Owls it going; simple knit

O, my daughter’s best friend, loves owls….

A few weeks ago she was wearing a knitted owl hat made by her grandmother. It was gorgeous, there was a lot of detail going on with that hat. It just screamed, I’m a handcrafted hat! I complemented her on the lovely hat. She smiled and said thanks. O appreciates, and loves, handcrafted items. I guess you can say that she’s been ‘trained well.’ her mom is an amazing seamstress,  and she does a variety of crafts (making sure she includes O.) Both of her grandmothers are crafty too.

I don’t mind making things for her since I know she’ll appreciate them. When it comes to giving something to someone else, I always try to get them something I know that they’ll like. Sometimes that takes a bit of thought, you know? I know O fairly well, she’s been to our house many times, and I chat with her & tease her a lot. Becuase of this, I have a fairly good idea about the colors she likes. So it was easy to choose some washable wool for this simple owl. Here in the USA, owls can be found on many items; stationery, clothing, gadgets, etc. July 2012, I’d knitted an owl hat and cowl for my daughter. She loved them, and was disappointed that she had to wait until it was a bit cooler. 😉

The owl was knit in the round using my size 5 Hiya Hiya needles. I’m a fast knitter so it took less than an hour to make. Next time, I’ll drop down to a size 3.

Knitting: Three needle bind off

I used the three needle bind off at it’s head. My daughter attached the eyes, and I embroidered the nose. My daughter also wrapped the gift, added a cute Beanie Baby dog, and an ornament that she’d made. She personalized it with one of the lovely Christmas gift tags that Q mentioned on her site. I printed the tags on green card stock. My daughter chose the angel, and added a bit of glitter glue to it’s halo and wings. I completely forgot to take pictures, but I’ll be sure to take some today, since we’ll be wrapping more gifts.

O received her gifts yesterday. Yesterday, my daughter’s Lutheran school let out early, and so my daughter went over to her house for a play date. My daughter said the owl was a big success, along with the other gifts. I have another gift for O, but that will take a bit longer. I’m knitting her the hopsalot slippers. Hopefully, I’ll be able to work on them during my vacation.

In a society where many look for name brands/designer labels… it’s so nice that my daughters friends appreciate all items, handcrafted items are met with the same enthusiasm as anything else. Which is how it should be…

In other news…

It’s been extremely busy, more busier than normal, since not only do I still work for myself… I also picked up some work outside of the home but on a part time basis. The past few weeks have gone by in a blur… it’s been that busy.  I’m still managing to squeeze in some craft time, even if it’s only a few minutes daily.