Handmade Gifts

A bunch of my friends got married this year, and another is having a baby in December. It has been a great opportunity for crafting! I have handmade something for each of them.

First, for the four bridal showers I attended, I bought everyone pottery and knit them each a hand towel and two dish cloths. The pattern is from Mary Maxim and my grandma has been using it for years. She makes these every Christmas as gifts. I made another set for a buck and doe prize basket as well, and you think I’d be sick of making them, but I really like making these! I used a few different cotton yarns, and tried to pick a colour specifically for each girl that I thought they would like.

Our first set of friends got married in August. I cross stitched a wedding sampler for the bride and groom. I even framed it myself… which is not something I want to do again. This photo isn’t great, but it was a 5″ x 7″ pattern (if I remember correctly) in quite a bit larger frame. It is a Gold Collections pattern, which is my favourite cross stitch brand.

Next, we had a September wedding. I knit pillows for them from this pattern. They were simple and knit up very quickly. This was my first attempt at knitting pillows and now I want to make new covers for all the pillows in our apartment! These were knit with Patons Decor, which is nice and soft.

The last wedding was my best friend’s, and it took place last weekend. I was the maid of honour, and wanted to give her something special, so I decided to knit a blanket. I saw this “Lucky Horseshoes Throw” pattern in the Mary Maxim catalogue and thought it was exactly her style. It was super fun to make as well and I LOVED the end result! This was knit with Mary Maxim Aran Irish Tweed yarn, which knit up quite nicely for being on the cheaper end of the yarn spectrum.

Lastly, the first of our friends to have a baby are due in December! I am so excited, I love babies and think our friends will be awesome parents. I can’t wait to meet their new addition, and I think I’ll probably be making quite a few things for him or her. For my friend’s baby shower yesterday, I knit the very popular owlie sleep sack and hat. There are tons of photos of this set online, and I can see why it’s so popular – it’s quick to make and absolutely adorable. I used “Diamond Luxury Tradition” yarn in “Azure” and I loved it! The quality was excellent and it knit up super nicely. It’s also machine washable which is nice for baby clothes. I am making this again for a friend at work whose daughter is having a baby later this winter, and I’m looking forward to using this yarn again.

Phew – there is my wedding/baby gift wrap up. All of these projects were so fun!

As a little bonus project, I also made a cowl for Andrew’s cousin’s birthday. It’s called “Tom’s Crossed Cowl” and I found the pattern on Ravelry. I think I’ll make this one again, it only took about two days from start to finish. I don’t love the quality of this yarn, but I do love the colour!