't that a nice idea for Christmas?

This farmhouse is just down the street from us. Can you see, in the foreground, the large ornaments hanging in midair? They dangle them from the pecan trees in the front yard. They're very impressive (but hard to photograph).

It is the South, you know, so we must have something nice blooming outdoors at Christmas. Some yards are chock full of paper whites, like this one.

I promised an update on the stocking project that I posted about. Here's the finished stocking:

It doesn't look too bad, until you compare it directly to the original I was using as a model. I had difficulty making an exact replica without a written pattern. The pattern tells you so much ... like what kind of yarn to use, what size needles to use, when and how to increase or decrease. I was kind of knitting in the dark, as it were.

I was reasonably pleased with the stocking body, but the lettering Gave. Me. Fits. I could not make the original lettering type work on this yarn. It looked horrific when I tried. So I had to resort to inventing my own lettering, which was almost equally horrific.

And, to make it even worse, after I'd done her name on one side, and her birth year on the opposite side, I discovered I'd put them on the wrong sides, when hung from a chimney mantle next to all the other family stockings. Sigh!!! I had no time left to pick out the name and year and swap them, so I had to leave it as it was. This so often occurs when doing handwork.
I was not entirely pleased, but I had less than adequate time, materials, and instructions, so I must be content with what it is. The young man seemed pleased with it. Thankfully, he won't inspect it as closely as one does who fiddles with the yarn for that many hours.
It was recommended that I post photos of this stocking at my market table and take orders for stockings for next Christmas. I'm wondering ... I probably worked on this single stocking for about 15 hours, at least! How can you ever recoup that time expense? I think those hours would be better spent making scarves and smittens that sell quickly for as much, and are swift to produce.
I have a backlog of photos to post and things to say. Later, friends!