Scuff's Year of Gifting Homemade

Peanut2013

This sounds a lovely idea and I will be watching with great interest. I love being crafty but never had the time before

Mysk - I am desperate to learn to crochet but no idea where to start. My mum tried last year and failed so I know she'll let me (long term) borrow her hooks, but how would you reccomend learning?

Scuff

Wow that's a lot of posts, I've had to write a plan to even reply haha, hello everyone :wave:

Own My Own - I've subscribed and am in the process of catching up, the linky post is awesome though, thanks

stiltwalker - I have a ridiculous amount of craft stash, I have a problem That's half the reason I have decided to do this homemade year, because I enjoy pretty much all crafts (and learning new ones, much to my OHs frustration ) and I need an outlet that means I'll actually use the skills (& all the stuff!) I've accrued! I have several shoebox sized full boxes of proper fabric (by which I mean full sized pieces) and 2 bags more of remnants (1 of which is still at my Dad's ) felt, beads, fabric paints, papercraft stuff, cross stitch stuff the list goes on. I also do silversmithing as a more serious hobby, but this works out at a little expensive for what I'd class as a 'crafty gift' I haven't tried making felt beads, but it's something I'd like to try! I've even collected wool jumpers for this purpose, but they've ended up in the heap of heap!

babyshoes thanks for that post, super helpful I quite enjoy sewing so think I'm going to steal your puppet idea for my friend's youngest (she'll be 3 in November) as this is something I can do with bits I have around the house too! I'm also going to try my hand at making some marmalade (if not for gifts, just for my tum :rotfl:) I tried to make some fudge this christmas (with a reasonable success rate but it wasn't an enjoyable experience...) so I have a thermometer already I'm set! I'm also going to make some chilli vodka for my stepdad (who I just realised I missed off my list!) as he likes both chillies and vodka, and would definitely enjoy the challenge! The other thing I was planning on doing was the whole bath bomb / soap / scrubs kind of malark, but for christmas hampers which I think should be easier than this year when I decided on 'sweet treats' hampers (mince pies, cookies, fudge, shortbread, gingerbread and the well loved 'snowman soup') which pretty much exhausted me for Christmas as I had to do them the day / night before I saw whoever they were for! Easily pre-prepared things are the way forward from now on! Have you ever tried the caustic soda + oils route for soap making? I have a recipe which promises to be easy but it starts right back at lye rather than remelt method?

mysk_girl your gloves are lovely I'd be glad to receive them! I'm aiming to learn to crochet again (i could do it as a little girl, now I end up with just a really long knotty string...) I'm told it should be easy if I try hard enough... I'm also making the most of the new 'private' pinterest board you can create, by going pinning crazy with patterns and bath product recipes (for some reason pinterest is now linked to my facebook so all other things I pin end up broadcast to the world!)

igamogam - I certainly plan to! I was going to say if they're good enough that I'm not ashamed but if that's the case then I doubt I'd give them as gifts :rotfl:


Still struggling slightly with the first person on my list, my soon to be 11 yo cousin - she's still quite tomboy-ish (apart from nail polish) & so jewellery would be a bit difficult, she's an avid girl guide and likes to kayak but obviously these are all things I can't really make things for! I've had one idea that's a pattern for some fingerless knitted mittens, cable knit so they look like owls, she likes cute animals too, but I haven't learnt to cable knit so don't know if I'd be setting myself up for a fall learning and making in the next 3 weeks or so (even though my mum tells me it's simple!)

Scuff

THIRZAH / Peanut2013 my last post took me so long I cross posted, I'm not being ignorant welcome along! Every year I plan to make socks, every year I forget until December 20th not this year though!!

Own_My_Own

If you can knit, you can cable knit.

You simply place x number of stitches on to a cable needle. Knit x number of stitches off normal needle then push cable stitches to other end of cable needle and knit them. Think of plaiting hair, only with wool.

You just have to make sure you put cable to the front or back as pattern says.

babyshoes

Scuff, I haven't tried making soap from scratch, as my kitchen feels a bit small and cluttered to do it in - I get the impression you need a lot of space to work in. One day when I have a large, farmhouse style kitchen (after I win the lottery, donc'ha know) I'll give it a go. It does need a while to mature as you can get lye burns if you use it too early! I would recommend using the melt and pour stuff initially to get a feel for colours, scents etc - you tend to need more than you might think! If you enjoy that (hobbycraft does stock some bits for it but stuff is generally cheaper online) then have a read of all the hot process and cold process soapmaking tutorials out there. I know there are at least a few on instructables, and many more elsewhere on the net.

I did think of putting the damsons in chocolate, but I really feel they would still taste too alcoholic unless you had a tiny amount of damson in a lot of chocolate. Perhaps if you like the taste of raw gin it would be nice, but I really can't imagine it being yummy. Other people suggest having them on icecream, but likewise it is far to strongly alcoholic tasting to be pleasant - we've tried. We have baked them into a fruity cake too, which was quite tasty, but the best use yet was the mince pies!

room512

With the chilli vodka, if I put a chilli in at the weekend would it be done for the middle of May? Do I need expensive vodka or would Supermarket own be okay? (sorry for all of the questions, sounds perfect for my brother!)

mysk_girl

Peanut2013 wrote: »

This sounds a lovely idea and I will be watching with great interest. I love being crafty but never had the time before

Mysk - I am desperate to learn to crochet but no idea where to start. My mum tried last year and failed so I know she'll let me (long term) borrow her hooks, but how would you reccomend learning?

I taught myself from YouTube. A lady called crochetgeek posts some fab videos in ultra slow motion demonstrating the various stitches. Just beware she is American, so uses American crochet terms - the stitches are identical to UK ones but called different names just to confuse things! Eg what they call single crochet, we call double crochet. There are conversion charts on google, but you need to know if it is a US or UK pattern before you start...

Own_My_Own wrote: »

If you can knit, you can cable knit.

You simply place x number of stitches on to a cable needle. Knit x number of stitches off normal needle then push cable stitches to other end of cable needle and knit them. Think of plaiting hair, only with wool.

You just have to make sure you put cable to the front or back as pattern says.

Fab description of cable knit, I've never really understood it... That does bring a clear image to mind. The cable owls do look lovely though - might have to give it a go! Entrelac knitting also looks good, you can do entrelac crochet also, again on my very long list of things to try :-)

agreenmess

Oooo I'd love to pop my head in here, I've decided that I'd like to make everyone a present this year, going to be quite tough as my family perfer the money to a gift, but money is going to be tight here so its for the best. My most expensive thing to make this year hands down will be my sisters wedding quilt which I'm making. Will make up a list when I get home of what and when

mysk_girl

Scuff wrote: »

Still struggling slightly with the first person on my list, my soon to be 11 yo cousin - she's still quite tomboy-ish (apart from nail polish) & so jewellery would be a bit difficult, she's an avid girl guide and likes to kayak but obviously these are all things I can't really make things for! I've had one idea that's a pattern for some fingerless knitted mittens, cable knit so they look like owls, she likes cute animals too, but I haven't learnt to cable knit so don't know if I'd be setting myself up for a fall learning and making in the next 3 weeks or so (even though my mum tells me it's simple!)

Could you do her something related to outdoorsy stuff if she's a guide? Something for a camping trip maybe?

moonpixiewitch

ooooh what a great new thread ....i shall compose a list later