Yet another Christmas gift

For Christmas I made my older sister a bag.  The actual crocheting wasn't too difficult, but it took FOREVER.  I actually began making it this summer.  I didn't expect it to take me so long, but I only had it finished a few days before Christmas.  For the most part I am happy with how it turned out.  I admit, given the amount of time I put into it I had expected it to fold up larger.  Alas.  

The folding part was pretty cool - the bag itself, minus the shoulder strap, was crocheted in a single long piece and then folded to make the bag.  If I had to do it over again I would probably try to find a self-striping cotton yarn - I don't advise making switches between colors.  Or, at least, my OCD tendencies don't like how that turns out much.  

The other problem I had with this, as you can see, are that the lines don't match up perfectly straight.  This was a result, I am sure, of the fact that my stitches probably changed tension over the 6+ months that I worked on this.  So when I sewed it up, they didn't match up as well as I was wanting.  Granted, when there are things in the bag, I am sure that no one but myself will notice.  One of the issues of being a novice and not getting this done in a reasonable amount of time!

Overall it didn't turn out bad.  Sure, there are things I would have wanted to be better and things that I would have changed, but it isn't bad at all.  I am making her a little button loop to go over the top and keep it closed for her - because it wasn't long enough to make the top of the bag narrower it tends to hang open a touch too much.  So, we'll see if that helps it out like I hope that it will.

Tea cozy and slouch hat

These I made for my almost sister-in-law.  The first is a cute tea cozy that has a simple, but pretty, "butterfly" design is what the pattern calls it.  I don't know that I would call it that, but it is pretty anyway.

It doesn't look quite right here, because I didn't have a teapot to put it on, but it fit her teapot perfectly.

She also got a slouch hat for Christmas.  She had gotten one from her family the night before, but mine was homemade, so I claim better hat!  Ha!

Best or not, I was really pleased with how it turned out.  I wasn't sure how the variegated yarn was going to look with this particular pattern.  But I think it actually worked quite well - better than I had expected.  It fit her well, and the pattern and the yarn colors ended up making this a really cute hat.  Can't complain about that!

More gifts

I made some absolutely fabulous mittens for a good friend of mine this Christmas, too!  She kept asking me after I gave them to her how I had broken into her house, found her asleep, and measured her hands because they fit so well.  Felt really cool to have her say those things, though, naturally, I had done none of them.

The pattern was pretty close, but I did add a couple of rows because I know how tightly I knit. I also knit these via magic loop rather than on DPNs - it is quicker and my fingers hurt less afterwards.  Because I knit so tightly, DPNs often hurt my fingers after a few rounds because I have to push the stitches around so much.

 As it was they turned out as well as I could have possibly hoped.  Plus, the color is fabulous!

They are 100% wool, I used Malabrigo's Rasta yarn, so the downside is not being able to wash them easily.  But they turned out really well and are very, super warm.  So I was, and am, thrilled with how they worked up and turned out!