Merry, merry!

Well, Christmas Eve is Saturday.  The last present was purchased yesterday.  All my goodies are wrapped and ready to go.  We have a really scaled down holiday this year and I'm feeling pretty good about it.  Most family members are getting homemade gifts from the heart.

If you looking for some quick last minute gifts for people, this is what I made this year.  

sugar & spice candied nuts

chocolate "blocks"

candied orange peel

parmesan & black pepper biscotti

Most of them require very little time (chocolate blocks) or little effort (citrus peels; I actually skip the blanching and simmer them for about 3 hours), the biscotti take a little more of both, but are totally worth it!

I hope everyone has the warmest happiest holiday possible!  See you in the new year!

Ring in the New! (Year, that is.)

Last year, at the new year, I sent little DIY gifts to my best college friends, who are scattered around the country. They consisted of a homemade brown sugar scrub and some candies.

It was such a lovely idea - a little pick me up at the start of the year - that I decided to do it again.

I just couldn't resist these reissued classics. I'd seen them at Anthropology, but picked them up via Amazon. I got four, each one carefully picked for each friend.*

For, LF, the Pragmatist: "Sense and Sensibilty"
For MW, the Adventurer: "Great Expectations"
For CB, the Moral Sounding Board: "Pride and Prejudice"
For LK, the Romantic: "Wuthering Heights"

I included a recipe for spiced cider/mulled wine (whatever your heart desires!) on a little bit of paper, tied to a muslin bag that I got here. Dirt cheap.

My hopes are that they will be able to curl up with a long-forgotten classic, sip some soul-warming brew and have a cozy start to the new year.

Enjoy, ladies!!

*I didn't use full names for privacy reasons. You know who you are. ;-)

Can a girl have too many neck warmers? Apparently not.



This one is the result of Malabrigo that I bought at The Point's 3rd Anniversary party. I finished it in about a week. It just took me forever to get a picture of it. Details are on Ravelry. Now, of course, it's too warm to actually wear it.



This is one is a present from John, Mr. KnitBoy if you're nasty. You may recognize it from his blog a while back, where there is a free pattern. Lucky me I have a friend who likes to knit and crochet cute stuff that he'll never wear! I got really lucky on that one!

Oh, and the fabulous green neck warmer in the previous post? Mine, too. Another gift from my generous friend. I saved you a picture of me in that one. I figured the model look a heck of a lot cuter!

Whoa, that's a big glass of wine. Tell you what, though, I'm gonna need it. See below.

This is a picture of the sweater that I made Master P for Christmas. It should have been done for Christmas, but there were some extenuating circumstances and I didn't quite finish. So, he got a box of sweater parts to open on the big day. So what.

I finally put it all together (which took a while) and was ready to knit the collar. And so I did. And so it looked like crap. See, I didn't have a pattern in hand when I knit this sweater, just some inspiration. It was designed with a shawl collar, but I had never knit a shawl collar such as this before.

So I knit it the first time, and it was WAY too small. I knit it again, adding short rows, and it was way too short around the neck.

Now, armed with a page from Vogue Knitting's Ultimate Knitting Book, I am ready to knit the collar for a third time, but not without that glass of wine!

(P.S. Thanks for all the birthday love!! Knitting (and crocheting) friends are some of the best friends!)

Simple socks from Cat Bordhi's book, "Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles". The first pair of socks that I've ever made.

OK, so maybe that's not exactly true. Maybe I did knit a pair of house socks for myself out of Sweet Georgia's Speed Demon sock yarn. Somehow, that didn't seem quite the same.

These took longer than I wanted. Luckily, the recipient won't know that I only just finished her Christmas present last night. Or she might now, if she reads my blog, which I don't think she does, so we're still in the clear.

I knit these at the same time, meaning, I knit the leg on one, then the other, turned the heel on one, then the other, etc. I can't quite handle two at a time on the same needles, so this was my solution and I worked like a charm. I used Regia sock yarn, two skeins, and had a ridiculous amount left over which I, scandalously, threw away.

I'm pleased with these, but glad that their finished.

I was going to post some really cute pics of me & Master P at Rockefeller Center last night, but I stupidly selected "format card" on my camera menu and all the pictures were erased. I could cry.
Instead, this is a picture of the beautiful necklace that Master P gave me for Christmas that I've been wearing, um, every day.

My favorite part are the apples. If you like this, the guy who makes them has a table on Prince Street, outside of the Apple store. I have three of his necklaces now and they are always a conversation piece. Each one is one of a kind, made from found objects.

(Do you remember that interview? Well, I got the job!!!!!!!! Yay!)

Christmas Mosaic
Originally uploaded by Needleworks, Inc.

I figure it's safe to post some pictures of my handmade holiday gifts. There are a few that are missing because they aren't finished yet!! But I'm not seeing the recipients until later this month, so I have a grace period.

Here's wishing everyone the happiest, warmest holiday season and nothing but love and good cheer for the new year!!! Thank you for all the lovely comments and support you've given to my humble blog all year long! Merry Christmas!