Thank you for all the research on some great gift ideas. I'll miss you for a month and look anxiously forward to your new videos. Have a wonderful Merry Christmas!
Oh my... I've never seen your videos before but you came up in my TH-cam notifications as a suggested watch... I am not at all creative so your video just made me smile! Not only do you give the ideas but you go a step further in explaining each idea in detail, down to suggestions on how to give/pair the gifts! And your voice is soothing so definitely easy to listen to! Wonderful, WONDERFUL suggestion by TH-cam in pointing me your way! Thank you so much for all of the ideas! Lots of house warming gift, birthday gift, etc ideas if I should need a gift beyond the holidays as well! Love, love, love! Happy holidays to you and all of your subscribers! Thanks again for this gem of a video!
Thank you for all the gift ideas. These podcasts are wonderful, I do enjoy the product reviews, you are so thorough. Have a wonderful, safe, relaxing and sparkly holiday!
Thank you for all these great ideas! I love how thorough your descriptions always are and how much care you put into researching things. Your videos are always full of useful and interesting information. Take care and enjoy the month of celebrations! Merry Christmas!
Another great show!I have knit several mermaid blankets for kids, adults and my last one was for a new born cocoon. You always have great topics I hope you have a great Holiday Season. Thanks for all you do!!
Hi I am so amazed as to how you get everything done! My family and I were in Carbondale Illinois at Giant City State Park, it was a blast seeing relatives that I hadn’t seen in years.We ate too much ,played music sang and drank a bit too. My great Aunt and Uncle in their 80’s drove straight through from Port Charlotte Florida just to be with us. I love them so much. There was hiking, walking, talking and history. The Best Time was had by all! I got some Tunisian crochet in and almost finished the shawl before we came home! Not sure if I’ll get another holiday like that with my scattered family. Cherished.
I adore your contagious enthusiasm so much!! I honestly can't believe I am actually thinking of baking those little sweater and mitten cookies, as I detest baking with a passion! lol, I love to cook regular meals and apps, but baking, ugh! That being said, I don't think I can pass up on this idea - simply irresistible! You are now officially my Martha Stewart replacement as I've cut the cable cord. Keep up the great work xoxo Martha
Thanks, Martha. :) I am seriously no Martha Stewart, though. Did you hear when I talked about my cookie baking disaster? That is my life in the kitchen, lol! You have to let me know how your cookies turn out. XO
Thank you so much for all your wonderful videos, great research, and wise insights. I thoroughly enjoyed learning and getting inspired. Seasons Greetings to You and Yours. 🎄 See you next year! 🎆
For three strand knitting, I like to use Navajo Knitting or Chain-Plying. There are several good videos of the technique and it is so easy to do. Love you podcast. Thank you for the fun Christmas themed shows.
Hello -- I LOVE your idea for Navajo plying the yarn as an easy way to triple the thickness. I hadn't thought of that, so THANK YOU! :) Thanks for watching. XO
I like the soap sack gift idea. I made the popular grannies washcloth so the soap sack is perfect for the left over yarn. 😍 As always excellent podcast.
You know how the one tool you want always seems to get lost? (Kind of like the "lost sock dimension.) I bought a cheap pair of scissors from the school supplies aisle at Shopko on Christmas Eve, because all of my small yarn-snipping scissors seemed to have disappeared. Lo and behold, when I got home for lunch today, 2 pairs of my old yarn-snipping scissors were waiting for me on the kitchen counter, presumably found by the kids while they put up the Christmas decorations this morning. :)
We went hunting just before Thanksgiving. Our family meal was mostly traditional with the exception of venison in place of turkey. We drove home on Black Friday, so no shopping. I wish I got an advent calendar. KAL sounds like fun. I might have to look for the pattern, so I can at least somewhat participate. Lots of great ideas, thanks
That Craftvent calendar looks to be a lot less fattening than the chocolate ones at the supermarket! ;) My daughter Mary came home from library school (at Domincan, up in the Chicago suburbs) the day before Thanksgiving. Fortunately, she can take a commuter train into the Loop, and then Amtrak direct to our hometown, so no cross-country road trip like we were doing when she was an undergrad at Monmouth College. We did a mix of online shopping on Thanksgiving Day and in-person shopping in the southwest Chicago suburbs. I found a doorbuster special at Michaels (20 balls of Loops & Threads Charisma, plus a hook and what looks like a ripple afghan pattern, for $39.99), but was just a few minutes too late to use the Friday morning coupon. I found a really useful set of hat-making templates on Etsy earlier in November, and have already used them to make warm hats for the children I was shopping for in our town's local Christmas charity. That "knitted sweater" mug from Target looks really cute; I'll have to look for one the next time I'm at a Target!
I did! 3 of the Furls Streamline hooks arrived in time to be Christmas presents, and there was the Loops & Threads Charisma afghan kit from Michaels, too, as well as a Michaels gift card. And there were 2 paperbacks from series I've been following (1 dog-themed "cozy mystery" and 1 Regency romance - neither of them literary classics, but both fun reading). And I already know (unofficially) that I'll be getting that Furls hook clutch I wanted for my birthday at the end of January, as well as 2 books on felted crochet.
Thank you for the great ideas. I am just about ready for Christmas with gifts but I am always looking for things to make for birthdays or even make for next years holidays. People don't always think of clever things like you showed. They were all such fun gifts. I'm finishing up my last gift. I have spent more time with this one since it is a blanket for my Granddaugter who is 8. It is the Corner to Corner crocheted blanket. It's an easy pattern using any colors you want. Hers is made with a lot bright colors of yarn. I'm using Stylecraft Special DK. It is an acrylic yarn, which comes in a bazillion colors. It is sooo soft. For Thanksgiving holiday we actually had Chinese food lol. I think this is our third year doing that. There is a local family that lives in my town and is always open on Thanksgiving. I'm not sure, but maybe they don't celebrate that holiday. They are the sweetest family and always remembers us when we are there. I'm glad you are feeling better. Get all that stuff over so you can celebrate Christmas and feel good lol!! Enjoy your break and I will see you next year. Take care, Sharon / Elvensknits xx
Hi Sharon -- so glad you enjoyed this one. I love hearing about your family holiday tradition. I think it's great to do something different. I'm sure your granddaughter's blanket is going to be amazing and she will cherish it. Merry Christmas to you! XO
Thanks for your inspiration! We had our daughter and her family and a son and his family here for Thanksgiving. We had a simple basic dinner and the highlight of our Thanksgiving dinner is a king crab salad enjoyed by all. My daughter in law and I left our home at six am to shop. We had a good time but ended up being out too long. I wanted to be home by 10am but we started home at 1:30 in the afternoon. We were so happy to get going, took our shopping selfie and got into the car and the motor wouldn't turn over--a dead battery!! In the end I got home by 3:30 and surprisingly not totally exhausted. It Was a fun and successful day.
Hi Joanne --- oh my gosh, what a day! I love hearing about your family traditions. The king crab salad sounds so delicious! Re your Black Friday, I'm glad you finally made it back home. I think the dead battery would have made me a little crabby, haha! So nice to hear from you. XO
Thank you for such a great episode. I so appreciate all the work you put into the videos. This was great as I still have a couple of food gift packages that I would like to add something knitty to. So Thanksgiving: We had a great feast with our friends. Two were a couple from out of town who we think of as our surrogate daughter and son in law. And our close friends here and our close friends from out of town got along really well so it was a wonderful day. The food was potluck, a combination of Amercan tradition foods (like the best sweet potato casserole in the world that our friend makes), and Puerto Rican food (like arroz con gandules -- rice with pigeon peas -- and pavochon -- a turkey roasted after having been prepared with butter and olive oil under the breast skin, olive, minced garlic, oregano, and Adobo massaged all over the skin). On black Friday our friends from out of town and my husband and I went to a local mall, saw Thor Ragnarok, then had a mall fast food supper, and went back to the theater for Justice League. We're all geeky about sci fi/fantasy/adventure movies and my husband (a research psychologist who specializes these days in history of psychology and psychical research) is also geeky about Marvel and DC comics. So conversation between and after the movies was lively. I'm off to explore the links to the ugly sweater kit cookies, the mug cosies and the storage baskets, and then start planning my week with my students. While I was listening to you I was knitting a poncho for a great niece for Christmas! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Hi Nan! I love hearing about your holiday with family. Your dinner with various cultural foods sounds beyond delicious! I am drooling here, haha! Best wishes for your gift knitting, and Happy Holidays to you, too. XO
This was a great episode. My husband was laughing at me because when you announced the price of those cookies I started yelling about it. $40 for 6 cookies! Outrageous! Anyway I wanted to add a few comments about your suggestions. Firstly, I strongly recommend AGAINST using roving to make one of those arm knitted throws. They look so cushy and comfy but they do not hold up at all. They start to pill up almost immediately and become very ratty looking after only a couple uses, even when you are extra gentle with them. It's better to use multi-strands of yarn or those bulky i-cord yarns. My 2nd tip would be to use a spinners trick to make a 3 ply out of 1 strand for those felted oven mitts, which is to Navajo ply the yarn. You basically just arm crochet a long chain. Normally a spinner would be doing it while spinning but if you just want to knit with 3 strands you can just "crochet" the chain as you go. The best part is you don't have to weigh it or worry about one ball being bigger than the other. You can use up every last inch if you need to. I'll probably end up making a few of your suggestions but not as gifts. My husband and I are going to be moving after the holidays and I want to make a bunch of housewares. So things like the soap sacks, oven mitts, and the drink coasters will be fun, cute, and easy.
Hi Fern -- so nice to hear from you. Oh I know, I couldn't believe the price of the Williams Sonoma and Olive & Cocoa cookies. I agree; that is outrageous. I would definitely make them myself rather than buying those. Regarding the chunky blanket, you make a good point. The drawback to super soft yarn is that is pills like crazy. So, yes, that's something to consider. And I LOVE your idea for Navajo plying the yarn as an easy way to triple the thickness. I hadn't thought of that, so THANK YOU! :) Best wishes in your upcoming move. XO
If the yarn's cheap enough, one could just buy 3 balls of it for making the yarn baskets. (In my case, since so many of the charity-crochet afghans I make involve granny squares, small amounts of leftover yarn never need go to waste -- they can just become part of the next afghan!)
Hi Cindy -- oooooohhh that sounds luscious. I looked at their Etsy shop and love the yarns. They are out of those particular colorways, but -- yes -- love to support hand-dyers! XO
I have a ? Are the cords from interchangeable needles the same from all companies? Like can I use knit pick cords with clover needles? Or do you have to keep them separate. Thank you in advance and happy holidays to you and yours🎄
Hi Joan -- no, the cords are all different and attach to the tips in different ways as well. So you will need to keep track of which cords go with which tips. Happy Holidays to you, and thanks for watching. XO
I love your shirt! May I ask where you got it? These are great ideas! Thank you so much for all of your hard work on these vlogs. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Oh, and Furls Crochet had several great sales in a row starting on Black Friday, esp. on their new, less-expensive Streamline crochet hook range. I ended up ordering or pre-ordering 1 Streamline hook in each size. ("Santa" is hiding them as they come in until Christmas, of course.) There are a couple of other things I wouldn't mind getting from Furls Crochet (f.ex., a hook case with slots wide enough to hold the Furls ergonomic hooks, and a leather project bag/"purse" with enough implement slots to hold one's entire hook collection, plus 8 knitting needles (or make it DPNs and Tunisian hooks instead), plus a couple of balls of yarn); however, those other things are far more expensive, so they may have to wait until my birthday (only about a month after Christmas, fortunately) or Mother's Day. Another last-minute gift idea for crafters would be a gift card to the recipient's favorite yarn vendor. This could be one of the big-box craft stores, or any of several of the larger online yarn vendors (f.ex., KnitPicks, WEBS, Darn Good Yarn, Jimmy Beans Wool, Discontinued Brand Name Yarn (DBNY), etc.).
It sounds like you had a fun Christmas! I hope you get some nice surprises for your birthday coming up soon, too. Yes, gift cards are always a great idea. Happy New Year to you! XO
Lots of great ideas! However, I have always considered commercial fondant pretty icky to eat. For something delicious and reasonable to actually ingest, here is a Mary Berry marzipan recipe from the Great British Bakeoff. You can roll it out and put it on the cookies and actually enjoy the way it tastes. If anyone is interested, this is from her Swedish Princess Cake. MARZIPAN 400g/14oz ground almonds 150g/5½oz caster sugar (regular sugar works fine) 250g/9oz icing sugar, plus extra for dusting (powdered sugar) 2 medium free-range eggs, beaten 1 tsp almond extract food colouring paste (do not use liquid food colouring) 1. For the marzipan, mix the ground almonds and sugars in a mixer fitted with a dough hook, before adding the eggs and almond extract. 2. Knead in the bowl until it forms a stiff dough. Turn out onto a surface dusted with icing sugar. Using a cocktail stick add a tiny amount of food colouring and knead to an even colour. (divide the dough for different colors) 3. Roll out the marzipan on a surface lightly dusted with icing sugar.
Hi Gail -- you can order it here: www.jimmybeanswool.com/knitting/yarn/JimmyBeansWool/CraftventCalendar.asp?showLarge=true&specPCVID=81797 I just added the link to the description box. When I recorded, I thought this calendar would no longer be available, but I just checked and it is! Hope you enjoy it! XO
Your videos are excellent, informative, well-researched, and excellently performed. I appreciate your methodology in presentation. I would love to come and visit you. We would be kindreds!
I love the ugly sweater cookies! We have a contest on Christmas Eve for the ugliest sweater and everyone gets a prize. The cookies will be a perfect addition.
Thank you for all the research on some great gift ideas. I'll miss you for a month and look anxiously forward to your new videos. Have a wonderful Merry Christmas!
Thanks, Stephanie -- Merry Christmas to you, too! XO
Thank you, Kristine! Great ideas. AND I love that you're taking a winter break. What a great idea and gift.
Hi Katie -- thanks for your comment and for watching! XO
Thank you for always producing an amazing broadcast! I look forward to your podcasts!
Oh my... I've never seen your videos before but you came up in my TH-cam notifications as a suggested watch... I am not at all creative so your video just made me smile! Not only do you give the ideas but you go a step further in explaining each idea in detail, down to suggestions on how to give/pair the gifts! And your voice is soothing so definitely easy to listen to! Wonderful, WONDERFUL suggestion by TH-cam in pointing me your way! Thank you so much for all of the ideas! Lots of house warming gift, birthday gift, etc ideas if I should need a gift beyond the holidays as well! Love, love, love! Happy holidays to you and all of your subscribers! Thanks again for this gem of a video!
Hi Melanie -- I'm glad you enjoyed my video. :) Thanks for your kind comment. ♥♥♥
Thank you for all the gift ideas. These podcasts are wonderful, I do enjoy the product reviews, you are so thorough. Have a wonderful, safe, relaxing and sparkly holiday!
Hi Patty -- thanks so much for your nice comment. Happy Holidays to you, too! XO
Thank you for all the great ideas. I enjoy the information and learning opportunities that you provide. Enjoy your break. 😊
Thanks, Jayne. ♥♥♥
Happy Holidays Kristine! I look forward to all your videos so I am going to miss you! Thank you so much for all the research you do on our behalf.
Hello Sonia -- thanks for your comment and support. Happy Holidays to you! XO
Enjoyed your show today! Merry Christmas!
Thanks, Evelyn -- hope you had a Merry Christmas, too! ♥
Thank you for all these great ideas! I love how thorough your descriptions always are and how much care you put into researching things. Your videos are always full of useful and interesting information. Take care and enjoy the month of celebrations! Merry Christmas!
Hello, and thank you so much. Merry Christmas to you, too. XO
I’m going to try and make a few soap sacks. Such a cute idea. Thanks for your podcast. Merry Christmas 🎄
Hi Pat -- that's great. I'm sure the recipients will love them. I think I'm going to make one for my husband. :) Merry Christmas to you, too! XO
Another great show!I have knit several mermaid blankets for kids, adults and my last one was for a new born cocoon. You always have great topics I hope you have a great Holiday Season. Thanks for all you do!!
Thanks so much, Sally! Happy Holidays to you, too. XO
Great ideas for friends and myself.
Hi I am so amazed as to how you get everything done! My family and I were in Carbondale Illinois at Giant City State Park, it was a blast seeing relatives that I hadn’t seen in years.We ate too much ,played music sang and drank a bit too. My great Aunt and Uncle in their 80’s drove straight through from Port Charlotte Florida just to be with us. I love them so much. There was hiking, walking, talking and history. The Best Time was had by all! I got some Tunisian crochet in and almost finished the shawl before we came home! Not sure if I’ll get another holiday like that with my scattered family. Cherished.
Hi Kendra -- that sounds like an awesome holiday with family. So glad you were all able to get together. I loved hearing about it. XO
I adore your contagious enthusiasm so much!! I honestly can't believe I am actually thinking of baking those little sweater and mitten cookies, as I detest baking with a passion! lol, I love to cook regular meals and apps, but baking, ugh! That being said, I don't think I can pass up on this idea - simply irresistible! You are now officially my Martha Stewart replacement as I've cut the cable cord. Keep up the great work xoxo Martha
Thanks, Martha. :) I am seriously no Martha Stewart, though. Did you hear when I talked about my cookie baking disaster? That is my life in the kitchen, lol! You have to let me know how your cookies turn out. XO
Love all the ideas! I laughed out loud at your cookie disaster 🤪, that sounds like something I would do. Merry Christmas Kristine! ❤️💚🌲❄️☃️
Hi Jen -- haha, well the cookie baking debacle is representative of my life in the kitchen. :) Merry Christmas to you, too! XO
Thank you so much for all your wonderful videos, great research, and wise insights. I thoroughly enjoyed learning and getting inspired.
Seasons Greetings to You and Yours. 🎄 See you next year! 🎆
Thank you so much for your hard work and excellent ideas for quick and easy gifts to DIY or buy. Happy Holidays to you.
Thanks, Raschelle -- Happy Holidays to you, too! XO
Happy happy holidays
Happy Holidays to you, Lori! XO
JB’s advent calendar was well thought out. Have a great holiday season.
Hi Kimberly -- yes, love it! Happy Holidays to you, too! XO
Lovely mug 🥰🥰
Happy Holidays to you too and see you in January!
Thanks, Ann. :)
For three strand knitting, I like to use Navajo Knitting or Chain-Plying. There are several good videos of the technique and it is so easy to do. Love you podcast. Thank you for the fun Christmas themed shows.
Hello -- I LOVE your idea for Navajo plying the yarn as an easy way to triple the thickness. I hadn't thought of that, so THANK YOU! :) Thanks for watching. XO
Thank you so much,you are a treasure of person!Iwish you and yours a great time!Merry Christmas!
Aww, thanks so much. Merry Christmas to you, too! XO
Ok
I love your videos you are so informative and I love 💗 that and I hope you are feeling better
Best of the season to you and yours and too all the people who left such great comments.
Thanks, Susanna -- Happy Holidays to you! XO
I like the soap sack gift idea. I made the popular grannies washcloth so the soap sack is perfect for the left over yarn. 😍 As always excellent podcast.
Thanks, Gayle! I am going to make a soap sack, too. Happy Holidays to you! XO
Merry Christmas to you and yours. Stay safe fir the festivities!
Hello Sweet Kat! Hope you have the happiest of holiday seasons! XO
Happy holidays.🎁
Hi Kim -- Happy Holidays to you, too! XO
You know how the one tool you want always seems to get lost? (Kind of like the "lost sock dimension.) I bought a cheap pair of scissors from the school supplies aisle at Shopko on Christmas Eve, because all of my small yarn-snipping scissors seemed to have disappeared. Lo and behold, when I got home for lunch today, 2 pairs of my old yarn-snipping scissors were waiting for me on the kitchen counter, presumably found by the kids while they put up the Christmas decorations this morning. :)
DOSBoxMom LOL, well glad they showed up! 😂💜
We went hunting just before Thanksgiving. Our family meal was mostly traditional with the exception of venison in place of turkey. We drove home on Black Friday, so no shopping. I wish I got an advent calendar. KAL sounds like fun. I might have to look for the pattern, so I can at least somewhat participate. Lots of great ideas, thanks
Hello -- that sounds like such a nice family holiday celebration. Thanks so much for watching. XO
That Craftvent calendar looks to be a lot less fattening than the chocolate ones at the supermarket! ;)
My daughter Mary came home from library school (at Domincan, up in the Chicago suburbs) the day before Thanksgiving. Fortunately, she can take a commuter train into the Loop, and then Amtrak direct to our hometown, so no cross-country road trip like we were doing when she was an undergrad at Monmouth College. We did a mix of online shopping on Thanksgiving Day and in-person shopping in the southwest Chicago suburbs. I found a doorbuster special at Michaels (20 balls of Loops & Threads Charisma, plus a hook and what looks like a ripple afghan pattern, for $39.99), but was just a few minutes too late to use the Friday morning coupon.
I found a really useful set of hat-making templates on Etsy earlier in November, and have already used them to make warm hats for the children I was shopping for in our town's local Christmas charity.
That "knitted sweater" mug from Target looks really cute; I'll have to look for one the next time I'm at a Target!
Hello! Oh that's awesome. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! XO
I did! 3 of the Furls Streamline hooks arrived in time to be Christmas presents, and there was the Loops & Threads Charisma afghan kit from Michaels, too, as well as a Michaels gift card. And there were 2 paperbacks from series I've been following (1 dog-themed "cozy mystery" and 1 Regency romance - neither of them literary classics, but both fun reading). And I already know (unofficially) that I'll be getting that Furls hook clutch I wanted for my birthday at the end of January, as well as 2 books on felted crochet.
Your baking tragedie .....hilarious....you make me laugh!!!
Thank you for the great ideas. I am just about ready for Christmas with gifts but I am always looking for things to make for birthdays or even make for next years holidays. People don't always think of clever things like you showed. They were all such fun gifts. I'm finishing up my last gift. I have spent more time with this one since it is a blanket for my Granddaugter who is 8. It is the Corner to Corner crocheted blanket. It's an easy pattern using any colors you want. Hers is made with a lot bright colors of yarn. I'm using Stylecraft Special DK. It is an acrylic yarn, which comes in a bazillion colors. It is sooo soft.
For Thanksgiving holiday we actually had Chinese food lol. I think this is our third year doing that. There is a local family that lives in my town and is always open on Thanksgiving. I'm not sure, but maybe they don't celebrate that holiday. They are the sweetest family and always remembers us when we are there.
I'm glad you are feeling better. Get all that stuff over so you can celebrate Christmas and feel good lol!! Enjoy your break and I will see you next year.
Take care,
Sharon / Elvensknits xx
Hi Sharon -- so glad you enjoyed this one. I love hearing about your family holiday tradition. I think it's great to do something different. I'm sure your granddaughter's blanket is going to be amazing and she will cherish it. Merry Christmas to you! XO
Thanks for your inspiration! We had our daughter and her family and a son and his family here for Thanksgiving. We had a simple basic dinner and the highlight of our Thanksgiving dinner is a king crab salad enjoyed by all. My daughter in law and I left our home at six am to shop. We had a good time but ended up being out too long. I wanted to be home by 10am but we started home at 1:30 in the afternoon. We were so happy to get going, took our shopping selfie and got into the car and the motor wouldn't turn over--a dead battery!! In the end I got home by 3:30 and surprisingly not totally exhausted. It Was a fun and successful day.
Hi Joanne --- oh my gosh, what a day! I love hearing about your family traditions. The king crab salad sounds so delicious! Re your Black Friday, I'm glad you finally made it back home. I think the dead battery would have made me a little crabby, haha! So nice to hear from you. XO
I’m making soap so the reusable soap project will be perfect! Thank you..and next year for sure I will make those ugly sweater cookies!
Oh that's awesome! What a great gift the soap and soap sacks will be. XO
I think I'm going to make some of the Soap Sacks - thank you for sharing these!
Hi Heather -- that's great! Thanks for watching. XO
Thanks for teaching us so much!
Thank you for such a great episode. I so appreciate all the work you put into the videos. This was great as I still have a couple of food gift packages that I would like to add something knitty to. So Thanksgiving: We had a great feast with our friends. Two were a couple from out of town who we think of as our surrogate daughter and son in law. And our close friends here and our close friends from out of town got along really well so it was a wonderful day. The food was potluck, a combination of Amercan tradition foods (like the best sweet potato casserole in the world that our friend makes), and Puerto Rican food (like arroz con gandules -- rice with pigeon peas -- and pavochon -- a turkey roasted after having been prepared with butter and olive oil under the breast skin, olive, minced garlic, oregano, and Adobo massaged all over the skin). On black Friday our friends from out of town and my husband and I went to a local mall, saw Thor Ragnarok, then had a mall fast food supper, and went back to the theater for Justice League. We're all geeky about sci fi/fantasy/adventure movies and my husband (a research psychologist who specializes these days in history of psychology and psychical research) is also geeky about Marvel and DC comics. So conversation between and after the movies was lively. I'm off to explore the links to the ugly sweater kit cookies, the mug cosies and the storage baskets, and then start planning my week with my students. While I was listening to you I was knitting a poncho for a great niece for Christmas! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Hi Nan! I love hearing about your holiday with family. Your dinner with various cultural foods sounds beyond delicious! I am drooling here, haha! Best wishes for your gift knitting, and Happy Holidays to you, too. XO
This was a great episode. My husband was laughing at me because when you announced the price of those cookies I started yelling about it. $40 for 6 cookies! Outrageous!
Anyway I wanted to add a few comments about your suggestions. Firstly, I strongly recommend AGAINST using roving to make one of those arm knitted throws. They look so cushy and comfy but they do not hold up at all. They start to pill up almost immediately and become very ratty looking after only a couple uses, even when you are extra gentle with them. It's better to use multi-strands of yarn or those bulky i-cord yarns. My 2nd tip would be to use a spinners trick to make a 3 ply out of 1 strand for those felted oven mitts, which is to Navajo ply the yarn. You basically just arm crochet a long chain. Normally a spinner would be doing it while spinning but if you just want to knit with 3 strands you can just "crochet" the chain as you go. The best part is you don't have to weigh it or worry about one ball being bigger than the other. You can use up every last inch if you need to.
I'll probably end up making a few of your suggestions but not as gifts. My husband and I are going to be moving after the holidays and I want to make a bunch of housewares. So things like the soap sacks, oven mitts, and the drink coasters will be fun, cute, and easy.
Hi Fern -- so nice to hear from you. Oh I know, I couldn't believe the price of the Williams Sonoma and Olive & Cocoa cookies. I agree; that is outrageous. I would definitely make them myself rather than buying those. Regarding the chunky blanket, you make a good point. The drawback to super soft yarn is that is pills like crazy. So, yes, that's something to consider. And I LOVE your idea for Navajo plying the yarn as an easy way to triple the thickness. I hadn't thought of that, so THANK YOU! :) Best wishes in your upcoming move. XO
If the yarn's cheap enough, one could just buy 3 balls of it for making the yarn baskets. (In my case, since so many of the charity-crochet afghans I make involve granny squares, small amounts of leftover yarn never need go to waste -- they can just become part of the next afghan!)
Yes, that idea would totally work with inexpensive yarn -- love it. Thanks for sharing! XO
on Black Friday I ordered 3 skeins of 'Hone for Christmas', 1 skein of 'Ho Ho Ho Glistening' from Southern Skeins, Delightful hand dyed yarn.
Hi Cindy -- oooooohhh that sounds luscious. I looked at their Etsy shop and love the yarns. They are out of those particular colorways, but -- yes -- love to support hand-dyers! XO
I have a ? Are the cords from interchangeable needles the same from all companies? Like can I use knit pick cords with clover needles? Or do you have to keep them separate. Thank you in advance and happy holidays to you and yours🎄
Hi Joan -- no, the cords are all different and attach to the tips in different ways as well. So you will need to keep track of which cords go with which tips. Happy Holidays to you, and thanks for watching. XO
I love your shirt! May I ask where you got it?
These are great ideas! Thank you so much for all of your hard work on these vlogs. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Hi Kathy -- I got it at Kohl's a few weeks ago. They probably still have some. :) Thanks for your comment, and Happy Holidays to you, too. XO
Kristine Kelly Thank you!
Oh, and Furls Crochet had several great sales in a row starting on Black Friday, esp. on their new, less-expensive Streamline crochet hook range. I ended up ordering or pre-ordering 1 Streamline hook in each size. ("Santa" is hiding them as they come in until Christmas, of course.) There are a couple of other things I wouldn't mind getting from Furls Crochet (f.ex., a hook case with slots wide enough to hold the Furls ergonomic hooks, and a leather project bag/"purse" with enough implement slots to hold one's entire hook collection, plus 8 knitting needles (or make it DPNs and Tunisian hooks instead), plus a couple of balls of yarn); however, those other things are far more expensive, so they may have to wait until my birthday (only about a month after Christmas, fortunately) or Mother's Day.
Another last-minute gift idea for crafters would be a gift card to the recipient's favorite yarn vendor. This could be one of the big-box craft stores, or any of several of the larger online yarn vendors (f.ex., KnitPicks, WEBS, Darn Good Yarn, Jimmy Beans Wool, Discontinued Brand Name Yarn (DBNY), etc.).
It sounds like you had a fun Christmas! I hope you get some nice surprises for your birthday coming up soon, too. Yes, gift cards are always a great idea. Happy New Year to you! XO
I looked at the ugly sweater kits and then I saw Zombie Gingerbread Men! Something for me and my brother-in-law! Thanks for the help.
Hi Ruth -- oh my gosh, that is too funny! I'm really glad you found those zombie ones, haha! You will have a lot of fun making them. XO
I have that target mug!
And i love it too!
Oh yay! I couldn't pass it up. :)
I love your podcasts. Do your have any podcasts about reading knit charts?
Hello, and thank you so much. I don't have any videos about reading charts, but it is on my list for a future one. Thanks for the suggestion. XO
Lots of great ideas! However, I have always considered commercial fondant pretty icky to eat. For something delicious and reasonable to actually ingest, here is a Mary Berry marzipan recipe from the Great British Bakeoff. You can roll it out and put it on the cookies and actually enjoy the way it tastes. If anyone is interested, this is from her Swedish Princess Cake.
MARZIPAN
400g/14oz ground almonds
150g/5½oz caster sugar
(regular sugar works fine)
250g/9oz icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
(powdered sugar)
2 medium free-range eggs, beaten
1 tsp almond extract
food colouring paste (do not use liquid food colouring)
1. For the marzipan, mix the ground almonds and sugars in a mixer fitted with a dough hook, before adding the eggs and almond extract.
2. Knead in the bowl until it forms a stiff dough. Turn out onto a surface dusted with icing sugar. Using a cocktail stick add a tiny amount of food colouring and knead to an even colour.
(divide the dough for different colors)
3. Roll out the marzipan on a surface lightly dusted with icing sugar.
Aww, thank you for that recipe. XO
We’re can I order the calendar from i love ❤️ it
Hi Gail -- you can order it here: www.jimmybeanswool.com/knitting/yarn/JimmyBeansWool/CraftventCalendar.asp?showLarge=true&specPCVID=81797
I just added the link to the description box. When I recorded, I thought this calendar would no longer be available, but I just checked and it is! Hope you enjoy it! XO
The link doesn't work.
Thanks for letting me know -- I'm not sure why the short link wouldn't work, but I updated it with the long link and that seems to be working.
Your videos are excellent, informative, well-researched, and excellently performed. I appreciate your methodology in presentation. I would love to come and visit you. We would be kindreds!
I love the ugly sweater cookies! We have a contest on Christmas Eve for the ugliest sweater and everyone gets a prize. The cookies will be a perfect addition.
Hi Annie -- oh that would be so much fun. I'm sure the sweater cookies will be a big hit! XO
love the ugly sweater cookies ...