We’re heading into the holiday home stretch here, friends. Tonight is the midway point of Hanukkah, the winter solstice is a week from Friday and, as they say, there are just 12 shopping/cooking/crafting/making days before Christmas. The gifting season is upon us. If you’re still stumped for ideas, here are a few more things I like (I’ll have a fresh good gifting recipe up tomorrow as well).
Since first discovering them, I’ve been entirely charmed by these mugs. The one with the knit print is double walled, so that you can hold it even when its filled with steaming liquid. The one on the right is from a line called Mugtails and is available in rabbit, cat, and fawn styles in addition to the squirrel one pictured above. They’re sold by Korin.
For morning caffeination efforts, I regular turn towards two tools. A hand-cranked coffee grinder that fits onto a wide mouth mason jar (I like having to work a little for coffee) and a Teastick (fill with loose leaf tea and swish through a mug of hot water. It’s perfect for a quick cup). My particular model is currently sold out, but I hear good things about this one
I’ve long been obsessed with wooden tools and since last year, Earlywood Design has been my favorite purveyor of all things useful, handmade, and satisfyingly tactile. I particularly like their slant-edged scraper, but I’m slowly amassing a well-rounded collection of their utensils (next on my personal list of wants from Earlywood is their short server). They also have awesome customer service. One of the scrapers I bought started to split along the grain and they were happy to replace it. Many thanks to Nici of Dig This Chick for turning me on to them.
You’re all familiar with my inability to resist any mason jar accessory. Well, from the moment I saw the Mason Shaker, I knew I had to have it. I’m not a huge cocktail drinker (simply because I have a lousy tolerance for booze), but I love this shaker lid for batches of homemade lemonade. Must like the Teastick above, it appears to be sold out. However, I spotted a bunch at my local West Elm about a week ago, so check your bricks and mortar stores if you want to get one before the holidays.
Last February I visited Korin, a store in New York that specializes in fine knives and tableware and they gave me a Petty knife to use and review. I rapidly shot up my list of favorite kitchen tools. Having a knife that exists in the space between a small paring knife and a larger chef’s knife is a boon for tasks like quartering apples, cutting carrots into sticks, and opening avocados (things I do a whole heck of a lot). It would make a really great gift for a cutlery lover.
All good gift guides come with a giveaway and this one is no different. Thanks for Korin, I have the mugs pictured at the top of this post and the petty knife pictured just above to give away to one lucky winner.
Here’s how to get in on the giveaway:
- Leave a comment on this post and tell me one thing you’re hoping to get done before the new year
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- Comments will close at 11:59 pm on Saturday, December 15, 2012. Winners will be chosen at random and will be posted to the blog on Sunday.
- Giveaway open US residents only.
- One comment per person, please. Entries must be left via the comment form on the blog at the bottom of this post. I cannot accept submissions via email.
Disclosure: Korin has provided the mugs and knife for this giveaway. They did not pay for placement. All opinions remain mine.
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I want to make citrus salt for a white elephant gift at work.
I hope to finalize the guest list for my wedding.
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I need to finish the 2013 calendar I’m making, soon!
Just finished ordering my garden seeds for next year. It is nice being able to grow so much of what ends up in my jars, even in a tiny yard.
I want to finish processing the produce I have stashed and organize my jars.
A friend gave me some quinces on the first day of Hannukah. I would really like to make my first batch of quince marmalade by the end of the year.
I’m making recipe books for my sisters with all our family hits then some! I hope I finish them and get them in the mail in time!
Finish organizing my closet!
I just started knitting and I want to get started on a baby hat.
I hope to get my homemade christmas cards done (10) more to go!
And send them off BEFORE christmas!
Also another batch of garlic pickles.
For Christmas (or at least by the end of the year) I’d like to finish cleaning, organizing, and redecorating my son’s room, suitable for a five-year-old boy.
I’m hoping to clean out my basement closets. My MIL packed every childhood item of my husband’s and brought it over when we first bought our house.
I’m desperately trying to ger a friends baby blanket finished. I’m in the homestretch.
I love that knit print mug!
I need to make bourbon caramel sauce and chocolate truffle sauce before the end of the year…actually before Christmas. And I need to finish knitting a lacy scarf by then, too.
Thanks for the chance to win!
I need to clean out my storage unit before the new year.
Make blackberry-raspberry jam before this year ends!
My sister is giving birth to my second niece in the middle of January so I’m desperately hoping to have a little pink baby blanket crocheted by then. I’m about 1/3 of the way finished so I think it’s plausible but the holidays are so time consuming.
Me? I’m going to attempt (mind you: attempt) to get all Christmas packages & cards out in the mail BY Christmas Eve. Audacious request? Yes. Possible? Let’s see.
I want to have my blanket at least a quarter if the way completed. It would be awesome to be able to use it this winter can’t wait to get started.
I’m hoping to put away what needs to be put away and organize what needs to be organized.
I’ve got a bunch of homemade gifts I’m trying to finish up ASAP!
I’m hoping to get our basement cleaned!
Im hope to get done before the new year is our living room area, we are in the middle of replacing the walls, floors, and the ceiling etc. Happy Holidays everyone……
I’m going to try to make liver sausage!
Still have hopes to get 6 batches of biscotti made and packaged to go with my apple butter as Christmas presents. Finally settled on orange/cranberry/hazelnut recipe
I am trying to make my bathroom handicapped friendly for my ailing hubby
I hope to finish canning all the citrus from my front yard!
I hope I can make a batch of meyer lemon marmalade before the new year.
I have a pair of mittens I would love to get finished so I can move onto a new project over the winter break.
I’m hoping to get my cranberry wine bottled before the end of the year.
I have 3 pair of pj pants and a little girls purse to finish before Christmas.
With a kitchen renovation under way, I’m just hoping to get pots and pans in there places by 2013!
Get the curtains sewn and hung in my new kitchen. Darn full-time job keeps getting in the way of all my fun!
I have 4 outfits to finish by Christmas for my 4 amazing grandchildren!
I need to organize my sewing room.
Hope to finish ALL the baking I have Planned. THEN whew enjoy the seaso. Merry Christmas to all.
I’m planning to press oil from the pumpkin seeds I’ve been saving from this year’s pumpkin harvest…
Finish a quilt that I started too long ago.
I placed an order for seed potatoes and hope to place my seed order before the end of the year. I even did a little winter sowing. Normally, I am baking up a storm and writing out Christmas cards, but this year, the garden seems to be calling to me more.
I need to clear out and organize the closets in the house.
I’d love to finally get that “winter pile” of sewing and mending done!
I hope to start, not finish!
As always I wait til the last minute, so here is the short list:
finish making 3 shirts
knit a shawl (hopefully this will get almost done traveling 12 hours by car)
make caramel corn
make Santa Claus Cookies
make brown sugar cookies
make sugar scrubs for bath
finish shopping for gifts
and get all my end of the month work done before Christmas!
Before the new year? I need to make more jam!! My cupboard was over flowing this summer with canned goodness. So much so, that I had to box some up and stow it elsewhere in my tiny apartment. However, after making up Hanukkah and Christmas gift bags for all my lovely friends I have only 5 precious jars left! I see a lot of jam sessions in my future…and the next one I’m going to attempt is your Creamsicle recipe!
We are having some home repairs done today, so I am hoping to get everything cleaned up and back in order before the relatives come for the holidays.
apple sauce. more than once.
I hope to process the 2 cases of tangerines I have in cold storage. Also, it would be truly wonderful if I can get all the end of year paperwork cleared from my desk.
Happy Holidays.
Before the new year I’m hoping to give away all of the caramels I made this month (4 batches!). They were so easy to make and now I have three cases of half pint mason jars full of caramels to distribute!
Hunt down a gift for a couple who has EVERYTHING and is impossible to buy for. And try not to stuff myself with holiday cookies
finish a scarf!