First up is this gorgeous Woodland Stocking by Allison Lutes. Last year, she released a tiny animal set featuring a squirrel, bird, bunny, and fawn. This new version includes the larger woodland animals, and I couldn’t resist making the moose first.

The pattern price includes all four designs, and I plan to make the bear next. For my moose stocking, I used one full skein of Brooklyn Tweed Shelter in Fossil and one skein of Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Garnet Heather, a deep wine red. The pattern is beautifully written and even includes charts for both dark and light main color options—a thoughtful touch I really appreciate!

This was my first time using Wool of the Andes, and I was pleasantly surprised. It handled well, and I’d definitely use it again. It's on sale at the time of posting.

I also made these darling pinecone elves! I started this project with a mixed bag of 100 factory-flawed spun cotton heads from Smile Mercantile Co. Very few were actually flawed—most just had unique expressions or colors that probably didn’t sell as well. Either way, I was thrilled with my purchase and decided that elves would be the perfect first project.

While you are visiting Smile Mercantile, check out their free craft tutorials!

The colorful beads you see in the lucite drawer were once sewn onto my Camp Fire Girl vest. The program was inspired by Native American traditions, and I remember earning beads and badges for completing various challenges—usually something outdoorsy, or involving cooking and cleaning. I excelled (lol) and absolutely loved it! When I was a teenager, I decided to remove all the beads, pins, and badges (which I still have!) and tossed the vest itself, but now it's fun though to use the different components in my crafts. Was anyone else a Camp Fire Girl?

My little elves are ready for Christmas, but right now they are hanging out in my sewing room.