Make Gifts for Knitters in Your Life!
Knitters are always creative -- but when it comes to gifts for knitters, how can you channel that creative impulse?
It can get tricky to find gifts for knitters. You want to be creative, but you don't want to give them a handknit scarf they could just as easily make themselves. Of course, there's a certain amount of appeal in giving a knitted gift to a knitter -- at least you know they'll appreciate the time and effort that went into it -- but sometimes we want to get a little more creative than that.
Fortunately, I've found this very simple, interesting craft that lets you make a set of personalized knitting needles for the knitters in your life. As gifts for knitters go, who could top a pair of special needles made just for them? And better still, this craft is inexpensive, easy, and fun. You can make it with the youngest children or the most elderly residents, and you'll have fun throwing it together on your own, too.
Ready, set, CRAFT!
What you'll need:
-Wooden chopsticks
-Clay for bead making (available at any craft store)
-Strong glue
-Sandpaper
-Acrylic paint
Carefully sand the chopsticks until they're smooth and easy to handle. Pay special attention to the tips, which should be rounded, not pointy. If you've never made gifts for knitters and you're not a knitter yourself, take a look at knitting needles in a local craft shop to get an idea of what the tips should look like.
If you want to leave the wood as it is, that's fine. Otherwise, you can paint the chopsticks with acrylic paint. If you've sanded off the finish, the paint will stick to the wood perfectly.
Now use the clay to create shapes for the top of the needles. You can stick to simple baubles or get really creative, crafting balls of yarn or people's names. Press the flat end of the chopstick into the shapes to create a hole, then bake the clay according to the package directions. The result should be a hard shape that fits perfectly on the edge of your "needles."
Use the acrylic paint to decorate your shapes, then glue them onto the edges of the chopsticks. And that's all there is to creating beautifully personalized knitting needles -- the perfect gifts for knitters young and old!