One mitten down, one more to go. I think posting a photo of a single mitten is sad, like posting a picture of a single sock. (Not that I haven’t done that.) So no photo today.
I don’t know why–maybe it’s because I have a reputation as a good gift-giver, maybe because my monthly spending resembles the GDP of your average Third-World country–but people often ask me what they should buy/make/steal for such-and-such a person for the holiday of the moment. I have several secrets of my success to share.
If you’re the kind of person who enjoys giving things you’ve made with your very own hands (and the odds are you might be, considering you’re reading my blog), you might want to check out Craft magazine’s Holiday Gift Guide, featuring a small but interesting selection of items for men, women and children. It also has links to previous Craft gift guides, and some interesting inspiration in the Craft and Make flickr pools on the right-hand side of the page.
For the devoted readers on your list, the Salon Book Awards for 2008 have just been announced–with five works of fiction and five non-fiction titles worth considering. Plus there’s a link to the 2007 Salon Book Awards, lauding another 10 books that are just as good.
Engadget is in the process of compiling its 2008 Holiday Gift Guide–so far they’ve covered “him”, “her”, “son” and “daughter”. Still to come: mom, dad, colleague, enemy. If you can hold off on the latter four for a week or two, you’re bound to find something cool here. (But forget the ill-advised recommendation of the Blackberry Storm, and go instead for the Blackberry Bold. You’ll thank me.) Not to be outdone, Gizmodo has tagged a select number of their gadgets as Bestmodo–you may want to check them out too.
However, my very favourite annual gift guide is Uncle Mark’s Gift Guide and Almanac. Instead of telling you “the top five cameras” or “the 18 best games”, Uncle Mark picks the single best in each category and leaves the rest up to you. I’ve read it every year for several years now, and have always found it to be both useful and enjoyable.
Ho ho ho!
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I quite agree with you about the single mitten. Maybe after you’ve knit a few rows on the second one, you could show them together. I finished mine and I’ve been wearing them for dog walks, and found them quite warm. However, today was the big test. Standing in the school playground from 3:20 till 4p.m. today, dismissing children, the mittens were put to the test, and well, my hands were getting pretty cold as four o’clock approached. Ditto my feet, even though I was wearing two pairs of handknit (by me) wool socks. My school playground is colder than a witch’s tits in January. Maybe I need another pair of mitts to go OVER the ones I just made. Sigh. Back to the needles.