Advent Calendar

Happy first night of Hanukah! I am an irreligious person--I wasn't even raised with a religion to lapse from. Therefore, I always feel vaguely ignorant about religious traditions.  One fact that I'm pretty solid on is that Hanukah involves lighting a candle for each night of the holiday, in a menorah. There's something powerful about fire in religious ritual that even I can feel. 

Another cool thing about Hanukah is that menorahs don't come in one standard form--there's a huge variety, as illustrated above in an awesome mosaic of menorahs put together by mhasahara. Those pictured above don't even scratch the surface of possible variations. By the way, check out George W. Bush's face in the second picture on the upper left--does he look sober to you? He does not look sober to me. It's hard to see on the mosaic which fits into the post, but if you go to the link, you can get a better look. But I'm getting off track. The documented instances of Bush being drunk in public during his presidency is an entirely separate post. File that away for later.

Back to the point--there's a million and one ways to create a menorah. Over the next couple days, I'll share some of the cooler DIY ideas that I've found. First up:

Type/Materials: Crocheted

Difficulty Level: High

Advantages: Twee; Permanent

Disadvantages: No fire

(Picture courtesy of rchach, who also designed the project)

  

This menorah's out of my league, primarily because I don't know how to crochet.  However, I did meet a hairdresser yesterday who learned to crochet on a 10 hour train ride through California from a born again Christian.  It was either learning to crochet or learning about Jesus, and I think she made the right choice. Moral of the story? You never know when you may learn to crochet your own menorah.