Friday, November 28, 2008

Red cashmere shawl

I finished another gift today! It's a very simple shawl, knit in a luxurious red cashmere that I picked up at Smiley's Manhattan sale last year. It drapes beautifully and is so soft and warm. This rather poor picture doesn't accurately show the pretty red color or the size - it's about 4 feet across at its widest.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Crazy baby sweater

Here's another finished holiday gift; it's for an impossibly adorable one-year-old girl. It was pretty quick to knit and was a fun way to use up some odd amounts of this wacky yarn. At this point I'm still feeling pretty good about getting everything else finished in time!

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Turkey pinata!

On a bit of a whim, I made this turkey pinata for a coworker who'll have a few kids running around her house on Thanksgiving Day. I used papier-mache over a balloon for the body, then constructed the head & tail with thin cardboard. I cut the sides off a paper shopping bag and wrapped it around the body for the handle/hanger. There is a trap door on top for adding candy. I had a blast making this, and it was a big hit when I carried it on the subway to work!

Sunday, November 2, 2008

The home stretch


Now that it's November, it's time to really focus on my holiday gift crafting! I think this vest, which I finally finished yesterday, is the last really big project on my list - the rest are much smaller in scale, but they are great in number, so I can't rest yet. I'm really pleased with the vest (as long as it turns out to fit the recipient!).

On the right is my Michael's purchase from this weekend. I've been very good about buying yarn this year - in fact I've bought very little - but for the holidays I have some projects that I couldn't complete from my stash, so I waited for a yarn sale and it finally came. Also in the bag is a Martha Stewart kit for packaging the food gifts I'll be giving to my coworkers this year.