Monday, December 29, 2008

Post-Christmas Contest!

In honor of handmade Christmases everywhere and my own free yarn gift from captioning a picture over at Jane's Quiddity Blog, I am inspired to have my own little contest.

I really want to hear what your favorite handmade gift was this year. It can be one you gave, or one you received. It can be knit, quilted, sewn, crocheted, glued, woven, whatever. Just handmade.

Leave me a comment on this post by midnight on Tuesday, January 6th (the official "end" of Christmas, the end of the 12th day), and I will pick a winner by random number generator. I'll give you a skein of the same yarn I used for my favorite handmade gift this year (this pair of socks for my stepmother), ONLine Supersock 100 in Savanne Color, and a surprise.

I look forward to hearing your stories!

Shannah

29 comments:

Chris said...

Well, I gave three knitted gifts - one you saw today (the Artful Afghan) and two were posted previously. My SIL and brother absolutely adored the afghan - in fact, my SIL was still curled up under it when I left that evening! And the other two gifts were pairs of socks for her - she LOVES handknitted socks and was very happy. She put the first pair on right after she opened them.

Quinn said...

I made Elizabeth Zimmermann's Baby Surprise Jacket for my Great-niece. My Sister-in-Law (the "Grammy") helped by crocheting the shoulder seams. This made the gift more special - to me :)

Thanks!

Becky G said...

My favorite hand made gift was the Rona Lace shawl I made for my sister. She is up in Alaska with her hubby and three sons, and I felt she needed something pretty. I also loved it because it was my first large lace project.

Carrie said...

I made gifts for my niece and nephew this year. I think my favorite was the little felt house I made. Here's a link to it:

http://littleruffledfeathers.blogspot.com/2008/12/gift-for-hannah.html

Congrats on your 100th post!

Jackie's Stitches said...

My favorite was matching sweaters I made my neices. They were my first knitted gift and my first sweaters. Made with love and they're little enough that they won't notice the imperfections. My youngest neice (2 at the time) actually crawled into my lap and helped me knit a couple of stitches!

Heide said...

My most favorite handmade gifts this year were ones that I received. A dear friend just gave me some notecards featuring paintings that she'd done throughout the year. Also, another friend rescued some wayward quilt tops from my pile and quilted them for me. There is nothing else as beautiful as something someone has put their heart into.

Gwen said...

My favorite that I received was a Stained Glass Lamp made by my mother. The favorite I gave were two Sock Monkeys that I made using wild self-striping sock yarn rather than the traditional sock monkey colors. My little nephew hugged his to death and it was sooo cute. It made all the work worthwhile.

Anonymous said...

Let's see my favourite handmade gift... Would be either the Dark Mark illusion scarf I made my sister (my first illusion project) or the Troll(Big Blue by Tamie Snow) I made my little brother, it has an adorable belly button and I used silk bamboo yarn! (My first natural yarn project!) It's really hard for me to try and choose between the two.

Or wait! I think my favourite project is the Avatar themed blanket me and my big brother are crocheting! It's his first crochet project and he loves it. He's made the fire block and is working on the air block, I'm making the water block and then I'll make the Earth block. So it isn't finished yet... Does it still count?

KJo (on Ravelry)

teabird said...

My favorite gift was a comfort shawl by dear Penny, made from a skein of yarn I'd given to her months before. Two gifts, one shawl. Perfect!

teabird 17 at yahoo dot com

Happy new year!

Turtle said...

Gee, hmmm, lol we gave almost all handmade, from soap, lip balms, cookie xmas kit bags, mulled wine sets, knit items (hats, scarves, gloves, slippers) canned goods... my fav received this year?A tie: A bottle of pear cider (still fermenting) from my girlfriend at work, and the gift of my neighbor dressing up as santa this year to bring over a small gift to us. That was precious and so unlike him!! Fav gifted? A brainmonster hat knit for my daughters best friend. It was fun to knit a hat for a teen with googly eyes and fangs!

wenat said...

I made a bunch of baby surprise jackets this year, and I think that was my favourite knitted gift. It's always such a neat trick to fold that weird blog into a sweater, and it looks great on every baby!

5elementknitr said...

I made 5 pairs of Ribby Slippers (from the Holiday IWK 2008)! They were super fast and apparently contagious.

I made pairs for my little guys. The MIL/FIL saw them and wanted some - 2 more pairs.

Then my husband (who has never asked for anything knitted in the 5 years I've been knitting) hinted he might like a pair.

My favorite received was a handmade sock bag I got from my SP13 partner. I don't know if she actually made the bag herself but it's stellar!

ikkinlala said...

My favourite handmade gift that I gave this Christmas was a pair of Spring Forward socks in ShibuiKnits Pebble that I gave to my soon-to-be sister-in-law. They turned out to fit her really well.

Anonymous said...

Chris sent me. :)

My favorite (and ONLY) hand made gift were the kleenex cozies I knit as stocking stuffers.they weren't much, but they got my knitting mojo back after months of apathy, so they were the best in that regard! Happy New year!

Anonymous said...

My favorite handmade gift this year is the pair of Squirrel and Oak mittens I knit for my daughter. She's three, so I sized down the pattern by using fingering-weight yarn and #2 needles. They fit perfectly, and--best of all--she loves them. Yippee!

Kristen said...

I am still working on my handmade gift. Whoops! But I'm making a Clapotis shawl for my mom from some rosy-plum colored alpaca yarn. I definitely need to start planning/working earlier if I want to get hand-knitted gifts under the tree for Christmas. :)

Jane said...

I made a watch cap for my horseback riding instructor, and that was the only thing I knit specifically for someone this year. And I was thrilled get a knitted gift this year - a cap made for me by my cousin's daughter.

Unknown said...

Well, I made my mom a cape, and I am making my niece a poncho. I am knitting quickly... the girl is growing so fast!

Diane said...

My favorite hand made gifts this year was from my grandsons; necklaces made from pony beads and cut up straws. They both worked very long and hard to make them extra special including all my favorite colors. Better than diamonds in my eyes.

Sharon said...

My girls each made me a hand painted ornament which I like. And my favorite gift I gave is a pair of fair isle mittens for my nephew's finacee. She was very happy with them as was I.

Anonymous said...

I knit my brother a modified version (only 2 cables instead of 3) of the Irish Hiking Scarf out of a GORGEOUS heathered teal alpaca. I have another three skeins of it in brown that are destined to be made into one for me (but that's not the point of your query, is it?). I also made a beautiful pair of socks for an exchange. They were exquisite, but I hated knitting the twisted stitch rib that ran the length of them, so probably won't revisit the pattern...

Lisa/knitnzu said...

Hi! Found you from Chris. I didn't receive any handmade gifts... so I guess my favorites are the ones I made. Flower basket shawl for mom, my first real lace shawl... and in a yarn she coveted. A plain ribbed hat for DH, who said "it's like an orgasm for my head" (is that the greatest knitting compliment or what?), and some mini notebooks for a friend, instructions were on craftzine. Oh wait! Said friend made us dinner... it was great! And a jar of marinated mushrooms!!! which I was always asking for as a kid, and she heard me giving my dad grief about it on Thanksgiving. They were great too!

Obsidian Kitten said...

i made a reverse cable scarf from 144-inches-of-i-cord's manitou passage pattern for my MIL for xmas and it turned out really lovely in a deep purple colour. it's so much fun making hand-crafted gifts for ppl you know will really enjoy them.

hey, do i get extra points if my name is Shannah, too? i can only think of one other time i've met someone else who spells it the same way as i do!

Anonymous said...

Many, many years ago my sister and I were on the cover of a magazine. My father was the editor and he needed two little girls to appear to be coaxing a turkey to jump through a hula hoop. Go figure, he used us. My sister tracked down a copy of the magazine, my brother (a true photo artist) scanned the cover, and my BIL made a beautiful frame. Yep, my favorite handmade gift.

Traceyleezle said...

Oh this is an easy one. It was my son, Finnigan! He was born this past May, handmade by myself and hubby, and he was my favorite little bundle under the Christmas tree this year. He's such a delight, even his big sister is in love with him. He's a gift that we can all enjoy, all the time.

Suzie said...

My favorite knitted gift this year was the blanket that I made for my 2 1/2 year old son. The pattern is Big Blue Blocks(Ann Norling). I made my son 2 blankets when he was born, out of not-so-great yarn, and promised myself that as soon as I could afford awesome yarn, I would make him a really big toddler blanket. Hence, "Charlie's Blankie" was gifted to him this Christmas, made from 5 skeins of Araucania Nature Wool Chunky. Other knitted gifts given by me were a pair of socks for my dad and a pair of socks for my husband.

katerina said...

My favorite homemade gift I made was my Elizabeth Zimmerman Feb. baby sweater, and the recipient had her baby 2 days before Christmas!!

My ultimate favorite Homemade gifts, were from my MIL to my nieces and nephews, and I can't choose between them... Pictures are here on my blog:
http://findkaterina.blogspot.com/2009/01/reflecting-on-2008.html

2 gorilla's, one octopus and a 'topsy-turvy' baby doll - all done just beautifully!!!

Anonymous said...

My favorite knitted gift (which I knit) was a stocking, the Christmas Snowflakes Stocking, for my cousin. It was on really short notice and was my first intarsia project, but it turned out lovely. :)

kitkatknit said...

My favorite is one I gave. Since my Mom always made me wonderful knitted items (like fisherman knit sweaters and full knitted dresses) I now knit her a new pair of socks for Mothers Day, her birthday and for Christmas. This Christmas it was a STR pair.