Handmade Christmas

What’s that you say? It’s January and so no one CARES about Christmas anymore? Blah blah blah I CAN’T HEAR YOU.

I realized after I had wrapped and mailed all my gifts this year that I really went overboard with the knitting. I mean, sure scarves are awesome, but maybe someone would like a gift that isn’t quite so…heartfelt. Stuff from the store is nice too. Like a Starbucks gift card. Or a bottle of wine. Or a Starbucks gift card AND a bottle of wine. But hey, it’s been really cold this winter so hopefully everyone’s using their fair trade Latin American artisan gifts and thinking nice warm thoughts about me.

If it helps, next year I promise not to be so crafty.

For my dad

Gray cabled scarf made with undyed eco-wool – which means this color came straight off a sheep. I think that’s REALLY COOL and kept telling random people about because LOOK, it’s SHEEP COLORED WOOL I am impressed and amazed at something that is neither impressive or amazing! It’s also about 6 inches shorter than it should be but the cable pattern was driving me BONKERS so…I quit. Sorry Dad.

For my friend Erin

This is my favorite scarf pattern to knit. It works with lots of different yarn, it’s fast, and it’s really useful – you can wrap it several different ways and use any of the holes as button holes…

For my sisters-in-law

…Which explains why both of my husband’s sisters got the same scarf knit with sparkly yarn. I should really make one of these for myself so I’m not tempted to keep other people’s presents.

For my mother

Ok, so the mittens were a total failure – my mom is a small person so I made them a little smaller than the pattern called for…and ended up making teeny tiny thumbs even my toddler can’t wear. Because when I tried for “a little bit smaller” I basically made them for a double thumb amputee. Since Mom did not tragically lose any fingers to frostbite (Yet! Without mittens she might! And then these will be SO USEFUL! See, I’m just PLANNING AHEAD) I made Mom the cowl to make up for the defective mittens. It’s just a big tube knit with super soft sock yarn and again I was VERY tempted to keep it. I need to go buy another skein and start on one for myself. Right after I finish the TWELVE project I’m currently working on/already bought the yarn for/promised to make for people.

For my friend Sara

This right here may be the MOST AWESOME thing I have ever knit. It is an exact replica of the Ravenclaw House scarf from the Harry Potter movies (also the books, but in the books Ravenclaw colors are blue and gold)(there’s some useless knowledge you’ll never get out of your head). If you watch the movies though, Hogwarts upperclassmen wear a different scarf and for a while I considered ripping this one out and making the other version – because my friend Sara is obviously not 11 and would certainly be an upperclassman at Hogwarts – until I remembered IT’S A BOOK YOU IDIOT. THERE IS NO ACTUAL MAGIC SCHOOL. But despite its lack of wizard powers, it’s still super warm and long and I hope it’s keeping Sara’s face from freezing off as she walks around NYC.

For my nephews and niece

And this one wins for most creative gift I gave this year. It’s a pair of mittens for each of my sister-in-law’s kids – kid, toddler and baby sized – and a copy of The Mitten by Jan Brett. I WIN AT CLEVERNESS. I even made the mittens red (unlike the white one in the book) so they would be easy to see and find in the snow.

Things I didn’t take pictures of: fingerless gloves for my BFF, a nice warm hat for her husband, and approximately 20 coffee coozies. I still need to make 4 or 5 more as “Sorry I didn’t get this to you in time for Christmas but I was busy giving birth” presents, but now I’m busy with keeping that thing I gave birth to alive. It’s really cutting into my knitting time.

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19 Responses to “Handmade Christmas”

  1. Audrey says:

    Boy howdy! I’m impressed with your productiveness…and I really love your dad’s scarf. I’d love to see the fingerless glove you made..was the pattern from Ravelry by chance? I’m planning to make a bunch of stuff for Christmas gifts this year…the fact that I can knit slipped my mind until this moment. How sad is that?

  2. sarrible says:

    I can attest that my Ravenclaw scarf is lying-on-the-beach-in-Mexico warm. Was tempted to wrap it around my waist and wear it as a skirt yesterday when it was five degrees.

  3. Swistle says:

    Favorite parts:

    1. “a gift that isn’t quite so…heartfelt.”

    2. The SHEEP-COLORED SCARF!! I too am astonished and amazed!

    3. The mittens made with hardly any thumbs, so that when your mom loses her thumbs from frostbite because they don’t fit in the mittens, she’ll have mittens.

    4. “THERE IS NO ACTUAL MAGIC SCHOOL.”

    5. The fact about the color difference in book vs. movie. Mind blown.

  4. TMae says:

    I wonder the same thing about the hand made gifts I give. I think, “Huh, maybe no one really LIKES the scarves, or ornaments, or what-have-yous. Maybe they’d just rather have a book.” And then I give them whatever I made anyway. Because I’m too lazy to shop, and *I* certainly don’t need a dozen scarves.

  5. Jennie says:

    Awesome! I really should learn to knit. It seems so much for economical that wine and Starbucks!
    Also- kids are inconsiderate. Tell Caroline to make her own milk!

  6. I love love love my fingerless gloves. I wore them when I took all those great in the snow pictures. And Mitch really liked his hat but I MAY have liked it more and MAY have stolen it for Reid…CAUSE HE LOOKS SO FREAKIN CUTE IN IT!!! Thanks again for our wonderful presents :)

  7. Rebecca says:

    you are so talented!

  8. themanager says:

    these are all so amazingly awesome they make me want to knit. but, sadly I still haven’t figured out what I’m doing & give up easily.

    side note:where have I been? I didn’t know you were a Harry Potter fan! ME TOO!

    more useless knowledge about myself. oh, and i bet those mittens would fit me. my hands are unusually small although I still have thumbs :)

  9. Alana says:

    You are so talented! You need a shop. As if you don’t have your hands full already!
    xx

  10. Nicole says:

    I’m impressed! I was feeling pretty good about having gotten some knitted gifts out this year–two pairs of fingerless gloves and one diagonal scarf–because it’s a busy time of year for me and I usually just do give up and buy things. But it makes me really happy whenever I see my husband wearing the fingerless gloves, because he wouldn’t wear them just to make me happy, so he must really like them.

  11. super duper RIDICULOUSLY adorable! and thrilled to have technically been a part of your handmade giving goodness – i use my coffee cozy almost every single day! (:

    rock on, crafty mama! xoxoxo!

  12. SO cute! You can totally send your craftiness my way … I wouldn’t complain one bit! ;-)

  13. Londonmum says:

    girl, how on earth do you find the time? Honesty… i wish i could knit. They tried to teach my at school and I got politely moved on to something else..I would love a gift like that over something more “commercial’ any day.

  14. raincheckmom says:

    I love my mittens with short thumbs! The fact that they were your first attempt makes me smile. You gave up your mitten virginity for me!

  15. Sarah-Anne says:

    favorite line? “i’m busy keeping that thing i birthed alive so i can’t knit” bahahaha!
    Sarah-Anne

  16. Autumn Beck says:

    LOVE it!! This is my first visit to your blog and you have me hooked! All your other posts better be this funny ;)

  17. Stacyinbean says:

    So what do I have to do, or how much will it cost me, for you to knit me a Gryffindor scarf exactly like that one? I HATE all the ones on Etsy! Totes serious here!

  18. Amanda says:

    Ack! You are so very talented lady. I LOVE the Harry Potter scarf, it’s just gorgeous and looks so soft.

  19. andrea says:

    Um, Etsy shop, please? I know the idea is kind of cliche these days (even my neighbour’s cat has an etsy shop), but you rock at this stuff, lady! xxo

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