Thursday, December 15, 2011

Handmade Christmas Gift Roundup

Phew! I am finally done with all my planned handmade Christmas gifts.

This year, I ended up doing as much sewing as knitting since I have a new machine and it tends to be much faster than knitting.

I had Christmas colored yo-yos made that were hanging out in a bag in my craft area, so I strung them together and hot glued some tiny clothespins on the back. Voila, a lovely garland for my mother-in-laws' mantle that she can hang christmas cards from. Excuse the 6 identical cards of my daughter that I used as an example. You'd think I'd have cards from some other people hanging around by now but I guess I was on top of mine this year!


I made 6 of these wonderful hot/cold therapy packs from the tutorial at Elm Street Life. These were quick and easy to make and in addition to being cute as heck they are very functional! I also ordered several bars of soap from Luxsoap on Etsy to include with some of these gifts.


Last time we visited South Dakota, my mom asked for a hat to match her winter coat. Whaddaya know....I had handspun yarn in my stash that matched her coat exactly. I used the super cute 'Big Bulky Bucket Hat' pattern from Leethal. I think she will love it!

My family often does gift exchanges at our Christmas get together. Rather than spending the money on a store bought gift, I made an extra therapy pack, threw in one of the bars of soap and crocheted a quick bath puff.

My sister-in-law is a professional photographer, so I was thrilled when I found this tutorial on Sew Mama Sew for this cute camera strap cover. My husband often helps her shoot wedding and large sessions so I know for a fact that she has trouble when having to go searching through her camera bag for extra cards for the camera. This strap cover is perfect because it has a little pocket on the bottom where she can keep her bits and pieces during a shoot.

My dad and his girlfriend are very outdoorsy, and they love the hats I make them. Nikki loves orange, so I made her a Calorimetry out of some orange handspun.

And a cabled, ear-flap style snowboarding hat for dad.

I've made these hats for my two Minnesotan nieces and my daughter, so I whipped two up for my niece and nephew in South Dakota. These are SO easy to make, and the square shape makes it look like kitty ears when worn.


And that is everything! Oofta! Time for baking day with my sister in law on Monday then I am totally ready to relax and enjoy the holiday.