gift knitting

I probably don't gift knit, or even gift sew for that matter, as much as I'd like to. I try to knit the smaller members of the family something for Christmas, and hopefully their birthdays as well. But that doesn't always happen, and this Christmas just gone it was only the wee girls who got something.

I'd like to change that this year. And I guess that all falls under the umbrella of being more organised. It means calenderising birthdays and thinking about them a month out, not a couple of days. Thinking about how I can incorporate the gift knits into my business knitting regime.

The first birthday of the year for our extended family has already been and gone, but there was no knit I have to admit. I DID think about the required knit in December sometime but then I was too busy wading through the Christmas knitting. Shall I get to it? We'll see! But there are two more birthdays to knit for in February!

One gift that I did manage to knit last year in a very organised fashion was this shawl for Lily's teacher.
I even had it finished with plenty of time to spare!

The pattern is Ishbel by Ysolda Teague.
I knit it out of some Patons Patonyle that Lily and I hand-dyed a number of years ago. It has been sitting in my stash earmarked to become some socks for me. The reality is that I often don't have find the time to knit myself socks. The colour was just perfect for Lily's teacher, she has lovely reddish hair and she wears this colour a lot and it looks awesome on her. It was fated really!

I've made Ishbel twice before and it is a super quick knit. This really only took three days to knit. I love how the stocking stitch flows so nicely into the lace sections. The stocking stitch makes it nice and quick but as it's only a small shawl and a small section of stocking stitch, you don't get too bored.

It's a lovely pleasant and easy knit. No wonder there are nearly 12 000 Ishbel projects on Ravelry!

Are you a gift knitter?
How do you keep up with your gifting?
Or do you resort to gifting a ball of yarn or an IOU on occasions?

Or are you more of a knit for yourself type?
January is supposed to be the month for selfish knits. I'm trying to get there. I'm on my second project for the year, and it's a gift. A Christmas IOU actually, but I have good intentions of a selfish knit for me next!

Ravelled here.