The Holidays Are Approaching ... So I've Been Knitting

I'm one of those people who hates the expansion of the holiday season.  I am.  I hate that Halloween - my favorite holiday - is practically ignored, that Thanksgiving is raced past, and that the malls have Christmas music playing in October.  I hate that people and stores put up their decorations earlier every year.  I hate that other holidays, just as important to many people, even more important to some, play second, third, heck 14th fiddle to the winter holidays, mostly Christmas.  I like to enjoy them all.

That said, for those of us who make gifts, we definitely need to start before Thanksgiving.  Especially if you're a knitter but not a speed knitter, which I'm not.  Especially if you've got pre-holiday gift giving events, which I do.

I've got a few gift exchanges this year, so I'm already planning my baking and my gifts.

The first is a good, old fashioned Yankee Swap, in some circles known as a White Elephant exchange.  It'll be all women, so I know I can go feminine, but I have no idea who's getting my gift.

So I went with a scarf.  Who can't use more scarves?  I found this gorgeous wool/acrylic blend yarn in colors that'll go with anything but fire engine red, and got to work on a nice cable knit.

And I did my first-ever fringe, too!

Folded it nicely, wrapped it with ribbon, and then I just needed a pretty gift bag and some tissue paper.

Done!

Hope it's a hit!

Then there's the gift exchange at work (the day job).  I will be getting a name to gift to in advance of our office party, but waiting for that would slow me down too much.  So I've gone with a neutral fisherman's wool for this one, in the same cableknit pattern.

Catimus felt inclined to assist.  By sleeping.

Still working on this one, and I'll post when it's done.  If it turns out it's for one of the women in the office, I'll add fringe.  If not, it'll be all done.

Then for a third gift exchange, I'm not knitting.  I bought some fun things for my recipient, but I do have one handmade item planned for her also ... not telling what yet, though!  Stay tuned, and you'll see.

They're All the Rage

I recently got a request for infinity scarves, so I thought why not?  I've knitted up these cozy, fluffy scarves in various colors.  Each has a great color variation and great color range.  At $25 each, they're also a great less expensive option for a handmade scarf.  I made them 55" in circumference so they're nice and long to go around twice, but stay close to the neck to keep you warm.

When I was done with those, I decided to try something different too.  I had this soft, fuzzy white yarn and some shiny red yarn that I love, so I knitted them together into a loooooooooong infinity scarf (about 84" long... or around, depending on how you look at it), and came up with this scarf that looks, as Eric pointed out, like a boa.  It's so comfy!  And it's really pretty, too.

Fun, right?  They're all in the accessories section of Fabric of my Mind.  I don't know about you, but these scarves kind of cheer me up in the face of all the snow we've been having... and will apparently keep having.  Now... who wants to help me come shovel?

Christmas and New Year's at Our House

The food!  I haven't told you about the food.  Eric was in charge of Christmas dinner.  So...

Gotta have eggnog!  Man, I love eggnog.

Ravioli filled with black truffle & manchego, garnished with black truffle oil & herbs de Provence.  So good!

Lamb chops coated with foie gras and encrusted with crushed almond.

And for dessert, figs with grated manchego & powdered bacon.  I nearly exploded.

Then just a week later, New Year's Eve!  We hosted this year, a smallish party but a fun one.  In addition to stuffed mushrooms, mini hot dogs, and wings, Eric had fun with his dehydrator and made a dried fruit salad.  It had granny smiths, red delicious, pears, mango, kiwi, and banana.

And I did a parmesan pasta salad.

I also baked amaretto brownies and four different kinds of cookies - langues de chat, whiskey macks, gingerbread animals, and brandy snaps.

Want any of the dessert recipes?  Lemme know.  I wouldn't be able to promise recipes from Christmas, because Eric doesn't write anything down.

My Handmade Holidays

I did a lot of creating this season.  A lot.  I'm tired, but still truckin' along.

I suppose I should start with Chanukah, which also happened to pretty much coincide with one nephew's birthday, so I include the birthday in this post too.

Both nephews, for Chanukah and Christmas, got these cute magnetic fishing games I made.

Eric helped too; he cut down the dowels for me to make the fishing poles!

And I knitted each one a fish like this one.

But not all the crafts were mine, and I really should back up.  First, there was one gift exchange with a group, and for my recipient, in addition to giving her my own candles, soap, and one of my washcloths, I gave her a beautiful bear ornament from Reflections, like this one.

And Kris, the shop owner, was so wonderful that she sent one for our tree too!

And no, we don't have a fake white tree, we get the real thing from the local EMS, generally.  It just doesn't show up as well on the dark green in a photo, so that's Kris' shop photo.  Here's how it looks in our house:

I also gave the same person this cool hot/cold pack in a racing fabric from Lil' Bit Sassy.  My recipient's favorite sport is NASCAR, after all.

Then in another exchange, in addition to one of our bath salts and one of our candles, I gave my recipient these incense sticks from Delightful Scents.

My office is also REALLY big on Christmas, so we had all sorts of gift exchanges.  For my boss, I got this terrific print of a watercolor painting, which I then framed for her.  It was from StartsArts.

It looks even more amazing in person, and Eric and I kind of want one for ourselves too.  The colors are so bright and vivid!

For the associate with whom I also work, I got this really pretty hanging tealight holder from Reflections.  Fall is her favorite season, so I thought it was perfect.

And for our office white elephant exchange, I got this awesome mug from River Rock Arts, and gave it with some homemade chocolates and a Dunkin Donuts gift card.

That mug is called "oversized" in the description, but believe me when I tell you it's HUGE and gorgeous, and I will own some at some point!

And to everyone in the office, I gave handmade snowman lollipops.  With 14 people in the office and three pops per person, 42 pops took me quite a while to do.  I admire chocolatiers, for sure.  But at the end, everyone got one dark chocolate, one milk chocolate, and one white chocolate pop.

For each other, Eric got me some amazing teas and other stuff, and I got him a dehydrator and some books and things.  It was a great Chanukah and Christmas all around!

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