Wanted.....Christmas Ideas

[Mrs. Principal]

Ok, I know it is early to start thinking about Christmas, but I need your help. I am a principal of a small school for kids with special needs. I have a staff of about 22 who are very dedicated and wonderful with our special students. This past Christmas I made them all scarves. I started in October, and used a simple design with nice yarn and it took about 2 hours per scarf. I am trying to get some ideas for what to crochet for next year. I am looking for something that may not take too long and be fairly cost efficient. I was thinking if I got started now and did one or two a month I wouldn’t be as stressed out later. Any ideas? Thank you for your help.

[Empress Busy Bee]

This is for the staff, right?

 

Hats to go with those scarfs.

 

Slippers.

 

Soap saver with a soap in it.

 

Chapstick holder with chapstick in it.

 

Bookmarks.

 

A set of dishcloths or hotpads.

 

Towel toppers, the ring kind, and a new dish towel.

 

Fridgies.

 

A set of coasters.

[losingmymind2]

If you can find wool in bulk on Ebay that's feltable, how about totes in school colors? Easy to crochet and felt.

[Gran]

I think EBB's list is good, and I would add: Christmas tree ornaments, perhaps angels, trees, crosses, stars, etc.

[crochetrae]

HOTPADS! I love to give hotpads cuz everybody seems to really use them.

Susan Rae

[zeropixie]

I made some Jazzy Java Jackets last year they were a hit. I'm a tea and chocolate drinker but still find these very useful.

[Mrs. Principal]

These are all great ideas! Thanks for your imput. Now I have to find some patterns (or maybe try making one up on my own:eek ) and look at my yarn stash.

[Empress Busy Bee]

Everything I mentioned and even the Java Jackets can be found at Crochet Pattern Central:

 

http://www.crochetpatterncentral.com/directory.php

[threeolivemartini]

i dont know if you do thread or not but snowflakes are always nice to give and to get ..

[ktornatola]

I know I've seen stuffed apples online.....they're pretty small. That might be a cute idea. Let me see if I can find the pattern

[ktornatola]

http://home.inreach.com/marthac/crochet2.html

 

Here ya go!

[lisa hudson]

Our Wal-mart has gloves on clearence. I got several packages for less that $1.00 each and plan to trim the edge with fun fir or something like that.

 

lisa

[CrochetMonkey]

If you are looking to make the same gift for both male and female teachers, maybe some nice slipper socks? I just recently made a pair of these for my husband using this pattern that I purchased online at e-patternscentral (a great site for inexpensive patterns that you can download immediately). They are a "one-size-fits-all," and they are really thick and warm. I can also honestly say that my husband really loves them. You can change the yarn color, and add a trim at the top to make them look a bit nicer. They are super easy and quick to make, so you could whip up 22 pairs of these in short time if you need to. I hope that helps.

[Mrs. Principal]

Thank you all for your help! Lots of great ideas for teachers.

[Chain3turn]

I saw a really cute idea on a knitting show yesterday. Cut off the cuffs of regular store bought cotton socks--they used tube socks-- and crochet a cuff on them.

[Empress Busy Bee]

That was Lily's show. They said to cut off the top of the sock though and then didn't talk about them anymore.

[Harvestar]

I enjoyed making the Snowflake Ornament Picture frames from the Crochet Pattern A Day Calendar for this past Christmas. I varied the pattern from the one there (the outer couple rounds) with another snowflake pattern and so it didn't take me all that long. (that's if you like thread work)

 

Then you could put a picture of them or the kids you work with or such in it.