Post Holiday MEEEE TIME!

I decided that after my holiday knitting frenzy and in anticipation of my annual winter depression, January is going to be the month for, well, ME! I have a few things on my needles, but first up are my fingerless gloves. I just need to finish the thumb and make another. Quick knit and great pattern. I did make them a bit longer than the pattern called for. I used Vickie Howell's Sheep (ish) yarn in gun metal. It's a wool/acrylic mix in a roving. I thought the roving might make the gloves crisper or something, but it didn't really. Also, it seems to already be pilling and it splits super easy so it's difficult to knit with. In other words, I wish I hadn't bought four more skeins of it! Anyway, I love the pattern http://voknits.com/2009/03/06/cold-turkey/

Gingerbread Man and Woman

I made this cute little Gingerbread couple for my daughter and her fiancé (oh, that's weird to say). They're perfect stocking stuffers! They only took about twenty minutes each to make, then you felt them. The pattern was so easy. I would say that it would even be an almost beginner project. There are increases and decreases, but since you're felting, no one will really be able to tell if there's a mistake. Also, I'm all about the quick satisfaction!

Pattern: http://torirotsstitches.blogspot.com/2011/11/ginger-bread-couple-and-hat-competition.html

Here they are before felting. Honestly, if you had some unfeltable brown yarn, these things don't actually need felting. I might make another pair to felt, just out of curiosity.

Book Clutch

I saw these book clutches on the interwebs and decided that I absolutely had to make one for my daughter. She's an English major and is obsessed with literature. I followed this Instructables pattern and found it simple enough.

 http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-purseclutch-from-a-Book/  

I used duck cloth so it would be durable, but it also made it difficult to work with and a bit bulky. If I had it to do over again, I would use a lighter weight material. Basically, you just buy a hardcover book that looks good without the sleeve. I had no idea how difficult a task that would be! I tried to find her favorite book, Wuthering Heights, but all of the hard cover books I found had plain covers, so that was out. I did look online, but it was difficult to tell what the actual book looked like. I found  Sir Walter Scott's, The Waverly Novels, that had a nice looking, vintage, cover.  This is perfect for my daughter because Waverly was the first historical novel written and my daughter is a historical fiction writer/reader, she's actually completely obsessed. My husband was horrified that I was cutting out the pages of a book. He freaked when I went to burn it in the fireplace and even made me rewatch Fahrenheit 451. Lol. In my defense, the cover was in good shape, the pages were not. I avoided the beautiful books in great condition to alleviate some of my guilt! So, you cut out the pages, make the lining, and attach purse handles and closure snaps. I had some purse handles on hand that my mom gave me last year, so all in all, this project cost me about $5 to make (the cost of the book). I have since found a Wuthering Heights version on Etsy and wish that I had just bought it for her (very reasonably priced). It's still very cute and I think she's gonna love it! 

 

Kid's Cooking Set

My boys are very interested in cooking, so I decided to make them a cooking set for Yule! I made them aprons with some cheap fabric I got on sale. I am terrible with patterns, so I just winged it. The length is 19 inches, cut on fold for the first one, about 4 inches across the top (8 inches total), then I just cut down in a gentle slope until I had what looked like an apron. I seamed it up with double seams so there are no frayed edges, then attached some binding that I had laying around as the neck and waist ties. For the other one, I did not cut on the fold, then I added a panel in the center with the opposite stripe pattern. I did this to make it a bit bigger for my older son and to add some interesting detail. I made different sized pockets to make it a bit more fun, then puffy painted their initials on them. I would have liked to have used a contrasting color fabric for the pockets and binding, but I was in a rush and also trying to just use what I had on hand. I went to the dollar store and bought two holiday tins and two sets of measuring cups/spoons. They can keep their measuring set and apron in their tin. I used nail polish to put their initials on the measuring sets. Then we went to Barnes and Noble and picked out a kid's cookbook. Unfortunately, they didn't sell one kid's vegetarian book, but we can just modify as we need. All in all, this whole set cost me about $15 for both kids (they're sharing the book).

Cold Turkey fingerless gloves

I made my mom a pair of these fingerless gloves. They were a quick knit and came out really cute! The only pattern modification I made was to pick up two stitches on the inside of each thumb to avoid holes. I'll be making some for me soon! (It's just a regular ole red, not sure why it's so hot in the pic.) Voknits.com

Blooming Rose Necklace

I am completely in love with this project! In case anyone was wondering where I get my obsessive craft stuff from, that would be my mother. She went through a wool dying phase last year and dyed skeins and skeins of undyed (sort of white) wool with natural and edible things. In case you haven't tried it, wool is so fabulous and can be dyed with things like onions skins, walnut hulls, and even Kool Aid. (I am trying to convince myself that no one actually drinks Kool Aid; their customers are just all woolie folk buying it for smell good dye!)

Anyway, my mom gave me a bunch of her dyed yarn and last year I made a bunch of projects with it. I started this blooming rose for my daughter, but then I completely forgot about it until I was cleaning the drawers of the armoire and found it. Last night I finished it (really, a quick project). I did have some trouble rolling up the rose and my base is just a tad bit too big, but overall I think it's GORGEOUS! My daughter loves anything Victorian (obsessed) and she has the most beautiful, long neck. I think this is going to be beautiful on her! The rose is actually very large, about the size of my fist.

I used my mama's worsted weight purple'ish, rosey yarn with size 7 needles for the rose petals. For the base and leaves, I used Red Heart Eco Ways Bamboo/Wool in deep green. It is a fabulous yarn, but sadly, it appears to have been discontinued.
Pattern: http://voknits.com/blooming-rose/

Bauble Tree Ornaments

I made a few of these fantastic bauble tree ornaments. They are crochet, which I am absolutely terrible at, but they still came out super cute! They were also very quick to make up. I just used leftover scrap yarn, beads, and some jingle bells I had laying around. I will definitely be making more of these for gifts next year!

Here's the pattern: http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/bauble-decoration.html

I'm only keeping one of these, but I thought it would make a nice picture to see them on a tree.

 

This one was my first and will be a gift for a friend who is having a holiday party.

These next two are gifts for my adult daughter. It's hard to tell, but the first one the inside is deep purple, the second and last layers are light blue, and the last dark one is black.

This one is for my youngest son. He picked out the colors, which are super bright (although you can't tell from the pic). My older son has requested his colors, so I'll be making his next!