#Handknit Gifts

[cindycintn]

How to Knock Out a Handknitted Christmas Gift in Two Days

Need a Quick Handknitted Christmas Gift? I can help. #ChristmasKnitting #KnittedGifts #EasyKnittingProjects #FastKnittingProjects

It’s early December, and you’re probably feeling the heat of your Christmas knitting deadlines looming. That scarf you’ve promised your favorite niece. The charity drive for handknitted scarves for the homeless. Or your kids who’ll expect an annual handknit scarf. And you’re freaking out. Friends, you can do this. You can still knock out a half dozen handknit scarves, if necessary. I’m in the…

[hibernationfibres]

Doodle Set of my chunky hats!! This was probably my favourite set to make. Originally the white band was just to fix the fact that the contrast of other yarns wasn’t stark enough for the doodles to show up, but I love the effect it gave them in the end, especially the jam-jar fruit ones :D

Sadly these hats have have been sold, but many others are available on my etsy and will still arrive in time for Christmas!! Please consider supporting me, and getting a one-of-a-kind hat to warm you or your loved ones’ head!!

My Etsy - HibernationFibres

[levi-lev]

in french we call it "l'arroseur arrosé" lmao

[strawberrum]

[cakiecraftvintage]

[unopenablebox]

should my next Big Knitting Project be lace shawl 2 or sweater

if sweater: i have a sweater in progress from a thousand years ago that i could pick back up. pro: have and like pattern and yarn. already have a front and a sleeve. con: only about 70% that i made a front and not a back would need to investigate. only about 60% that i definitely wrote down the needle size. would have to reswatch to find out if my tension changed since 2019.

while i still like that sweater i'm really most motivated by the idea of making sweater for 🌸 but it adds a lot of stakes to pattern selection since they don't actually have maximal introspective access to their own clothing taste. and also i have not made a lot of garments in the past and it might require a lot of reknitting to get it to a gift quality im happy with, which unfortunately given my Disability is a really severe setback if my goal is "eventually make finished objects". not that that's my only goal but i do care about it somewhat

lace shawl meanwhile is mostly motivated by the fact that i am super high on the joy of beading and lace rn. which is a very good reason to do it, but i truly truly do not know what i would possibly do with second lace shawl. dont even know if 🌸 will like wearing the first one yet.

[extralime-knits]

Big sale! Almost everything at 50% just in time for Christmas gifts!

Shop here

extralime.ca

[dragonwolfcrane]

I'm not huge about boycotting JK Rowling, like i dont think people should be giving her money, but i don't care if people still like the stories, and im not very vocal about the whole thing bc i figure there are bigger battles to fight than one hateful lady, but maybe i should've talked about it more bc my (cis, nt) friend bought me official HP merch for Christmas... Which is like. How? How do you buy your Christmas present for your trans autistic friend from an ableist terf?

And now i can't even really talk about not supporing JK Rowling's works bc that would make my friend feel bad :/

[bakedbakermom]

fanfic is not content. fanfic is not a service.

fanfic is a HOBBY.

and like. i knit. i knit for other people. i share my knitting and give it as gifts and enjoy the process and the feedback and seeing someone love something i made and sometimes i will even take requests if i like you enough. but if i'm not having fun, or the person doesn't appreciate it, or they ask for something that will make me miserable or in a way that makes me feel obligated instead of excited... i will frog that shit so fast and you'll never get another sweater again.

people who make demands of fic writers, or scrape our content for sale or ai or whatever, or bitch and moan about our fic not meeting your expectations... you're the same people who will buy a $3 machine-made walmart sweater and then complain when you try to buy a handknit one and it's $350. babe that thing took 80 hours to make and i poured my heart and soul into it. i started with a ball of string and two sticks, and turned it into a hug you can wear. love it or go back to walmart.

[onegirlatelier]

April, 2024 | Shetland lace shawl

Hi there! It’s been a while. I’ve been kept busy by all my university work…and this shawl.

The shawl is knitted to celebrate the wedding of my friend (now friends, I should say). A wedding is really the perfect excuse for all the heritage crafts and heirloom projects that might seem too serious to gift in other occasions. I did ask the recipient beforehand if she would like it, though, and I was so, so honoured that I got an enthusiastic ‘yes’. I’m sure this sentiment is shared by many makers, whatever gift they are making.

Shetland fine openwork, a knitted lace, seems to have emerged with the beginning of the reign of Queen Victoria, who championed and popularised the craft. It was probably spread from the Isle of Unst to other parts of Shetland. What surprised me the most when I first read about it was that Shetland shawls and other lace pieces were largely exported as luxury items and rarely worn by islanders themselves. Women bought yarn from spinners and knitted mostly in their homes. They then took them to local merchants and exchange the finished objects for goods or (commonly after the 1880s) money to supplement the household income. The ‘supplement’ nature of this work probably means it was not compensated as much as a job outside the home would be for the same hours and skills. Besides, it was not always easy to spin an even 1-ply yarn at 1600 metres per 100 grams. For a piece of knitting with a large ‘plain’ area (i.e. only knit stitches), the unevenness was impossible to hide but could only be discovered after the area was worked. Then the maker had to either frog (unravel) the area or continue with the risk of the whole piece not being able to sell.

Whilst it is very reasonable to point out that Shetland ladies did not usually wear this type of lace (I’ve been to the Scottish Highlands once, in summer, and it was not fine lace weather), I imagine that at least for some, it wasn’t just about making money. Some sort of fulfilment must have been from the satisfaction of having a piece ‘properly done’ by continuing and adapting a traditional pattern, technique or material. I think this sort of satisfaction is also why many modern knitters are willing to spend hundreds of hours on lacework.

Intricate handknitted lace items can still be bought today (a quick search on Etsy would show many are form eastern European countries with a long and prominent craft tradition), but many are knitted for friends or family members. It always makes me so happy to see people share the gifts they have made, whether big or small, simple or complex. I joke with my online craft friends that no handmade fibre project can claim to be so unless they have a hair or two woven into it. It is the proof of existence for the maker, who tries to go against the irregular nature of handicrafts and, at the same time, accepts it. It is about wrapping up hours, weeks or months in one’s life, along with the songs they have listened to and the perfume they have worn and the memories they have made, and putting it squarely in someone else’s hands and saying: ‘All this, for you.’

A Wedding Shawl

I have not read anything about there being a standard form of ‘wedding shawl’ in the Shetland tradition. However, there is definitely a category of square shawls with similar sizes and a few construction methods. The samples I’ve seen mostly measure 1.5-2m on one side and have three parts: a central panel, four borders and a strip of edging. It is worked flat in garter lace from centre out.

Neither is there a standardised yarn weight. A widely available yarn is the Shetland Supreme Lace Weight 1-ply by Jamieson and Smith, which weighs at 400m/25g. The Queen Ring Shawl examined by Sharon Miller used a yarn at 700m/25g. From my experience, if you want the shawl to be a true ring shawl (i.e. you want to be able to pull the shawl through a ring) at the size of the Queen Ring Shawl (210cm on the side), go for 700m/25g or finer.

I chose a rectangular shawl because I had very limited time, but I did enlarge it because for me, an abundance of fabric does mean an abundance of cozy happiness.

Pattern

Shell Grid and Spider Webs Puzzle, pattern No.19 in the book Shetland Knitting Lace by Toshiyuki Shimada.

The names of the motifs are confusing. One motif (or two highly similar motifs) might just have two different names if they are produced in two different regions. Names do not mean everything, but I’ve had fun trying to match the motifs with names according to this article by Carol Christiansen at the Shetland Museum.

The double yarnovers (YO's) in the diamonds were called Cat's Eye, but perhaps the 'Spider Web' in the pattern name is referring to the three rows of double YO's in the centre panel. It has a really simple but effective edging.

Yarn

Mermaid Lace, in colourway #naturel, sold by Great British Wool in the Netherlands. This yarn is 75% merino and 25% sea algae silk. ‘Sea algae silk’ seems to be a semi-synthetic plant fibre like viscose, with algae involved as part of the raw material. (At this price point I don’t think it has anything to do with sea silk, which is fibre produced by actual shells.) The brand name for the most popular product of its type is probably Seacell.

I bought the yarn, because I had never worked with this fibre before and was curious. What I like: it was a little cheaper than a wool/silk blend and has blocked very well. The whole skein was continuous so I didn’t have to deal with a single yarn joint. What I do not like: it lacks the sheen and smoothness of real silk and doesn’t feel as strong, although it doesn’t shed. In conclusion, I’d rather use a traditional Shetland 1-ply or another natural fibre yarn.

It's also worth mentioning that whilst I prefer to support small businesses, it was disappointing to have received a 93-gram skein when I had ordered 100 grams. It was one of those days between Christmas and the New Year and I somehow did not contact the customer service, but I really should have.

Needle

2.5mm 80cm circular needles. See modification below.

Modification

This Japanese knitting book follows Japanese sizing for knitting needles. The suggested size was no. 1=2.4mm. I figured that I could use a 2.5mm since I knitted on the tighter side, and in any case it was probably okay to make the lacework a little more open by going up a needle size.

I am not going to give out the pattern, but it is probably necessary to explain the structure of this shawl. The centre is knitted first, and then an edging is knitted onto it by picking up either live stitches or the vertical edge of the centre as you go (see schematic below). The four ‘corners’ of the edging have short-row shaping to help it lay flat. I know that traditionally people can achieve this by other methods, but I haven’t tried any of those yet.

I enlarged the pattern by increasing both the width and the length. I casted on 133 stitches instead of 101 for the centre panel and knitted Part B 8.5 times instead of 5.5. The spider web pattern in Part B requires the stitch count to be (something dividable by four) plus two, so I made one central increase before the spider web to get 134 and a central decrease after it to get it back to 133. Due to the openness of the lace, the change of one stitch is not visible.

The enlargement meant I had to recalculate the edging as well, because the number of stitches available for pick-up changed. Originally, at each corner you do two repeats with four short-row shaping each. I did 1.5 repeats following the original placement of short-row shaping in order to make the total number of repeats fit the number of edge stitches on the centre panel.

The pattern says to Kitchener-stitch the last row of the edging to the provisional cast-on. It just didn’t make sense because that would be two rows too much (the Kitchener stitch row plus the provisional cast-on row). To make the number perfectly fit, I knitted only ten rows of the last repeat (there were usually twelve in each repeat). Then I Kitchener-stitched the end to the provisional cast-on, following the lace pattern. I am quite proud of this solution because it is completely invisible.

Somewhere in the pattern it said to purl (looking from the right side). It seemed strange because the rest of the lace was entirely garter. I knitted those stitches and so far I haven’t sensed a ‘mistake’.

The pattern originally calls for 45 grams of yarn. I estimated (based on the increase of stitches in the centre panel) to need about 80 grams. I ended up using 86 grams. Besides the inaccuracies in my estimation, it was probably also because I knitted much more loosely than expected as it was difficult to tension the yarn tightly at such a weight. Like I've point out in the Yarn section above, I was lucky not to have needed more than 93 grams.

The original finished size is 53*118cm. I ended up with approximately 70*170cm.

Conclusion

This shawl took about three months of my craft time i.e. one full day every week for three months and many mornings before I had to leave for university. Knitting outside my room just didn’t work because I was a) engaged in some other activities that made it difficult to steady my hands, and b) worried about putting a white shawl on any public surface.

The pattern itself is relatively straightforward. The first difficulty was, of course, to understand the instruction written in Japanese. Google translate was horrible so I had to rely on my knitting experience. Fortunately, much of the text description was also found in graphs and charts. Then I had to get my hands used to the tiny yarn. After that, it was only fiddly when I did the edging, because I had to turn about every twelve stitches, and by that time I was handling a giant cloud of stitches on my lap. It did give me a lot of time to go over my favourite documentaries and films, and the last bit of edging was surprisingly quick!

Traditionally, Shetland shawls could be sent back to the maker for maintenance. I think it only fair for me to offer that too because I don’t want a gift to become a trouble (same as how you do not use non-machine-washable yarn for baby knits).

In general, I am very pleased with this shawl. It does pass the ring test, despite not being a traditional wedding shawl size or thickness. I do have a whole lot of actual Shetland 1-ply in my stash, so I am really looking forward to taking my Queen Ring Shawl project out of hibernation in the near future.

Reference list for Introduction

Christiansen, Carol. Shetland fine lace knitting: Recreating patterns from the past. Marlborough: Crowood, 2024.

Mann, Joanna. 'Knitting the Archive: Shetland Lace and Ecologies of Skilled Practice'. Cultural Geographies 25, no. 1 (January 28, 2017): 91–106. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474474016688911.

[prettyboypistol]

TF2 Mercs on Your Birthday! TF2 x M!Reader (platonic or romantic)

Scout

Super excited when you tell him your birthday and throws a big(for Scout, anyway.) party with streamers, haphazardly iced cupcakes, and a small little boombox with a mixtape for you!

Tried to make you a cake but fucked up a little bit, so he turned the non burnt parts into cupcakes.

He really does mean well- really! He was so excited to hear about your birthday since you two are kind of close in age! What? You're older than him by a decade! Doesn't matter to him!

Soldier

PICKS YOU UP AND PARADES YOU AROUND LIKE THE BIRTHDAY BOY YOU ARE STAND UP MAGGOTS AND SALUTE THE BIRTHDAY BOY!!!!

Since you and him get on like a house on fire, he gets you a cake and formally celebrates your birthday

As soon as you two start drinking he starts sobbing about how he's known you and doesn't let go of you

Pyro

This video fr

this motherfucker is so fuckin EXCITED for you. They're majorly bouncy and gifting you the best drawings/plushies

Tries his best to stay lucid the entire day. but the stress of trying to make sure your birthday is amazing

Heavy

Doesn't do much for your birthday, but does little things for you throughout the day like sharing with you, joking with you, etc.

He'll tell you happy birthday and buy you a beer at the end of the night as a gift.

Maybe a little handknit scarf or something.

Demoman

HAAAAAPPY BIIIIRTHDAY TOOOO YOUUUUUUUUU

I hope you like bingedrinking and movie watching because he got the day off for both of you and none of those hours are going to be spent sober.

Goes on a rant about how much he loves you and cares deeply about you at like, 5 PM. then falls asleep on your shoulder.

Engineer

Treats your birthday like every other day- after all, he doesn't know how you feel about your birthday.

If you ask for something nice or drop hints that it is your birthday, he'll cook you a nice dinner and make you a little doohickey.

Asks to spend the evening with you just sitting and shooting the shit with you.

Sniper

A lot like Engineer, doesn't bring it up unless you do. He doesn't know if your birthday is a rough day for you so he's not going to ask unless you say something first.

If you're privvy to something though, he'll run into the gas station and get you your favorite candy as a little gift.

Offers to go hunting with you to "Get'cha away from the loud crowd for a bit."

Spy

If he likes you, there will be a bottle of fancy wine at your room's door with a birthday note attached, but he won't mention that it's him(but he will comment about how that bottle must have cost a fortune)

He's the more strong silent type, but if people keep bothering you about things then he'll be your dashing rogue and sweep you away to his smoking room where he'll offer you a marijuana cigarette and some whiskey.

"Why? It's your birthday, after all. Those buffoons give me a headache."

Medic

Probably forgets your birthday, and at your next doctor's appointment when he goes over your file, you correct him and say how old you are, he goes "Oh! Happy birthday!" and continues on.

Secretly he's sad that he missed your birthday and gets you a cupcake or something sweet as a late birthday gift.

hums "happy birthday to you" while operating on you for about a few days.

[hibernationfibres]

These winter wonderland hats are still for sale on my etsy !! order now and you can still get them by Christmas if you’re in the UK :D These hats are all made with vegan acrylic yarn. More designs available on my store page!

Shop here - Everything is 20% off until Christmas Day!

[rannadylin]

This week's knitting...

I'm knitting this pattern for the fourth time now. :-D I designed it in 2020-2021 and was planning to publish it but never got around to it. Started working on that this week now that I'm updating all the other old patterns, needed to work out the yardage for the size large which, when I originally knit it (iteration 2 out of the previous 3 knittings of these socks) had been a gift for my large-footed aunt, so I don't have them on hand to weigh and calculate like the small socks that fit me. So my beloved aunt is getting bonus socks, which I will remember to measure fully before sending them to her this time! :-D And then (theoretically) I will publish the pattern, at last. These are the Ribbon Twist socks because of how the lace pattern sort of looks like a ribbon twirling in the wind, and it is genuinely one of my favorite designs to knit, so I'm not complaining at all to be making a fourth pair. I might actually do another size-small one after this for my mum. :-D (Mom and my aunt get all the socks I can knit for them because they are the best handknit recipients, who wear their Ranna-knit socks with joy and take good care of them and show them off to everyone!)

In addition to the lace pattern, please note the fancy heel flap showing the slipped stitch floats on the right side of the fabric for a textural twist. I am just so happy with how this design turned out!

Here are the previous iterations, just for fun...

[minimomoe]

Love Bites

Baker Fem Reader x Toji Fushiguro (mafia au)

word ct: 15.1k, 11 Chapters

tags: Fluff, grumpy x sunshine, found family, a little angsty but nothing too bad, marriage proposal, established relationship, (last chapter only: kitchen sex, creampie, oral- fem receiving, other sexxy funtime stuff)

Chapter Eight: Sparkling Juice

“I want you to open my present first!” Yuji shoves his present into your hands. Nobara plucks the haphazardly wrapped present out of your hands and puts her own to replace it. It had crisp edges and was topped with a bow. “She’s obviously going to open mine first, Yuji!”

“The only correct answer is opening mine first,” Megumi says, taking the basket holding your present out of his white dog’s mouth. Both black and white dogs had reindeer horns, but the white dog had Rudolph's nose attached to his snout. You laughs

 as the kids argue with each other, and Toji watches you from across the room. He smiles to himself, adoring the way that you are fully relaxed with everybody in the family. The dogs lay beside your feet, their tails wagging lazily and tongues lolling. Before the kids dragged you to open their presents, you were showing off the christmas sweater you had handknitted to Suguru, which you had made for Megumi and Toji to wear as well. Toji didn’t know how you knew his size so well, and the same went for Megumi, but they both fit perfectly. Forest green cable knit sweaters that had snowflakes carefully embroidered into it. You had shyly presented them to Toji and Megumi along with their other presents, as if you were afraid they wouldn’t like your first gift. He was speechless when he opened the box. How you managed to make them both sweaters and take care of the bakery was a mystery to him. Megumi had taken off his shirt right away and put it on, then tightly hugged you. Toji followed suit and ignored the pestering questions from Sukuna who wanted you to make him a sweater too. 

You open Megumi’s small box first as he wished and you are greeted with a tiny ceramic butterfly. It’s a blue morpho, and in one of the wings your name was painted into it. You gasp and carefully take it out of the packaging. 

“You made this?” You say in a hush voice. 

“Yep. You said butterflies were your favorite!” Megumi smiles up at you. 

“I mentioned that ages ago. Thank you, Gumi-bear,” you wrap your arms around him and press kisses into his forehead. The little boy's face was beet red when you let go of him, but when he turns to face Yuji and Nobara he sticks out his tongue. 

“Beat that!” 

When the gift exchange is over you, the kids, and the rest of the adults move to the dining area to eat. Gojo decided to be the host of Christmas this year, and you could tell that he really loved it. Him and his girlfriend decorated the chairs and seating arrangements with tiny Santas and wreaths. Glasses of non alcoholic, sparkling juice in fancy champagne flutes were placed right in front of the plates and Yuji grabs his and downs it in one sip. Nobara is quick to smack the back of his head and lectures him on table manners. You sit in between Toji and Megumi, and directly across from you sat Choso and his partner. She’s a pretty yet quiet girl, just like you. You give a soft smile and she returns it. Toji grabs your hand under the table and brings it up to your lips. 

“After we eat we can go home. I still have to give you your present,” he says. 

“You got a present to give me, big guy?” Sukuna says from down the table. Toji shoots him an annoyed look but everybody else snickers. 

“Yeah, let me get the right sized boot to shove my foot up your ass. You can keep it after that.”

“Language,” Nanami warns, making the other two men stop barking at each other. He carries a gorgeous honeyed ham baked to perfection from the kitchen. “Do you want ham?” He asked you softly and you nod enthusiastically.

“Did you make this yourself? It smells amazing, Kento.”

He grins and cuts you a slice. “Nanamin is a great cook. He makes a lovely wife,” Gojo pipes up. 

“Being a housewife doesn’t sound too bad,” he mutters for only you to hear and winks. “I poisoned one item on your plate,” he says offhandedly to Gojo. “Eat it if you dare.” 

Gojo gasps dramatically and all the children burst into laughter. The meal was filled with jokes and laughter the entire time. You forgot how wonderful Christmas is when you have people to share it with. 

You and Toji decided to leave once Megumi could barely hold his head up anymore. He had stayed up all night just for the sake of staying up and now the lack of sleep was catching up to him. Toji hauls him in his arms while you carry all the gifts you three received and herd the dogs into the car. Toji safely buckles Megumi in and climbs into the driver seat and immediately holds your hand. 

“You didn’t cry this time,” he comments when he starts the car. You roll your eyes and scoff. 

“I didn’t cry on thanksgiving! I had something in my eye.”

“For thirty minutes?”

“Eyes lashes are tiny,” you mumble and he laughs. “So… do I have to beg for my present or is it waiting for me when we get home?”

“I like it when you beg but it’s already there.” Toji runs his thumb over your knuckles. You stare at him curiously but if Toji didn’t want to explain something you couldn’t get more information out of him. What you did notice is the nervous tapping his forefinger made on the steering wheel, making you wonder what sort of present could make him this nervous. 

Arriving at Toji’s home looked the same as always. You thought maybe he had gotten you a new car but that didn’t seem to be the case. You gather the presents once again and the dogs dash into the backyard. Megumi, bleary eyed and still sleepy, forces himself to walk so that he can see your present too. Toji stills at the entrance into the houses and looks back at you one last time. “This is only one part, but I figured you should see this first.”

“Open the door!” You and Megumi say together, and you drum on his arm and he shakes his head. 

He opens the door and you enter the home hand in hand with Megumi. There was nothing new that you could see immediately. The foyer looks the same, there’s nothing on the stairs or in the living room. You look back to give Toji a confused look and he points to the dining area. You creep over there, noting the way that Megumi’s hand tightens around yours. To your surprise it’s not an object that’s waiting for you in the dining chair, but rather a person who’s back was facing you. The person hears you moving behind them and turns around, making you freeze completely. 

“Merry Christmas,” the man says to you, and tears quickly fill your eyes. 

“Ezra?”

Chapters: I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI.

M.list || Ao3 || Twitter || Ko-fi

[cakiecraftvintage]

[gornwen]

A decade ago, give a few years, I knitted my dad a Christmas Stocking. My dad, being a man of a certain age and income is very good at taking care of himself, making him incredibly difficult to find gifts for and has told me not to spend my non-profit salary on him. He enjoys being a dad and enjoys being able to take care of his kids.

Which is why I knitted him the Christmas Stocking. Fresh out of grad school and working in a yarn shop on the other side of the country, I wanted to be sure to get him something he would cherish. He's a Whovian (Tom Baker, if inquiring minds want to know) and my shop carried the absolute perfect TARDIS blue yarn. Worn blue, Nine blue, not Amy Pond's front door blue. As all good folk know, both the TARDIS and Christmas stockings are bigger on the inside.

I hung it up secretly early on Christmas morning. And when he came down stairs I heard his little "Oh!" he does when he's excited. Perfection. And perfectly paired with a full day's worth of Christmas Specials.

Fast forward to this weekend, I get a call from home while planning my trip home for the holiday. Amongst other things I mention I have not been able to find my handkitted Christmas stocking for my home here in time for Saint Nick's. I hear my Mum go, "but I don't have a handknitted stocking."

And from behind her "I do!"

"No Mum, I'm looking for the ones I knit for Princess, Handsome, and I."

"But I don't have a handknitted stocking."

"I Do!"

"But I can't find the ones I made for here."

"I know where mine is!"

And Dad does, it's hung on the mantle with care. And Mum's is now... well it is a sketch in my knitting journal and will soon join Dad's there.

And I still don't know where ours are.