gift ideas

Christmas preparations have got the better of me, where has the time gone? My friend Sue suggested, for one night only, we turn her son's games room, at the bottom of their garden, into a 'Winter Wonderland'. We would invite friends for mulled wine, mince pies, a get together and a chance to buy unique gifts. We planned it, made and baked things and It all went extremely well, quite overwhelming really!

With all good intention I wanted to do this post before christmas, but events and time got the better of me. In general I think it's quite hard to think of a gift for a teenage boy/man (unless it's an expensive gadget!) never mind to make one. But I was pleased to see, there is a current trend for surfer, tribal style wrist wear.

This scarf is really quick to knit, I knitted it in a day, still time to knit one as a gift before Christmas.

I bought a lovely soft yarn called Ebba (70% merino 20% alpaca 10% silk) a bulky yarn 12ply, from Woolfish. I used 300 gms to knit the scarf.

Needle size should be 8.00 mm but to be honest I used the largest circular needles I had to hand, 6.5 mm, this gave me a close knit but because it's a scarf it didn't matter.

This couldn't be easier, children can do it. Take a common or garden terracotta pot (I bought mine from Wilkinson's for 29p and 49p) The paint I used was household emulsion for the kitchen/bathroom (I bought tester pots from Wilkinson's). Apply the paint, by dabbing with a sponge, this doesn't leave brush marks. Let the paint dry. I chose to decorate my pots with spots, I applied white paint with the end of a piece of doweling to give me the polka dot effect. Children might want to paint a pot for grandma, let them do it in their own style, it adds to the charm!

Debra Collins over at Creative Ramblings has created a very clear tutorial on how to turn a Mason jar into a useful container for your sewing kit. This is a perfect idea for a gift, Christmas is just around the corner! You could fill it with a tape measure, embroidery scissors, a couple of sewing thread bobbins and maybe even make a case for needles. I think it's a really nice idea and not too difficult.