rebecca and i have been so excited to make our little surprise announcement!  we thought what better way to keep the fun going until our next knit along in january than to have a special christmas knitting 911 - a holiday crafting support group!  a topic in the ravelry group where we can all share our xmas pressies on the go, our finished pics, questions we have, help we need and just plain encourage each other to get those handmade gifts done for our loved ones :)  you can knit or crochet, or even better - do both!

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/balls-up-

there will be posts on luvinthemommyhood and on nook with gift pattern ideas roundups, maybe a question and answer segment, how to pick gifts that are reasonably not too long to knit... (or crochet) and choosing the fibers to make them, how to gift wrap and make sure the recipient knows how to care for their handmade gift, pics of your handmade goods... the list goes on.  all we can promise is that we hope it will be a fun and encouraging place where we can all go through the xmas crafting hysterics together :)

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/citron

we're open to your ideas and suggestions on what you guys would like to see go on as well for "christmas knitting 911".  so please share in the comments below what would help you get through this holiday season of gift making.  i also apologize to all you sewers out there, at present i'm unable to sew still and probably won't be back on the machine again till after the holidays.  i promise to have some sewing goodies and posts on here as well so stick around...i haven't forgotten about y'all.

1. margot pattern 2. milla hand knit chunky cowl

we've also got a winner for the milla hand knit chunky cowl by jen geigley!  what's funny is that i'm so not surprised the winner's name came up when i used random.org...i mean she made 7 cowls after all! that's right...our first winner is....