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!

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!

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.

Cookie donation

Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo to document this, but I wanted to share it anyway. I haven't done much baking lately and was really craving cookies, so on Friday night I made a whole bunch - 4 dozen *each* of peanut butter chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin. Obviously, more cookies than 2 people can reasonably eat. I gave a plate of them to the doormen of our building, but I still had about 6 dozen left.

Then I remembered the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, who do a lot of good work in the community (in multiple boroughs, actually). They depend entirely on donations for their meals, so I packed up the cookies and brought them to the friary today. A very sweet young Brother accepted the cookies and we chatted a bit, and I walked home feeling great. I'm glad I took advantage of this spur-of-the-moment opportunity to give a simple gift, especially to such worthy recipients. I'm hoping I'll have time this winter to make some hats to give to their homeless shelter and/or the men's residence they run.

Paper wallet

Here's a little wallet I made, loosely based on this tutorial, to hold a money gift for a nephew. In the future I'll play around a bit more - I think I can figure out a way, or at least find another tutorial, for making more pockets in the wallet. Anyway, I think this is a fun way to present a gift of money (or gift cards for that matter), and the wallet fit perfectly into the envelopes I made from the same paper.

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.

Birthday notebooks

Here are some skinny notebooks I gave as a gift earlier this week. I used graph paper and card stock, held together with a seven-hole pamphlet stitch. I applied a strip of gray paper along the spines to conceal the sewing and to make the notebooks look like a set. I like using graph paper in blank notebooks because it's so versatile - you can write, draw, and design on it. I gave these along with a pack of colored pens.