It's not about how much we give but how much we put into giving. -- Mother Theresa
I've been a self-professed selfish knitter for a long time. I don't knit for profit and I don't create-on-demand. And yet, I've found myself cranking out a lot of things for other people over the past year: gifts for babies, for friends... Christmas gifts, Christmas cards, baking for friends and workmates. I landed at my Christmas holidays feeling kind of... done.
I don't really know what to do about this. I enjoyed making those things and I liked being able to give away something original to people that I cared about, but as I sat on my couch last night, I picked up some knitting that had been sitting on the needles for a while and felt like I'd come home to a dear friend. Ah knitting... you get me...
I think part of why I've been gifting so much of my handmade things is my need to give something meaningful and original. It's easy (and still thoughtful) to give store-bought gifts, but it's always a little different getting something made by hand.
Par example: I have the responsibility of putting together gifts for the owners of the business I work for. It's a tradition at the company, and we do it because our bosses are really so kind and helpful to the whole staff all year round. This year, I decided that it would be nice to knit some stockings and fill them with some stocking stuffers. I originally thought I'd try to knit them Cowichan sweater-style, but then I remember how much I hate stranded knitting! So then I went for my old standby of cables and seed stitch, which is always impressive. I used thick yarn and big needles, so I managed to finish them pretty quickly:
I also experimented with some stamped labels. I thought they finished them off really nicely. I even spelled the names correctly and all!
I've also made a bit of a tradition for myself of painting Christmas cards. It started off as something to do during the height of the Covid pandemic and now it's become something I feel pulled to do. Every year, I tell myself that I'll do something "quick and easy," but you can only paint so many Christmas ball decorations. So this year, I went with chicks:
They're cute, no? They were quite a bit more work than I planned, but after I drew the first prototype, I cut out the branch and built it up on some layers of cardstock so I could just trace it over and over again. The rest of the stuff I drew by hand with pencil, and then I used watercolour pencil to throw on some colour. The nice thing about watercolour pencil is that you can put it on ahead of time and then go back and add your water later. That makes it more of an assembly line as opposed to several singular paintings.
Another tradition that I've made for myself is to bring some special handmade treat for my workmates. I try to make something gluten-free and dairy-free so that everyone can enjoy a treat. This year, I decided to make Millionaires Shortbread, which is shortbread with a layer of caramel and then a layer of chocolate on top. I made a gluten and dairy free version, and then a regular version as well. I even made two versions of caramel, which is fun, but wow is it a lot of stirring! And it's also a lot of shortbread to have in the house. Suffice to say: I'm good for shortbread for a while!
After all of the handmade stuff for other people, I was pleased to be able to do something creative and fun for myself. I booked a Turkish mosaic lamp workshop a few weeks back, and I had been so busy that I almost forgot about it! What made it even better was that I went to it with a very good friend, and we had a wonderful time. It was so nice to sit down and try something new. The organizers provided all of the cut glass and beads and lamp globes and lamp hardware, so we were free just to play. It felt so nice to settle in and enjoy the colours. And I came home with such a beautiful lamp of my own:
You're supposed to wait a couple of days to let it completely dry and then apply a white grout to seal all of the gaps, but I was so enamoured by the clarity of the glass that I didn't want to dampen it with white grout. So... my lamp went to the salon:
I used resin and a little UV lamp to quicken the setting time. It was my first time doing that, and man is that ever a cool process! It made a nice, clear coating to seal in all of the beads and the gaps:
The bottle of resin came with a bunch of little molds for making beads and jewelry, so I'm sure I'll be playing with that again...
... just as soon as I do all of the other things I've been wanting to do all this time. I have the sweater on my needles and a project on the loom, both of which have been waiting for me to come back to them. And that's the thing: I liked doing all of these things, but I'm so missing my own projects that it makes me want to never make another gift again. How do I do both without feeling so torn between them?
I guess the only thing to do is to keep making stuff. It's the only space that truly gives me joy and energy. And maybe I just need to balance out making things for me with making things for other people. Or maybe I could go back to being a selfish knitter. I dunno.
Anyway, I'm off to knit for a little while. Happy Holidays to you!
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