Help! Christmas gift ideas...

[Evagaline]

Ok, so this year I'm trying to make most of my Christmas gifts for my friends and family, and I'm trying to do it on a budget, but I'm running out of ideas!

Currently I've got some simple quilted ornaments, I'm knitting up a scarf, and I'm making a needle holder for a friend of mine who just learned to knit. (^_^) Does anyone have some other ideas that are simple (preferably quick, I'm in college and trying to work around pending exams) and inexpensive?  

[AriRashkae]

Illusion scarves get lots of oohs and aaaahs, and any design that can be done in two colors (:coughNINlogocough smile works beautifully. I've got 3 in the works, and a 4th as soon as I find a cat pattern I like.  

[Evagaline]

That sounds great, but I've never actually heard of illusion scarves before. Any idea where I could find out more about them?  

[AriRashkae]

My Google Fu is strong. mrgreen The first link has some good links in itself.

Basically, the background color is knit in garter, and the image color in stockinette when you're working the background. When you work the image, you reverse the stitch patterns: background in stockinette (so it "hides" when viewed from the side) and the image in garter (so it's raised).

Viewed head on, it just looks like a scarf of narrow stripes, but viewed from the narrow edge, the design pops out.  

[Isabelle]

Some other neat ornaments that I found a link to through craftzine's blog are these Japanese style thread balls:
Ornaments

It looks super easy to make and fairly cheapo. I want to try to make some soon myself. xd  

[kochi~mochi]

I'm making up a whole bunch of these little guys for large portions of my list. Cute little snowmen? Made out of an inexpensive yarn? Sounds good to me. Esspecially since large portions of my wishlist like little things like that.

I'm going to have to make some of those ornaments, though. They are truly awesome.  

[Evagaline]

Those are great ideas! I LOVE those ornaments and the snowmen are cute too! The illusion scarves look great, but I'm going to need to get a bit better at knitting to pull them off, lol. Yay for inspiration from other crafters!  

[I be me]

Sock monkeys!  

[Aki Yasu]

knitted jewelry is really fast, simple, and several pieces can be made from one ball of hemp. bracelets are particularly easy.  

[emergency conspiracy]

You fall hard, You fall deep
Even when you're awake, You look half asleep
Do you even know what you did last summer?
Wandering around deaf, dumb and blind
With the girls all hanging around you

My friend and I are in high school and working together to make scarves & fingerless gloves for a bunch of people. It helps to do that kind of stuff with a friend for people you both know. Hmm... See, yarn isn't that expensive and neither is certain fabrics if you know how to sew and you can make stuff as gifts. I'm not sure what though, seeing as you've already made a needle holder, which is what I'm doing for my friend. XD
(Note: I get my yarn at Wal-Mart for about $3 or $4... $5 at most... It's the same stuff that'd cost more at other stores)

Is that no or yes? We'll have to guess.
Mysterious eyes let you see what you want.
Half the time you didn't know any better
But half the time you didhanging around
Like tomorrow doesn't apply to you

 

[Evagaline]

I buy a lot of yarn at Wal-mart too. I can't afford to pay much for my craft supplies since I'm trying to work my way through college. The fingerless gloves sounds like a great idea, I'll have to try that for next year when I have a little more time to work on them.  

[Evagaline]

Thanks for all of the ideas ladies! With your suggestions, I was able to cover almost everyone on my list!  

[Drowtung]

Another cool thing to do and throw up on your myspace or website or what have you is to sign the buy handmade pledge.

Just go to buyhandmade.org and sign it, then you can paste one of the banners into your sig here, your myspace or whatever! It may not do much but it always makes me feel good to know that I have signed it and that I have done a small part to help all us fiber artists, artisans, crafters etc. out there!  

[Green_crayon42]

Evagaline

Ok, so this year I'm trying to make most of my Christmas gifts for my friends and family, and I'm trying to do it on a budget, but I'm running out of ideas!

Currently I've got some simple quilted ornaments, I'm knitting up a scarf, and I'm making a needle holder for a friend of mine who just learned to knit. (^_^) Does anyone have some other ideas that are simple (preferably quick, I'm in college and trying to work around pending exams) and inexpensive?

I didn't read anyone's posts, so maybe these ideas are up already. If you know how to sew, you could make napkins--they're easy and fast(I made 6 in 50 minutes), potholders--easy but the more creative you want to be the more time it will take, pillows are my favorites, they're fun and easy. Curtains,...purses, those take the longest. Aprons are useful too. And who knows how creative you can get with fabrics?!!
For knitting you could make a hat. I've heard those are easier then scarves though I can't knit yet.
Or you could just make cookies! Everybody loves cookies. Cupcakes, cakes, brownies...whatever you want. They're easy, fun, time consuming but you get to eat the mix!
If you sew, you do have to buy the fabric, but I don't think it costs too much.
Make a really creative card...that'll do for a gift I bet. People won't be expecting too much because you're in college so...if you just be super creative I bet they won't mind.