Stay on top of your gift-making this season
11/15/2016                       #683
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I'll be honest—I gave up on the idea of making holiday gifts for my family a while ago.

I did try—shortly after I learned to knit, I decided every member of my immediate family was going to get a hand-knit gift for Christmas. I decided to knit my dad a pair of socks—even though I'd never knit socks before. My brother got a hat based on a TV show character he liked. And then I decided to knit my mom a blanket.

Everyone was very appreciative of their gifts and suitably impressed that I'd made them all by hand, but they were also just not... right. Most notably, my dad's socks fit him, but they were late, partly because I had no idea how long it took to knit socks and partly because my dad has really long feet—the socks were longer than the cat.

I do believe that there are very few things in this world that are better than a gift that someone has made especially for you, but I've also decided that there are some general gift-making guidelines that should be followed.

Take Climate Into Account

The socks I knit for my dad were in a cotton-elastic blend—I knew he'd never wear wool socks because they'd be too warm! Identify items that your recipient can and would wear, depending on where they live or work (wool gifts are great for someone who lives in a warm climate but works in a cold office).
Download Julianna Pattern

Pick Projects You Want to Make

My mom loved her blanket after I ripped and re-did the project, but I didn't love making that particular blanket. Find the happy medium of picking projects you will love to make and your recipient will love using. If you're okay with "ruining" the surprise, invite your loved one to pick out patterns with you. 
Download Mira Pattern

Make a Reasonable Plan

If you've made a specific pattern before, you have an idea of how long it will take you to make it, but pad the schedule a bit—things always come up! If you're trying out something new, give yourself some extra time to allow for understandable mistakes that happen when we experiment. 
Download Antigone Pattern
Make a List and Check it Twice
If you are a dedicated gift-maker and have a lot of people on your list, look for patterns that are quick to make and easy to memorize, such as this week's free pattern. Quinoa is a super simple headband pattern to knit in Berroco Brio. Make two headbands out of one ball of Brio and cross off a couple of names from your list! 
 
Download Quinoa Pattern

You can find even more free headband patterns in an earlier issue of KnitBits.

I'd love to hear any additional tips you might have for making gifts for your loved ones at the holidays—or any time of year! Send me an email, or chat with us on Berroco Social Media. If you need some more pattern inspiration, be sure to check out our Perfect Gift Pinterest board, which has nearly 400 pattern ideas to peruse. 

And if you need to stock up on yarn to finish off a few gifts, don't forget about our Shop LYS promotion—buy yarn to make gifts for others, earn free patterns for you.

Happy knitting,

 
                  
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