Tag Archives: crochet christmas presents

2016 Crocheting Goals

I’m going to take a slightly different approach this year.  Last year was the first year that I created crocheting goals for myself. And although there was a lot that I did not complete, I think in the first half of the year I got a lot more done than I may have in previous years.

Instead of going quite as structured as I did last year with laying down what projects I was going to do in which month, I’m just going to make myself a project list of things I want to get done.  I will start this list out with some semblance of the order I want to complete these project in, however, I expect it to be more of a living, ongoing, occasionally changing list – especially with regards to when I get custom orders from my Etsy store. So here is the first draft of the…

Stitched In Love Crocheting 2016 Project List:

  1. DONE – Sweet 16 Afghan – This is started and needs to be done soon because it will need to be mailed out as soon as I can.  It’s already going to be late for her birthday.  There’s just so much going on right now!
  2. Buddy’s Afghan – I have designed an afghan pattern in honor of each one of my new babies.  As soon as the Sweet 16 Afghan is done, I need to get working on Baby #3’s.  I’ve already done quite a bit of R&D (i.e. Pinterest pinning) and I’m pretty sure I know what I want to do.  I even have the yarn. Now I just need to sit down and start work/writing the pattern.
  3. Christmas Stockings for Family – I think I’m just going to continue working on the Christmas items after the immediate projects are wrapped up so that they don’t just get put off until the end of the year and not get done again. I need to finish the stockings for the new baby and myself. Then I would like to do some embellishments on everyone’s stockings, including names and maybe some holly berries and leaves.
  4. Christmas Tree Skirt – I have a whole Pinterest board dedicated to this one and have not yet decided what I want to do for this exactly. However, I might see if I can get a plain, solid tree skirt on sale after the holidays this year to use as a backing for mine to lend more durability to it and potentially act as a background depending on what design I settle on.
  5. Afghan Christmas Present #1 – I have three different afghans that I want to make family members for Christmas gifts.  Hopefully I can get them done in the first part of this year and then just block them and package them come Christmas next year.  These projects are going to be difficult to post about while maintaining the Christmas surprise. I might have to  come up with some creative pictures of extreme close ups and do some fun editing to disguise the true results.
  6. Afghan Christmas Present #2
  7. Afghan Christmas Present #3
  8. Curtains – We have  a great big bay window in the new house and instead of putting up some boring curtains or sheers, I really want to crochet some pretty lace-like curtains that I can just slip onto some tension rods for a sort of 3/4 cover.
  9. Rugs – We also have all hardwood floors in the new house which we have refinished with a beautiful dark stain. But we need several rugs in multiple areas of the house. I also want to do a “street and lawn” rug for the kids’ room
  10. Happypotamusses for kids – I thought about doing these for their birthdays or for another holiday through the year, but I think I’ll stick with making these and saving them for Christmas next year.  The designer of this very cute stuffed animal has actually designed quite a few others, so I’m actually thinking about making the Hippo for Bubba, an Elephant for Sephy because she loves them, and something else fun for Buddy instead of just doing 3 hippos in different colors.
  11. Mitten Ornaments – Another small gift for the family members to make and save for next year.
  12. Top for myself – Finally on to non-Christmas items! Hopefully by this time I will have been able to loose some baby weight and can make myself something pretty.
  13. Dress for Sephy – I’d like to try again in making a dress for Sephy, this time in a very light weight yarn, or even thread.
  14. Parasol – I would still like to try and get this thing made. I have two different umbrella frames ready to use for it.
  15. Masquerade Masques – My sister is having a Masquerade Ball for her Halloween party next year and I want to make the masks that my Husband and I wear. I also have a whole Pinterest board for this one!

It will be interesting to see how much of this I will actually be able to get done this year. Fifteen doesn’t sound like a lot on this list, but with 3 afghans plus a tree skirt that is basically a whole afghan itself, it is definitely going to be a challenge.

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Boot Cuffs Facebook Special

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Now taking orders for boot cuffs at $20 a pair for the first 10 Facebook Fans only! FREE Shipping (Continental US.) Share with all your friends who want their own pair of custom, handmade boot cuffs!

  • One size fits most – cuffs are 11.5 inches around unstretched and 6 inches long.
  • You will be invoiced via Paypal (Don’t worry, you can pay on Paypal even if you don’t have an account.) Work will only be started after payment is received.
  • Available colors include light brown (top left pic), white, black, dark brown. Other colors may also be possible, just ask!
  • Cuffs will be made-to-order on a first-come-first-serve basis. It takes me 2-3 days to make a pair so if you want yours sooner than later, order now!
  • I am only committing to 10 orders at this time. If I receive more than 10 orders I will let you know.
  • PM me your orders now via Facebook with your color choice and email address for Paypal billing!

Stitched In Love

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Filed under Christmas Presents 2014

Boot Cuffs

20150101_145418_1Happy 2015! Welcome to the new year.  After last year, I am just exhausted.  I feel like I could curl up in bed and sleep for 3 months!

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Here is one of the gifts I was working on for Christmas gifts last month.  My sister asked me for a pair last year, but it was just too close to Christmas when she did and I couldn’t get them done so I tried them out this year.  It seems they’re even more popular now.

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I did create the pattern for this and am working on putting it together.  I made a pair for my sister-in-law and my niece too.  I’m also working up a pair for my Mom right now too as she wanted a pair after seeing my sister’s. I would even like a pair, but I actually don’t own a pair of boots!

 

After I finish my Mom’s pair, it’s Granny Square time!

Stitched In Love

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Christmas Cocoon and Santa Hat

Christmas CocoonI finished up this little treat this weekend! I wish I had known that Bubba was going to be a Christmas Eve baby or I would have made this last year and used it for his newborn pictures!

The finished cocoon and Santa hat are for sale on Etsy here.

The pattern for the set can be found on Ravelry here.

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Filed under Baby, For Sale on Etsy, For Sale On Ravelry, Patterns

A Short Break and a Gameplan

After finishing the kids’ Halloween costumes I am taking a short break to read a library book that is overdue – Wild by Cheryl Strayed.  The movie comes out in December but I wanted to read the book first.  I was going to renew it but it’s on hold by another person so I can’t.  I didn’t want to return it before reading it though because I knew that I would never check it out again if I did.  I started reading it yesterday and am half-way through it.  That’s pretty typical for me.  If I start reading something I don’t usually do anything else until I’m done.

After my short break I need to make the baby afghan in payment for my logo work.  I’ll be creating a new pattern with it so not only will the recipient receive a hand crocheted afghan, but they will also have had the pattern for it designed specifically for them.  I think once I get it done and complete the PDF I’ll also send them a copy of it for good measure.  I need to get it done and delivered before Thanksgiving.  I’ve been thinking about the design I want and looking at some books for inspiration. I know the edging that I want to do but still haven’t decided on what to do for the body.  The Ribbon and Cross Christening Afghan is rows of shells so I don’t wan to do that.  I was thinking about a basket weave stitch, but I’m not sure if that will go with the edging I want to do.  So I’m still mulling that over this week as I read.  Once I get that done, I think I want to make up a few quick Christmas presents.

My poor Granny Square Project keeps getting pushed back.  I WILL FINISH IT! Once I get this baby afghan and Christmas presents finished, it’s back to the Grannies until they are done!  I have 4 months left of squares to do, which means 8 squares.  Then I’ll have the arduous task of joining all those squares.

I also have pictures of Halloween costumes that I will post here shortly.  I had started to write-up the pattern I created for my son’s costume and want to get that finished and for sale somewhere in there too!

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May – Square Nine

May – Square Nine

If you haven’t noticed, I have been using yarn from my stash to make each of my squares and not buying any new.  As a result, I’ve been using different yarn types together where I normally never would.  The most common example of this has been using worsted weight Red Heart yarn with the lighter Caron Simply Soft.  But this is more of a sampler piece, so that rule is temporarily suspended.  Because the weights and textures are different, I often have to change the size of the crochet hook I’m using in order to maintain the same gauge after changing yarns.

May’s first square is another extremely simple Granny, however I found a lovely variegated cotton yarn in my stash that I used to make my family dish cloths for Christmas a few years back.  The color just said “May” to me and the cotton texture will definitely stand out in the finished afghan.

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Filed under 30 Days of Blog - 2014, The Granny Square Project

Christmas Presents 2013 – One More!

Gift Card Holder

I almost forgot! For the nieces and nephews this year we were lazy and gave them gift cards.  But I dressed them up a little bit and crocheted gift card holders.

I made these holding two strands of size 10 thread and added a sparkly red button.

They turned out even cuter than I expected and I thought about making these to sell on Etsy.  What do you think? Would you pay $5 for one of these?

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Christmas Presents 2013

SnowflakesFinally, here are the Christmas presents that I made for the family this past year.  I’ve been wanting to make these as Christmas gifts for several years now.

I made a set of 5 starched snowflake ornaments for each of my and my Husband’s Parents and each of our siblings’ families.  I made the same snowflake for everyone rather than using a different pattern for each set.  I had it memorized very shortly and was turning them out in 30 minutes each by the time I got them all done.

I used different thread from size 5 to 20, including one set of gold thread and two different sets of red thread – all of which I already had on hand.  I did have to buy some ribbon for the hangers and I also sprayed each set with glitter spray once they were starched to add a little sparkle.  (That was a lot of fun in the freezing cold temperatures we had this December.)

I picked up old Christmas tins at the thrift store to put these in instead of boxing and wrapping.  I lined the tins with tissue paper to which I added a few drops of scented oil so that you got a nice whiff of Christmas when you opened the them.  In the end it took me a lot of time to make, starch and finish these, but everyone seemed to enjoy them.

Starching and pinning to shape.

Starching and pinning to shape.

This is scented oil from Bath and Bodyworks. I added just a few drops to the tissue paper before putting the ornaments in their tins.

One of the tins I picked up at the thrift store.

One of the tins I picked up at the thrift store.

This is the gold snowflake which I gave to my Mom.

This is the gold snowflake which I gave to my Mom.

This is my favorite.  I love how delicate it came out using the smaller thread.  My Mother-in-law got this one.

This is my favorite. I love how delicate it came out using the smaller thread. My Mother-in-law got this one.

I plan to make a bunch of snowflakes for myself to put on a second tree in our home eventually.  I’m talking about making a few dozen different snowflakes.  That sure will be a project!

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Bubble Gum Hat & Scarf

This is my Niece, Kaeli, and the first of the Christmas presents that I will post for this year.  I had this yarn that I had started a knitting project with but never finished.  I had wanted to learn how to knit and picked up a book and taught myself the basics.  But I just don’t enjoy it as much as crocheting so I’ve all but given it up. 

So instead I decided to use the rest of the yarn for this set.  The yarn is bulky and fun.  The colors make me think of bubble gum and just seemed perfect for a little girl.  It is hard to work with though as you can’t really see your own stitches in the last row or round, and I had to crochet it mostly by feel of where the loops were.  The Scarf was a little easier than the hat as I just used a single crochet and chain one stitch.  That way I could single crochet each row in the spaces from the previous row, making it much easier to feel where to insert the hook. 

I had to modify the pattern for the hat slightly so it wouldn’t be too big for a little girl’s head, and I was so worried that it wouldn’t fit.  But it seemed to work nicely. 

Stitched in Love,

Tatha

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Filed under Christmas Presents 2010, Gifts