This Year's Handmade Christmas Gifts

I received a new digital camera from my dear Mr. Potts, who drew my name in the present exchange. Boy did I luck out! He said it felt like cheating to draw his own wife's name. No, it's not handmade but it is the means of posting these wonderful pictures!

I drew BLOCHhead's name this Christmas. Well, actually, I cheated and never put her name into the drawing because I wanted to bless her this year. I wanted to give her the hope chest I had as a girl and fill it with several handmade items along with some other special purchases.

While I was crocheting this afghan, I had not mentioned who it was for, when BLOCHhead said, "Oh, I love this! It looks like the ocean. You should give this to me!" I was so excited she liked it. I just murmured something unintelligible and kept working.


I made two of these doilies to add to her hope chest. This was one of the few times I have worked with this kind of thread and one of those tiny needles. I was discouraged to see many finished items like this at Hobby Lobby for a dollar or two. But at least she will always remember I made them by hand.







Here are a couple of the of dishcloths from the stack I made.











AdventureQueen made this afghan for her uncle. I was very proud of her work because this kind of fuzzy yarn is difficult to work with.











I made this afghan for Grandpa but Tigger earned the money for the yarn. I don't know why looks like it is misshapen in this photo. He got a matching scarf also. This yarn was very light and soft.








As you can see, we've been quite busy recently. I also crocheted at baby blanket and bonnet for baby Sarah and a handful of scarves. I bought some camouflage yarn this year and have been making scarves for the boys to match their camo-overalls. A neighbor boy was admiring them one day so he got one too and I'm almost finished with the last one for a cousin.

All of the girls have been crocheting too. Some evenings we will all be sitting around the living room with our yarn and hooks. PearlKeeper has begun her first baby afghan to add to her hope chest. It's been such a pleasure to pass this art on.