it seems that for me it’s easier to make handmade presents for adults. Much easier. I do make things for my children, for the past two years I’ve made their yearly ornaments for the tree. (When I was born my mothers older sister started giving me ornaments every year for Christmas, and when I had my own tree it was wonderful to have my own set of ornaments filled with memories of her and my Uncle. So from when Corra was born I have started giving my children each an ornament, every year, so when they have their own tree’s they also have their own ornaments.) But when it comes to making presents for them, I don’t at least not for Christmas. Maybe it’s because it would be hard to hide making them, I do have four children after all. And I never seem to get my crafting act together before late November and there certainly isn’t enough time to knit or craft that much and sleep. This year my gift list was smaller since Allysa is no longer in pre-school, (that takes 2-3 items of the list). Now this year, cause I procrastinated a ton, I didn’t give myself enough time to order yarns. I wish I could have knit a few things outta of different yarn, however I found some great lovely’s in the stash (aka my personal yarn store) which makes me so very happy, cause if you use stash you gotta replace it!
I started asking my kids teachers what their favorite colors where and the color of their jackets in October, which yes I did start this early however I didn’t act one it. Allysa’s teacher said she loved purples, pinks and blue. She said she liked her winter accessories to be bold and colorful.
this happy fun cowl totally fits the bill. She swooned when she opened it. All the details here on rav. By the way, Bryce is “smiling with his eyes”, right looks like the stink eye to me. And he WANTED to be the model. Ok, his choices where limited either take pictures (which he finds frustrating) or be he model. Bryce’s teacher, oh the poor woman. She’s pretty strict and there have been some hard times so far this year. My son is no angel and anyone who has to decipher his scrawl (his hand writing kills me) deserves a wonderful present.
all the details raveled here. I do have to tell you that I assed this pattern up good three times before I finally understood what the designer wrote. Then after I started over the third time, worked 3 cable repeats I saw that I twisted the second cable wrong. At that point I was so ticked off I didn’t want to drop all those stitches and re-work them. Instead I twisted one cable to the left and the next to the right. Its a design element damnit. It’s Corra’s last year in elementary school and she loves her teacher. A few weeks ago I knit a new hat for Corra (that hasn’t quite made it to the blog or rav for that matter…) her teacher saw it and commented on how cute it is.
details here on rav. Took me awhile to find a stash yarn for this one. I didn’t have time to go to a yarn shop, no time at all to order yarn online. I really need a bulky yarn, so I held a aran weight yarn together (knitting with two strands) which thankfully worked and the hat is cute! Now it wasn’t until last year when Corra started playing the flute (she switched to the clarinet a few months after playing the flute) how hard a music teachers job really is and if you have ever heard a group of 3rd graders play a recorder you know these people have to really, really love their jobs.
we really love her. All the details here on rav. The nurse too, since my kids see her quite a bit, and she was leaving for a different job we gifted her an extra special gift,
another jane market bag and a dozen homemade marshmallows, inspired by Zarah’s homemade marshmallows that she blogged about last year. The nurse wasn’t the only one to get some yummy (really these are too good to be so easy!) marshmallows the secretaries up front received some as well as some hot cocoa mix in a fabric gift tote.
And to round everything out a stupid sock creature named Marley
who accompanied some masrhmallows in our gift to the principal. I’m sure he was thinking what the heck is this thing when he opened that up!
That was it for the handmade presents this year, well of course the ornaments that I made for my family. Since I can’t find my camera (again) that will wait for another day.
PS. I lost my camera three times in the past week.
PPS. probably because I never put it away where it belonged…
PPPS. I hope all of you had a lovely Christmas. 🙂
PPPPS. Totally forgot about this,
one more pic here on flickr. Small little bag for Corra’s $3 class gift exchange, its very hard to find a nice gift for such little money. Adding a sweet little bag makes it so much nicer. Don’tya think?
Mistress Stash Enhancer 
Wow, you made a ton of great gifts!!!! Semi-handmade?? I think not! 🙂
I agree – this definitely qualifies as more than “semi” homemade! Kudos to you for giving such nice and thoughtful gifts to all the teachers in your kids lives. (I didn’t get around to making marshmallows before Christmas this year, maybe sometime this week?)
your kids have some lucky teachers!!!