Holiday Planning

Even though its not quite Halloween, I've been thinking about hand-made holiday gift giving. This was something that I desperately missed last year.

Here's an interesting link that describes how to make several of the pricey items in the Pottery Barn catalog and generally encourages the reader to use catalogs as a source of inspiration rather than actually buying the merchandise. Thanks to Meredith at Like Merchant Ships for the great ideas.

I've really been using my knitting class as a source of inspiration for holiday gifts. I did buy my sock yarn and circular needles this weekend. Chile suggested checking out thrift stores for knitting needles for future projects. I agree totally. That is exactly where most of my needles come from.

To make purchasing used needles easier, you might want to consider purchasing a stitch gauge/needle sizer. This nifty little gadget sells for under $2 at most craft stores and lets you figure out what size unmarked needles are. Its small enough to carry in your purse which I find particularly useful.

I got mine at our local JoAnn Fabric using one of the 40% off coupons they always have on the back of the sale flyers. I always use those coupons on the most mundane but necessary things, like a particular color thread I've run out of. The cashiers look at me like I'm nuts. I guess everyone else uses them to buy a new sewing machine or some other big ticket item.

Today, I'm allocating one of my half hour chunks to get starting on a reversible cable scarf pattern my instructor emailed to us. There's also apple butter on the agenda and lots of laundry.

In other frugal crafting news, my daughters have been cleaning out their closets and have given me a challenge. They have a bunch of shirts with sayings that they no longer wear but they like the sayings. They want me to make something out of them. They are very thin, low quality material so I don't think quilt squares are the best option. Do you have any ideas?