So I'm starting to make stuff for Christmas presents. So far, I've made a hat and making a scarf to go with it. I'll take a picture of it once I'm done. I'm also hoping to make some more hats and scarves among other things as well. I'm looking into patterns that I can use for some of the presents this year. I'm not sure if I'm going to do what I did a few years ago where I made something for everyone in my family again or not. But if I do, I better get started on it soon. I've also printed off a few patterns from one of my favourite yarn brands website (Red Heart Yarns for those who are wondering).... And by a few.... I mean around 60 patterns... Some of which are actually Christmas patterns. So I'll probably make some of those patterns as Christmas gifts. I've also have quite the stash going for donations as well. It's funny to think about preparing for Christmas. For people who knit and/or crochet, we spend the summer months preparing for Christmas and the winter months. Then when the winter months come around, we prepare for the summer months and summer weddings.
On a side note, I've been requested to start a youtube channel sharing tutorials from one of my followers on Instagram. I have agreed to create a channel and will post the link as soon as I have a video or two on it. Until next time, fellow crochetaholics, Natalie
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Well, Christmas 2016 has come to a close. It's come and gone. Over and out. Done. Finished. Went into the history books. What else can I say? After dozens of donations made to two different places for both my dad's work and my church, presents made for my family and my sister's boyfriend, I have a since of accomplishment. Everyone LOVED their presents..... Especially my brother who practically lived in the blanket that I had made him while we were home. I kid you not. He had it wrapped around himself every chance that he got! I'm glad that he's enjoying it already and that he plans on continuing to enjoy it. These are the moments that I enjoy crocheting. I love knowing that whatever I make someone can easily be turned into a keepsake..... And who knows! Maybe even a family heirloom passed on from one generation to the next. I'm so grateful that my family is so supportive of my craft. Boy! Are they ever supportive! How supportive? 19 skeins of yarn, 2 pom-pom makers, 2 books of patterns, a yarn basket, and a gift card to the local yarn store later, that sounds pretty supportive to me! And that's so far! I still have 2 more Christmas dinners to go. But I'm not expecting anymore.
But enough with the stash that I got today.... Even though I am truly grateful for all the support for my hobby. I know that not everyone gets this kind of support and not everyone appreciates this hobby for the true art that it is. I do hope that all of you enjoyed your Christmas today for all those who have celebrated. I know that other readers celebrate other holidays this time of year as well. For all those who are celebrating different holidays, I hope you enjoyed or will emjoy being close to those who you hold dear to your hearts. I wish you all the warmest of wishes and the most joyful of days in the new year that is ahead of us. For all those crafters out there, keep on crafting and doing what you do best. I know that I haven't posted in a while! I'm sorry for that! But I've been super busy with work and life. I've also been crocheting like mad! I've made so much stuff that I have a dresser almost completely full! What's in that dresser, you may ask? Hats, scarfs, and a shawl so far..... Did I mention that some of those hats are little baby hats? So CUTE! I'm planning on giving a bunch of those to the Mitten Tree at my church when it gets put up. It will be something nice for those in need! To me, it always makes a difference if something is homemade or store bought. Anyone can buy something from the store. But not anyone can make something warm and cozy. Wouldn't you agree? Right now, I'm making a scarf and a blanket. The blanket will be for my sister's boyfriend. I hope he likes it. I'm on my fifth skein of yarn! Seriously! It's getting to be at a decent size since it's for his couch. I've also made a blanket for my brother. I'm on my way through to finishing up my Christmas gifts. I tend to do the bigger presents first then worry about the rest after those are finished since the blankets are more time consuming. I've probably spent about 100 hours on each blanket alone so far. That's a lot of hours! But it's something that I enjoy doing though. That's what matters and it's enjoyable to me when I see people's faces when they open up the presents that I have made them. What are your favourite things to make? What has your favourite item that you have made so far? Are you making anything for Christmas?
So the other day, I finally finished my aunt's present for Christmas!! About time too! I wasn't sure if I had enough of the yarn to finish, but it ended up that I did. I just had to unravel it all and start all over again. Hmmm. Who'd of thought that I had just more that enough this entire time? Definitely not me! That's for sure. Thankfully all I have left to do now is to print off all of the directions off and do one more present (one of my cousin's cousin that's not my cousin? That makes since right? Like his cousin from his other parent's side?) So technically, no I'm not COMPLETELY done, but for the sake of family wise (with the exception of my cousin's cousin), I'm done. So now, printing off directions and starting two more envelopes before I start making the bows for the envelopes. Hopefully it will all work out! Fingers crossed!
Oh my gosh!!! It's almost my vacation week (In about four weeks!!). All I want is for it to come so I can get the two skeins of yarn that I NEED to get so I can finish some Christmas presents and to do the envelopes for them as well. It's almost in the middle of October and I'm trying to get them done as soon as I can so that all that I have to worry about is wrapping the presents and getting them ready for Christmas!!! Thankfully I have just a few more inches to do on my grandfather's blanket now so that should be completely done over the next couple of days (hopefully). I just hope that I have enough time when I finish the blanket and the two other works in progress that I will be able to start working on my shawl again and have it done for Christmas. I don't know if I'm going to sell it quite yet or wait until next year and get some more ideas to add to the shawl. Once it's done (without any additions), I will post a picture of it up here and my Facebook page. And no worries folks, I'm taking pictures of my presents once I've completed each one!!!
Two point in this post! Reader beware!!! Point one: I made my first sale...... And point two: 14 down, three to go! (In case if you're just joining this blog.... I'm making Christmas presents for my family)
So.... A little while ago, I made this hat and scarf for my sister's boyfriend. After a while, I showed it to my mom and she and I agreed that the colour was a little to feminine for him (For any guy really!!). So I decided to keep it for a little bit and think about who to give it to before I decided to sell it to someone else. Thankfully, I didn't post it on Facebook for someone to buy it between this point a few months ago to about two or three days ago when my mom approached me the second time regarding the hat and scarf. When my mom approached me the second time regarding the hat and scarf (She completely forgot about the scarf!), she wanted to know if I had earmarked them for some one or if it was up for sale. I told her that I hadn't earmarked it for someone yet and wasn't thinking about selling it until I knew for sure if it was for someone yet. She then asked me if she could buy it from me. Being the beginner entrepreneur I guess you could kind of call me, I told her that she could. And before I could ask why, she told me that she had one of my cousins still to shop for that lives just outside of Chicago. I happily told her the price, wrote up her receipt the next day for it, and was on my merry way to print out directions for my cousin (or her mom, my mom's little sister) to follow when she washes them. Now, it's just the waiting game until Christmas (or shorty after) to hear about my cousin's reaction when she opens it. And now off to my second point of this post.... Three more presents to go! Finally! It's about time!!! This time, I'm using some left over yarn from a present that I've completed the other day. Well, to be honest, three, since I got enough yarn to do at least three hats made out of the yarn that I will be using for the next present that I will be using. Now the question is.... Should I make a hat or a scarf out of the yarn that I have left??? For all those crafters out there that know how to knit and/or crochet, you know EXACTLY the spot where I am know. You have something in mind, but you're not exactly sure what to make, or you're torn between two projects (maybe more) but you're not exactly sure if you have enough yarn to pull one of them off or not? I'm in that boat right now. I know that I have enough yarn for the scarf idea. It's just if I have enough for a hat that's troubling me. And I'm not about to go out to Walmart or Micheal's to get another skein of yarn if I run out. Hmmmm. The great debate! The ultimate debate if you could say. Post a comment below (Or on my Facebook page!!) with your thoughts. So my last post was about me complaining... or whining..... maybe ranting..... whatever you want to call it, about me making a total of 17 presents for my family for Christmas this year. I'm happy to report that I finished one more today!! Well two.... because one of the presents that I counted yesterday was a work-in-progress (well, three yesterday were a work in progress, now down to two). So now I've done a total of 11. 6 more presents to go... who knew that I would be kinda.... maybe.... sorta excited to finish the rest. Finished one HUGE skein of yarn today for one of my presents. And for those who aren't exactly the crafty kind here's the www.dictionary.com's definition of skein: Skein: a length of yarn or thread wound on a reel or swift preparatory for use in manufacturing.
There's four other definitions of skein. But I doubt you want to know what it's called when a flock of geese is called when they're in flight or a succession or series of similar or interrelated things...... Well.... I guess I just told you two of those definitions. Who knows. If you're going to play some kind of Trivial Pursuit game, that might come in handy. Anyways. It's good to finally use up some of the yarn that I've been holding onto for several months..... Since June/July...... Maybe even May..... I know, I know. What the heck is this girl thinking about holding onto yarn for several months....?? Right?..... Well, to be honest, I WAS going to use it for Christmas presents.... And now I have! Which is REALLY good on my part. Now I got a new skein of yarn that I'm going to be using for at least one present that I know of for sure. I know that I get an idea of who to make a present for with the rest of the skein. I mean.... The skein is flipping HUGE!!! (Pardon my French for the word "Flipping"). But I do have to admit. I AM on a role now I think. I just think that I needed to get over that little bit of a hump that I had for the past couple of presents that I had to do. Now I'm on the final stretch. Don't worry boys and girls, ladies and gents. I am going to take pictures of each present before I give them to the designated person on Christmas. With that being said, DON'T hold your breath thinking that I am going to post them within the next couple of days. Just like I said in my last post, I'd rather the person see the gift in person before I post it up on here on my slideshow page... Just in case the person sees the website and does a little snooping. Which I wouldn't mind in any other circumstance.... But this case.... A little snooping by accident would be kinda be a blown cover.... Think of it as kinda like a spy...... Once s/he has blown their cover, it's adios amigo!! (And that's as far as my Spanish ability goes, sorry peeps!) So, slowly but surely..... I WILL get all these presents done on time. Person by person, their names are getting crossed off. One less person to make a present for. Just 6 more people to make things for. Just Okay, okay, okay. I have to be brutally honest here. It's coming the end of September. School's back in for many students around the world. We haven't had Halloween or Thanksgiving yet. And I'm talking...... Christmas???? I'm just as *shocked* as everyone who is reading this. Shocked being the operative word. But I do have to say. I've started back in the summer to make sure that I am getting the presents done on time. Not only am I making presents for my parents and two siblings... But I'm making presents for my aunts, uncles, cousins, AND both of my grandparents that live within the GTA. That gives me a grand total of 17 people!!!! And at 10 people in... I'm starting to question myself. Believe you and me, I have been asking myself.... "What the HECK have I gotten myself into????" a lot lately. And when I say a lot.... I mean A LOT!! But I've made it 10 people in (and that includes my two people that are a current work in progress!!). I can't quit now. Just 7 more to go. I wish I could upload the pictures as I go along once I complete each one. But for the sake of the people that I am making the presents for, I'm saving them until after I know that each one has received their gifts this year. I do want to make this clear. I enjoy doing this for my family because I know it will show them how much I care, love, and appreciate them. Even if I do get on some of their nerves some times.
So let's back track for a bit. 10 presents down. 7 more to go. I can do this. I'm doing this because I want to give something EXTRA special this year. This is why the heck I'm doing this!!! |
AuthorNatalie lives in southern Ontario in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). She loves to crochet, read, and spend time with friends and family. Archives
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