Handmade Gifting

This past week I did a little more gifting of the handmade variety and it was so much fun!  I love making gifts for people and I love watching them receive something that I have put so much effort into.

The first gift I made was an angry bird pig for my work friend who had a birthday last week.  A few of us girls got together to buy her some gifts but when I saw this pattern I couldn't resist making on to add in.  I am so glad I did because she loved it!  She is a major angry birds fan so this was the perfect thing for her.

I used this pattern available on ravelry and obviously didn't look at the finished measurements before I started because I didn't realise how big it would turn out.  It ended up being about 5 inches tall.  Despite it's size it was a super quick make.  If you sat down and knocked it out in one go you would probably be able to make it in just a couple of hours.


The next two gifts were both made for my cousin's little boy who is due in 4 weeks.  They had a pool party/baby shower yesterday and it was the perfect way to spend a hot sunday afternoon.  The first gift I made was a crocheted robot using this pattern.  I was so happy with how this turned out.  Corey loved it too and he was a bit bummed when he found out I was giving it away.  He wants me to make another for Imogen.

I also made this little comforter blanket thing to go with the robot.  I was flicking through ravelry when I spotted this pattern and thought it would be the perfect thing to accompany the robot.  This was also a quick make.  The only issue I had was the skip stitch blade I used cut the holes too close together so when I crocheted through them they tore.  Instead I measured around my piece of fleece and made pen marks at my desired interval.  I then used a knitting needle to poke holes at each of the points then I just continued on as the pattern said to.

How can you resist that little face! Isn't it just the cutest. My cousin was pretty impressed with the presents so hopefully his little boy is as well.  I am so excited for him to arrive and to finally meet him.  It feels like his girlfriend has been pregnant forever because they told us quite early.  Stay tuned and within a month or so I should have some cute newborn pics to share.

Mum's Christmas Present

I have been wanting to share this bag with you guys since the minute I finished it. I am so in love with that I may need to steal it back from mum ;-) This is one of only 2 presents that I made for Christmas this year. But considering how long it took me to get this finished I would have had to start in June to get more presents done.

I used this tutorial by See Kate Sew for the basis of the bag. I used her measurements to cut the main bag pieces, lining and handle. For the scallops I didn't use her template but rather traced around a cup on the wrong side of a piece of fabric. I then used this chalk line as my guide and sewed along it before trimming and turning my scallops right side out. I found this gave me a rounder finish on my scallops and I could make them a little bigger.

I also didn't use her sewing instructions because I was too impatient to read the tutorial before jumping into the sewing. I just winged it but it turned out pretty good so I am happy. I love the colours in this bag. I may have to grab some more fabric to make myself one otherwise I really will want to steal this back.

The other gift I made this Christmas was to whip up a couple of this necklaces for my niece who is accessories obsessed. Did you make any gifts this Christmas?

Cookie Mix Jars

Do you need a last minute gift for a friend or colleague?  Do you have someone on your Christmas list that loves to bake or who would like to learn how to bake?  Why not make them a cookie mix jar!

These are so easy to put together and look really impressive!  I used the measurements given in this post  by Bakerella.  I was hoping to find Christmas coloured mnm's but I couldn't.  I ended up using these orange and white mnm's that are jaffa flavoured.  I think they look quite good but probably a bit more Halloweeny then Christmasy.  Oh well!

I found the jars I used in Kmart.  They are about 1 litre and the perfect size for this mix.  I topped them off with some scrap fabric and some ribbon that was leftover from Imogen's christmas outfit.  I think these make quite cute little gifts and I would love to receive one myself.

Rainbow Granny Stripe Blanket

 

I have wanted to make a granny stripe blanket for ages.  I have seen so many great ones around the blogosphere and always wanted to make a rainbow striped one.  Although every time I went to make it there would be a colour that I was missing so it kept getting delayed.

Pattern: Granny Stripe Blanket by Attic 24 
Yarn: Mix of colours from the stash
Hook: 4mm
Ravelry Page: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/kat21/granny-stripes

Finally I cast on at the start of November.  It has taken me just over a month to complete this blanket but finally it is finished.  I have had it sitting in my project basket and every time I sat down to watch tv I would crochet a few rows.  So it was slow going but it was nice to have a project that didn't need to be finished to a deadline.  Also I am really bad at sitting still so I like to be doing something while watching tv.

I am not too sure what I am going to do with this blanket.  I cast it on without a person in mind.  I might keep it to use for Imogen but she has quite a few blankets already.  My cousin's girlfriend is having a baby in February but they are having a boy.  Is a rainbow blanket too girly for a boy?  It will probably just end up going into the gift box till a suitable recipient pops up.

Christmas Wishlist

I thought it might be fun to share a few things that are on my wishlist this christmas.  Also I know Corey hates christmas shopping so hopefully this will make his life a little easier.

1 - Nigella Cookbooks - I have one but I would love to add more to my recipe book collection.  I can read Nigella cookbooks like novels.  She has an awesome way of writing.

2 - Sophia Bustier Maillot by Seafolly - I need some new swimmers and I am loving this vintage style one piece.  Plus who can go past a bit of gingham.

3 - Rococo Rose Vintage Maillot by Seafolly - another gorgeous one piece.  I love the blue and the floral.

4 - The Mat - this is a food grade plastic mat that you use to roll out fondant and cover cakes.  My friend lent me hers once and it makes life so much easier.  I would love one of my own.

5 - Wittner Peppermint Heels - Are these not the most perfect heels you have ever seen?  They are to celebrate 100 years of Wittner and they would be perfect to wear with my vintage dresses.  The only problem is I can't choose between these two colours.

6 - Marianne of Maui Coral Hawaiian Fabric - I want to make a vintage style playsuit and this fabric would be perfect.  Such a gorgeous colour for summer!  I am think a circle skirt and top kind of like this.

7 - Bernie Dexter Capri Pants - I have wanted these pants forever!  They are like my dream pair of jeans.

8 - Glass Drink Dispensers - I have visions of parties with glass drink dispensers full of pink lemonade and glasses with striped straws.  I need these in my life!

9 - Wilton Ribbon Cutter & Embosser - this would have made my life so much easier when making Corey's pacman cake.  It's not easy to cut straight strips of fondant with a knife.

So what are you wishing for this christmas?

  

Swap Fun

A little while ago when I posted about this bear hat for Squishy I received a comment from Reana Louise telling me that I should make these to sell.  This sparked a long trail of emails from which we decided to do a little swap.  I would make Reana a grown up bear hat and she would make me something in return.

I was a bit nervous about making a hat for someone else and it being the right size but with the help of Reana sending me her head measurements I found an adults beanie pattern to use as a starting point.  I used this pattern for the hat and then upsized the ears from the original baby pattern.

I also popped in a few little goodies for Reana to enjoy.

And do you want to see the amazingness (yes, that is a word!) that I received in return....

Isn't that picture amazing!  It was inspired by Reana's favourite nursery rhyme "The Owl & The Pussycat".  It is even more gorgeous in real life then this photo does justice for.  I am pretty excited about this dress too! I think it will be a perfect first project for summer after Squishy is born because it isn't too fitted.  It'll be a great dress for summer especially in that gorgeous orange fabric that Reana sent me.  I had so much fun taking part in this little swap.  If anyone else out there is keen to do a little swap let me know. I am always open to sending and receiving happy mail!

King Pig Hat

 

A while ago a friend asked me if I could make a this hat for her friends little girl.  The problem being that the little girl is about 6 months old and the hat pattern is for an adult.  So I decided to start with this kids beanie pattern and go from there.

The eyes and ears were easy to scale down but the nose and crown were a little bit more confusiing.  I must admit when I first got to that part I left the poor hat sitting for a couple of weeks before I decided to just jump in and tackle it.  The crown took me a few attempts and i'm not 100% happy with it but it'll do.  I simply used the crown pattern from the original pattern but cast on less stitches. Unfortunately, I didn't take notes so I can't remember exactly what I cast on.  Sorry! For the nose I just did less rounds before starting to work the even rounds to make it a bit smaller.

I sent a pic to my friend and she was pretty happy with it.  I will be giving it to her today at work and I am just crossing my fingers that it will fit her friends little girl.  If anything it might be a little big but that is ok because she can always grow into it.

Marlee's Christmas Dress

Wow that is a very unimaginative title! I hate coming up with post titles. They always sound so lame.  Anyway, as you probably guessed I have finished another Christmas present.  This time a dress for my niece Marlee.

I used a Get Creative pattern from Spotlight and made her a size 2.  She is 18 months so I am hoping it will fit her for a little while.  It's hard sewing gifts for kids cause I can't go measure them to make sure I am making the right size so I just have to wing it.

Marlee is the only girl in a family of 4 kids and everything she owns is super duper girly. I thought this fabric was super cute and the pink trim made it that touch more girly.

I took such great care with this dress to make sure that the inside was just as pretty as the outside.  I think when you are making something for someone else it makes you work that little bit harder to make sure it is right.  When I make something for myself and I make a mistake I figure I am the only one who will know so it won't matter.

With this dressed I made sure all the seams were neat and bias bound the sleeves.  I even went so far as to attempt a lapped zipper.  For my first attempt I think it worked out pretty well!

So that is one more Christmas present out of the way.  I only have one more thing that I want to make for Christmas presents and I have 1.5 weeks left to do it so I think I will be fine.  I have only made 3 full presents this year and a couple of little things to pop in with other gifts.  Next year I am hoping to be able to make a few more things not just for presents but also for around the house.  But I have plenty of time to think about that!

Unicorn Beanie

This weekend I was finally able to gift one of my knitting projects to its recipient and now I can share it with you.  My darling friend Maria from Movie Mazzupial and I share the same birthday and I wanted to knit her something this year.  Unfortunately, I was a bit slow and didn't get it finished in time so I had to give it to her this weekend at my hen's party (more on that to come in another post).  Maria is a massive fan of unicorns and purple so I made her a unicorn beanie.

I did a bit of googling and couldn't find a pattern specifically for a unicorn beanie that I really liked so I made up my own.  I used this earflap beanie pattern and then this cone pattern.  With the cone pattern I started with 36 stitches and did a few extra decrease rows to make it bigger.  For the ears I used the ears from this pattern.  The mane was quite simple but time consuming.  All I did was cut strips of yarn double the length that I wanted the mane and then I double them over and used a crochet hook to pull the loop end through the beanie and then the loose ends through the loop.  That is probably not a very good explanation and I would be happy to do a tutorial but it will have to wait until after the wedding.

So that is how I made the lovely Maria a unicorn beanie.  I forgot to get a photo of her wearing it so here is one I cropped down of here from the hen's party.

OMG it's wedding week!!! I am freaking out already and it is only Monday morning.  Not sure what my posting will be like this week.  I do have a few things to share but not sure if I will have time.  Let's just wait and see how I go.

Work In Progress

I feel like I haven't posted an actual project in a while even though I have been working on a few things so I thought I would post a quick work in progress photo....

I took this photo the day after my birthday with my brand new Nikon D90 that Corey bought me.  It is actually finished now but I can't post proper photos until it is given to its intended recipient.  Stay tuned for those soon!

Birthday Love

Firstly, thank you to everyone who left me birthday messages on my blog yesterday. They were all very sweet!  Yesterday, I had to work but I was super spoilt and it was a pretty awesome day.  I arrived at work to find my desk all decorated for my birthday.  Then the girls baked up a storm and we had a lovely morning tea.  Then to top it all off the spoilt me with some adorable presents.  Here are some pics from the day....

 

I also got a really cute apron but I didn't get any photos of it.  I will have to get some next time I am baking to show you all.  It is a super cute retro style half apron.  So thanks again to everyone for the birthday wishes. I had a really awesome day!!!