Gifts for Little Girls

Girls outnumber the boys in my family - I have 2 nephews and 6 nieces! Three of those nieces have birthdays this weekend, and one niece-to-be is being celebrated in a baby shower tomorrow, so I have some girly gifts to show here. On the right is the baby's shower gift, a simple cotton-silk lace blankie (the Baby Chalice blanket on Ravelry). On the right are some plain cotton totes I got from my new favorite store Muji; I embroidered the birthday girls' names on them and filled them with some budget-friendly store-bought gifts (crayons, sticker books, etc.). A shortage of time and money prevented me from going all-handmade, which I feel rather guilty about, but reportedly the girls were happy with their bags, so I should be happy too.

It's been too long

Well, I have been absent for too long - I have a long list of excuses but no really good reasons, so I'll skip the lame justifications and just get right back into it. I completed the cotton throw blanket well after Christmas, but I'll count it as a holiday gift anyway. I'd have made it all one color if I'd planned ahead more, but I'm still happy with the result. The granny square blankie is my first charity craft of this year; it's for a program that assists young mothers in New York, and it's my contribution to the crafting group at my work. I made it using the odds & ends of yarn from the group's stash. I've done a few other small gifts recently which I forgot to photograph, but I'll be sure to remember next time because I have a brand new camera that I can't wait to try out. Now I just have to tighten up my gift crafting plans for the year and start making!

The last of 2008

The three bags above were a holiday gift that I forgot to photograph all together before sending them - but here they are now. And here also is the last holiday gift of 2008 - the in-laws' cotton blanket. I'm optimistic it will be finished by the end of the month; I have high hopes for completing a big chunk of it during the Golden Globes tonight!

Gifts received

I have got to get a better camera - it's a shame to post such inadequate photos of these wonderful handmade gifts from my talented Mom. At the top is a gorgeous gray wool wrap, with a mother-of-pearl ring and one of my great-grandmother's tiny bone crochet hooks for the fastener. So beautiful - what a perfect gift. She also made this little pouch that is lined with a delicate patterned silk fabric; it was tied to the outside of the gift box, and held a pretty soap and a set of tiny antique ivory book covers, which I think I will bind together with some nice paper and silk thread to wear as a pendant. Mom is a great inspiration - she also knitted pretty short-sleeved cardigans for my sisters & sister-in-law, and sewed adorable corduroy jumpers for four of my nieces.

Two more - and just one left to go!

I pulled together two last-minute baby gifts this weekend, which leaves just one more gift to finish. I'd been saving an accidentally felted cashmere sweater for a special project, and decided that a new baby's first Christmas is the perfect occasion. So I looked at some bear patterns and then just kind of winged it; it didn't take long to sew it by hand and I'm really happy with how he turned out - he is so soft! I also made this bunch of colored knitted balls for the same baby. They are so fast to make; I only wish I'd had the foresight to put a jingle bell or rattle in the center of each one...next time, I guess!

Approaching deadline

Clockwise from top left: Two blank notebooks for a brother-in-law, made mostly with scraps of materials from work; a few of my holiday cards for this year, also made with scraps & salvaged materials from work; a rainbow spiral scarf for one of my nieces; and two ribbed cotton hats for two other brothers-in-law. I'm still working on a couple of crafty gifts and hope to start with all the food-gift making this week!

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.

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!

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.

Knitting update

I have finally finished a simple knitted blanket, the Plush Throw from Lion Brand, for a late wedding gift. At least the weather is finally turning chilly enough for the recipients to use it! My cat certainly approved of the finished blanket and was very unkind to me when I had to take it away. The blanket caused a slight delay in my holiday knitting schedule, but I'm doing alright nonetheless. The brown wool vest is over halfway done, as are two pairs of socks, and I should be starting another project today or tomorrow. So, not panicking yet.

Tree of Life afghan, at last

After languishing for a few weeks while I read the whole Harry Potter series, the Tree of Life baby blanket is finally done. Here it is all pinned out for blocking; I did an applied I-cord border rather than the leaf border called for in the pattern. I'm quite happy with how it turned out, and now that this project and Harry are both out of the way, I'm hoping to focus and pick up some steam in my gift-knitting agenda. I still have another small blanket and a sweater vest on the go, but should be starting two new gift projects over the long weekend, and hopefully making progress all around.

A baby gift + animals are people, too.

The Baby Surprise Jacket is done, in plenty of time for the baby's October arrival. This jacket was a joy to knit. I used a machine washable acrylic/wool blend from my stash and some sweet purple buttons I also had on hand. The jacket turned out the perfect size for the baby to wear through the winter.










And here are some little things for the animals. On a recent rainy Saturday, I spent the morning working on the Cage Comforters, one of my charity projects. There they are on the right, stacked up after being sewn & stuffed. I still need to sew up the stuffing holes and then tack them in a few places before they are ready to donate. I had some scraps of fabric left, so I cut them into strips and braided them to make toys for a friend's two Chihuahuas.

Brief update

Just a quick update on the gifts I have in progress. The Tree of Life is almost done, then I have to add the edging! That will get a big post of its own, hopefully soon. On the left above is the Baby Surprise Jacket (I switched yarns, and much prefer this new one), and on the right is the vest...not progressing as fast as I'd hoped due to the heat!

New gift projects + crafting for animals

Over a long weekend recently, I had time to flesh out my bare-bones holiday gift plan. I filled in a lot of blanks and was happy to note that I will probably not have to buy any new yarn to complete the knitted & crocheted gifts I hope to make. Pictured above are the beginnings of two holiday gifts: a wool vest for my Dad and a Baby Surprise Jacket for a niece.

During my time off I also started work on one of my (non-work related) charity crafting projects: Cage Comforters for Animal Care & Control of New York. These are small, simply constructed cushions for the animals housed in AC&C facilities. I'm also planning to make hats for a neighborhood shelter or mission, but I really wanted to allocate some of my charitable crafting energy to a project for animals. Anyway, fabric is not in my budget at the moment, but I had just cleaned out my closet and had some clothes set aside to donate to my local thrift shop, so I pulled out some dresses & other larger items and cut them down. Now I have a stack of pieces ready to sew together - all I need now is the batting.

Tree of Life, continued

Here is the Tree of Life blankie (with supervisor) as it looked yesterday; I've added another row of flowers since then. I just joined the third and last skein of yarn; I feel pretty confident I'll finish the body of the blanket but I might have to come up with a different border option if I run out of yarn, which is likely. I'm considering lining it, a la Rita.

Audubon card + blankie update

These are poor pictures, so take my word for it when I tell you these things look much better in person. Anyway, on the left is the card I made for my Dad for Father's Day, using some card stock from my bin of saved paper and a lovely Audubon image from an advertising supplement in the New York Times (there were a bunch of beautiful Audubon images - I cut them all out and added them to the paper bin). I also happened to have a little brown envelope that fit the card perfectly! My gift to him was a CD of folk & blues (Mississippi John Hurt, John Lee Hooker, etc.) which I didn't take a picture of because I just printed the insert with iTunes.

On the right is the Tree of Life blankie in its current state. I'm just starting the first "flower garden" section.

Tree of Life blanket

I have begun knitting a gift for a relative's baby, expected in October. I wanted to make the Tree of Life Afghan from Lion Brand as soon as I first saw it many months ago, but waited until I had the right occasion. I am using some Wool-Ease Sportweight yarn that I've had in my stash for ages; since its gauge is much smaller than that specified in the pattern, this blankie will be super tiny and just right for a newborn. The cabled tree motif is definitely challenging!