The Nifty Foodie's Life

I have an interesting attention span with crafts. When I find myself tired of one craft, I just move on to another. I never want to hate crafts, so it’s good to just jump around when one of them becomes boring or tedious. Sewing sort of became that for me. I don’t sew everyday, but I was just getting bored with it and wanted to do something different. Since the weather was cooling down, I forked out the knitting needles.

I haven’t knit in a while, so I had to refer back to my books and some Youtube videos, but it was completely like riding a bike. I was knitting like a mad woman in no time flat.

I told my husband that if he needed any gifts, I could knit some scarves up. He told me he would need 5, so I knew exactly what pattern I needed since I had about three weeks to make these. I bookmarked this pattern 2 years ago, because the design looks great and since you’re using BIG needles, it knits up fairly quickly.

Luckily, the next day Michael’s was having a major sale on Lion’s Brand Thick & Quick yarn, so I stocked up and got started.

As you can see, even the dog helped out (not really), but she was a cute cuddle buddy.

Instead of making these into a cowl, I just knit using double the length of yarn (since these skeins were more than double the length the pattern calls for) into a long, thick scarf.

Since I was in a bit of a time crunch, I would knit every day during my lunch breaks, in the afternoon and before bed. I’m pretty sure I knit one purl one in my sleep at some points. It was worth it in the end, though. Look at how beautiful they came out.

I absolutely loved seeing the reactions of my husbands aunts and grandmothers as they opened these. You could tell at first that they appreciated the scarves, but when I sort of hinted that I made them, their appreciation grew so much more. I love it when people appreciate handmade gifts. It was all worth it!

Did you go handmade with some of your gifts this Christmas?

I really can’t believe it’s almost Christmas. The tree is decorated, stockings are hung, (most of) the gifts are wrapped and food gift boxes are finished.

It’s sort of a routine now….a different routine than it was for me 15 years ago. I tend to miss being a kid during the Christmas season.

I remember when I was younger, my siblings and I would glance over every page in the Sears Toy book. We’d carefully write our lists in our best handwriting, give the lists to our parents, and they made sure that it got in the mail for Santa. Even after the lists were done, we still looked over the book, dreaming about what toy might be ours on Christmas. It was such a happy time, full of anticipation and excitement.

When the holidays were approaching, school was out. I remember lounging around, watching cartoons, adding sprinkles to freshly baked cookies and drooling over the smell of fudge and pralines cooking on the stove.

On Christmas Eve, my sister and I would talk non-stop about the next day. We shared a room, so this led to a fairly sleepless night. We’d wake up at the crack of dawn, tip-toe downstairs, wake up our brother and sister and watch Christmas cartoons, waiting for Mom and Dad to come out with the video camera. It was a rule that presents could NOT be opened until Dad got the camera.

Once Dad would get the camera, I remember ripping open our toys from Santa, amped up on Hershey’s Kisses and Mom’s Mickey Mouse pancakes. We’d all scream, “OMG THANK YOU SANTA!” (I’m pretty sure Christmas Day with kids is the reason Advil stays in business..haha!) This happened again at my aunt’s house, where we all met up for Christmas. By the end of the day, we’d come home with way too many presents and a sinking feeling of “it’s over…no more Christmas”. :-\

As an adult, things are a little different. I mean, of course, I look forward to the gift giving and receiving mumbo jumbo, but, as an adult, I will say, that I now understand that consumerism does not hold the true value of Christmas. As a Christian, I know that we are rejoicing Christ’s birth and HE is the reason for the season. To this day, I cringe when I see “X-mas”. I think most people don’t think the way I think, but I think it’s such a disregard for the reason of Christmas. Not to get all religious on y’all, but seriously, Christmas is a celebration for CHRIST…why “X” Him out?! Lame…

I like to look at Christmas with a different perspective now. It’s not the gifts that get me excited about Christmas (and I’m being completely serious…completely..). It’s really about seeing family and friends. Christmas just SCREAMS gathering to me, and I love that I get to see so much family at once. It’s wonderful to catch up and reflect on the past year with them. While I can say, I completely miss that level of anticipation over Santa’s surprises, I have to say, I can appreciate this new outlook on the holiday season that I have as an adult. Not only does it make me feel a little bit more fulfilled, but even after Christmas is over, it’s not a sinking low feeling that I had as a child anymore.

What do you think of the Christmas season, now that you’re an adult?

Decorating for Christmas is one of my favorite things. If I’m not in the holiday spirit before then, I’m definitely full of spirit right afterwards! Over the past 3 Christmases, we’ve slowly added to our decor.

The new additions to our mantle is Millie’s stocking and holder, the knit Christmas tree and the fabric bowl full of leftover ornaments that I purchased to make our wreath last year. I love it!

Since we don’t have much space for a Christmas tree, we definitely LOVE our skinny tree. The hubs bought this at Kohls on major sale. The majority of the ornaments are from Sam’s Club. They sell mega packs of ornaments in different color themes, and I fell in love with the brown/bronze pack, since it’s neutral.

And, as you may know, this is Millie’s first Christmas with us. I was pretty worried about how her curious little self would react, but she ignores it, for the most part. I think she has some Christmas spirit too (gotta love puppy smiles).

How is your home decorated this year? Feel free to share some blog posts. I love seeing holiday decor!!!

I’m sure y’all are getting bored of bandannas, so I wanted to bring in a new product for the shop. They are seasonal and super cute!

Nifty Cheer, which is stocking shaped bunting, is a perfect little decoration to have this holiday season! I made a standard holiday type and of course, an LSU color type. I love how these came out…I’m working on making bunting for my cubicle. I think it would be so cute for the office.

They are regularly $20, but since I’m still holding my holiday sale, these are 25% off (using code HOLIDAY25)!

Happy shopping!

Image sources: From top left, going clockwise
1, 2, 3, 4

Nomsa’s Shop – Oh my gosh! This shop is precious! This shop offers everything from headbands to floral headpins to jewelry! I just love everything in this shop! So cute! (She’s also offering 15% off for Cyber Monday!)

My Three Blind Mice’s shop – I featured this shop last year in my blog. I can’t say enough about how many cute crocheted goods this shop features. It makes me really want to learn the craft.

Eclectic Whatnot’s shop – You’ve probably seen this shop on many blogs before. This shop is known for extremely cute ruffle camera strap covers. I absolutely love all of them!

KnittyBittie’s shop – Cute name, eh? This shop offers all sorts of cute, sewn goods in really fun fabrics! This shop is also offering a Cyber Monday discount…check it out!

If you want to check out the other posts in my handmade holidays series, check them out here:

For the Cook (or Baker)
For the Green Thumbs
For the Teacher

Oh! And while my shop doesn’t offer ruffles, I’m offering 25% off your purchase this entire week!! Just enter code: HOLIDAY25. Happy Cyber Monday!