Autumn Creativity!

Projectitis is beginning again in earnest.
I've begun crocheting a hat out of to die for soft alpaca yarn in a pretty cornflower blue that my husband's grandmother got me one year for Christmas, and I've been hanging onto it, waiting for the perfect small project (I only have one skein) to use it on.
Since I finally figured out that my favorite hat was crocheted, not knitted, replicating the pattern has been simple, and I'm thrilled by the results. I've even edited it a little bit. As soon as I finish, I promise to post pictures.

I've also gotten excited about Christmas stockings again. Several years ago, I made a couple dozen very unique stockings, out of fun co-ordinating non-holiday materials. The pattern is one I created myself, with a very exaggerated funky foot shape and wilde embellishments. They're super-fun and a great way to use up leftover fabrics. I made one this weekend, and have another cut out, ready to sew. I'm just struggling with a way to make them hold their shape when hanging. I could always stuff them with some filler, but that's not my favorite solution. I'm thinking I need to make them a lot more finished, lining them and adding some of that stiff stuff in between the lining and outer shell. It's just a bit of a pain to do that, for something that's just a holiday decoration.

The purse making stopped; I guess I got tired of them. Partly. The other part is that the nice magnetic snaps are so expensive, and other snaps pull out to easily. I have a bunch of purses here at home that need to be fixed because the snaps pulled out, and they're not fixed yet, because the nice snaps are too pricey. I was hoping to find a good place to buy them in bulk, but so far I've had no luck with that. So the motivation on the couture clutches has petered out.