With Christmas just a matter of days away, everyone's scrambling to find those last-minute gifts--and crafters are scrambling to finish the last of their handcrafted projects. But for knitters with a few minutes--and some scrap yarn--to spare, there's still plenty of time to knit up a cute handmade gift or two, thanks to Meg Leach's book, Knitted Finger Puppets: 34 Easy-to-Make Toys.
The patterns in the book are divided into three collections. There's "Christmas at the North Pole," featuring Santa and Mrs. Claus and some other holiday favorites like an elf, a snowman, a reindeer, and even some gifts for Santa's bag. There's "Under the Big Top," with patterns for a ringleader, clowns, and all kinds of circus animals. And there's "The Enchanted Forest," with everybody's fairy tale favorites--from Hansel and Gretel to the Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf. In the book's final section, Leach gives instructions for a few extras. She teaches you how to design and personalize your own puppets, too--so you'll be able to make a brown-haired fisherman puppet for your favorite brown-haired fisherman or a blonde ballerina puppet for your favorite blonde ballerina.
And the adorable little projects in this book won't break the bank, either. For many of the projects, all you need is a set of size 1 double-pointed needles and a few yards of worsted weight yarn. And if you're anything like me, you've already got a whole bunch of seemingly worthless little balls of worsted weight yarn lying around your crafting area, just waiting for that perfect project.
For the most part, the patterns are pretty basic, too. You'll need to knit in the round and occasionally increase or decrease--and, for arms and legs, you'll either need to make a crochet chain or knit an I-cord. Then you need to sew some things together, do some super-simple embroidery (for things like eyes and hair), and maybe tie on a bow or stitch on some felt--and then your project is finished and ready for wrapping.
Though it might take some practice to get used to working with worsted weight yarn on such tiny needles, the projects in Knitted Finger Puppets are refreshingly simple and easy to improvise. And, when you're done, they'll make perfect gifts for kids of all ages. Small children will love to play with them (and moms will love that they're small enough to fit in their purse), but they make great whimsical gifts for grown-ups, too.
So if you've got some holiday travel time ahead of you, be sure to pick up a copy of Meg Leach's Knitted Finger Puppets before you go. Then pack some DPNs and a bag of scraps from your stash, and you'll have a great gift or two finished by the time you reach your destination. --From Kristin Dreyer Kramer, nightsandweekends blog
