Wednesday, January 5, 2011

The Handmade Christmas


So much knitting in December! This is Andrew's hat made with 100% virgin wool. It was fun learning how to make cables. While the pattern worked up just fine, I couldn't get the gauge right and made it too big.  All of these knitted patterns are on my Ravelry page (talldarkeyes) if you are interested.


I made six of these knitted monogrammed dish wash cloths and they were a perfect project for learning how to knit. They also made great gifts for the grandma's who still wash their dishes by hand.


This hat was made for my sister Rachelle and was the first had I ever knitted. It was knitted in an alpaca blend and came out very soft. I really like the flower accent. 

 My MAJOR project that didn't get finished until Advent was nearly over was this Advent Calendar. I made this up with no pattern using only materials I had lying around so please excuse the poor planning and design. I must say it was VERY frustrating to try to figure this one out with limited sewing skills/design knowledge. It came out all right in the end and we are looking forward to using it next year.
My favorite element was Mary holding baby Jesus. I really wanted to have her holding him instead of him being in the manger because if I had just given birth I would never want to put that baby down.

All of the stars are pockets that will accommodate a slip of paper that will list a scripture related to the birth of Christ as well as a celebratory activity for that day. It might be baking cookies and giving them to a neighbor or for the 24th singing Stille Nacht. I will get those ready for next year and I am excited for the memories I know that this calendar will help our family make.

8 comments:

Lisa Cook said...

Oooh, I love your creativity! Beautiful job and thoughtful gifts!

Nemmer said...

I LOVE how your advent turned out! It looks amazing! :)

Laura Lynn said...

No way, Carrie! All of those things are awesome!
I love your Advent calendar. It evokes such a sweet feeling.
And the flower detail on the hat is really cool.
I am seriously going to commission you to make a monogrammed cloth for me. You know how I love monograms. Anyway, let me know $$.

Christie said...

Way to go Carrie! You inspire me! Everything looks incredible!

Lauren C. said...

Love it all!

Mary said...

Holy talented. I loved it without the disclaimer and am even more impressed now.

Kelly said...

Great knitting! It's been on my list of things to learn ever since Karen Gregson asked if I knew how so I could teach her. Oh how I wished I could have taught her!

How did you learn? What's the "Ravelry page (talldarkeyes)"?

Carrie said...

Hi Kelly, I actually taught myself. There are lots of different resources online. The best website is knittinghelp.com. They have tons of free videos and they are organized in a great way for the beginner. I started on youtube but it was often too hard to follow.

I recommend looking to see if there is a knitting group in your area and/or going to a thrift store and picking up some cheap needles (size 7 or larger) and yarn. Then you can see how much you like it. I ended up buying an interchangeable needle set early in because it gets expensive having to buy a new set of needles for every project.

Ravelry.com is a knitting and crochet community online. It is AMAZING! You can look up all the information you need about patterns (tons of free patterns too), yarn, you name it. You can also check out what your friends are doing and get inspiration. My handle is "talldarkeyes" so if you decide to join, add me!