With winter settling in for the season, it feels like about the time to knit up a quick little hat to tide me over through the end of the year. This hat is warm, but won’t make your head sweat on milder early winter days.
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Picks of the Week
This must be a week in which a lot of the knitters and crocheters I follow are busy working on holiday knitting, rather than blogging explicitly festive items. Don’t get me wrong – awesome knit and crochet ideas abounded, but it was a lot of accessories, super adorable knitwear for kids, that sort of thing. But I guess I can’t say anything about the lack of festive projects I’m finding because it took me until yesterday, November freaking 20th, to post my first holiday tutorial of the season. I better get on blogging some ornaments and home décor ideas asap!
A Knitter’s Advent Calendar
When I was brainstorming knitting and crochet-related holiday ideas for Hands Occupied, my lingering advent calendar-related regrets from Christmases past and general obsession with knitting combined to inspire this yarn nerd-tastic advent calendar. Instead of the usual candy or small toy, each bag is filled with a different knitting notion. They’re filled with things like travel scissors, cable needles, stitch markers, scrap yarn bobbins, stitch gauge measuring tools, pom pom makers, etc. Kinda awesome, right?
Craft-Inspired Holiday Cards & A Double Giveaway!
Normally I would avoid waxing so poetic about something that’s not handmade. When it comes to Christmas cards, your mailing list is long when you’re time is short (hey, it’s the holidays after all). I’m all about making the most of my gift creating time, and the really adorable crafting-inspired designs from Pear Tree Greetings are a creative way to incorporate the handmade spirit in your holiday cards. If you’re loving these designs as much as I am, you can enter below to win one of TWO $50 credits to Pear Tree Greetings and get your hands on some of these sweet cards.
How to Knit a Three Needle Bind Off / Knit Along Day 7
We’ve come to the end, my friends. This is the last tutorial day in the fall knit along. Since I know many of you are not quite at the finishing point, never fear! I’ve decided to extend the giveaway deadline through the end of the month to give everyone a fair chance (and Thanksgiving weekend if you’re in the U.S.) to finish your sweaters. Full and updated giveaway details are at the bottom of this post.
Picks of the Week
Winter is coming. Christmas is coming. It’s almost Thanksgiving. And that means a lot of us have very deadline-driven knitting and crocheting to do! I am thoroughly convinced my handmade gift-giving goals are pretty much delusional, but I’m bound and determined to give them a try. Anyone else in this situation about now?
Knitting the Collar / Knit Along Day 6
I’ve said it before, but we are so very close to finishing our Remy Pullover sweaters! The last two steps, the first of which I’ll share with you today, are so easy too. You’re basically out of the woods on the Remy if you’ve made it this far!
Make the World Better with a Sweater! / Hands Occupied Sweater Party
One month from today, I’m partnering with one of my favorite local yarn shops, Nina, and Save the Children to help make the world better for kids this holiday season! And there’s going to be a Hands Occupied Sweater Party in the process! It turns out that Friday, December 12 is National Christmas Sweater Day, and Save the Children wants the world to wear a sweater (regular, festive, ugly or otherwise) and donate $5 to help fund their important work with kids around the world. I want to take that one step further by having a party that day to celebrate sweaters, the season, and raise money for a good cause. I think that we can easily raise $500 as a team, don’t you?
Following a Vintage Amigurumi Poodle Down a Rabbit Hole
Like many crafters, I learned my hand making skills from family members. She’s come up on this blog before, but one of my foremost crafty forebears was Great-Grandma Louise, who lived to age 102 and crafted nearly to the end. My mom was one of her 20 grandchildren, and the crochet poodle that led me down a rabbit hole (and eventually to this post) is one of her many creations.
