ohmygoodknits! // a knitting & crochet blog » christmas

It’s finally over.

Lisa — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 16:32:28 +0000

I never really want it to be over until it’s 8pm and we’ve been going-going-going for 2 days straight and I finally feel like I’ll explode with sugar and happiness. It sounds like it’d be sweet, but…no. If I exploded, it’d be horrible. And so we shuttle home and transfer children from car to bed and then collapse on the couch. I sleep for 12 hours and the next day, we do NOTHING. No cleaning, no sorting, no nothing. And then I REALLY want it to be over.

Yesterday, my mom took my boys for a few hours and I was able to take down the tree and pull down some decorations. They’re all sitting in a box on my living room floor. I want so desperately to be able to do things completely, but I struggle with it. I get distracted easily. I used to have discipline, but it lost its way. Maybe it doesn’t really matter, but sometimes I think it would be nice.

taken with my new camera!

It’s over. I’ll miss the ornaments and glitter, but I am really glad things can go back to normal.

How are you? Did Christmas wipe you out? Have you recovered?

Handmade for the Holidays

Lisa — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 23:30:29 +0000

Because I have been filling custom orders (THANK YOU!), I haven’t really had all that much time to devote to Christmas crafting. I found some time between orders to create for my loved ones and I have a pretty decent pile I’ll be distributing this weekend. It’s impressive when you realize I’ve made these during the past 2-3 weeks. Needless to say, my hands have been busy.

In the photo you see:
1 Willow
1 Dory
2 Turn a Square hats
1 Last Minute Open Rib hat

“Last Minute Open Rib,” you ask? Why, yes. I knit this hat quite a bit, last year, and finally got around to composing a proper pattern for it. I can knit one up in an evening (late night watching old episodes of Sons of Anarchy)!

If you feel so inclined to make one yourself, please do check out the pattern page, HERE. Happy knitting!

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Did you make any sweet gifts for your loved ones for Christmas? Please share!

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Shop note: I’ll be closing up shop tomorrow morning for a week. I still have a few ready-to-ship hats, shawlettes, and one doily blanket. Everything except Lace Love ships Priority Mail in the U.S. All orders placed tonight will ship tomorrow! They aren’t guaranteed to arrive by Christmas, but they’ll be sent. I’ll open back up on the 27th. Thank you so much for all of your support!

Bake it: thumbprint cookies

Lisa — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 18:03:18 +0000

I’m here with my favorite, tried and true, thumbprint cookie recipe. Above is a dark chocolate ganache thumbprint cookie that totally hit the spot when I was craving some chocolatey cookie goodness. For Christmas, however, I usually make them with raspberry jam. There’s something especially delicious about raspberry and almond together.

Ingredients:
1 cup of butter (2 sticks, softened)
2/3 cup of sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups of flour

filling of your choice (raspberry jam is good, as is chocolate ganache)

Pre-heat your oven to 350F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

one: cream the butter & sugar together.
two: add in the almond extract.
three: add in the flour.
four: mix until it comes together into a dough.

Use a cookie scoop for consistent cookie sizes. Drop a scoopful on your lined cookie sheet. Using your thumb, make a small indentation in the center for your filling. Fill with a small amount of jam or chocolate.

Bake for 15 minutes or until the edges turn a light golden brown. Let them cool on the cookie sheet for a minute, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Small Style: Dressing for Santa edition

Lisa — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 05:46:30 +0000

Sunday morning, my mother-in-law emailed me to let us know Santa would be at R.E.I. that day taking FREE photos with kiddos. She suggested we stop by on our way to her house and get a shot of the kids with him. I went through their closet looking for the perfect little combinations and finally settled on a red gingham shirt for Andrew and a green gingham shirt for Nathan. FESTIVE!!

All was wonderful up until Andrew standing next to Santa and the photographer slowly walking to his camera… “NOOO!” He ran away. He actually told Santa what he wanted, but then got creeped out by the guy taking the picture. No offense to the photographer, he was nice enough. My little one is just at the age where #1 DON’T tell him what to do, and #2 Who are you? GET AWAY! Basically, only mommy can take his picture.

Oh well. Nathan looked pretty adorable–

Andrew is wearing: thrifted shirt & blazer, boots from The Children’s Place, pants from Target, pin from Mod Cloth.
Nathan is wearing: shirt & hat from Target, Levi’s pants, thrifted blazer.

Bake it: Pan de Polvo (Mexican cookies!)

Lisa — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 03:16:07 +0000

Good evening, lovelies! How are your Christmas preparations coming along? TEN DAYS LEFT! Ah! I can hardly believe it. We actually JUST got our tree up the other day and I’ve only wrapped one gift. We’ve been buying a lot online and so it comes to us in a box and…well, there hasn’t been a reason for us to wrap those, you know? I’ll eventually make them pretty, but right now my boys can’t see what they’re getting so it’s ok.

ANYWAY, I am here with a recipe! I’ll share a few with you over the next week or so. My aunt is hosting a cookie exchange this weekend, so I’m trying some recipes out. Three or so. I hope you enjoy this first one, as it took a while to get down.

Let me start at the beginning? Another aunt of mine always makes the best pan de polvo cookies. They’re a Mexican tradition around Christmas time and at weddings. I asked for the recipe and she struck me DOWN, guys. Apparently her’s is a secret. I don’t mess with that, so I moved on. I checked online and there are so many variations, I didn’t know how to narrow it down.

Fast forward to this past weekend and my GRANDPA shares this one he uses. He knew it by memory! I changed it only slightly to add in some extra spice, but yah…here it is! They pretty scrumptious.

NOTE: This recipe yield A LOT. Like, over 10 dozen in the size I made, more if you roll out your dough and make smaller cookies. You could halve it or even third it and still get a substantial amount. I made the whole thing, split my dough in thirds and refrigerated it for another day. We have a lot of Christmas parties to go to, so I’m SURE it will be used up. Sharing is caring.

Ingredients
1 teaspoon anise seed
3 cinnamon sticks

3 cups of sugar, separated (2c + 1c)
3 lbs vegetable shortening
5 lbs all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon plus 1 tablespoon, separated
1 teaspoon salt

Pre-heat your oven to 375F.

Place the cinnamon sticks and anise into 1.5 cups of water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and strain. Set aside to cool.

Combine 2 cups of sugar and the shortening. Mix well.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt and cinnamon. Add the flour mixture to your sugar mixture 1-2 cups at a time. This makes A LOT of dough and you may need to put it into a bigger bowl. It will slightly resemble pie crust dough.

Slowly add in the cinnamon anise tea (up to 1 cup). Mix it very well, getting the tea to permeate the entire dough.

Divide the dough into 3 equal parts. You can wrap two and put them in the fridge for later, or the next day. I’m also told you can freeze it, but I haven’t tried.

Form into balls, using a cookie scoop to measure the size.

I like to roll it and press it into a disk about 1.5″ wide and half an inch thick.

Evenly space them on a cookie sheet (I could fit 15 on mine) and bake them for about 20 minutes or until they turn light brown on the edges. WATCH THEM!

While the cookies are baking, make a cinnamon-sugar mixture. My ratio is 1.5 tablespoon of cinnamon for every cup. You can add more/less cinnamon if you like. It’s up to you!

While the cookies are still warm, gently toss them in the sugar mixture.

Place them on a rack to finish cooling. They taste best the next morning. It’s a crumbly delightful cookie. Great with a hot cup of coffee or perhaps some Mexican hot chocolate?

Enjoy!

Our Christmas Card 2011

Lisa — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 03:00:59 +0000

It was last Christmas when I gifted myself a copy of Print Workshop and the basic tools of a block-printing kit. Over the past year, I’ve made quite a few stamps using my trusty lino cutter, including a crochet-inspired one that I’ve been using on the envelopes for my Lace Love orders. I’ll share that one with you soon, but today I want to talk about my Christmas card!

I doodled this tree, inspired by a drawing in a children’s book, several times and knew I wanted to incorporate it into our Christmas card somehow. I cut a small version on a scrap piece of Speedy Carve and liked it so much, I began drawing it larger. When I was finally satisfied, I drew it directly on a linoleum block and began carving. I found some metallic Speedball ink on clearance at Hobby Lobby one day and took it as a sign. THIS needed to be on the front of my card! I got to work immediately and had my 30 cards printed in a few short hours.

Its metallic-y shiny goodness–which was surprisingly hard to capture in photos–is not the best part of the card. Nope. The BEST past of the card? The handsome little fellas on the inside:

Thrifted blazers, vests, cardigans, lollipops. Informal to the max, but just our style.

You want to see outtakes, you say? But, of course!

I took the outdoor photos first. There was more than one meltdown, I can promise you that. The black & white photo shows what a toddler looks like when his big brother tells him he WILL NOT hold his hand. Oh my word, the tears! I spared you the photo of them BOTH crying because I threaten their treat. When we finally came back in, they got their lollipop prize and were still so adorable, I HAD to take more photos. In our dining room. Lucky I did because I ended up loving one of those the most!

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Did YOU take your own Christmas card photo? How did it go?? How did you “dress it up” for your actual card? I want to know!

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p.s. Don’t forget to enter the giveaway for 100 custom postcards I posted earlier today!

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p.p.s. I totally forgot to mention I’m linking up with The Paper Mama’s Holiday Photo challenge!

Make it: Hanging Card (& photo) Holder

Lisa — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 17:44:50 +0000

Are you receiving Christmas cards yet? We got our first a few days ago and it’s been hanging out on my shelf since then. This morning, I decided it needed a new home. I wanted something small, but still cute. ALSO, I wanted something I could hang on to past Christmas. Perhaps something to hang my Instax photos from? Mmmhmmm!

Supplies:
random thin tree branch (this one is about 11″ long)
yarn (I used regular worsted weight for stick-wrapping and some fine weight cotton for hanging)
tiny clothespins
cards! and/or photos!
other: scissors, pin or nail to hang the holder from

1. Tie a knot and start wrapping up your branch.
2. After about an inch or so, tie on your second color and start wrapping.
3. Wrap the second color around your branch AND the first color’s tail.
4. Keep wrapping, alternating colors (OR keep it solid OR add more colors). When you get to the end, cut off about 2 feet of your last color and tie a knot on the branch.

5. Your excess yarn should be able to reach across to the other side of the stick. 2 feet is what I used for my 11″ branch.
6. Tie your yarn around the other end of the branch. Trim any excess.

7. Grab your finer weight yarn and cut a piece about 18″ long. Tie a knot an inch from the end. Thread the yarn through the spring of your clothespin.
8. Tie another knot (large enough to not slip through the spring) and thread more pins. Leave about 4-5″ between each pin.
9. When you have about 4″ left, tie your string of pins around the branch.

Make another string of clothespins and tie around your branch as well. Hang and enjoy!

Print it: Christmas “cross-stitched” signs

Lisa — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 03:29:04 +0000

Last year, I printed this Christmas sign on kraft card stock. I couldn’t find it in my box of Christmas stuff, so I can only assume I put it in the recycle bin after the holidays. This year I went with white cardstock and decorated it with reg gingham washi tape. I like the brightness! If you would like to print your own, click the image below (or right-click, save as…). Let me see where you put it!

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I used the same Photoshop “cross-stitching” technique for our Christmas card. I already had the word “Christmas” so adding the “merry” was simple and quick. I also used kraft card stock for that. I think it looked awesome! If you would like to print it out, click the link below. If you would like to use it on a card like I did, you’ll have to download it and use a photo editing program to arrange it properly for your printer.

**These files are free for personal use only! Do not distribute without a link back to goodknits.com. Thank you!**

Print it: Christmas Gift tags

Lisa — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 20:04:21 +0000

One of my favorite things about the holidays is gift wrapping. I like to add personal touches and combine colors and textures. I thought that since a lot of folks put up their Christmas trees and are probably beginning to put presents under them, I would offer these printable gift tags to you.

I have never offered any printables, so if you use them, do come back and tell me how you like them!

The tags are available in 8 different shades. You can download each individual color using the links below, or click [HERE] to download them ALL in one single PDF. Each page has 9 tags on them. They’re pretty large files, so right-click and “Save as…”

{GOLD}
{MINT}
{TEAL}
{NAVY}
{PINK}
{RED}
{GRAY}
{BLACK}

I’m a fan of layers, so after cutting them out, I layered a paper doily over a piece of kraft paper and put the tag on top. A small piece of double-sided tape between the layers is all that’s needed. I left enough space on top of each tag for you to be able to use a standard hole-punch for threading ribbon or lace. I used some lace trim I had. I think it looks pretty lovely on a white box tied up with gold tinsel ribbon.

I free-handed this Christmas tree a ton of times to get it perfect for my Christmas card. THEN, I got the idea to use Photoshop the design and use it as a gift tag. I’ll share my Christmas card soon! Hint: It involves gold speedball paint and my sons looking adorable in blazers…

**These tags are free for personal use only!**

Christmas: layered doily tree skirt

Lisa — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:48:49 +0000

I was sitting in my knitting chair (tell me you have a designated knitting spot!) thinking about how I should make a tiny tree skirt for my tiny tabletop tree. I sighed when I realized that December was pretty much already here and I’d have to settle with a quick felt skirt. Nothing against felt, I just don’t have any of the GOOD stuff around and would have to use craft store felt, which is just plastic-y and gross.

I decided to forget about it and arrange one of my new shelves full of yarn. Upon combing through a few bags (tell me you sometimes store your yarn in plastic bags), I found a little stash of doilies. LIGHT!BULB!ON!

I took the base off my tree and threaded the metal tube through a few of the doilies and voila! A pretty lace tree skirt. No sewing, no gluing, no cutting, no nothing. It took me less than a minute to put together.

I like the messy mound of doily snow. I think it’s perfect for this tree full of little doily ornaments…

Now I need a bunch of tiny presents to put under it. I already ordered my husband’s gift off Etsy. It will be the first. I’m finally finishing up my toddler’s socks and I’ll wrap those up for the tree, too. I need the perfect little gift for my 6 year old, though. Hmmmm. He’s already getting a ton of random crap (I know, I know), so I need something meaningful.

Make it: Winter Hat Ornaments

Lisa — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 16:05:02 +0000

Another November sponsor is here with a SUPER adorable DIY! My son is on Thanksgiving break and I think we’ll be making a few of these this week!
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Hello, Goodknits readers!

I’m Kate from, Otillie’s Closet and I’m thrilled to be posting on one of my favorite knitting blogs. Lisa is such an inspiration by balancing an active knitting and crochet life all while keeping track of her two adorable boys. Because of that, I thought her readers (you!) might enjoy a fun holiday DIY that involves yarn and is kid-friendly. I remember making these as a kid and in fact I still have a few hidden away in a box that I put on my tree every year. These simple Winter Hat Ornaments are perfect to make while digesting your Thanksgiving turkey.

You might have even made these as a kid as well! In case you don’t quite remember this tutorial is for you! Let’s get started by gathering a few supplies…

1. Scissors
2. Toilet paper or paper towel tube
3. Sharpie
4. Measuring tape or ruler
5. Scraps of yarn! Grab any size and any colors you have in your stash.

Flatten your paper tube. Don’t worry about bending it.

Measure sections that are 3/4 of an inch wide. Use your sharpie to mark and then cut.

With a regular toilet paper tube I got five rings.

Cut yarn strands roughly 14 inches long. Don’t worry about being too exact! Fold each piece in half and cut as many as you possibly can.

Slip the loop from one strand of yarn through a paper tube. Loop it around the two ends and pull tight.

Keep going all the way around the tube. Make sure you have enough strands to cover the paper but don’t squash the yarn too closely together.

Now squish all those strands through the tube….you’ve just formed the brim of the hat!

Using one of your spare strands of yarn tie a double knot about an inch from the brim. I also used this strand to tie a little loop which I will use to hang the ornaments.

Trim the loose strands to form a puffball. Make it as fluffy or as short as you want!

And there you have it! Pretty cute, right? It’s pretty fun to get creative with different colors and fibers. I used two worsted weight yarns and one bulky. Little fingers might have more success with bulky yarn.

I hope you have fun with these little guys…they are kind of addicting to make! Thanks to Lisa for letting me do this post – it made me feel like a kid again. If you make any of your own stop on by my blog and let me know!
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Aren’t these the cutest??! I want to grab my whole jar of scraps and start making a bunch. I may have to pass this DIY on to my kiddo’s teach for them to make before Christmas vacation. Go visit Kate’s blog and tell her how awesome she is!

Crochet: Simple Statement Ornaments

Lisa — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 16:32:02 +0000

You knew these were coming, right? It’s just about mid-November, so that means it is perfectly acceptable to start making ornaments for your tree or to gift to family. These are quick and easy and if you liked the Simple Statement Wreath but didn’t think you had a place for one in your house, these would be a nice substitute.

Let’s get started!

Materials
2″ cabone ring (I used wooden ones by Boye)
3.75mm (F) hook
small amount (approx. 10 yards) of worsted weight yarn

one: start with a slip-knot around your hook and grab a loop from front to back through the ring (two loops on hook)
two: yarn-over and pull through both loops on hook
three: grab another loop from front to back through the ring (two loops on hook)
four: yarn-over and pull through both loops on hook

repeat steps three & four until you have 45 stitches around your ring. If you are going with a larger or smaller ring, make sure you end with a multiple of THREE.

Slip-stitch to first stitch, then begin border rounds.
Border Round 1: Ch 1 and SC into same stitch, ch 4, *skip 2 stitches, sc into next stitch, ch 4; repeat from * until 2 stitches remain. Ch 2, DC into first SC. (15 loops if you began with 45 stitches around the ring)

Border Round 2: Ch 5, SC into first ch-4 loop, ch 5, *sc into next ch-4 loop, ch 5; repeat from * around, ending with a slip stitch into top of DC of last round. (15 loops)

Fasten off, weave in ends.

Use those regular wire ornament hooks to hang them from your tree. Or string them up like a garland. Or make a mobile. Or blow your own mind by making a wreath out of them! A bold statement wreath out of simple statement ornaments based on the simple statement wreath. That’s just wild. I’ll stop, now. I’m sure you can come up with more on your own. Have fun!

Feliz Navidad!

Lisa — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 06:15:11 +0000

I hope Santa brought you all that you asked for and more! May you be enveloped in warmth and joy, this most awesome day.

wrap.it.up

Lisa — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 06:11:08 +0000

I hope everyone is still sane. I’m wrapping up my gift-wrapping, this evening. All that’s left to be done is clean-up and baking. I’ll do most of that tonight, tomorrow morning, and tomorrow night. The afternoon/evening is reserved for the first of FOUR Christmas celebrations with family. We’re pretty blessed.

Greetings and a sale

Lisa — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 06:47:37 +0000

I went to a cookie exchange and ended up being so full I could hardly look at my cookies when we were getting ready to leave. I consider that a successful party. Kudos to my aunt for totally decking the halls right. These ornaments hanging from the ceiling are the best. I couldn’t help taking a snapshot or two.

I ended up taking a combination of raspberry thumbprints and raspberry thumbprints covered in white chocolate ganache. Yeah, they were as good as they sound. The recipe is the same I’ve been using for the past couple of years. I can repeat it from memory, but I’ll just share the link. I skip the glaze. I’m just not too gung-ho about glaze.

Anyway! Did you know Christmas is next weekend??! Of course! I refuse to answer the question of whether or not I’m ready, or have done all my shopping, or have planned what, when, where, why we’ll do what we do. Let’s just enjoy these days. I have a 5 year-old who is off from school, so I’m going to be taking my vitamins, drinking my coffee, and trying not to let every little thing annoy the heck out me. I’m going to water my fuse and hope it grows.

On that note–winter is a few days away! If you find your noggin to be a little chilly, might I interest you in a little sale?

Get 20% off your entire goodknits order by entering the code WINTER2010 at checkout!

I hope the second half of your weekend is wonderful! Don’t let the little things get you–just smoooosh ‘em.