That's a Wrap!

It's hard to find time to post when everyone is home but I'm sneaking this quick post in. Here's a peek at a hat and mitten set I made for my niece. I was especially pleased with this one because it's the one that used three strands of fingering yarn to create a worsted weight equivalent.


Can you believe I even got the boxers finished? Each son ended up with 8 pairs. Here's a peek at a few of them.

I confess to going right down to the wire on the crafting. This included staying up to almost 3:30am on Christmas morning as I frantically put the finishing touches on two forgotten sock projects, one knitted and one sewn from fleece. Naturally, because of their frantic finishing there are no pictures of them, which is a shame. They came out really well.

The fleece sock pattern is one I'd tried before with minimal success. I think it came out much better this time because I had a better understanding of how the sock went together. The allowed me to customize the fit to the recipient, who fortunately has the same size feet as I do.

I've gained a lot more confidence in my sewing skills which probably explains why I tackled a last minute sewn tote bag for my sister. Clearly I was out of my mind because I formulated the plan and cut the pieces out right before going to bed, at about 2:00am. The sewing didn't happen until Christmas morning between our brunch guests and our dinner guests. I felt really good about it though. In fact, I felt really good about the way the holiday went in general.

I'm especially pleased with the way my kids all pitched in and made their own handmade contributions. They made Leen made scarves for her brothers, a sleeping cap for Jim and Tasha, slippers for me and mug cake mixes for the rest of the family. Tasha made bulletin boards for her brothers, helped make mug cake for the rest of the family and gave gift certificates for haircuts and manicures to everyone. Rob made potholders, bookmarks, ornaments and dishcloths. Kyle also made potholders, bookmarks and ornaments. They all worked hard and they were rightfully proud of their work.

The secret of their happy participation seems to rest solely in the fact that they chose their projects. The ones I tried to get them to do, like those damn dinosaur ornaments that didn't get done last year either, were just a source of frustration. They were very good at knowing what they were capable of and joyfully dove into those tasks. (FYI, I tossed the dinosaur ornament kit, it was a frustrating mass of kiddie hell mascarading as holiday ornaments and no one else should be tortured by it.)

As 2008 winds down, I'm spending my time organizing (it's an ongoing challenge for me!) So far I've attacked my recipe binder, mainly because it fell on the floor and 10 or so years of recipes dumped out. The result was a grocery bag full of recycling. I also put all my sewing and knitting patterns back into the binder I keep them in. Next up, my crafting supplies. Time to look over what's left from all this Christmas crafting and store the useful stuff in a way that I can find it. I've also gotten some requests for things to be made so I'll be looking to see what raw materials I have for those projects.

My posts will likely be sporadic until Monday but let me know how your frugal holiday went. Let's inspire each other.

Happy Holidays to All!