Friday Finishes

Today's post is full of some little finishes that were gifted for Christmas. 

I knit this pair of fingerless mitts in about 24 hours (thanks to an 8 hour drive) and were gifted to a niece. Since I used the leftover yarn from this scarf, I gifted her the scarf, too. It had been sitting in the finished bin waiting for a home. Hope she likes them. 

And after helping my daughter make a Poochie bag for a cousin, I had to make some too. The one on the left went to the same niece who received the fingerless mitts and scarf. I made a scarf for another niece but forgot to take a picture of it, I guess. The bag on the right was gifted to my daughter.

My daughter's bag. I used some Hummingbird fabric that had been in my stash for years.

Closer look at the one for my niece. Bird fabric again.

Bags together. (Is anyone else having a terrible time taking pictures in winter daylight? They all come out so dull.)

And a finish that wasn't made by me. My daughter started crocheting this blanket for her youngest brother when I was pregnant with him (beginning of March 2013). She's worked on it off and on for the past 3 and a half years. Including a time when the blanket mysteriously grew a fifth corner and several rows had to be ripped out. She dedicated herself to it and finished it a couple days before Christmas. We exchanged gifts here on the 21st and it was under the tree for him then. Floyd had been watching her make it and knew it was for him. He was pretty excited to use it after he opened it.

And we used it that night to cuddle on the couch before bedtime. It's the perfect preschool size.

Day 1 of Finishes - By Kids

This week, I said, would be a week of finishes. Today's finishes were made by my kids - except for 1.

My daughter sewed this bag for her cousin. I helped with the ironing and handles but she did the rest. We used this pattern to make it, although I got when it was free on her blog. 

Her cousin also has a pet hedgehog, so she made a little fleece bag for him. I folded up the first bag and put it inside to hopefully show it's size. It's reversible and we used this tutorial to make it.

My addition was to knit a tiny hedgehog. It was all good until I added the nose.  I used one of Anna's patterns, found here.

At least the feet are adorable.

I added a string so it can be an ornament.

Floyd has been getting crafty. He made a stepping stone for a grandma (as requested).

And my older son spent a few minutes at the sewing machine,...

... and made this infinity cowl for a cousin. (On my side of the family, the kids do a secret santa and they are in charge of picking out/ making the gift).

Daughter with her finished washcloth. I did the casting on and off. She did the rest. 

Tomorrow, more finishes.

WIP Wednesday - More Gifts

I think, like most creative, crafty people, I am busy making presents. I have several finishes to share. Some from last week that didn't get on the blog since our internet went out last Friday so no post got written. I'm thinking I will do a Week of Finishes next week, instead of trying to cram them all into a blog post this Friday. Maybe I'll even get a few more things done this week to share. Now, onto this week's WIP's.

I spent a little time yesterday working on this super bulky cardigan. The sleeves are now separated from the body. I really want to work on it, since it works up quickly but I need to try and focus on gifts right now. This will probably make good travel/ company knitting over the holidays.

I finished the body of the Side Squiggles sweater for my older son this week and started the first sleeve. I'm still confident it will get done in time. Have I mentioned that we open our presents a little early here? I think we're opening our gifts on either the 21st or 22nd.

Started crocheting a red and blue scarf requested by a niece.

And I finished a pair of socks (to be shared next week) so these ones will be going on the needles today. I hope. They will be a gift.

And my daughter has made progress on the washcloth she's knitting but my son's looks almost the same as last week, so I didn't include it in the picture.

And my daughter spent some time at the sewing machine this weekend. Here she is working on project #1. A bag for a cousin.

And project #2, a fleece bag for a cousin's pet. It was fun to spend some crafty time with her. I think her creations will get their own blog post during next week's Week of Finishes. 

What have you been working on this week? Are you almost finished your gift making? I keep adding to my list. Oops. 

WIP Wednesday - Gift-Making

On Monday, I made a list of everything I would like to make by the end of the year and...Yikes! I need to prioritize and finish up the things I have on the needles. I had some travel time this past week so I have a couple finishes for Friday and some good progress to share today.

The Side Squiggles sweater is just a couple inches away from needing sleeves.

Sock is ready for a heel.

My two older children have started to knit washcloths for gifts. My 10 year old son's washcloth is at the top of the picture. 14 year old daughter's is at the bottom. Both with mistakes but made with love and will be very appreciated.

Making some gift bags. Think I need to buy some ribbon for them this weekend. And then finish up some gifts to put in them.

And I couldn't resist some selfish knitting once I saw this new pattern this week. A great way to use up sock yarn leftovers.

And, it's the end of November and NaNoWriMo. I didn't finish this year. I don't think I wrote more than 3,000 words. The story was just too depressing and I couldn't handle writing it, right now. However, I did spend time this month learning about designing my own website and trying to convince myself I can do it. And I've been researching a project for 2017. Not sure yet if I'm going to do it or not, need to do more thinking and research.

What have you been working on this week?

Making Felt Ornaments

Yesterday, my daughter and I hunkered down and made some ornaments using felt while we got our first snow.

Here are our four little ornaments waiting for us to put up the tree.

My daughter made the bell and stocking. The bell will be given to a cousin but the stocking will go on our tree. She says she made the lines on the stocking "jaunty" on purpose.

I made the tree and owl. The owl eyes are a little off centre but overall it was fun. 

I still have a ton of felt leftover (and I mean a ton), so I see more felt creations in my future. 

The tree and stocking templates can be found here. And the owl template was from a book, but there is a online tutorial here that is similar.

WIP Wednesday and Crafting with my kids

     I'm still working away at my Filament scarf. I've knit over 20 inches since last week and I'm about 15 inches away from finishing. So if I knit 5 inches each day for the next three days, I could be done by Friday! I don't know if that will happen but I am now confident that I will get it done by Sunday (reminder that the scarf is my Camp Loopy project for July and needs to be finished by the end of the month).

Hope it looks longer than it did last week.

Little easier to see the pattern close-up.

     This week, the kids and I have had a Christmas in July craft week. On Monday I crocheted this bell garland for our tree. We've had a little tree (between 3 and 4 feet tall) for several years. We finally bought a big tree on clearance this January and we'll need some decorations to go on it. 

     Yesterday was also no TV Tuesday so the kids spent time painting some wooden decorations in the morning. Some of these will go on our tree, others will be gifted. I found the ornaments at Target last December, but you might be able to find them elsewhere. 

     Almost finished ornaments. My daughter's 3 are at the top and are done. She did all the stitching. The two in the second row are by my 10 year old son. He did all the stitching on them as well. Floyd did the bottom 7. He used glitter paint and they look great in real life. I'll add a little embroidery to his soon. I also have some bells leftover that might get added to a few.

     And winding yarn for Christmas projects is a Christmas craft, right? My daughter picked the yarn for her Christmas cardigan and then helped wind them. Her cardigan will be my Camp Loopy project for August.

We also caked some yarn for socks to be knit for Christmas presents. Floyd helped, too.

Do you see a problem with this yarn? I thought there should only be 2 ends?

     This hank had 24! Um, this was a 215 yard hank. I had bought a pair to make socks for my sister but now I'm thinking that's not going to happen. Personally, I hate having a ton of woven ends in my socks. Maybe I'll make her shorter socks or I was thinking mittens. I'll have to ask her opinion.

     Yarn ready to be made into Christmas presents. Thanks Calliope and Floyd for all your help winding.

Little Finishes for Friday

I've been making such good progress on my gift knitting this week that I'm forcing myself to put down the needles and share some of the little finishes I've had this past week.

A Minecraft hat for a nephew. This was the only request I had this year for something knitted. I made one for my nephew a few years ago and he's asked for a second one. I think I originally made it for his father but my nephew took it. Used this free pattern.

Got my son to try it on saying I wouldn't post his picture. He agreed I could post it since I didn't show his face.

My next finish happened so quickly that I haven't shared any progress pictures here. I started it last Thursday evening and by Friday morning I had 4 limbs.

Over the weekend I finished a tail, 2 ears and a nose I decided not to use. And started the body - not shown.

Monday afternoon I finished Aiko, the Ninja Cat. Made for one of my niece's who takes Kung Fu lessons. She can rename it. If I'm able, I'd like to get the different colour belts made for Christmas too - not part of the pattern, just something I wanted to do.

I tried to get Floyd to hold it still to show how big it is. But it's a ninja, and ninja cats don't stay still. Or so I was told.

I put her to work guarding our house.

Floyd helped me with another finish last week. I tried two different recipes to make birdseed shapes. The first one was this recipe. The difference between this one and the other recipe I tried is that the unflavored gelatin isn't activated with boiling water so the recipe has corn syrup and flour in it. But with no boiling water, this was toddler friendly. 

He liked putting the straw pieces in to make the string hole.

And here is my tray of crap, as I came to think of it. This recipe gets a thumbs down. Partly my fault for using cookie cutters that had small, thin parts but even the bigger ones fell apart. Only a few turned out.

I laid in bed that night trying to think how I could make better molds and remembered the donut tray my mother gave me for Christmas last year. Hey mom, I finally found a use for it.

So I used the second recipe, found here. Only alteration was adding 3 cups of birdseed instead of 2 since there was a lot of liquid left. I filled the molds in myself this time but my older kids could have helped but I think they were busy.

I let them dry overnight in the mold before flipping them over. They all popped out perfect.

I doubled up some of the birdseed donuts on the string. Only had 4 from the first batch that were good enough and we kept 2 of them. Every time you pick one up, birdseed falls off so I don't think they will travel well. I put the birdseed donuts we are gifting in ziplock baggies to prevent making a mess under the tree. I think I'm going to make another batch of the birdseed donuts so there is enough to give aunts and uncles. The ones above are going to grandparents.

One from the first recipe hanging outside.

Birdseed donuts.

And one last little finish. I saw this on pinterest last December but it was too late for me to start collecting yarn bits. I saved all my yarn ends this year and....

... had enough to fill 4 suet feeders. These three are gifts. The fourth we are keeping.

I really hope the birds take some of the yarn to make their nests when we put it back outside in the spring.

Lots of little finishes done. Now I'm left with sweater knitting and quilting quilts. 

Have you been making gifts that aren't knit, crocheted or quilted? It feels like my pinterest boards are finally being of some use this Christmas.