After I completed the last batch of autumn colored acorns I vowed to put away my tiny crochet hook and get busy making my holiday gifts. Well, that vow lasted for about a month until my girlfriend Carmelita Fantastica joined me at my house for an afternoon of movies and crafting. I pulled out my bag of oddball yarns to make her some acorns while we enjoyed watching Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.
By the time all of the brides were married to the brothers I had completed a nice little assortment of acorns for her to take home. Unfortunately, I got addicted again to making what has got to be the crack cocaine of the crafting world. So I spent the next couple of days making up another pile o' acorns but this time in festive christmasy colors.
Once again I couldn't stop at making a half a dozen or so. I began to worry when the pile grew to fifteen and by the time I made twenty eight I knew that I had to put away the hook or I'd be lost forever.
I do believe that I had even more fun making these ones than the last batch. Probably because it was all snowy outside and the bright festive colors were such a feast for the eyes. The bright red acorns are made from some stunning hand dyed sock yarn that was leftover from a pair of sympathy socks that my sister
Brenda knit for me after I broke my neck last year. I absolutely love the socks but that yarn is so incredibly scrumptious. I am going to try really hard to not unravel the socks so that I can have more of that yarn to play with.
This time around I used a darning needle to poke a tiny hole in the acorn cap to add a wee eye pin so that I could hang the acorns.
I never thought it was possible, but I began to run out of acorn caps. I have collected so many of them over the years that I was sure that I had a lifetime supply. Since the ground is frozen and covered with a blanket of snow there will be no more acorn cap gathering until next year. I am not sure what I am going to do when Valentine's day rolls around and I want to make pink and red acorns. And what about springtime acorns in lovely robin's egg blue? I am going to have to find someone who lives in a snow free world and who is willing to hunt and gather for me.
So how is everyone's holiday crafting going? What projects are you frantically working on in order to get them done by Christmas? I hope that everyone in having a festive holiday season and is managing to keep the holiday stress level down to a manageable level. I am trying to enjoy more and stress less about the whole thing. So far so good.....
This antique tinsel tree is a vintage family heirloom that has been passed down for generations to the third daughter of the first son of each Ehlers family for as long as anyone in my family can remember. It was lovingly brought from Germany by my immigrant ancestors who traveled by boat to America in search of a new life and new opportunities. Even when times were tough and my penniless ancestors almost starved on the mean streets of New York, they never ever sold the tree. 
Ahahaha! Gotcha!!! I totally made all that nonsense up. The sepia photo of the 'vintage' tinsel tree is courtesy of Photoshop. I'm not sure who those immigrants are, but I am pretty sure that my ancestors would be the sort of people that would sell not only their tinsel tree but their children as well for a hot bowl of soup. 
In reality, this hideous lime green holographic tinsel tree was purchased last week at Micheal's. It came pre strung with Grinch green lights and when I saw it, I just about died. Be still my heart, it was one 0f the most hideously wonderful things that I had ever seen and I knew that I had to have it for the kitsch factor alone. Thankfully it was on sale and marked down quite a bit because for some strange reason no one wanted to buy them! It also came in barbie doll pink, put I opted for the grinch green one. When I took it from it's box, Adrian's first words were "Oh......My". But I do think that it's growing on him. When the heat comes on in our house it blows on the tree and the tinsel shimmers and flutters.
It's only four feet tall and in no way will it replace the lovely fragrant live tree that we get every year. It's more of an addition to our existing holiday decor. I am not sure how I want to decorate it yet. It completely clashes with my naturey Christmas theme that I have going on in my house. Lime green holographic tinsel does not go particularly well with pine cones, acorns, greenery and mushroom birds. I think it needs a theme of it's own. Maybe I'll make up a bunch of kitschy vintage ornaments for it. It's bare nekkid right now with nothing but a length of neon green 'Cat in the Hat' fabric to adorn it's base. Does anyone have any good decorating ideas?
