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Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Handmade Holiday: Wee Things

In anticipation of Advent, several friends and I create handmades to share: 5 friends, 5 items times 5. We all end up with 25 unique gifts for our children to open, one at a time, on each day leading up to Christmas. Tomorrow evening we will gather, wrap our offerings in brightly coloured tissue paper, and attach them to a big stick. I don't know why we tie them to a stick, but it's what we do. We call them Advent sticks!

A month ago when I started thinking about what to make, I actually thought I'd back out this year. Too busy, too tired, too stretched. But then I got into the spirit with a loving nudge from a friend, and here's what I came up with.

A pretty button sewn onto a circle of wool felt, then layered over graduatingly-larger circles makes a lovely (and thrifty!)  ornament

with a message stitched onto the back!

A flock of crocheted snowflakes, each one unique,

silvery,

and intricate.

And last, and possibly sweetest, a tiny bit of fairy work.

Here are the simple directions for this quick gift:
Using 0-2 mm needles, cast on 10 stitches using a fingering weight yarn.
Knit as many rows as you like; I like it to look a bit longer than a square. That would be a rectangle! Break off yarn, leaving a long enough tail to wind into a tiny ball.
Slip the stitches on to a toothpick, and push another toothpick carefully through the work.
To finish, weave in cast on end, glue small beads onto the ends of the "needles", and glue the little ball of yarn onto the front of the work.
You can attach a magnet or a pin or a hanging string, depending on how you want to use this. You can also glue it to the front of a card for your favourite knitter, OR mount it in a tiny frame!

I love wee things, don't you?


12 comments:

  1. All very sweet little things....yes, yes, yes. I love wee things too.

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  2. I'm so looking forward to our swap tomorrow night. All this Christmas crafting has been positively dreamy. The island in my kitchen has been grand central station stacked with wool roving, embroidery floss, scissors, glue gun, felt...ahh, it's is just too pretty to clean up. Love your miniatures.

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  3. How absolutely beautiful! What lovely items:)
    xo

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  4. Thank you for sharing these great ideas. The litte knitting needles are adorable.

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  5. Lana...I amaze you because you wonder how I do it. I do it while I watched Grey's Anatomy dvds in the evening. I use those hours for crafting!

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  6. Great post! I love all three gifts and I especially love that your group has the 5 x5 x5 exchange. Great idea.

    Thanks for posting the knitted fairy idea. I always wondered how those were made. Duh! Toothpicks.

    Happy Fiber Arts Friday!

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  7. I LOVE them! And please teach me how to crochet - those snowflakes are fabulous!

    Hugs...

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  8. Oh boy, these are great projects! Thanks for sharing!

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  9. I love your little knitted pin. We used to make them a long time ago (probably around 8th grade) and I just recently made myself one again. Brought back a lot of memories...

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  10. Thank you for sending these little lovelies our way. I really missed the girl fest of oohhh and ahhh's. Your contributions are magical! Will be keeping you close as your beauties are unwrapped and displayed. xo S.

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