Honestly, I tried to cut back on handmade gifts this year.

Of course, that turned out to be boring. So when, in mid-December, my grandmother told me that she was hosting a family gift exchange…

I made these. Hooray! It’s not Christmas without a last-minute project.

Last year, I… well, I started a small fire that happened to melt my mother’s old advent wreath. So I took some wool scraps from the Dorr Mill store and appliquéd her a new one:

One candle…

…five candles!

Hopefully, this wreath is less flammable.

We also had a solstice party. I made a Yule log.

The log appeared to be in an advanced state of decay, but taste tests were favorable. The meringue mushrooms received especially good reviews.

From my trusty bin of wool scraps, I whipped up some stockings for us and the pigs and tacked them to the wall:

It was a pretty sloppy effort, but the rodents in question were very excited to find parsley in their socks.

And last but not least, look what my significant other surprised me with: an antique reel!

From what we can tell, it probably dates to the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century, and was probably made in Quebec. Any opinions on the subject would be appreciated. Aside from two nails in what is an obvious repair job), the joinery is entirely wood pegs and mortise-and-tenon joints. The wood looks like pine.

Whatever its provenance, it’s in beautiful shape and makes a tidy skein. The reel now lives in our living room where I can admire it from my knitting chair.

I hope you all had a pleasant holiday, if you celebrate any, and that you have a happy 2015!