In 2016, I started a new tradition for my family of 3. As a teen, I had a german friend who stated her gifts to me had to be opened on Christmas Eve – my younger brother then argued he should get to open a gift Christmas eve, and then it carried on from there.
For my husband’s family tradition, they had nothing under the tree before Santa arrived…so empty tree going to bed, means you can’t choose a gift to open Christmas Eve…so I created a tradition to work for both. In the evening, I place a box under the tree marked “Open Christmas Eve” and inside are 3 pairs of socks.
I’ve already said this, but there is more to ‘just knitting’ a gift; day 14 was blocking; day 9 was gauge swatches; day 4 was ripping back mistakes/wrong needle size/wrong yarn choice. Today is weaving in all the ends to finish the project.
I tend to leave this part last; sometimes I’ll knit up facecloths, put them in a pile to weave in the ends later. So at this point in the knitmas chaos, I ‘should’ be done the knitting and just have a pile of ends to weave in….but as mentioned on day 20, I’m behind – partly due to Day 3 (distractions) and day 4 (mistakes). So to prevent multiple IOUs (day 15) I have to weave in ends to ‘finish’ projects ASAP.
A number of years ago, my brother asked us to stop exchanging gifts and to donate what I would normally knit him. Now, I knit ALOT of items year-round that I give away one way or another such as school PAC, hospital, shelters, and to my son’s school when they take on a donation drive like the ShoeBox Project (eg http://www.shoeboxproject.com/victoria.html )
I was upset by my brother doing this, so the first year I still knit a bunch of items that I wrapped in a box for him with a note that he could choose where to donate the items. This has now become a yearly tradition – I gift a box of knits to my brother for him to donate to a cause of his choosing.
There are a number of charities accepting knits year-round, so if you knit, consider giving shelters some help during the year:
Knitting for charities is a great way to practice on small projects, and the charities are very appreciative of your efforts.Some groups even provide wool, needles and patterns in exchange for your knitting time!
Facecloths
–James Bay Child Care Society – daycare centre
–Our Place – for showers
–Canada Comforts – for Haiti
–Socks for Soldiers – for overseas soldier care packages
Baby Hats
–Victoria General Hospital
–Welcome Wagon
Knit Slippers
–Royal Jubilee Hospital
Community Knitters – Marilyn Guille has a group/listing of charities across Canada, and also coordinates pickup/dropoffs via Knotty by Nature Fibre Arts – http://www.communityknitters.com/
Below are some organizations for which the Victoria Knitter’s Guild coordinates pickup/dropoffs:
Afghansforafghans.orgWoolen items as requested at website.
Canada Comforts Baby/children’s sweaters, hats blankets, any fibre.
Mex Tit BitsThese are breast prostheses for women in Mexico who have had mastectomies.More information below from the coordinator of this project. In the meantime, you can knit some tit bits from this Knitty pattern if you are interested.
Royal Jubilee Hospital Gift ShopSlippers, baby and children’s sweaters,just about any lovely knitting, except plain toques for children; they have plenty of these plain hats right now.Other stylish hats, any size, would also be welcome.
