Merry Day After Christmas!

We had a great time yesterday hosting 19 people at our house (including the two of us). This is the third year in a row that we've hosted and I think we've got the hang of it now (re: we've figured out how to coordinate cooking for and feeding 19 hungry mouths :)).

So many aspects of the day to cover, but this post is dedicated to the gifts I made and haven't been able to post about for the last two months. I had a goal to finish three afghans and one tote bag to give away. I started in September and actually did manage to finish all three afghans but changed the tote bag to a smaller toiletry-sized bag because I realized the tote wasn't really the recipient's style. It was really cool watching everyone open their gifts because they were so excited about the hand-made aspect; really, it was the best set of reactions a crafter could hope for!

Afghan #1 went to my aunt and uncle. This was the hardest one to do because I made it HUUUUGE (68" x 63"!) and the herringbone-style stitch had me stumped for a while. Once I figured it out though it was just a matter of sticking to it until I finished. This one took about a month to complete, and that was with nearly non-stop crocheting because I had a lot of time on my hands.

Afghan #2 went to my cousins. It was funny because this was actually the last one to get opened and before they opened it my cousin kept asking me, "Can we get in the queue for the next one?" This one worked up a lot faster (less than two weeks for a 60" x 58"), partly because it was done in a bulky yarn and partly because I understood the pattern better after having done a similar stitch in the first afghan.

And the last afghan went to another aunt & uncle. This one I wish I'd made a little bigger, but I added a border to make up for it (or at least try to make up for it--I still wish I had just made it wider to start with). It ended up at about 45" x 65" and also took about two weeks to finish.

Finally, here's the little bobble bag I made for my mom and gave to her as a stocking stuffer. I didn't do a great job of sewing the zipper on as it was the first time I've ever worked with a zipper, but it works. I want to learn how to line this with fabric, too.

That was it for Xmas '09! I'll definitely have to get around to making that tote bag as I've wanted to do it forever and now I actually have the yarn to make two of them so I'd better get on it. Who wants one? :)