When I was brainstorming knitting and crochet-related holiday ideas for Hands Occupied, my lingering advent calendar-related regrets from Christmases past and general obsession with knitting combined to inspire this yarn nerd-tastic advent calendar. Instead of the usual candy or small toy, each bag is filled with a different knitting notion. They’re filled with things like travel scissors, cable needles, stitch markers, scrap yarn bobbins, stitch gauge measuring tools, pom pom makers, etc. Kinda awesome, right?
Craft-Inspired Holiday Cards & A Double Giveaway!
Normally I would avoid waxing so poetic about something that’s not handmade. When it comes to Christmas cards, your mailing list is long when you’re time is short (hey, it’s the holidays after all). I’m all about making the most of my gift creating time, and the really adorable crafting-inspired designs from Pear Tree Greetings are a creative way to incorporate the handmade spirit in your holiday cards. If you’re loving these designs as much as I am, you can enter below to win one of TWO $50 credits to Pear Tree Greetings and get your hands on some of these sweet cards.
How to Knit a Three Needle Bind Off / Knit Along Day 7
We’ve come to the end, my friends. This is the last tutorial day in the fall knit along. Since I know many of you are not quite at the finishing point, never fear! I’ve decided to extend the giveaway deadline through the end of the month to give everyone a fair chance (and Thanksgiving weekend if you’re in the U.S.) to finish your sweaters. Full and updated giveaway details are at the bottom of this post.
Picks of the Week
Winter is coming. Christmas is coming. It’s almost Thanksgiving. And that means a lot of us have very deadline-driven knitting and crocheting to do! I am thoroughly convinced my handmade gift-giving goals are pretty much delusional, but I’m bound and determined to give them a try. Anyone else in this situation about now?
Knitting the Collar / Knit Along Day 6
I’ve said it before, but we are so very close to finishing our Remy Pullover sweaters! The last two steps, the first of which I’ll share with you today, are so easy too. You’re basically out of the woods on the Remy if you’ve made it this far!
Make the World Better with a Sweater! / Hands Occupied Sweater Party
One month from today, I’m partnering with one of my favorite local yarn shops, Nina, and Save the Children to help make the world better for kids this holiday season! And there’s going to be a Hands Occupied Sweater Party in the process! It turns out that Friday, December 12 is National Christmas Sweater Day, and Save the Children wants the world to wear a sweater (regular, festive, ugly or otherwise) and donate $5 to help fund their important work with kids around the world. I want to take that one step further by having a party that day to celebrate sweaters, the season, and raise money for a good cause. I think that we can easily raise $500 as a team, don’t you?
Following a Vintage Amigurumi Poodle Down a Rabbit Hole
Like many crafters, I learned my hand making skills from family members. She’s come up on this blog before, but one of my foremost crafty forebears was Great-Grandma Louise, who lived to age 102 and crafted nearly to the end. My mom was one of her 20 grandchildren, and the crochet poodle that led me down a rabbit hole (and eventually to this post) is one of her many creations.
Picks of the Week
It’s weird to be writing a blog post for a Saturday! As I write this sleep-deprived roundup of my favorite yarn projects of the week, I’m so happy and excited in spite of my tiredness. The fall knit along has just a couple posts left, and I feel really good about how everyone’s sweaters are going. I hope the knitters along reading this are enjoying the KAL and will get to make a lot of progress on their Remy Pullovers this weekend. Knitting and crochet are so awesome.
How to knit a raglan decrease / Knit Along Day 5
Surprise! It’s Friday, but due to an almost maniacal attention to detail on today’s post, I’m bumping Picks of the Week to tomorrow to bring you day 5 of the knit along. After the intense excitement level of last week’s arm attachment tutorial, today’s how-to-knit-a-raglan-decrease tutorial and pattern is probably the second most important tutorial of this entire bottom up sweater knitting series/KAL.
