The Holidays Were Here... So I Kept Knitting

I already showed the colorful scarf for my gift exchange here, together with the beginning of my neutral scarf for a coworker.  But here's the finished product!

Well, almost finished... I still needed to weave in the ends in that photo.  But it came out great and he loved it.  I boxed it up all nice with a bow and wrapping, and made it pretty... and then the next Monday found out that he couldn't wear it.  I was mortified, thinking he might be allergic to wool, but no.  He couldn't wear it because his wife liked it so much, she stole it!  Now that's a compliment!

Meanwhile, as soon as I got done with the scarf, I started in (with the same wool) on a cowl for a friend of ours.  Every year, we go to this couple's holiday party, and every year we exchange gifts.  This year, for the wife at least, I decided to go handmade.  The husband got bourbon.

This was a new one for me, and it used ribbing, cables, seed stitch, and a honeycomb pattern.  I didn't realize it before I started, but it was listed as an intermediate pattern, so I was pretty proud of myself for nailing it, even if it was really time consuming.

I had to try it on for good measure.

Yup, cozy warm!

Oh, and I went handmade with Eric too, but not something I made.  Something from an Israeli artist at the Handmade Artists Shop.

Honeybee cufflinks!  He loves 'em.

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.

Artist Spotlight: Part Eighty-Six

This week I've got someone you've never met here before, Pam from A Bead Thing.  Now, I've been hanging out in the handmade world for quite a while; even before starting Reef Botanicals, I was a fan of craft shows, but I've never seen anything like this.  Pam's work is really unique and beautiful.

This great mom and doting grandmother who lives in Florida had the guts to give up her day job as a realtor and get full time into crafting, a pastime she's enjoyed all her life.  She now has a shop at Handmade Artists, where you can see her absolutely gorgeous jewelry.

She's got a style and technique, I've never seen anywhere else, but she's not averse to sharing it, as she teaches jewelry-making classes down in the Daytona Beach area.

She also does home shows within a 50 mile radius of Port Orange, FL.  How much cooler is this than Lia Sophia or Cookie Lee?  I can ID those brands of jewelry from across the room.  But if you're wearing A Bead Thing, you'll be wearing a one-of-a-kind conversation starter!

Interesting thing... I've showcased so many artists here who got started when their parents or grandparents got them involved in creating.  Well, Pam joined the artisan ranks by watching her daughter play around with beads instead!

And personally, I think it's a good thing she did!

Keep up with her on Twitter, Facebook, or her blog.

Is It the Season Already?

Holiday commercials are on TV, holiday movies, showing on Lifetime.  I've been getting Black Friday emails for a while.  So I guess it's time to talk gifts, especially since Chanukah is early this year.

In addition to all the great gifts we've always had available at Reef Botanicals (and remember, if you want to do a custom gift basket, fish around the shop and see what you like then message me so we can make some plans!), there are some new things at Fabric of my Mind you should see, that I haven't shown you yet.

The most luxurious is this 100% cashmere scarf.

It's in a great Irish hiking cable knit pattern.

This blue one you see is one I made for Eric, but I'm offering it as a custom order (which means if you want it for the holidays, order as soon as possible!) in any one of these six colors.

There's also this fluffy soft acrylic blue/green/grey cable knit scarf for a more affordable option.

Or there's a great fluffy soft ribbed scarf in apple green.

That ones makes a great set with these green mittens knitted from the same yarn!

Plus, there's lots more photos if you're into decor as gifts... or to update your house for having guests over.

Handmade Holidays, Part 6: More Beanbags

Since I have two nephews, I did two sets of beanbags.  This one's in green, with a green bag with dinosaur lining.

Huzzah for another gift done, just in the nick of time!

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Swimmin' with the Mammals. And Fishes. (AKA Handmade Holidays, Part 3)

So... remember those dolphin crayons I made for the nephews for Chanukah and Christmas?  I finally made the storage bags for 'em!

I used this tutorial, without the applique since I had that awesome shark fabric.  And yes, I know dolphins are mammals and sharks are fish, but they're all sea life, right?  So it goes.  Right?  The lining and base fabric is from t-shirts.  The hardest part?  The channel for the ribbon ties.  I've gotten more proficient at bags, though.  The first one took me about an hour and a half.  The second... about half an hour!

And each bag is the perfect size for an entire set of the jumbo crayons!  I knew they would be.  

Now to get the bags done for those beanbags...

Handmade Holidays

Now that it's post-Thanksgiving, it's OK to talk winter holidays:  Chanukah & Christmas... and my nephew's December 22nd birthday.  I've been working on gifts.  First, these numbered beanbags.

For the front fabric, I used a pair of old corduroy pants.

For the fabric backs, I used fabrics from all different sources.

For instance, the sharks, monkeys, pawprints, and dinosaurs came from JoAnn Fabrics and were purchased for projects like this.  The motorcycles and planes were from a little mom & pop fabric shop nearby.  The red swirly fabric I bought over a year ago to back a quilt kit I never made.  And the two striped ones are old shirts of mine.

Then I did numbers to match the backs.

Once I had a stack of parts, I needed to iron on the number appliques.

Then I sewed around the appliques.  These, for the record, were my first-ever appliques.  For those of you who are really beginner sewing types like I am, some things I learned:

Sewing that damned zigzag around an applique is hard.  Seriously.  Of course, it got easier most of the way through when I realized that the little notch line on my sewing machine foot was the center line of the stitch.  Yeah.  I'm a little... rather than dim, we'll call it not observant.  So before that, it was really hard to keep the stitching on the edge of the numbers and I had to rip some out and redo them.  Honestly, even after I figured that out it was hard.  Stitches are as big as they are, and I'm still working out how to gauge getting the stitches where they need to be when it's time to turn the fabric.  Speaking of which, the tutorial is not kidding about the slowness and futziness of the sewing of the appliques.  Slow.  And futzy.

In the end, they came together.  How cute are these?

I've got the beginnings of another set in green for the other nephew, but first I have something else I'm working on.  It's something I've never done before and involves my very own patterns.  You'll see soon!

These beanbags, though, are now available for purchase in the Reef Botanicals Handmade Artists Shop.

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