Christmas gifts

Hello everyone - I hope you all had a lovely Christmas? I made a few gifts this year, and even managed to get them to the recipients in time for them to open on Christmas day...

I started knitting a scarf for my sister way back in September. Despite this attempt at organisation, I still ended up rushing to get it finished in time!

The pattern is from Lion Brand Yarns (it's a free pattern, but you need to make an account to see it), and is knit in pure merino wool (I ended up needing about 7 balls for this, so it was rather a luxurious gift...). The pattern was easy to remember, but fairly slow to knit because of the cabling. It also needed fairly aggressive blocking to open up the pattern. I'm super pleased with this scarf, and fortunately my sister likes it too!

Most of the other presents to my sister and nephew were food themed, so I decided to make them matching aprons. I used a graphic tomato-print quilters' cotton bought online from eQuilter.com.

My sister's one was copied from the previous apron I made for myself, but with a couple of adjustments to size, and improvements in construction. I made this one double layered, which as well as making it more durable, is much quicker and easier to sew than hemming or binding the edges - you just sandwich all the straps between the two layers and sew around the edge, leaving a small opening to turn it.

I also made the neck strap adjustable using two D-rings, and added one of my labels as a hanging loop.

My nephew's apron was based on this pattern and tutorial, but drafted to appropriate measurements for him.

The neck band is elasticated and the waist strap closes with velcro so he can put it on and take it off by himself (he's extremely independent and strong-willed, so I think he'll like this). I also added pockets, as two-year-olds like pockets.

The last present I'll show you here is another scarf, this time for my dad. He's very hard to buy presents for, and also always cold, so I figured this would work out well! I didn't follow a pattern, just knitted an appropriately wide strip in moss stitch.

It is 80% wool (I think), and very soft and warm. It wasn't originally going to be a circle scarf, but I only bought three balls of wool, and it looked a bit short to wear "normally". I figured the scarf itself was classic enough for my dad not to feel it was too "trendy" for him, and besides, circular scarfs are very practical as they aren't as draughty and can't fall off. I think he does like it (although my mum had to show him how to put it on...)

Of course, there were presents I had planned to make that I ran out of time for: a lightweight scarf for my mum, and most importantly, a shirt for my husband. I brought back some lovely cotton from Mood in NYC for a shirt, and also bought some more shirting cotton recently, but I didn't want to rush it, so this (plus the scarf) will be a New Year present!

Finally, here's a little preview of my Christmas outfit (well the top half at least - Burda 08/2012/113). Those of you who follow me on Twitter will have already seen a picture of this on Wilma, but it looks much better on me, especially with added Christmas dinner...