Ah, Christmas, that wonderful time of year for giving. I’m sure Andrew and I aren’t the only ones who feel the money crunch of the holidays. We set a pretty strict budget when it comes to gifts for family (I have three sisters…the gifts add up fast!). And we opted to go homemade on gifts for our friends here in England. I actually made quite a few homemade gifts for my family too: I made a scarf for Kelsi, a scarf & hat set for Becki, and a sweater for my nephew Kaiden.
For my “lunch date” friends, I made some cookies and candies, as well as coffee cozies:
These were incredibly quick and easy. I used some of my scrap yarn that was worsted weight. Here is the pattern at Bernat’s website. These are cute, they fit in your purse, and it’s one less thing going into the landfills, right? If you would like one, just leave a comment with the color(s) you want. 🙂
As for the cookies & candies I made, I made the Raspberry Dreams as well as chocolate-covered peanut butter balls and cream cheese mints. Both were pretty easy and fairly quick, although you should make sure you have enough room in your refrigerator beforehand if you’re making both at the same time!
I don’t remember when it was that I realized that we had not packed any of our Christmas things when we moved over here. We had a few things that I had used when I lived in my various apartments, but our “family” ornaments and our stockings were packed in boxes in my parents’ old basement. I was more than a little sad about this.
The Christmas stocking I've had as long as I can remember!
If you know me well, you know that I am a “fixer.” Yes, I do still like to complain about my situations, but when someone comes up with a solution for me, I usually am saying, “Oh, I already have a plan.” And I did. I figured I had plenty of time to crochet stockings for Andrew and I. They turned out GREAT! I’m so happy with them!
Andrew wanted the red oneSo I got the green one
I also found stocking hangers at a decent price at TKMaxx — woohoo! And I already had a framed picture of my nephew in a Santa suit from last Christmas. We just added some candles, branches, and pinecones, and the mantle was complete!
So I mentioned that it got a tad boring sitting around all day with nothing to do when we got here. Yes, I could walk to the BX and browse (but that’s kind of dangerous when you have a credit card in your purse). And I could go to the library to go online or check out books (which I did once in awhile). Well, one day when Andrew was looking at books, I found the craft section of the library. YES! And what happens to be just a little ways down from the library? The craft store. 🙂 I could hear the hallelujah chorus…
I couldn’t really scrapbook, since I wasn’t going to start from scratch with supplies. But I could do some crocheting. And that’s exactly what I did. I found a book at the library that had some cool things to make, but then I got a request from the husband: big ugly socks. Well, the book I had gotten didn’t have any socks in it, but I found a pattern online for some crocheted socks and decided to try it out. It was a good idea: it only required a couple of skeins of cheap yarn and a crochet hook. So I got to it.
I thought these would be ugly enough 🙂
It proved to be pretty easy once I got going on the pattern. The heel was probably the trickiest part, but I got the hang of it.
Almost done!
From start to finish, it took me 3 days to make this pair of socks for Andrew. Not too bad!
One down, one to go!Finished!
Well, now that I had been bitten by the crochet bug again, I had to keep going! So I started a pair of socks for my mom, since her birthday was a month away. They turned out so pretty! 🙂
Mom's birthday socks
Then I got kind of bored with socks. I wanted a new project. The next one on my mental list was a Christmas gift for my nephew. I had never tried clothing before, and I thought something small would be a good starter project. There was some trial and error (thank goodness it’s easy to pull out stitches in crochet), and I even went to Andrew for help reading the pattern (sometimes a fresh perspective helps!). And it slowly came together:
The body part of the sweater completed
I also decided to start a new craft: knitting! I had started learning once before, but I hadn’t gotten the hang of the “purling” part of it. This time I was determined to master those basic stitches!
Look at me go!
Yes, I am an ADHD crafter. I cannot just sit and do one project at a time. I always like to have one that’s portable for trips in the car or when knitting/crocheting with friends. Which I also started doing. 🙂
Another project on my to-do list? A baby blanket for my expectant cousin. She was due in January, so I knew I had plenty of time, but then I found out she was having a baby shower around Thanksgiving. So I figured I would go ahead and start! I got some bright-colored yarn from my new favorite website to order from: http://www.knitting-warehouse.com. It’s wonderful! So many yarns at discounted prices, and they ship to APO addresses!
Strips of the blanket laid out
By this point, yarn had pretty much taken over the living room area. But our household goods hadn’t arrived, so there was no TV, no computer, nothing to do! When I wasn’t watching British shows on my tiny cell phone screen (oh yes, I did this often)…
… I was crocheting or knitting. It was nice to rotate among projects. Keeps one who is bored from getting more bored. 🙂 Eventually I did finish all of these projects by their due dates. First I finished the baby blanket:
It's finished! Enjoy, baby Dirk!I had to scrunch it up a little to try to get the whole blanket on there!
Oh yeah, I was also working on a hat/scarf set for my sister, Becki:
It's reversible!
Then I got Kaiden’s sweater finished:
Kaiden's Christmas present!
Then the scarf to go with Becki’s hat:
So thick & warm!
And I swear I finished that knit project I was working on, I just cannot, for the life of me, find the picture I have of it! I’m pretty sure I DID take a picture. Anyways, this was my life for quite a few months: knitting and crocheting. It really did help with the boredom, but once again, I’m hooked (haha, get it? I crack myself up) and have project ideas coming out of my ears… 🙂
These were incredibly quick and easy. I used some of my scrap yarn that was worsted weight. Here is the pattern at Bernat’s website. These are cute, they fit in your purse, and it’s one less thing going into the landfills, right? If you would like one, just leave a comment with the color(s) you want. 🙂
On An Even Kiel 