last minute knitting (and crocheting)

Big Sister had a friend's 4th birthday party to go to this morning, and of course I remembered yesterday that we still hadn't gotten a present yet. And I didn't have a chance to go out to buy one. So was does a knitter do? That's a rhetorical question, of course.

Luckily the friend is a girly girl like my daughter, who loves to dress up. So I went to the stash of yarn my MIL gave me and decided to knit a little something out of this novelty yarn. What is it, eyelash? Feathers? I'm not sure what you call it. The yarn label just says "Knitting Yarn". That's helpful, eh? But it's from Sullivans International which is an Australian company, and it seems to have been discontinued. It's not on their site. It's 100% polyester, and it's quite soft, and the colors are cute and fun - turquoise, blue, green and purple.

First I knit a quick garter stitch headband as a tester (cast on 4 stitches, knit all rows until it's long enough to fit around Big Sister's head, cast off, and sew the ends together). It was cute, but I didn't think it would be quite enough on it's own. So I decided to crochet a scrunchie as well. Using this pattern with a size G crochet hook and a turquoise hair elastic I had lying around, I quickly made up this scrunchie that Big Sister is modeling so well. Not bad for a second ever crochet project. It was pretty fun, too.

Then I realized that a scrunchie and a headband would compete for hair space, and probably not be used at the same time, hence negating the matching aspect of them, so for the gift, instead of knitting another headband (since my daughter was keeping the tester), I just knit a bit longer, didn't sew it into a circle, and kept it a little decorative scarf.

Nothing extravagant, but it was done last night, so there were no last minute rushes to the toy store. Plus, I'm a firm believer in small or no presents. Big Sister herself is turning 4 next week, and though we're having 2 parties for her (one for her school friends, and one for our friends who have kids) I hope she isn't inundated with gifts. I was going to put "no presents please" on the invites, but I was told it would be bordering on rude not to let people give gifts. So instead I've just spread the word that we really don't need or want much at all. Except yarn. Anyone who wants to give her gifts of yarn is more than welcome. ;)

Anyways, the gift seemed to be well received by the birthday girl (as well as any of the other gifts, which means she opened it, said a quick "Thanks!" and moved onto the next one). The party was lots of fun. Here's Big Sister enjoying the moon bounce (which she now wants at her party, but, uh... No way!).