Feeling Broke at Christmas....

...I am not really broke but this year I'm trying to be a little more frugal than in prior years. 

After all, I have to invest in a new laptop ....the screen on this one keeps falling off and, despite my best efforts, there is a bug in my system that will not let me load any security updates...or I could quit my internet playing cold turkey. NOT! 

And before you ask... yes, I can access the internet on my iPod and on my phone but teeny tiny screens and keyboards are not condusive to semi-regular blog updates.

Back to business.

So I am feeling broke this year but I have several obligations that I feel I need to fill.

First the knitting club kids should get something.  If them, then so should the sewing kids.  If them then a couple of dear friends who keep me from slitting my wrists.  And last but by no means least there are a couple of folk out there who will give me something and I must reciprocate because they are just such good people.

Where am I going with this?

Well, note the first layer of the list above... the knitting club kids.  I really want to give them something for being such good sports the last few months.  The last time I did this I made them knitting bags and gave them needles, scissors, needles and stitch markers.

Since they already have bags (courtesy of an unknowing quilt guild member) I needed to come up with something else AND not spend money.

It turns out that I have a bunch of old woolen sweaters that I will never wear again, if I ever wore them in the past.

Taking a cue from someone who makes great felted accessories I came up with twenty of these little gems:

The process couldn't have been easier:

1. run old, wool sweaters through one hot wash cycle.
2. lay them on a fat surface and let them dry...it may take a day of two.
3. cut up the sweaters discarding the cuffs, waist bands, button plackets and anything else that is not a nice flat piece of felted wool.
4. cut up the flat peieces into rectangles like 5" by 15" or whatever size will work with your felted wool.
5. roughly fold the rectangles into envelopes with about one quarter of the length as the flap and the rest as the body of the envelope.
6. cut a slit in the flap as a button hole.
7. sew up the sides of the body of the envelope on the machine or by hand.
8. run through another hot wash and also through the dryer to felt your wool even more to hide the stitching and to generally beef up your fabric.
9. sew a button on the body of the envelope to match the button hole.
10. steam press to get any kinks out that may developed in the wool.
11. enjoy your creativity!

These can be used to hold other gifts like journals, candy and gift certificates or can be used to store credit cards, sewing supplies, knitting supplies, make-up, love letters and other assorted paraphenalia that gathers in our brief cases and purses.

That's my christmas gift making for this year.  I think I will give each of the kids one with some seasonal candy in them while the adults may just have to make do with a new little pockets for their own stuff.

If you are stuck on a gift with a little handmade flair try these out. 

BONUS:  I got to use some up some of my stash of old sweaters and some buttons that were looking for a good home. 

Have a great weekend!