Knit One, Purl Too Many Things

This is the second year that I gave mostly handmade items for Christmas to my family and some friends. Starting with my Thanksgiving vacation I made 3 hats and 5 scarves, a lot over the course of about 5 weeks before Christmas. There was something on my needles daily, and I sometimes switched between two projects.

My favorite was my husband’s cable knit scarf that he asked me to make for him. I used my favorite brand of yarn, Manos del Uruguay Maxima and took almost 3 weeks knitting this super long three cable scarf. He has said to me repeatedly how warm and super soft it is and I hope he treasures it for years to come. I was super proud of the end results.

I made my girlfriend a colorful infinity scarf in a drop stitch with a coordinating hat to keep her warm on her Metro commute. I used a Patons Classic Wool in a bright color palette so it would wake up her morning commute.

One of my sisters got a cabled keyhole scarf, also made with the Manos del Uruguay Maxima yarn. I loved the intricacy of this pattern and how the coloring turned out. It’s also super soft.

My other sister asked for a hat small enough to fit her head and it needed a pom pom. I used Berroco Vintage yarn in a bright pink to make a cable knit cap and the pom pom and neck warmer were made from another ball of Manos del Uruguay Maxima yarn (are you noticing a pattern here? it really is my favorite).

For my Dad I adapted the cable knit hat pattern and made him a simple ribbed hat also in Berroco Vintage in his favorite colors. My husband picked out a great coat for him for Christmas and he even has a little pocket in it just to store his hat. Perfect!

I had some leftover yarn in a gorgeously dark purple and I used it to test out the seafoam stitch that I read about online. My girlfriend Jessica happily scooped up this open weave patterned scarf for herself when she saw it on my kitchen table.

And when my girlfriend Leah saw the Ascot Scarf I made a while back she promptly bought yarn and handed it over to me to make her own version in a deep royal blue. It was a perfect Hanukkah gift for her.

Instead of gift tags I made care instruction tags for all of my handmade goodies. I need folks to know how to care for their goods once I hand them over. I like giving handmade gifts. I take a lot of time and effort to find the perfect yarn, the right color and the right project to make for someone. I know I’ve been bugged a lot about creating an Etsy shop and selling some goods but I was too overloaded with making gifts to think about creating items for others. I’ve got a few hats left to make on my list and maybe I’ll make a version of the cowl I made for myself for sale and post about it here! So that’s what’s been on my needles, what have you made recently that was really good?