All of the Christmas decorations have now been put away in our house and the quiet feeling of January has set in. However, before we all officially move on from Christmas, I thought I’d share a little about some of the handmade goodness that we gifted this year. I love giving meaningful, useful, and thoughtful gifts and with my love for crafting, I often find myself making quite a few gifts during the holiday season. This year a few of my favorites were mittens for all of the nieces and nephews (note: 2 year old boys do not find mittens to be exciting, nor something they want to try on for a photo shoot…), a huge infinity scarf for my husband (I used this pattern with a worsted weight), peppermint lip balm (with a mixture of coconut and olive oils), candles, and rosemary-lavender salt scrub (with a mixture of epsom and kosher salts).
I just love making and giving handmade gifts. It just feels the way gift-giving should feel. I love how it takes planning, time, and effort to create something–and not just anything, but a specific something for a specific person. To me, it’s a much more meaningful and enjoyable way to give gifts.
How about you? Did you make any gifts this year??
2 responses to “handmade gifts”
Hi Megan:
I just started knitting again and look for easy patterns. I love the infinity scarf and I love the Pickles internet site. Did you use the exact yarn mentioned in the Pickles pattern or did you find a yarn similar to it? Have you actually ordered yarn from the Pickles site? The yarns look so beautiful. Thanks.
Jane
Hi Jane!
Hooray for knitting again! That’s great to hear. I did not use Pickles’ yarn. They are based in Norway and so I have not ordered from them, even though their yarn looks scrumptious! I’ve followed their blog for a few years now and have made a few things from their patterns and have been very pleased with what how things have turned out. I usually look up their yarn and substitute it with something I can find in my local yarn shop. For the infinity scarf that I made for Dan I used a worsted weight made from 100% wool. I cannot remember the brand, as I’d had it for quite awhile. And I think I used US size 11 needles. It worked great for the feel I was going for. It’s warm but not bulky and so it lays really nicely. It doesn’t have the nice texture variations like the Pickles yarn would, but I knew that going in to it.
Happy knitting!
Megan