Crafts - January 2026

[smallhobbit]

I've done plenty of cross stitch this month, some started last month for early January birthdays, others only stitched this month.

Birthday cards: 



   



A birthday present for a friend:



Valentine's card for J, together with the February SAL for our calendar:

   

As part of a Christmas present I was given an embroider yourself tea towel.  Here are the first two corners:

   

And lastly, my jumper is progressing:

Comments

[melagan]

Very nice. I'm especially fond of the parrots.

[badly_knitted]

So many pretties! Well done!

[smallhobbit]

Thank you very much. I like the parrots, too, and I'm pleased we'll have them up for a month.

[smallhobbit]

Thank you very much!

[lucy_roman]

Wow - those are lovely.

[smallhobbit]

Thank you very much!

[nagi_schwarz]

Your cross stitch looks lovely! And the jumper is coming along very nicely indeed.

[corvidology]

Lovely work!

[smallhobbit]

Thank you very much. I like the way the jumper is progressing, although the pattern takes time as I have to check every tow.

[smallhobbit]

Thank you very much.

[adafrog]

Pretty.

Yay!

[ysabetwordsmith]

I adore the lovebirds, but the sun jumper is awesome.

[smallhobbit]

Thank you.

Re: Yay!

[smallhobbit]

Thank you very much. I liked the way the birds came out. And pleased with how the jumper is going.

[galadhir]

Oh those are gorgeous little birds :) And your jumper is so sunny. Nice to see at this time of year!

[smallhobbit]

Thank you very much. The jumper colours are good to knit with, not dull and dreary, so I'm more likely to knit :)

[meridian_rose]

These are all so lovely. I think my fave of the cross stitch is the 3 birds, closely followed by the sloth(?) but all have their own beauty. That jumper is going to be amazing!
I haven't started the star knit yet, partly because I was taken aback by the 117 starter stitches but good news is you/the pattern said use the thumb method and I've always done what I think is knit-on cast. It took 3 separate videos before it finally clicked! But now I've been practicing casting on with the thumb method and I am forever grateful your pattern introduced me to this because it is so much quicker and I feel like that alone has levelled up my knitting :D

[smallhobbit]

Thank you very much. The 3 birds cross stitch was for my son, who likes birds, especially robins, and he also likes to turn my cross stitch cards into bookmarks, which this one is perfect for. Yes, it's a sloth - I have a character called Sloth (as he is a sloth) in a Sherlock Holmes AU series.
I always use knit-on casting on, I've tried the thumb method, but for me it was a looser cast on. But I'm not phased by casting on that number of stitches, since a lot of jumpers require it, although I do have to count them several times to make sure I've got the right number at the end. I'm delighted that the pattern has really helped you with your knitting - it's so good when a craft seems to be working well.