For my second week ( I skipped the last one) of A Homemade Christmas hosted by my cousin, I present to you my own designed ankle warmers.

What started out as practice on DPN’s, quickly turned into a project. None of us were surprised. It was too chunky of yarn to use as wrist warmers, and then I remembered a present I helped pick out a week few days ago for Christmas. They were leg warmers with two buttons on the side facing out, yet I wanted it to fall more onto the top of the foot (which would be over the top of the shoe) I tried to do the same and this is what I got:

Using thick chunky wool, and size 10 and a half DNP’s, I cast on 32 stitches, ribbed for about 4 and half inches, then increased in stockinette gradually until it was the size I wanted it. Then sew on two black shiny buttons onto each one. As crazy as it is, that is how I work. No pattern and room for mistakes…and in case anyone would like to hear about the mistakes…one is longer in the ribbing than the other.

I’ve worn them into town and they are quite cozy…and when I go to take them off, my poor ankles are cold, and I slip them right back on. They would be great for someone who likes handmade items, socks, and doesn’t mind quirky fashion.

For the first Homemade Christmas hosted once again by my cousin, Emily Rose, I decided to share what I will be doing this Christmas. On Monday night, I took a class on glass etching, which was very simple, and so I now have another thing which I can do for Christmas gifts.

Glass etching with the acidic cream is simple. One picks out a stencil, traces it onto contact paper, then cuts out the shapes, leaving an outline. Next, one places the peels off the back of contact paper, leaving the part to stick onto the glass. Next, we dab on the Armour Etch Cream onto the part where we want the frosted look to be, usually on the inside of the stencil. It looks like this…

I chose a dragonfly stencil from a library book, but one can chose anything to suit holidays, names, personalities, etc. The teacher put her son’s name on one side and then a helicopter on the other. Mom also had the idea of putting a word like “Jellybeans” or “Sugar” onto a jar, then filling it with that substance.

Not many people do this regularly, but it is easier than “actual” glass etching. There are endless ideas for this craft, and Christmas can be a great opportunity for experimentation.

A few more posts that I have done earlier in the season which could be used for Homemade Christmases:

The Blanket Buddy

Preparing for Homemade Christmases

Fingerless Gloves

My latest knitting project was this little guy here.

He is very easy to make and super sweet when finished. It makes for a great baby shower gift, or a Christmas present for a small child.

The pattern in is this helpful book:

101 Designer

one-skein wonders

edited by Judith Durant

Being our practice buddy, he is not perfect, but his buddies will get better with time and practice. Other than requiring concentration, the Blanket Buddy was fairly harmless.

I have an addiction, one that consumes my free time and occupies my thoughts, and it is in Mom’s blood too. We are filled with the desire to do and we can not seem to get it out of our minds. We want to do it in church, in the grocery stores, and anywhere we go.

Knitting

That is what we are grasped with the desire to do. A project must be going at all times and we must have one ready for when we are done with the present one. A shawl, hat, scarf, fingerless gloves, or washcloths. We must have something going on. If not, we feel idle. That, or we are having knitting withdrawals, which are very REAL!

My latest project was a simple shawl. I cut a dishcloth pattern in half, with just an increase. It was an easy work, which allowed me to listen during school (we usually discuss passionately who will read and who will get to knit) or during our evening Bible reading. I also needed a shawl that would go with my birthday dress, which you will see in the pictures.

It was late in the evening and I had just finished it. I have that look on my face “It’s done, take my picture so it will be finished”

Well, the time of year when stores stock up on candy canes, Christmas music, and flowery displays is fast approaching. This is the one time in the year that I enjoy going to the mall, for the Sinatra Christmas songs play over the speaker, and the trees donated by various organizations sparkle the hallways. Yet, this year we have begun a new tradition. Our family, being people who enjoy giving and receiving homemade gifts, are striving this year to have the majority of our gifts being handmade. Of course the variety will not be as great, for we of course cannot hand make items such as books, electronics, etc. but the items we do give will be of much more value sentimentally. Although that will not mean that anything not homemade will be excluded, for we do still enjoy the comfort of store bought gifts.

Around this time of the year, we can get a good start on homemade gifts that may take longer than some. Sweaters, afghans, quilts, clothing, etc will have a good amount of time starting now to be finished by Christmas time without much stress.

To get started, you can look through patterns, catalogs, craft magazines, etc and find all sorts of goodies through simple browsing. Christmas cards that are handmade are often valued above the store bought ones also

Some ideas of handmade items are: socks, scarves, mittens, gloves, hats, clothing, cotton dishcloths, leg warmers, handmade toys, soaps, baskets, paintings, portraits, and…look at etsy for some other ideas. The possibilities are endless. And if the men of the family enjoy working with their hands, Christmas will spark ideas for them also.

To see some handmade items of others just look through last year’s posts hosted by my cousin here.

After finding this adorable you tube video, Mom and I decided we were going to make ourselves some hand made fingerless gloves. We wear our wrist warmers a lot at home, so we thought this would be a good investment, and gift idea. Here is the video for those who are interested…

I chose a crimson and cream color from Wool-Ease as my yarn and design. The yarn is a little chunkier than I wanted it to be…however, I will not freeze! I made this pair in less than nine hours. I started at four in the afternoon, and was finished and ready for bed at around 1 in the morning.

On Wednesday, my aunt took Breezy *you can see her basket here*, Emily Rose, and I to our second basket class to finish up our previously started baskets for our 4-H projects. Perhaps a few dedicated readers can remember the basket I made last year? Well, I like this one much more.

Williamsburg Basket

It took me maybe 6 or 7 hours to make in two days. It is simple and is finished in a walnut stain. I simply adore its shape and I can’t stop looking at it and feeling its elegant weave. I must say that basket weaving is probably one of my favourite past times…I suppose I should do it more than once a year.

My mom is a quilter. She quilts by hand, machine, and love. Her excitable ties to fabric is just one of her loves about quilting. So, a few days ago, she decided that we were going to make a quilt together, since we have plenty of opportunities to be using our hands; readings during school, while watching movies, during our nightly bible reading, etc. So we began two days ago and have been cutting out 2 inch squares of fabric and sewing them together to make pairs, and then we’ll make fours, then eights, etc. until we have a big comfy quilt to let all of our cares fade into. We don’t know if it will go into my hope chest or in our blanket basket for everyday use.

We have only been working on it for two days and this is how much has been completed in a leisurely pace. We think it just might get finished before we thought…

Mom made up a little pattern for the wrist warmers and for anyone who would like to snuggle up with a nice pair of fleece fingerless gloves. You can do all sorts of things…and it is nice for winter blogging for you can still type but your hands stay nice and toasty:)

(Click on the picture to view larger size - feel free to print it off)

A little tid bit that I found way too cute to resist are these:

“Wrist Warmers”

Our pastor’s lovely wife Aimee has worn wristies since I met her and I told her I loved them the day I saw them. Then last night at church she pulled out two pairs, one of this leopard print and a print of calm gray- both a comfortable fleece. I chose the leopard, the wild side, and Mom received the others. These are so fun to wear, easy to make, and great to give as gifts! We have decided to give some to the family for Christmas, and the great thing about these wristies are that you can make a whole bunch and have a different pair for each outfit. *The best part is you can play the piano in them and your fingers are nice and toasty. I will probably be wearing them the whole rest of the winter!