Gifts made by hand

And with that...the last knit handbag has been gifted!! Whew! Those handbags are a lot of work! And it's actually the non-knitting that takes the longest. Funny how these handbags all began as knitting projects but in reality they're totally "craft" projects. I need knitting needles, yarn, a tapestry needle, a dowel, a saw, a pencil sharpener, paint, polyurethane, fabric, interfacing, thread AND MORE to make one! You'll perhaps notice that Ali's purse is the same as Liz's purse but in a different color. I made the pink flower (the classy corsage from The Knitter's Bible: Knitted Accessories) a while back. It's a pretty tedious little flower though, so instead of making another - Ali got my original.

Ali particularly asked for "an off color" for the lining that didn't match her requested pink flower on the outside. Hence the bright green lining! She didn't know I was making this for her (I don't think) but I asked her long ago "if I were to make you a purse, what colors would you like?" and quickly tucked her answer away in my mind.

I forgot to take pictures of the purse after hand-stitching in the lining
so you have to look at all my cute pink pins

Here's a photo I took of all three bags! Liz, Angela and Ali -- all in my living room at the same time!

I also gave Ali one of my knit Hello Kitty washcloths. If I know anyone who loves HK it's Ali. If there's anyone I thought of when I first knit this washcloth, it's Ali. If I had anyone in mind when I bought lavender cotton yarn to make one, it's Ali. So Ali finally got her Hello Kitty washcloth.

Ali also got a box of my (what else?) French macarons. SO many birthdays in April... and all girls! Girls get girlie French macarons from me! I'm still fully admitting that I'm crazy. I made three batches last night...

{Quickly becoming favorites from my "fans"} Green tea; pistachio; pecan praline with dulce de leche

I love these little boxes that allow the macarons to peek through the front!

I hope Ali liked her gifts! This year has been a very satisfying one for me since I'm able to hand-make all my friends' birthday gifts - especially post surgery. In fact, we were asked to state a non-work related, 'personal win' during a meeting in the office today. And after wracking my brain - I decided that was my personal win: "I've been hand-making all my friends' birthday gifts this month... and there have been a lot!" A couple coworkers quickly joked that their birthdays were coming up soon too. ;)