Knitted and knitting related gifts
I gave a few knitted gifts and one knitting related gift this Christmas. I am still working on a few other knitted gifts which luckily for me have a later deadline.
I knitted a neckwarmer for each of my friend’s two little girls using 1 skein of my Merino Sport yarn in the Springtime Lilacs colourways. I used the Neck Warmer pattern by Brenda Zuk with a couple of modifications. 
I only cast on 100 sts instead of 120 sts since I was knitting for a 6 and 4 years old and I also shortened the ribbing at the beginning to 6 inches and 5 1/2 inches respectively. For the neck warmer for the 4 year old, I also skipped the second set of increases and moved straight into continueing the 2 x 2 ribbing. My friend’s oldest daughter kindly agreed to model her neck warmer for me. 
I knit a Modified Modcap by Elizabeth Cherry from Jane Austens Knits for a friend who hasn’t received it yet. I double-stranded some heavy fingering weight yarn that is a merino/cashmere/silk blend (I’ve misplaced the labels) in a pretty red for the hat. I’m afraid that my attempts to take a picture of myself wearing the hat with my camera phone didn’t turn out very well.
I also gave this big boxy bag from Zig Zag Stitches to my Mom to use for her sweater projects. I gave my Mom a smaller boxy project bag last year and she loves it and uses it often, but she didn’t have anything as nice to use for larger projects.
I received the following knitting related gifts from a few friends. I received a pair of large decorative needles with a cute little mouse munching on a chuck of cheese on the end of each needle from my friend T (first picture at the top). I received this mug from Starbucks from my friend B and this 1000 piece puzzle from her Mom.
My family and I had a lovely Christmas this year. I hope that you and your family did as well.