handmade christmas - part two

Here is the rest of the hand knits that were made in December.

Two cable scarves. This is a nice easy project and makes a great gift for a man. I made one for Mick and one for my Dad.



A pair of mittens for Matty. When one gets soggy from the snow you need another pair.




A pair of those mitts for my brother Chris



And, a Thorpe (without edging and ties) and a Boyfriend Hat for Mick. Patterns on Ravelry. I am modeling for you as he is out at the moment.





All the yarn was in my stash and that always feels good too. I think the scarves and mittens are my favorites. The others would have been better in different yarns but, everyone seems happy with their gifts so all is good.

handmade christmas - part one

christmas morning

Christmas eve we all went sledding. Yes, even me. It was very fun.

Christmas day was nice too. The kids opened their gifts at our house in the morning and then we headed to Grammie's for dinner and well, more gifts of course.

Since then our days have been filled with playing and relaxing.

I thought I would show you some more of the handmade gifts that I made this year but, I'm going to break it down to a few posts. The second one will be devoted to knits.

* Clatter balls from Felting for Baby. I used plastic balls with bells meant to be cat toys for the center.
These are cute for babies and little ones and were not too hard to make.




* A little finger puppet pouch for Ms. S. She loves animals and her finger puppets are always scattered about. Idea from Anthropologie's website.



* A pencil pouch for M who is practicing writing his letters these days.






* And, some needle felted animals. This is a true art and one that takes practice so don't laugh too much at my attempts at a bunny and brown bear.





Okay, back tomorrow with some more.

Hope your enjoying your week resting and relaxing with friends & family.

cross stitch ornaments

I've made a lot of handmade gifts this Christmas but, I had not really done any Christmas crafts. So, I decided to do some cross stitch ornaments this week after seeing Jenny's post.

I got to stitching over the past few days and quickly found myself swept up in the x's.

I did a few deer, a house, a bunny and a little flower like Jenny's
I'd like to do a snowflake too. Maybe next year. I did a star but didn't like it very much.
I stuffed them with wool roving and cloves.

I just looked at cross stitch's online and went by sight.
Superbuzzy has some adorable patterns and Wee Wonderfuls has those cute apples, wool, butter, eggs girls that I'd like to stitch someday. There is also that alphabet sampler I never did.

I can't believe it's already the night before Christmas eve. This month sure has gone fast.

Wishing you all the happiest of holidays.

xo
Nancy

candle wreaths

I saw this idea over on flickr from one of my contacts a while back and since I was missing one of a pair I thought I would make up some new ones. They are little wreaths for going around your candles and catching wax drips. I made several and I think I will give away some for holiday gifts this year.

Here is a little tutorial.
You will need floral wire and tiny millinery flowers or other small items with stems.
I bought lengths of very thin floral wire from a local florist shop. They were .25 each but, you may be able to get them cheaper.

Take your floral wire and wrap it until you have a small circular shape. The circumference of this should be able to fit around a taper candle. You could always use the taper and wrap around that for the first one to figure out the size.
Then wrap your end and bend the sharp edge and hide it in there so it is not sticking out.



Take your flowers and wrap them around until you have the look you want. And, you are done. Now you have some pretty little wreaths.

Some ideas: crystal berries, mushrooms, little roses, daisies, greens.

shortbread

It snowed here this weekend and I did some baking. One of the cookies I baked is a bit special to me and so I thought I'd share it here.

It has been passed to me by second cousin's daughter, Leann. Is that second cousin once removed? I can never remember such things but, she got it from my Great Aunt Janet. It is a Scottish recipe and tradition. My Mom does not make it (not a fan of the kneading) so she will get some for Christmas.I think it is delicious.



Here is the recipe for my shortbread. I hope you enjoy it!


1 pound (4 sticks) room temperature butter
1 cup superfine sugar
4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup rice flour


Set butter on a counter top or flat surface. Sift superfine sugar over butter.Then sift 3 cups of all purpose flour over butter and sugar. Then sift the 1 cup rice flour over the butter, sugar and flour. Then sift the last cup of all purpose flour over everything.

Now with clean hands knead the dough. Bringing it together with your hands and using the base of your hand. Knead until everything is incorporated and it is smooth. You should be able to lift the dough without it breaking. (it might take a while)

After you are done with the kneading, pre-heat your oven to 250 degrees. Make the racks one apart.

Now split the dough into 2 halves and set one aside. Take one half and place on cookie sheet. First press it down with your hands to flaten it and once you have it bascially equal place Saran wrap over the top and use a cookie roller to smooth it out even more. Make sure it is the same thickness so it cooks evenly. Then take your pointer and thumb on your left hand and place them on the border of the dough and then with your middle finger on your right hand push between your pointer and thumb. It creates a crimp on the edge. Complete it around the whole edge. Then take a fork and lighly push it along the top of the shortbread, vertically. Making rows of little holes on top.

Repeat this to the other half that you set aside
Place first half in oven on top rack..

Place the last half in oven on bottom rack.

Time it for 15 minutes and then switch them to different racks.

Time for 20 minutes and then turn then around in oven.

TIme again for 20 minutes and just open oven.
(The reason we are doing this is becasue we need to let out the heat so the shortbread doesn't burn.)

You will know that it is done when you can smell it and also it has a lightly golden brown color. You want it to stay the light golden color. If you need to cook it longer do it in intervules of 10 minutes.

Immediatly after you take it out of the oven cut into squares, (cutting horizontally and vertically)

Shake some superfine sugar on top and place back in oven but make sure the oven is off. It is just to get some of the sugar to melt.

Then take out of oven and let it cool.

The best way to package shorbread is in tins or something of that sort. Always remember to layer it with saran wrap each layer so the shortbread does not break.

* usually the kneading takes about 15 minutes, it depends on how you knead it and what the temperature is. but trust me the first time i made it i thought i put too much flour in but i didn't. just keep working at it, lol. you have to tell me how you make out with it.

owl sweater 3

Yes, I have now made my third owl sweater for our family of four.
This one is for Matty and will be under the tree this year. It still needs it's button eyes.

Rest assured, I will not be making one for Mick.
Nor, will we take family portraits of us all wearing our matching sweaters or wear them at the same time. Okay, maybe the kids
Mine is here.
S's is here.

Thanks again Anna for all that yarn you gave me so long ago. Remember when you suggested this one be a sweater for M. Well, now it is.

aran purse

I took some time away from holiday making to knit up a purse for myself. Recently, I have been doing a lot of knitting and quite a few projects with cables. I think 3 others to be exact.

This purse was a fairly quick knit taking one ball of Rowan Big Wool which I had in my stash. I lined it with a handwriting fabric which includes a pocket for lipstick and keys. I only have a small amount of this fabric which I love thanks to my friend Anna whom I told about the fabric a few years ago and she kindly offered it to me.



Also, a practical idea is that the pattern suggests rosewood knitting needles for handles which are easy to take out shall the knitting urge strike you wherever you may be. Just don't forget some yarn.