2nd Day of Sock Yarn

On the Second Day of Sock Yarn, Simply Sock Yarn gave to me...

a protoype colorway of Pagewood Farms Alyeska!

To enter this contest, simply answer this question in the comments below:

Do you decorate for this time of year?  And if so, what decorations are special to you?  Your fake silver tree with retro ornaments?  A cherished menorah?

I decorated many of these wreaths for our old house, and when we moved here last year, I was very happy thatthey fit well on our new windows.  It made thenew house feel like home right away.  Now, if I could only find time to finally knit the stockings I've been planning for 5 years...

 

Want to see read the details of the 12 Days of Sock Yarn?  Click here.
 

*Later today I'll be posting the information about the newest Sock Yarn Club.  I had a really hard time narrowing down the dyers to just three like I usually do, so the theme of this club allows for a fourth special dyer.  If you are on the newsletter list, you'll also learn about sign ups, which I'll try and keep open through the end of the year.  But, as you know, the spaces do sell quickly and because the yarn is hand dyed, I have to limit the numbers to a reasonable amount for the dyers.

 

Comments

[Malin]

Oh, very pretty yarn, I'd love to win that!

I do decorate for Christmas, a bit at least. The most important things are the electric candles in the windows. And a real live Christmas tree (no plastic for me)

[susan]

We used to have a real christmas tree in our huge Victorian house, it just seemed the right thing to have. Also having varnished floor boards meant that pine needles were not a problem.
Then we moved house.
We are now in a 1970s bungalow with low ceilings and I did not want pine needles all over the brand new carpets. So I got a white Christmas tree, and it's festooned in baubles, some hand made, and lots bought, but the pride and joy are three a bit worn glass birds that we had when I was a child. I've inherited them and they will be passed on.

[natalie]

I would have to say it's never really feels decorated to me until the tree is up. We always get a real tree the weekend after Thanksgiving.. My children are 21, 15, and 13 and it's still a "decorating party" when we put on the lights and play the Christmas music. I just love the smell of the tree and turning off the house lights and looking at my tree with the clear lights and tons of ornaments..

[Kathryn Sigman]

I have saved every ornament my three boys have made or were given to them! We decorate the tree the night before Christmas Eve and talk about every ornament that goes up. This year we'll be adding ornaments for my twin granddaughters!

[Jen]

I do a little but my favorite decoration is a beautiful gold and ivory colored nativity scene my sister gave me.

[Susan]

The ornaments for my Christmas tree are my favorites. Each year when I take them out of the box, I remember when I got them and who gave them to me.

[Sarah Otley]

We don't decorate at home. We spend Christmas visiting family so we enjoy the decorations there. What I enjoy most though, is walking home from work in the dark and looking at all the beautiful lights that our neighbors have. Its especially magical when there is snow.

[Sara Lee Albright]

I don't decorate much, but I have always hung small ornaments that have a photograph of my cats who have passed away ...... this year I have two ornaments, but also one very beautiful, very sweet LIVE cat ! Let me tell you, Santa Claws lives !

[Jaimi]

We haven't been decorating much lately (small apartment, not really any place to put a tree), but lately I've been making sure to have a pine-scented candle open on the mantle, so it at least *smells* like Christmas. We do tape cards we receive around the doorway though.

[dana]

Have to decorate for the little ones. I relinquished my OCD hold on the tree and let the daughter do it herself this year. She is almost 9 so she did a pretty good job. I have a few glass ornaments that we got the year she was born that are special to me. I don't have any favorites, but I fondly remember the silver aluminum tree from my childhood, that we put turquoise ornaments on , in three sizes, largest at bottom to smallest at top, and then the tree rotated in its stand AND we had a colorwheel that projected colors on it so it went red blue green orange purple. Wow, that thing was fantastic!!

Dana

[April]

I usually do some decorating and knit a few Christmas ornaments for friends and myself. This year, I'm moving, so there won't be much decorating. There are still a lot to be made though. :)

[Nancy N]

My favorite decorations are the handmade stockings we hang over the fireplace. The first ones were made in 1975, and the collection has grown as has the family. They are filled happy memories. Also, they only take a minute to hang--instant Christmas spirit.

[Sally]

My favorite decorations and ornaments are the ones handmade or given to me by my 2 daughters or by my students. After 32 years of teaching there are a lot of them!! I remember each student with fond memories as I decorate with their ornaments.

[Abby]

Decorations in my house are minimal since the kids are grown, but for some reason I am itching for a tree this year.

[Susan]

We bought our very first, full-size tree this year, for the first time, ever. It makes me so happy to see it every time I come home from work!

[Mary A]

Our Christmas tree has many handmade items, then many red, gold , silver and white store bought. The latest handmade are Santa's tiny clothes left on the tree, I made several sets as special gifts.

[Pamela]

We haven't really decorated this year. We put up the tree with all the lights but it has no decorations on it. I dream of a day when I will have my own home and I will decorate it so much people will think Santa threw up on my house!

[Carla in MT]

I don't decorate as much as I used to. Our schedules keep us busy, and it just doesn't get done. But my favorite decorations are the painted tin ornaments fm Germany on the tree!!

[Lorise]

We have a living tree that is very Charlie Brownish that we bring inside every year and decorate. That's about it.

[Marianne C]

I do decorate but not like i did when my daughter was a little one!

[Tracey]

We have an odd tradition- A big tree with elaborate ornaments mostly focused around The Nutcracker with a Star of David as a topper! Mixed cultures make for interesting Holiday traditions!

[Kathy]

No, we haven't been decorating for the past few years. One of our cats got into everything. Unfortunately, he died suddenly on September 24. So I could decorate. I just haven't got back into the mood yet. But I do love Christmas.

[Deborah]

I have a tree I bought the first year I was in my house (almost 18 years). We saw it at the mall and it was like $1200 if they came and set it up in your house. It was Dec 23 and they were packing up the shop so I asked them how much that tree would be with all the decorations. They told me to come back in 30 minutes. When I returned they told me I could have for $150 if I helped pack it up. It was an incredible deal and is still one of the prettiest trees I have ever seen.

[5elementknitr]

We have the special ornaments that the kids made - they are my favorites!

[Bertha]

I didn't decorate much until I had my daughter, and now we decorate. She's going to be 3 in January so this is the first year where she really "gets" Christmas so we're trying to make it special for her. Took her to pick out the tree, let her decorate it, hung up all the stockings and some other decorations...it's super fun for her!

[Sue]

We have a real live tree, recycled for a few years now, but it won't come into the house until just before Christmas, and will stay 'til New Years. Usually some lights go up outside, and a wreath on the door. Inside, an assortment of Christmas quilts and kniciknacks and plenty of music.

[Tracy]

I can't wait to put out my snowmen ornaments every year. I would keep them out all year, but my teenagers get mad...so as soon as December hits, out come the snowmen :-)

[Gretchen]

My favorite Christmas decorations are the series of handmade ornaments with my name on them that my great-aunt gave to us each year as children. And now they delight my children!

[Linda B]

I love to decorate my tree with all the collections that have accumulated over the 37 years we've been married and of course, the hand made ones from my children and friends. However, last Monday I fell while on my "exercise" walk and broke my knee, so my decorating this year is limited to what I put up last Sunday, namely, my husbands' favorite nutcrackers, nestled in a cloud of snow and the fireplace mantle decorated with a retro wreath and glass vases filled with colored balls to match the colors in the wreath.

[Joyce]

Yes, I do some decorating. Nothing really outside except for an old red sled and some ice skates for on my front porch. The one thing I really cannot do without decorating-wise is a 'real' Christmas tree. I've collected lots of glass ornaments over the years and it is a real delight for me to unwrap them each year and put them on the tree. Each year I buy at least one new ornament.

[Jan]

My most special decorations are the ones my children made in school or bought for me at the schools Jingle Bell shop. They are all grown up now and it touches my heart when I take out their "treasues" and put them on the tree or sit them on the mantle.

[sprite]

We get a real tree. I have ornaments from my childhood, including handmade ones from Sunday school, handcrafted ones from my grandparents and great-grandparents (the clothespin Playboy bunny always gets a laugh from my friends), and special ones bought for me (like the sled from my first-grade teacher). I also have some from my college years as well as ones that Rudi and I have collected since graduation.

Decorating the tree is a true trip down memory lane.

[Toby]

We didn't decorate the last couple of years because we were traveling too much. Almost all of my ornaments were given to me over the years so they are all special, but one that stands out lately isn't an ornament - it's a sparkly gold reindeer. Very retro. We had one when I was a kid and no one knows what happened to it. A couple years ago some friends gave me their gold reindeer and I truly cherish it.

[Diane]

I have a small silver menorah on my fireplace and a somewhat good size apothacary jar with my collection of dreidels in it.

[Susan]

You bet we decorate. As little as a small tree or as much as the entire house. How much goes up depends on the number of EMS shifts I have during the season. I enjoy the visual decorations, but even more love the auditory decorations of Christmas Music throughout the house!

[Versailles-rose]

Until we got our Border Collie-mix we had a big tree every year. Unfortunately, Pepper is a very active, super busy dog, so we have a table-top, fiber optic type tree instead. That way, we have a cute, cheesy Christmas Tree, and Pepper can't rearrange the decorations.

[knitopia]

I don't decorate much. I'm still not done moving around and don't want to schlep Christmas decorations around the country.

[Betty]

I like the outside lights the best. In fact, that's pretty much all we've done so far this year. The tree is up, but we haven't put the ornaments on it yet.

[Sue]

We recycle a real live tree, but it won't come in the house 'til just before Christmas, and will stay for New Years. Usually a few lights outside, and a wreath on the door. I also have cozy Christmas quilts, wall hangings and various knickknacks.

[Caroline Hopkin]

We have a lovely glass menorah in shades of clear, blue and green-blue glass. It reflects thd light beautifully. And I set the table with special gold and blue linens and blue glass dishes. Hanukkah is a great time of year for us. All the lights make the room seem so soft and warm.

[rasa chambers]

Yes, I decorate. My husband and I were married in 1977. Since that year, I've added a new dated ornament for our tree every year...I've got quite a collection:)

[Sue]

Apologies for 'double posting' ...... it's too early in the morning, not enough coffee yet.....

[Paulette]

When our daughter was young we always used to go and cut down a tree, but as winters got colder and snowier we got an artificial tree several years ago. It still looks great! We have an eclectic collection of ornaments (birds, dogs, a cow--we live in WI, a fish--ditto, horses, Green Bay Packers along with more traditional ones!). Love them all!! I love putting out our nativity sets, one of them we got right after our wedding, 37 years ago. It's my favorite. It's so colorful having the house decorated---looks pretty dull after it's all gone in January, when things are pretty dull looking outside. Very cheerful having the house decorated!

[Evie]

We love to decorate but ours are a hodge podge of decorations from years past, things the kids made and gifts we have been given. We enjoy the stories we share when we unwrap each decoration again each year.

[Julia]

Such a pretty yarn indeed... Would love to try it.

I do have a few special, sentimental ornaments, but for the past few years I have not really decorated the house.

[Alyssa]

I decorate for Christmas and love it! My mom always had us wait until the first weekend of December, but now, out on my own with my own family, I have moved that up to the weekend after Thanksgiving. While we haven't done a real tree the last couple years (puppy + baby + tree = giant stress)I still hang garland on everything and little holiday knick knacks are on all the shelves. This year I knit us all stockings. I love this time of year!

[Lynn]

We decorate for the holidays! Nothing that we have now is special to me - they're all just ornaments accumulated over the past 5 years or so, nothing with important memories attached. I guess we're working on those. :)

[Rachel]

I try to hold off putting up a tree until the week before Christmas. My two littles can get overcharged on Christmas very early and wear out my 'Christmas spirit' way before Christmas. Most of the ornaments don't have any meaning, they were just scrounged up one year to fill the tree. My favorite thing is having 2 strands of lights, one clear and one multicolored.

[Jennifer D]

I don't have a tree anymore since I live in a postage stamp sized apartment with a crazy cat, but I do put up LOTS of lights!

[Janelle]

In recent years I've added some wonderful handknit decorations. A dear friend knit 4 Christmas stockings for our family, which take center stage on our fireplace mantel. I knit an i-cord Christmas tree garland from white eyelash style yarn (you probably can't find that anymore!) and I have a growing collection of knit and crocheted ornaments. We also have a quilted Advent calendar that my mom made. Handmade holidays are extra special!

[Morgan]

This is my first Christmas living with my boyfriend, and even though we're going to visit our parents for the actual Christmas Day, we bought a really small tree (~2.5 ft) and put lights up all over the apartment... it makes it really feel like it's our home!

[Carole]

Lots of decorating here!Lights in the windows and in the bushes, greens, snowmen and of course a Christmas tree.

[Tammy]

We decorate the tree with colored lights and an assortment of ornaments from dh and my childhood, and we purchase a new ornament every year for each of the kids since their first Christmas. We have the nice 5 year plan of My 1st Christmas up to my 5th Christmas then we let the kids pick after that. It makes for an interesting assortment of ornaments, ie Disney princesses, Winnie the Pooh, Luke Skywalker, and Thomas the Tank Engine. :)

I also decorate a small creche that I received after my grandma died in 2005. I love it! It has pieces from all over Asia. I have another plastic (probably full of lead paint) nativity scene that my mom bought for me when I was about 5 and had to spend a week or so before Christmas in the hospital. I "think" I went home for Christmas, but I don't remember.

[babyface]

I can't decorate anymore because I am too
ill but when I did put my tree up my favorite decorations were the ones that my
grandchildren made for me. While they were
not as grand as the ones that had been
purchased, they meant more to me and they
were beautiful.

[Gabriele]

I decorate with items I have quilted and stockings that I have knit.

[Marguerite]

We live way out in the country and have our Christmas celebration at relatives, so I don't decorate much. Some years not at all.

Some of our neighbors put lights on their tall pine trees (how do they do that?) and I love seeing lights that I don't have to put up and take down in the icy cold.

[ikkinlala]

We put up a real tree, and we always go get our own from the bush (not from a tree lot). I usually enjoy finding the tree more than I enjoy decorating it.

[Jenn]

We decorate a Christmas tree every other year. This is tree year. I'm looking forward to seeing all the beautiful ornaments my mom made! That and I love the lights.

[Bev]

I do decorate for Christmas, but not as much as I used to. We usually travel for the holiday so we're not home much to enjoy elaborate decorations.

[Gretchen]

Our tree gets smaller every year but I still love putting up the decorations that I purchased and my sister in law gifted us from Germany. They are beautiful wooden pyramids and doppellswibbogens for the window sills...very festive.

[Kirsten]

I have this decoration from my childhood that features santa on a wire stick surrounded by a bunch of balls on sticks. Very retro 70's, but it brings back great memories!!

[Jennifer]

We have a wreath up, mostly because we bought it as a donation to a good cause. We don't decorate, but we don't host - every house we go to for the holidays does decorate though. Next year I hope to have made stockings for everyone, so those will go up :)

[Molly Johnson]

we do decorate, but just a little bit. We will put up a small tree and have the girls decorate it with their ornaments. I also have a candle/wind chime thing. Not sure wha to call it, but the heat from the candles makes the angels go around and make music. I remember it from when I was little and I just LOVE being able to share it with my kids.

[Nathan]

I used to always do a real tree.... I grew up with them, and we always disdained the fake ones. You just can't fake the smell and the ambiance of a real tree. These days, the most I do is a wreath, but I still like it to be real. I really love seeing decorations, but time and money are restricted.

[Marina McIntire]

Well, yeah! We do decorate. My favorites are the walnut shells I did so many years ago, when we were very poor. Carefully cracked the walnuts open, removed the meat, and glued them back together, with a bit of white yarn for a hanger. Then I sprayed the nutshells gold. By now, they're pretty drab and a bit sorry (it's been nearly 40 years!), but I still have a soft spot for them.

[Bobbi]

My favourite part of decorating is getting the tree in the house and how it smells; and our favourite ornaments are the dated ones; one for each of the Christmases my husband and I have been together since we first met.

[Billie Kretzschmar]

I do decorate. My favorite ornaments are some colors glass ornaments like my Mom used to hang.

Billie

[Cynthia Landers]

I decorated to the hilt this year. Every decoration is out. Usually I travel to family for Christmas but this year I'm staying home. The most treasured among my decorations are a foil tree top angel mom bought for $3.00 57 or 58 years ago. Dad thought that was an extravagant amount of money back then. I think my mom got her monies worth on that one. She still looks good!!!!

[Sarah]

I don't decorate much but I always put a wreath on my door, have a few candles around, and hang up my holiday cards. Most years I've had a tree, but this year I'm going away for Christmas so won't have one.

[Laurie]

I have a HUGE (I mean HUGE!) collection of Hallmark ornaments dating back to 1983 which I adore, as well as some beautiful blown glass ornaments from Germany which I decorate my tree with. I love it!

[Syd]

We do decorate, but less then we use to. I love my old glass orniments shaped like pinecones. And the lace snowflakes I tatted about 30 years ago.

[Elizabeth]

My mother can't seem to stop giving me little plush holiday critters in my stocking, so I'm attached to all my little stuffed reindeer, penguins, snowmen, etc. that decorate my windowsill.

[Ariana]

Just because I celebrate Winter Solstice doesn't mean I was raised doing so... My parents always made a big to-do over decorating the tree. As an adult, and Pagan, I still wanted some of the fun of having a tree, but I don't want to kill one to have that aspect to celebrate.

This year it's a bit out of reach, but usually I buy a bonsai tree every year and we decorate that with mini ornaments and set it on a high shelf, gifts and stockings piled beneath it. Imagine a fully decorated tree with only a 2 foot strand of garland needed! :D

[tami]

We don't decorate too much here. Too many years working in retail.
A wreath on the door and a tablecloth.
no room for a tree.

[Kathy N]

I just finished putting up my collection of wooden Santas that I have painted throughout the years! Those santas, and the ornaments the kids have made for the tree, are the most special to me!

[Liz]

I decorate a little bit, but we've just started our collection. A few strings of lights, a table-top tree with a couple ornaments. I have a box of heirloom ornaments that will probably come to us eventually - maybe the first time my new husband and I host Christmas. :)

[Jo]

After all my Christmas decorations were stolen from my storage locker several years ago, a friend gave me a tiny (2") ceramic tree to put up for Christmas. Now, even in years when I don't have space for a real tree I put up my little tiny tree. And, in years that I travel during the holidays, it's small enough to pack into a shoe and take with me.

[Andy]

Beautiful yarn! And what a great contest!

We decorate with wreaths and greenery and we have a little stand that holds 8 ornaments. We put up different special ones each year.

[Ann]

My favorite decorations are the ornaments for my tree - all of which are handmade by friends or realtives. Each year when I get them out I enjoy the memories of all these people.

[Maggie]

We definitely don't do as much decorating as when the children were small, but we always put up a real tree. Each year, we get each of the kids a new ornament so that when they are out on their own they have a starting point for their own decorating. The rest of our ornaments are a combination of older things from the family and handmade-felt, knitted and painted ornaments.

[Michele]

I also never decorated much - just very simply (more fresh boughs and simple hand made ornaments). I always felt that Christmas was about Christ's birth, so I tried to focus on that but still give my children a sense of wonder and peace and laughter during the season.

[Ruth]

In the past few years we've gone "green" meaning we go to a Christmas Tree farm and ride on a trailer drawn by an old tractor to pick out the perfect tree and then my husband or son cuts it down. It's great family time. So far, the tree only has an angel on top, 2 ornaments and twinkling lights. We seriously need to get some more ornaments on it but because of kitty we'll wait a few more days. Kitty's been the demise of many pretty ornaments.

[Deborah Fillmer]

I haven't decorated in years. The most we do is put a wreath on the front of the truck. On the other hand, we do have icicle lights on our patio all year, think "Jimmy Buffet"...

[Barbara]

Yes, I always decorate, stockings are hung that I cross stitched, the tree is up and probably 40% are hand made. On the coffee table is a snow scene with santa in a sleigh. Outside is santa on a motorcycle, wreaths on the balcony and lights on the fence with lighted candy canes.

[Marti Keefe]

We have a creche that was my husband's when he was a little guy. It's very old, with plaster of paris figurines. His father built the creche itself. Every year we put it up even if we don't do a tree.

I also put out a toilet roll reindeer head that my son made in nursery school when he was 3. He is now nearly 31. Don't know why I love this reindeer so much--except maybe the crooked eyes and misplaced nose glued on with those little fingers and such care at the time.

[Kathy]

The decorations that always come out are the roly poly Santa tin, my parents' old glass ornaments, and the cinnamon teddy bears that my son painted when he was very small.

[Janie Stultz]

My most cherished Christmas decorations are the Christmas stocking my grandmother made for me in 1950. Also the few ornaments I inherited when my Mom passed away in 1997. I will cherish them forever!

[melissa]

We have wide archways between the kitchen & living room, and we a tiny clothesline with heart clothespins over each doorway. We clip our holiday cards up there as they arrive. We often leave them long into the following year.

We always have a fresh tree and we put real candles on our tree. We only light them a few times, when we all sit in the room with the tree and sing carols together or just watch the lovely tree. It's very special and truly magical.

[Debbie D]

Probably our most cherished Christmas decoration is a nativity set my mother made for us the first Christmas my husband and I were married 31 years ago. She painted and fired the ceramic figurines and the stable is made of wood and straw. It has become a very precious and important part of our Christmas decorations.

[Kevin Pollard]

Must decorate, would not be the season with out something to express the reason for the season. Hand knit stockings. crochet snow men that hold candy canes,crocheted lacy balls for the tree.

[JulieZ]

I decorate for the holidays. I have ornaments I have made over the years,others we have collected on trips, and a few special things from my childhood.

[Carla]

I do decorate this time of year and I can remember when and how I got every ornament so that is special - I also LOVE that yarn!

[Tracey]

for the holidays, i hung some holly on the door to my apartment. unfortunately, the hall is lit and in the evening, from the inside of my apartment, the holly looks like scary monster arms scraping on the window panes of the door and continually frightens my boyfriend and i.

[Anna Marie]

Every year we tag our Christmas tree on Thanksgiving weekend and pick it up in December somewhere in the teens (between the 13th and 19th). Then we set it up with trains under the tree and decorate with all the ornaments we have accumulated over the years.

[Laurie Gross]

We live in Florida so we keep outdoor decorations to a minimum. Just a swag on the door with greens trimmed from the bottom of the tree. I keep my tree much simpler than I use to.

[Nancy]

Yes, we decorate for Christmas like CRAZY! Our tree is artificial (since moving to California and finding that live trees are too expensive), and we decorate it with many, many ornaments. We have a lot of old-style glass ornaments, and many that I have made over the years. We have some dating back to our childhoods, and even our parents' childhoods. They are family heirlooms. Some ornaments have been branched off to our son in New Jersey, and some more will be packed separately for our daughter who will probably move away next year. These always bring back memories of past Christmases and departed loved ones, and each one is cherished.

Our tree also has bubble lights! Although not energy-efficient by today's standards, we love them and they give more of an old-time feel to our tree. Lastly, the tree is finished off with tinsel. The last layer of tinsel makes ANY tree look beautiful, no matter how many or how few ornaments are on it.

I still plan to make some kind of knitted ornament for this year, probably after my gift knitting is done....

BTW, I absolutely LOVE that yarn on today's post!

[Denver]

I am ashamed to admit it but I have hardly no Christmas decorations. I have exactly three (3!) ornaments, a 16" Christmas tree (pre-lit) and 4 boxes with Reindeer on them that I put out. Growing up we always had Christmas at my Grandparent's home and it was fully decorated. My Grandmother hand-made stockings for each member of my family at birth. Mine was green with a Mom, Dad, and Baby snowman appliqued on the front.

[Jolene]

I don't decorate a lot, but I always put up a basic tree and some ornaments here and there... stockings, some ceramics, and some festive trinkets :)

[Kay]

My decorations may seem sparse but my house is small and they work so. . . I made three wise men several years ago in a craft class (make that 30 years!) and the tallest stands 2.5 feet tall. They are in the living room along with mantle stocking hangers with stockings. Ten large snow globes are placed around the house (all different nativity scenes). That is it except for candles.

[Karen]

I still have decorations for the tree that my children (now adult) made when they were at school. There is a memory of past years in every one. All get placed on the tree every year.