A Handmade (and almost finished in time!) Christmas

Every year one or two of us seems to make a present for some member of the family. I usually knit at least one gift; Mike will take the time to build or turn something. But this year was an unusually handmade-gift-filled year. And we almost had them all finished in time for the big day!

To begin, I knit Mike the Dwarven Helmet hat that he's been wanting for a few years now. I had to give it to him unfelted because I needed his head to test size, so that wasn't done in time. Here it is today: felted, but no braids. Once he comes in this afternoon, I'll get some braids and mustashe on!

Then there were the hats I wanted to make for all the little cousins: my two girls and my neice and nephew. Three of the four were finished for Christmas (the neice and nephew got theirs--poor Kat's was still on the needles). Here's baby Emma modelling hers:

And Kat's was finished the next day. Warning, the next photo was of her an hour ago after being in the snow all morning and ready for a nap. She is currently asleep!

Hopefully tonight I'll get a picture of all four of them in their hats together! Fingers crossed.

And now on to Mike's projects! They're awesome!!!

First, he and Morgan made me a sign for the farm!!!!! Here's what I got on Christmas morning:

They worked hard cutting and carving the sign from scratch. The lamb was a hanging sign that my in-laws had given me a few years ago, but the hangers had broken. It was resting in my studio until it could be fixed, but Mike snatched it up without me noticing in order to incorporate it in the sign. I love it!!! I'm not sure if you can see "Glen"--it's right under the lamb. 

Since Christmas morning, Mike has stained it and just put a coat of polyurethane on it this morning. Here's how it looks right now, drying:

The words and lamb need to be reattached, and it's good to go! And did I mention that it's completely reversable so that passersby can read it going both ways down our street? AND there's a tiny little M + A in a heart on the tree trunk. Aaahhhhhh.

And the grand finale is . . . . . a clubhouse for the girls in their room! We presented them with a ladder and a bow on Christmas morning, then Mike worked at assembling it the rest of that and the next day. 

Christmas:

The next day (with, from L to R: Kat, Morgan and Brendan):

The girls have slept up there every night since! Left to do: Morgan and I are going to build a paper machet tree on the front right corner of the wall to look like the clubhouse is sitting in it. We're also going to paint the clubhouse white and re-paint the room.

I'll keep everyone posted as projects are completed!

From my family to yours, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and will have a Happy New Year!!!