SewMamaSew is hosting a Holidays Meme with questions on two topics: gifts and traditions. I like this meme, probably because it's Christmastime and all the warm fuzziness of the season has subdued me. So today I'm answering a few of their questions about gifts.
* Do you have a favorite gift that you love to give?For the last two or three years I have made bonbons to bundle up in tins and give to family and friends. Not long before that, my husband picked up his grandmother's tradition of baking a huge batch of peppernuts for everyone. Sometimes he's made two batches. It's a three-evening process, like how my bonbons take up two evenings, but it's worth it. These gifts do not collect dust in recipients' homes!
* If you’re making gifts this year, what are you making? (Post photos if you have some!)
* Do you have any good stories about handcrafted gifts you’ve given or received?
Last year, I loom-knit a
Power Scarf as a hostess gift for the mother of a friend who has invited us to a Christmas Eve party for years. I used
Moonlight Mohair, Northern Lights colorway by Lion Brand. Later in the year, my friend passed along her mother's continued delight at the gift; turns out that she saw a scarf, in some high-fashion magazine or on television, very nearly like the one I made for her. I've never felt so
haute coteur.
* Name one thing on your personal wish list.Knit Picks Options Harmony wood interchangeable circular needle set. Whew! What a mouthful.
* Do you make and sell things that would make fantastic gifts? 
Out of the frustration of constantly misplacing or forgetting my scissors and spool of quilting thread when I hand quilt from place to place, I made a specialized, beaded châtelaine that holds both items around my neck whenever and wherever I'm working. This way I have to move only one notion when I pack up my project. I've made several for others and have a few for sale at
my etsy shop. I take special orders, too.
I made it much for the same reason Lisa made her latest one: I needed a hostess gift. And since Lisa's latest Power Scarf captured my attention, I made mine with a similiar-looking yarn: Lion Brand Moonlight Mohair, Northern Lights color. However, I knit my scarf on my new Knifty Knitter flower loom. Yes, some pegs insisted on coming out every few turns around the loom, but it was 
nothing unmanageable. I finished my scarf just in time to wrap it and take to the Chistmas Eve party where it was well-received.
