handmade gifts: round one

'Tis the Season for gift making, what with David and Eva's birthdays last month, oodles of new babies along the way, and the holidays readily approaching! I've got a mega list of projects that I need to complete before the Winter Solstice and two or three for events before then, and I have been knitting like crazy these last six weeks in order to prepare for Handmade Holiday Overload. This year's spread is larger than ever, what with the tight-wad budget we're on at the moment. If I had thought ahead, I would have made some things to sell on Etsy in order to raise money to spend on holiday gifts, but maybe I'll think of that next spring...

I already made and gave David and Eva their handmade birthday items. They each got an adorable pair of knit Pom-Pom Slippers. Overall, I am pleased with how they turned out, though the pictures do not do them justice, I must say.

This pair is Eva's pair, knit with one strand of blue-green acrylic blend and one strand of multi-colored acrylic blend, doubled up for warmth. I added the pom-poms to the top of each slipper for a little pizzaz. 

Now, David's slippers are the same, only larger, and knit with one strand of black and one strand of white acrylic blend. I only added the poms to his slippers to be kind of goofy, but they surprisingly look pretty good!

And here they are, opening and modeling their new slippers at their birthday party!

Esme will be getting a pair of knit slippers for our holiday celebration, and I will be knitting Eva and Esme each a blanket for car traveling. For Eva, I decided to go with a pattern from Mason-Dixon Knitting (Gardiner and Shayne, 2006) for a log cabin blanket made of blocks of different colors knit together. I already have a good start on it so far. I am using Peaches'n Cream Cotton Yarn in a variety of colors, and I'm trying to keep the warm colors on one side and the cool colors on the opposite side. Here's a sneak peek:

My father-in-law requested a pair of fingerless gloves and my mother-in-law may also get a pair of slippers. My parents want a knit blanket, and David is getting a knit something from Sexy Little Knits (Paige, 2006). Eva will probably get a pair of mittens and a matching hat/scarf. I am still surfing patterns on Ravelry for ideas for other gifts, but these projects will definitely keep me busy for a while!