Third time's a charm

Wow a month since my last post...let's not dwell...
Christmas of 2006 was my first Christmas as a knitter and I made the classic rookie mistake. "I'm gonna knit EVERYONE something!" I started in November--while a full-time grad student with an internship and a full-time job--and I of course failed. Shocking. Then last Christmas, I said, ok, I have full-time school and internship so I need to be realistic. I made real knitted things for the immediate family and closest friends and mini sweater ornaments for the extended family who I spend Christmas with (about 10 people). Success!

Then this year I got smart. I chose to again take the leap and make everyone something they could use to keep warm. Some tricks I used were: knitting random patterns I was curious about throughout the year sans intended recipient and hoarding them, and making stockinette hats in the round (Thank you Last-Minute Knitted Gifts). Seriously, people were amazed by how fast I could knit stockinette in the round--non-continentally, mind you--but you would be able to knit fast too after hat #16. Oh, another trick for those of us who are POOR. I used loads of Patons Classic Worsted Wool. Stocking up when it's on sale, of course. And swtiching up colors and knits & purls made it interesting.

So it was a success! Here is my pile of presents all wrapped up:
YES those are brown lunch bags. Hey, who else do you know who got 50 gift bags for $1.50? Some tacky glittered foam stickers and glitter glue later you have a gift bag. I also made chocolate lollipops (AKA I melted confectioner's chocolate into molds and put a stick in it) and tied them off with some spare lengths of yarn. Tada!

Here are some of my favorite presents:

A hat for my brother, Edward.

Another for TJ, my cousin.

A nose cozy for my dad...yeah he's a little weird.

He asked for it and was ecstatic when he open it.

Another hat for my stepbrother Xander.

My mom saw me knitting the Noro scarf by Jared Flood and said she wanted it. Usually she is half kidding and I brush it off, but since it was Christmas I gave it to her.

She loved it and wore it all day.

And I made this hat for my granddad. Immediately my grandmom was like, Yes! He needs one of those for his bald head! (paraphrased)

And for my bff I made the classic Fetching gloves. Again, I was originally going to keep them for myself but decided I needed to concentrate on Christmas.

So next year I hope to advance my Christmas present content with sweaters and socks...we'll see what happens. I should probably start in March.

For complete coverage of Christmas festivities, see my next post.