HANNAH’S JOURNAL ...from the studio
Hannah Cross discusses why for her, handmade decorations capture the true meaning of Christmas
When I was young I made an angel tree decoration for my mum. It was one of the ones you colour in and then bake in the oven to seal the colours. The only problem was that I coloured half of the hair on the angel green by mistake. Unfortunately there was no saving that poor angel’s hair and I was distraught. Over the years I’ve had many more crafting failures, but I’m glad to say I’ve now got a thriving collection of crochet and craft to decorate the house with over the festive season.
O LITTLE TOWN OF HANDMADE DECORATIONS
There’s something magical and beautifully honest about having handmade creations adorn the house during the festive season, and any excuse to yarn bomb the house is fine by me! However, it can be a tricky thing to get right, particularly if you start overthinking it – what do you crochet first? Do you want a colour theme? Should everything be in the same room? How much can you cram in before your other half starts to complain? (‘We’ve had it for years dear’ is my go-to response to that). We moved house just before Christmas last year and it was great in terms of organising what crochet we had to decorate. I really took my time and tried wreaths, bunting, stockings and so on in lots of different places before I was happy. It made me realise that you don’t always have to do the same thing. Plus, if you’ve made something particularly epic that year then give it centre stage in your decorative line-up so it can get the appreciation it deserves.
TIME YOUR MAKE AROUND YOUR LIFE
My best advice once you’ve decided what you’re going to crochet is to choose a project that suits your timescale. Only you know how much time you can dedicate to something or how fast you are at making, and for something like this, it is essential to cherish the making process. If you don’t enjoy it and feel pressured then every time you look at it you’ll think of and feel that same pressure, and not the joy of the season it should bring. So get your materials early – craft stores are so good now at stocking things all year round (and online is even easier) and get cracking as soon as you can. Whatever you do don’t start a wreath in 4ply cotton, or get going on a C2C santa sack for your child in December, it will be unnecessarily stressful. Trust me – I speak from experience!
JINGLE BELLS, JINGLE BELLS, NOTHING’S FALLING DOWN
Once your beautiful decorations are made my advice is to
make sure you employ good tactics for keeping them in place. If you’re making a wreath then make sure you have a good glue gun, treat yourself to some really luxurious ribbon or string for your bunting and baubles, and make sure your stockings are well pinned or hung. It really is worth the trouble after all the hours of crochet so that things look perfectly finished off and also don’t fall down! To avoid any pet- or child-related disasters make sure your prized creations are well out of reach too – yes, I am speaking from experience yet again. Once the season is over and you have to pack your glorious makes away, make sure you keep them in tip-top condition by wrapping them delicately (I usually use tissue paper) and boxing them up securely too. My Christmas gnomes didn’t survive one year after I neglected to tape the box shut and they literally fell to pieces when I got them out the following year. I was so sad, poor gnomes!
LAST CHRISTMAS I GAVE YOU MY CRAFT
The other thing to consider is that crocheting for others at
Christmas can give so much pleasure too. If you find yourself with a houseful of yarny goodies already then why not make something for your nearest and dearest? I would suggest keeping it simple with perhaps a bauble or some simple bunting. That way, you don’t have to invest huge amounts of time on something that might not get pride of place or even make the Christmas cut at all – we all have friends that are particular about their Christmas theme and wouldn’t entertain anything handmade! As for me though, more will always be more. I dream of one day having our entire tree covered in crochet and handmade treasures that have been lovingly made. What of the green-haired angel? It will be on my parents’ tree as it is every year, reminding us what handmade decorations are all about: the love and joy that goes into them, and not how perfect they look.
“I dream of having our entire tree covered in crochet”
Keep up with Hannah online at www.hanjancrochet.com, or follow her on Instagram @hanjancrochet