Home(made) for the Holidays

I decided to be extra crafty this year, inspired by JJ's craftiness last year, and I made almost all of my gifts.  Here are the hand-made, and at times silly, gifts.

Last year my mom got this book for Christmas...kinda hilarious.  I'm sure she didn't really expect me to use it but I couldn't resist.  One year later...a puppet version of my famous cat, Nikolas James Pumpkinhead, was born.

However, I felt bad giving her only a cat since she is allergic.  I found a recipe for homemade Tootsie Rolls (her favorite candy) and whipped up a batch.

It looked like Mud Pie at first...

Then they got rolled and wrapped and placed in a Mason Jar!

My sister, and fellow blogger, is about as crafty as they come.  Some months before Christmas I was telling a friend about some ridiculous story from our childhood and he said something along the lines of, "You should make her a badge for that."  Thus the idea for creating her own personalized Girl Scout sash and badges was born.  Sorry, I can't tell you all the stories as they aren't all totally appropriate for the interwebs, but here they are!

Badges: U.S.S., Cuddle Buddy Badge, Survival with a Bear Badge,
I Got Peed on Badge...

Badges: UFO Badge, Secret Agent Badge, Lollipop Badge,
You-Would-Have-Made-Better-Badges Badge
P.S.  For those of you who don't know...my sister looks
IDENTICAL to my mom in this picture.

My older brother is a huge fan of Star Trek.  For him, I whipped up a couple of Tribbles.  Sadly, I forgot to snap some pictures.  They were fuzzy.  And I made them blue.

Kirk and the Tribbles

His son, my nephew Nate, is in 3rd grade and still thinks I am cool.  He got a homemade pencil bookmark and a couple of pencils.

Dad (founder of Jim Howe Concerts) received mixed CDs with songs from some of my favorite artists of 2012, namely Aoife O' Donovan, a good friend's daughter.  She is on the up and up so look for her to soar in 2013!

My little brother Zach was supposed to get a toy version of his dog Buddy, as I blogged about earlier this summer.  Sadly, the pattern we chose disappeared.  Instead I decided to make a gift for him AND Buddy. Zach got a "Buddy" hat and Buddy got a "Zach" hat.  It worked out perfectly since Zach took off on Christmas morning for Maui and we had been dog sitting Buddy.  The poor dog missed his BFF so much...I think the hat helped just a smidge.

Buddy in a "Zach" hat

The "Buddy" hat, complete with Buddy's spot

Re-Gifting

As I pack, frantically tie up the loose ends of my homemade gifts, and check my list twice for everything I need in the next two weeks (including one grumpy old cat), I just had to take a minute to send a very special holiday gift to you all this year.

Every year for the last...oh, 4 years? 3 years?, I have received a very special email from Ballard C. Boyd.  Ballard and I met years back when I worked at the Conservatory Lab Charter School in Brighton, MA.  He came to film a music video for Kristin Andreassen called "Crayola Doesn't Make a Color for Your Eyes" which featured my talented 2nd graders.  Because of this lovely happenstance, I have been on the receiving end of Ballard's annual Christmas CD.  I anxiously await the email every year announcing it's availability for download.

So, here again, for all of you, is where you can download, for free, his album.  It is three short wonderful songs featuring Ballard and his ukelele, as well as some special kazoo-ing in track 2.

Merry Christmas!  There are about a billion people out there I wish I could give presents, hugs, and extra love to this holiday.  In my absence, please accept this re-gifting.  Plant yourself under a mistletoe, crank up the volume, do a little jig and ... besos from me! (Click on the album cover to download!)

Cover design by Kelsey Fox Bennet

knitting for friends...

So i have some of the greatest friends ever. not just because they're legit good friends, but because they don't make fun of me for knitting. or for bringing my knitting with me everywhere i go. all the time. when you invite jess, you invite the knitting. which is why it was no surprise when they wanted a piece of the knitting goodness. at the time, i was carting fingerless owl mitts everywhere, so a couple of them asked for a pair. but then i was thrown a monkey wrench. one of the girls asked for a pair of fingerless mitts WITH A CONVERTIBLE FLIP TOP. whoa. challenge accepted.

Matchy, matchy green.

Matchy green!

so first things first, i made the owl mitts that i could probably make in my sleep. picking the colors was kind of a pain, because i couldn't really find any yarn that was bright enough for my liking. but a greens a greens a green (???). anyway. i still have to add the label and weave in all the ends, but they're basically done and i just need to hand them off to my lovely ladies.
so my next task was to make the convertible fingerless mitts. my original idea was to just make another set of owls and add the top. but after really looking at the design, i figured it wouldn't work as well as i wanted and the flap would cover the owl, so that work wasn't necessary. the mitts i choose are kind of loose and scrunchy looking, but plain, so the flap will work perfectly while still being comfy.

the best part about these gloves was that they were super quick to knit up. the only issue was the flap, because i didn't have a pattern for them that matched the glove pattern. but i was able to finagle something to fit, albeit a tad bit too big. my fav part was being able to go through moms button stash and find some really cool brown buttons.
So now i just need to finish the second glove. which should be easier since i already have the patterns. my to-do list keeps getting smaller, and then keeps getting bigger! so right now I'm working on this glove, a scarf that was a Christmas present, a blanket, and a boob hat (Karen's grandbaby cant go boobless!!!). thank goodness the bf got me these cute espresso cups so i can have my daily fix!!

just sip and pretend you're in Rome!

homemade christmas

so i realized something in 2011. i don't like cooking. and i definitely don't like blogging about cooking. oy vey was that a terrible blog topic. but kudos to meg for sticking with it and being the lone blogger!!! that howe girl did stuff!!

what i did realize in 2011 was that i love knitting. and not in a normal human-hobby kind of way. this sh*t is real. at first i was eh about it, but then i really started liking it. but then it got all "i was just a stupid bet" with me and tried to make me cable and read charts and i tried to walk away. i thought i knew what i wanted. but in the end, i was able to overcome all our differences and make it work. call up kate hudson, cause we have a fan-fucking-tastic romcom on our hands.

i love knitting so much that i made a lot of my christmas presents this year, which i was very excited about. i pulled a grandma cully and made marmie and meg the same thing, and even made them open their presents at the same time!! they both got a cowl based on something completely overpriced from the gap, and a pair of fingerless mitts. btw, my mom is a fox. and can you tell meg moved to la?? i think it was around 80 when she took the pic for me.

my favorite present, however, was what i made for my dad. after much searching, i realized i wouldn't find a pattern for a sabres hat, so i kind of made up my own based on a couple of others. in the end, i'm super excited with the end product! the only problem was that its a tad big for my daddio's head. oh well. he rocks it like were a winning team! LETS GO BUFFALO!!


since i was having such a great time knitting, i didn't stop with just the presents. i made an owl hat with a pom pom!!

and mustaches (elephant not included)!!!
so while the 2011 resolution may have been a bust, im hoping 2012 is much better. i made a ton of resolutions, including knitting more and possibly starting my own site to sell some stuff (who really needs 6 pair of owl mitts?!?). i've also resolved to learn a foreign language (spanish), learn basic web coding, pretend to go to the gym, and yes, cook. so far so good on each resolution, but its still january!!


happy knitting!!

Christmas Miracles!

This holiday season has been jam packed with Christmas miracles.  First, the Buffalo Bills walloped the Denver Broncos on Christmas Eve.  We celebrated.

This is HOWE we do it Tebow!

Then, I got my non-speaking niece and nephew to say my name.

Nephew Noah was the first to say Meg

Then Alice said Meg too.

And finally, with the help of my mom, I finished Nephew Nate's wolf.  He doesn't have the fuzzy cheeks called for in the pattern.  However, I gave him a fancy mustache for good measure.

The wolf and I had a drink to celebrate our success!

George meets the wolf.  Check out the 'stache!

Happy holidays!  I do believe, I do, I do...