For many years in our family, I have made a handmade gift for each of our children for Christmas.  This was a fairly easy task when we had only two children.  Now that we have four, this is a more difficult task.  Combine it with the fact that my children are around the house a lot, because we homeschool, and it makes gift crafting feel nearly impossible at times.  I pull some late nights during December trying to finish gifts.  I also made a gift for my husband this year, which added to the load.  When I am in the midst of working on a craft at midnight the third week in December, I wonder if I am nuts and if it is worth it.  When my family opens their gifts on Christmas morning and I see them using and loving their gifts throughout the years and anticipating what they will be receiving each year as Christmas rolls around, I have no doubt that it is worth it.

This year I made a total of five gifts.  I will start in order of gifts from the oldest recipient to the youngest.

For my husband, I crocheted a 100% wool watch cap.  This pattern was fairly easy to complete once I got the hang of it.  Unlike many patterns, I did need to count stitches frequently.  I have never crocheted ribbing before and I didn’t even know that it was possible.  Using slip stitch crochet, ribbing IS possible and it turned out really nicely.  This hat fits snugly and my husband really liked it.

My oldest daughter has been bitten by the bacon craze.  She loves all things bacon, so I crocheted a bacon and fried egg scarf for her.  I used a chevron scarf pattern, but instead of alternating colors every row, I simply used different widths of deep red and cream to create the bacon look.  I used the egg from this pattern and then stitched it onto the end of the scarf.  My daughter LOVED it.

Ever since my two younger daughters received a Black Apple Paper Doll Primer book as a gift a few Christmases ago, they have loved Black Apple dolls.  This year I discovered a free doll pattern and immediately knew what I was making for the girls.  They took a bit longer to make than I had anticipated due to sewing and turning tiny arms and legs, but I am very pleased with the results and the girls liked them, too.

This is the first year that I made a gift for my son.  He was only 8 months old last Christmas and obviously not aware of gift-giving yet.  I was searching for ideas for toddler boys and came across this idea for fleece soft blocks.  They are 5″ cubes, so they are a nice large size for carry, stacking and even throwing.  They have felt appliques and are easily assembled with yarn blanket-stitching.  They took so much longer than I anticipated that they would; I originally planned on making six but I started running out of time by the fifth and I was getting burned out on this one.  Five ended up being a nice number.

I hope all of you had some wonderful Christmas memories this year, perhaps including handmade gifts or crafts.  Taking time for one another and making something is so much more than the actual gift that is given. Please share links to some of your handmade gifts or crafts!