
I love to give home-made gifts for Christmas as much as I love to receive home-made gifts. There's something very intimate about it, that Me to You thoughtfulness and knowing that someone loves me enough to think I'm worth their time, talent, and skills. And vice versa. When I make gifts, not only do I really try to give that person something they will enjoy and use. I love thinking about that person and how much they mean to me while I knit and hope that they think of me when they use my gift.
When I'm not knitting for the NICU, I'm usually knitting Christmas gifts. My nieces love house slippers, my sister wants legwarmers (still working on that one!), my brothers and nephew want camo hats, my niece Jordan likes toeless flip flop socks, etc. My friend, Lynn, loves the colors blue and white together and I can see why. Blue and white create, to me, a very clean, fresh, timelessly elegant look with a comforting homey feeling. Her bedroom, in particular, is a gorgeous retreat from the world with crisp white linens and beautifully hand-made blue and white quilts on her bed and hanging on the wall. My gift to her last year was this set of blue knitted edged pillowcases for her bed, something pretty and practical.
To make this, I bought the pillowcases that I wanted and then measured the circumference of the opening. I knitted each piece of lace 1 inch longer so there would be a small overlap when I sewed them on. Then I chose a ribbon wide enough to fit the holes at the top of the edging where it was seamed onto the pillowcase and weaved it through, tying it into a double bow so it wouldn't come undone in the wash. I can't find the exact pattern I used for this edging but I've found plenty more on the 'net that are just as pretty and that I'll be figuring out new projects for their use:
http://knitting-and.com/wiki/Apple_Leaf_Lace

http://knitting-and.com/wiki/Belmina_Lace

http://www.craftown.com/knit/knit18.htm

http://tiajudy.com/scallopedge.htm

So many cute edgings--makes me want to start knitting lace again!