Still November

Though the consumer Christmas season official begins today, this year, like last year (I, II, III), I am hoping that Nathanael and I will be able to make most of the gifts that we give to our family members. So, all logic would say that our creating season should have begun much earlier than one month before Christmas. And you know, I think I did begin thinking intently about what I wanted to make some time in July or August, but then we moved and vwoop! there went fall. This is not to say that I have not been making anything, but just that I am rather distractible and end up making things for household use, for new babies, or as gifts just because I like people.
    As it stands, Nathanael has completed one amazing gift for one of his brothers, and I have completed four projects which sounded like better ideas before I made them, but don't strike me as gifts for anyone in particular. But you know, it's still November. There are still 28 days to create things for our 14 family members.
I like a challenge.
I am not really short on time or fabric; the main problem is ideas. I never think that it is hard to sew things for guys until Christmas time, and then I realize that 10 of our 14 family members are guys. So do you readers have any ideas you've stumbled across that would make a neat ( and useful!) sewn or simply knitted gift for a guy? Have you seen any handmade items on a blog or on etsy that you think would be neat for a brother, father, friend or yourself?
 I can't show you what I have already made for Christmas presents, but I can show you a couple of the handmade gifts I gave during the past year just for fun.

The first one is a painting I did for the one and a half year old boy I nanny-ed from Feb-Aug this year. I spent two days a week with him, and one of those days was garbage collection day. We did a lot of things together, painting, snacking, playing in the park, splashing in the pool; but the highlight of his week was seeing the garbage truck. No matter where he was, even in the basement, he would hear the creaking of the truck as it entered the development and get very excited. We always ran outside (even when covered in paint) to wave to the garbage man and watch him empty all of the bins with the giant mechanical arm of the truck. Since Nathanael and I were moving at the end of the summer, I made this painting in acrylics to hang in my little friend's room. 

  
A bit more recently one of Nathanael's brothers, who has a fine collection of friendship bracelets, asked me to make a friendship bracelet for him. I had been telling him about an amazing bracelet one of my friends made me before I went to college, and how it reminded me of fractals. After much searching, I came across a pattern for something like the one my friend gave me, and though it is still not quite as amazing, I was pretty happy with how it came out and how simple it was to make.

 One funny thing is that I ordered the supplies for the bracelet online to save money. Thinking I may want to make more eventually, and that I would have other uses for embroidery floss, I ordered a pack of 105 skeins on Amazon. Unfortunately, when it arrived I realized that I had not been observant enough and they had actually sold me craft floss. It is a fine material for bracelets, but does not work for embroidery. Then two weeks later, they sent me the same product again and the company does not answer the phones at their service center. So now I have 210 skeins of craft floss, and so far I have made one bracelet...but I will think of a way to use it all yet.