Seeing as it's now been nearly a whole month since the big event that was Christmas, I figured I'd best get down to showing what we got (mostly made) for everyone. With a family as large as mine (one brother, three sisters, one step-brother and two step-sisters, along with parents, grandparents, uncles and cousins) and everyone coming over during the festive season we knew we had many presents to get! That's why my wife and I made a start on Christmas presents waaaayyy back in October.
We knew we didn't have enough money to spend a whole lot on people (and that's generally not our style!) so the emphasis this year was on using crafting supplies that we already owned (as far as possible) to produce a gift that people would appreciate on a low budget. We reckon we pretty much achieved this ... or I hope we did, anyway.
The first present we decided on and I made a start on making was for my Mother. Whilst looking on Ravelry for inspiration on things to make, we stumbled across this pattern and decided that knitting a pair of socks, seeing as I haven't made one yet, would be perfect for my mama. So right at the beginning of October, I cast on, using my circular needles for the first time, ooooo, excitement! I have to say, I was pretty impressed with both the process and the outcome, finishing them just over a month later. My mother seemed to like them too and said they were plenty warm. Equally, my grandmother was enamoured with them, although partly just to show off her granddaughter's knitting, I think!
So that was one present finished, and it was only the second week of November! Only *counts on fingers* fourteen (at least) more to do, not even including my wife's presents ... that's manageable right?
The next presents -or rather set of presents- that got completed weren't for family, they were for a number of the girls at work and my wife's best friend. These were just a token present each really, and came from ideas seen on Pinterest. After buying the supplies for these presents (Sharpies and mugs) I really hoped that they would in fact turn out ok. Thankfully they did, although we ended up having to bake them in the oven twice and then the colours faded in ways we didn't anticipate, but we figured they still looked good.
So now we were five presents down, and a million still to go ... but we were getting there.
Immediately after casting off my Mother's socks, I picked up my knitting needles (straight this time) and set to making this badger hat for my sister, although this actually ended up being the very last present finished as it wasn't fully completed until Christmas Eve! I think that was partly down to the lining of the hat knitting up so quickly that I got fooled into thinking it wasn't going to take very long, not taking into account that the lining was by far the simplest part, doh! This hat was therefore finished off back in Kent, in my Mother's house, and the buttons for the eyes and nose came from my great-grandmother's sewing box, making it all the more special.
Possibly the best part about this gift was my sister not realising when she opened it that it was handmade!
Rather a few of the presents we gave out at Christmas were made during a church craft evening on December 1st. This turned out to be an excellent event that both my wife and I attended along with the girls from school, and at just £6 each and coming away with eight Christmas presents, we figure rather good value for money! Unfortunately I forgot completely to take any photos of the gifts we made, darn it. But ... we made two sets of microwaveable hand warmers, two decorated door stops, two pillowcases and two rustic decorations. All, bar one of these gifts were given out on Christmas day: the hand warmers to each of my two step-sisters, the door stops to my step-brother and Grandad, the pillowcases to my brother and my middle sister, and one of the rustic decorations to my Nannie. As a token photo, I have to include the only remaining gift we still own - the other rustic decoration which was hung in our flat.
For my littlest sister it's always easy to think of things to give; the problem comes down to choosing just the best idea. This year, we decided to make her her own dog as she is always asking for a puppy. The idea for this came from the Christmas present my friend asked me to make for her mother: a knitted pug. For my sister I knitted a dachshund, with a pattern from 'Best in Show: Knit Your Own Dog'. This was also not finished until a couple of days before Christmas, in my Mother's house, and unfortunately my sister managed to catch a peep of it before the big day, disaster! Thankfully she still seemed pleased with her gift and I just had to think of a more creative way of wrapping it to try to keep her guessing!
Finally, there were several presents that we decided to buy. For my wife's Nan and my stepfather we bought photo frames and got photos printed to go in them, and we also bought presents for my young cousins. These presents were not big or expensive by any means, and were a draw your own puzzle for my three-year-old cousin and a paint your own bag for my eight-year-old cousin. They seemed pleased enough to get these presents, although being young they were rather overwhelmed by the number of presents they were unwrapping, especially as they came to see us a couple of days after Christmas Day and so were mostly the only ones unwrapping anything.
So, there you have it. A quick rundown of the presents we gave out at Christmas. Obviously, this post hasn't included the gifts I gave my wife, but I figure this is definitely long enough and they probably deserve their own post!
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