My Christmas Crafts

My family has had it rough financially this year, with my husband's plant closing and the recession taking it's toll, but I didn't want that to impact Christmas. I love giving gifts to my family, and I didn't want to hit the dollar store, so I dug through my fabric bins and bags of yarn (I may be seen on a future episode of Hoarders) and searched the internet for gift making ideas. I found these fantastic message boards and decided to make them for my oldest son's girlfriend, my older nieces and my mother in law. These are the end results...

My message boards were about 12"x18", so not as big as the one on the website, but I liked how they turned out and I think I will experiment a little more in the future.

My 5 year old daughter worked on some wine glass charms and Christmas tree ornaments to give to a family friend.

Then I got to crocheting and made several items. I started with this hat and scarf set for my 6 year old son. The hat pattern is one of very few crochet patterns for men or boys, and I made a simple scarf using the same stitches as the hat. The scarf is shorter than usual so that he can wear it on the school playground without the risk of it catching on anything. It does look much shorter in this picture than it actually is though.

Next I made my daughter a hat and buttoned cowl. The hat is made from the same pattern used above, only I didn't use a different colour for the stripe and I only did one stripe near the bottom. The cowl is my own pattern that I can try and write out if anyone is interested.

I used Paton's Shetland Chunky yarn for both the boy set and the girl's set, and it is so nice to work with. It's soft and the colours were great. My son loves camouflage, which is why I chose the yarn, but the feel of it is what will keep me buying it now.

Next I started making this Baby Ruffle Hat because I think it is cute as heck, but I wasn't as fond of it once is was done, so I pulled the ruffle out, and made my own design for the cuff and added tassles. It was made using Bernat Cottontots yarn, which I really like, but I had to adjust the pattern for the heavier yarn. I think that is why I didn't care for the ruffle as much too. I am very happy with the end result, and it fit my two year old niece perfectly, for the 2-3 seconds she actually wore it, lol.



I made a couple more cowls with some pom pom yarn, using my own patterns. The purple/pink one didn't go to anyone yet, and I kept the black on for myself. The pom pom yarn was terrible to work with and I doubt I would buy it again, but I do have several balls of it here to use so I guess I will have to use it again.

For my Mom, I made a rag quilt. She is a Reborn Artist, and this type of quilt makes an excellent back drop for the dolls. I also made a matching pillow for it. I am very pleased with how it turned out. I worked in strips, with guidance from my mother-in-law who is a talented quilter, and only made a couple of mistakes. I am nearly finished my second one too, that I will share in the next few days.

That is it for my Christmas crafting this year. I had some other projects I wanted to make, but I ran out of time.