Christmas Gifts

Well Christmas has come and gone, I hope you had a merry one.  Now back to work!  Only 364 days til the next one!  It seems like we spend so much time making everything perfect, and then it's over so quickly.  Hopefully memories were made that will endure.

I thought I'd share what I crafted for Christmas this year.  (I couldn't earlier because my family wouldn't be surprised if I did!)  I gave up crafting for the men in my family a while ago because they don't wear scarves, or hats (at least crocheted ones), and they don't need warm socks or other such things where they live.,  So just my mom and my sister were the recipients of the results of my craftiness.

My mom had seen my shawls and liked the idea of a shawl, but not of a triangular one.  So, I made a rectangular one for her.  It came out great, and now I want to make one for myself too.

Here's the shawl pattern:
Chain 182, then work stitch 10.  Do 7 repeats of the stitch pattern ending with round 4.
Border:
Round 1: sc around, 3 sc in corner
Round 2: (sc, ch 3, sk 1) around, (sc, ch 3, sc) in corner

Final dimensions: 68"x 20"
I made this using Simply Soft yarn in Black and a J hook.  (This took just over 2 skeins.) 

My sister learned how to crochet a couple of months after I did (I taught her).  It didn't grab her like it did me, and she put it aside.  When I came home on vacation this summer, she asked me to teach her again because she wanted to crochet some more.  So, one evening of showing her the stitches again, and she was good to go.  Refreshers are so much easier than actual learning sessions.  Anyway, this time the crochet bug got her, and she's made dozens of scarves and is even working on her first blanket.

So for Christmas this year, I decided that she needed a tote bag for her crochet.  So I made a Fat Bag for her just like the one I use to cart my projects around.  Of course, I did modify the pattern a bit, mainly just making the handles shorter; my notes for this project are here.  These are particularly nice because it is fairly simple to sew fabric in as a lining, which keeps your hooks from falling through the bag.

I made this using Red Heart yarn in Cornmeal and a J hook.  (This pattern uses ~1.5 skeins.)