With hours at work being cut and the hours I do have being primarily in office; I’m having a hard time keeping myself from “working” when I am at home. So unless I’m writing for myself or one of the few freelance clients I kept after taking the social media job, I’m taking advantage of the uninterrupted knitting time and I’m planning some cute gifts for the kids and family this Christmas.
Bebe, Zoe and A all have American Girl Dolls so I started scouring the interwebs for things that I could knit up for them. I found this adorable hand knit blanket for Bebe’s doll that I spent eleventy billion dollars on last year at Christmas (no joke – the doll has pierced ears and glasses all in an effort for her to resemble Bebe). After an hour or so of stalking browsing, I also found another hand knit quilt (and rug). I think the first quilt will be for Bebe’s doll bed (this spring I bought an adorable white painted wooden doll bed in an antique store for $16) and the other one with matching rug for Zoe and A. The girls have a set of bunk beds for their dolls and I can picture two quilts, each a different color with a rug done in both quilt colors (think patchwork). I’ve also found numerous hat, mitten, and even sock patterns for their dolls; who knew there was such a need for American Girl doll knitted clothing!?
It wasn’t Bebe who started me on this hand knitted gifts idea though. I had been thinking about making washcloths and soaps for family and friends (maybe a scarf or two if I can fit it in) and then Shorty really got the wheels in my head turning. He was with me at the Meca of all fabric stores, JoAnn Fabrics, about three weeks ago and had laid himself across the no sew fleece blanket kits they had on sale, declaring how soft and fuzzy they were. He decided he wanted one but we couldn’t find one that said, “tough guy on the outside, marshmallow fluff on the inside”; all the pattern sets were too girly or too babyish so I told him maybe I’d make him one for Christmas. Now he’s excited. And of course you can’t make one blanket when you have four kids, you must make four. So I need to get busy.
I’ve also decided to make up some dishcloths for the 6th grade auction coming up in the Spring. The money helps fund Bebe’s 6th grade trip to Washington DC, I’m hoping I can still chaperone but with the cut in hours, I have to make up the rest of the money I need to pay for me to go and that means taking on more freelance clients; something I hadn’t planned on doing.
This is probably the most sewing or knitting I’ve ever committed to and being that it’s almost the middle of October, I have a lot of work cut out for me both in the sewing and knitting departments but I can’t wait to get started.
In the meantime, here’s my first ever knitted dish/washcloth. Not too bad if I do say so myself.
Have you started planning for the Holidays yet?