Our Handmade Christmas - For Our Daughters

Get your cup of coffee and settle in.  This is a long one.

Let's start with Fatty's gifts for the girls.  Remember how I told him that he could burn me a CD and I would be happy?  Well, that is what he did for the girls.  Jane and Kate both have CD players in their rooms and are constantly asking us to make them copies of our CDs.  So Fatty spent the better part of a Sunday creating playlists for each of them on itunes.  He burned the CDs and put them in a CD case of their own.  They loved this.

Jane's disc:
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic - The Police
Way Back When - Donna the Buffalo
Shine - Dolly Parton
Lakes of Pontchartain - The Be Good Tanyas
Penny Lane - The Beatles
I'm Gonna Make You Love Me - The Jayhawks
My Right Versus Yours - The New Pornographers
Laughing - R.E.M.
Singular Girl - Rhett Miller
Children of December - The Slip
6 String Belief - Son Volt
Mysterious Ways - U2
The Long Cut - Uncle Tupelo
Everything I Do - Whiskeytown

Kate's disc:
Silver Lining - Rilo Kiley
Walking On The Moon - The Police
Hello, Goodbye - The Beatles
Teach Your Children - Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
Waiting for the Sun - The Jayhawks
Blankets - The Gourds
Life Is Just A Tire Swing - Jimmy Buffett
Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash
Catapult - R.E.M.
Get Off My Cloud - The Rolling Stones
Windfall - Son Volt
One - U2
We've Been Had - Uncle Tupelo
Either Way - Wilco

And me....well, I knitted ponchos for the girls.  Completely inspired by the one Kristin made for her daughter, I started with Kate's.

This is the back so you can see the hood.  Kristin told me that she wished she could make the hood bigger - I am so glad she did.  Kate has a big noggin, so I made some adjustments to accommodate it.

I also added pom poms to the drawsting for a little whimsy.  I would be lying if I told you that I didn't think they would add to the appeal.  My kids are all about the pom poms.

When it came time to knit Jane's, my plan was to make it the same, but just in a different color.  When it came time to pick up the stitches for the hood, I hesitated.  Given her pickiness in clothing, I wasn't sure if the hood was such a good idea.  I knew she would like the pom poms, but I wasn't convinced that she would want the hood.  I asked Fatty what he thought and he agreed with me.  I decided to leave the hood off and if she really wanted it, I could always add it on later.

Without the hood, it needed something.  I added a sweet flower pin, in her favorite color turquoise.  I actually showed her 5 fabrics and asked if I were to make her something out of one or two of them, which would she want.  She chose two Denyse Schmidt prints and I pulled out my copy of Blair's great pattern and whipped this up in less than fifteen minutes.  I took the Sarah route and cut circles with my pinking sheers instead of the scallops because time was not on my side.

For you knitters out there, here is the scoop:
Pattern:  Knitting Pure and Simple, Children's Ponch (#243)
Yarn:  Nashua, Creative Focus Worsted, 3 skeins of hot pink for Kate and brown for Jane (I probably could have done Jane's with two if I had made it about 1/2" shorter)
Needles:  16" and 32" circulars, size 8
Modifications:  I added 1" of length to Kate's hood and made 3 sets of increases along the center back of the hood to allow more room for her big head.  I added pom poms to the i-cord drawstring on Kate's also.  Jane's didn't get a hood.
Notes:  This pattern runs small.  My girls wear about a size 8 - I knit the size 10 to 12.

Kate loves hers - she wore it all Christmas day!  I was standing in my brother's kitchen and saw her running in the back yard, hood on, pom poms flying with a huge smile one her face.  I wish I could have captured it on film.

And Jane....well, at first I think she was disappointed she didn't have pom poms.  But I knew that was a gamble.  In the end, I think it paid off.   She has decided against the hood which is fine by me.  She wears her poncho all the time - sometimes with the pin, sometimes without.  She would sleep in it if she could.  Well, if I would let her.

Little does she know that by loving something I made her, she gave me the best Christmas present of all.