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If it’s December, chances are Rena Nowacoski has a pair of knitting needles in her hands. This Christmas, the three children, two granddaughters and 18 nieces and nephews on her list—not to mention the dozens of coworkers and friends—will all get something that began its life on her knitting needles or sewing machine, or in her kitchen.
“It started when I was a kid. I had to make stuff for certain people, and my mother did, too, so it just became natural,” says Nowacoski. The ability to create truly unique gifts, individualized to those on her list, is one reason this Amityville crafter stays out of the malls and instead curls up on the sofa with a ball of yarn as the holidays approach—even if she was already deep into making gifts back when the approaching holiday was Halloween, not Christmas or Hanukkah.
This year she’s trying to figure out how to knit a shopping bag—three shopping bags, actually—one each for her two daughters and her daughter-in-law. “They all hate the plastic bags,” Nowacoski notes, describing them as environmentally conscious shoppers. A little linen yarn, some supersize knitting needles, and some bamboo handles later, she thinks she can make them each a reusable shopping bag they can fold up and keep in their purses. And after a few sleepless nights, those bags will be wrapped and under the tree by Christmas.
Nowacoski is just one hundreds of folks across Long Island who are busy creating gifts, rather than buying them, for a variety of reasons—some to give something meaningful, some to save money, and some to feed a recycling habit.
“The crafters I know won’t let things go to the landfill. It is hoarding as an art in and of itself—taking someone’s garbage and giving it new life or improving on its aesthetics, such as painting it, and gifting it to someone who you know will use it,” says Jamie Davis of Port Jefferson, who created the Web site LIcrafters.com six months ago to create a forum for other local crafters to congregate.
One of those 200-and-counting congregants was Joan Dreps-DeMarco, who never saw a surface she didn’t think could be improved with some imagination and a little paint. “I’ll paint anything that stands still,” this Farmingville crafter says—the walls of her house, a teacup found at a yard sale, even a pair of jeans. “My husband, I have him trained. He hands me a bottle when he’s done with it.”
If this idea of refined recycling appeals to you, we’ve gathered some ideas to get you started. And don’t worry if time is tight in the now-short days until Christmas and Hanukkah. “It is acceptable not to complete the present,” Nowacoski says. “I have certainly spent many a night working instead of sleeping, but then I learned people are forgiving if you didn’t get it done.”
Small
Hands, Big Gifts
Many
of today’s crafty gifters got their start as children. Often short on money,
but long on imagination, kids can always find ways to turn just about anything
they find into something worthy of some (recycled) wrapping paper and a bow.
They just need to be given the opportunity, says Laura C. Martin, the author of
several books loaded with ideas for children’s art projects.
“There’s such a great need for inspiring kids to use their creativity. It’s a matter of pushing everything else they have to do aside,” she says. And even those parents who haven’t quite found their inner artist can help their kids find theirs, Martin says. But to make the project go smoothly, she has some suggestions, starting with safety precautions. Make sure any found items are clean, Martin says. “When using recycled materials, you don’t always know where it’s been.”
Martin also cautions parents to have their kids start small. “If you really want this to go smoothly and capture their attention, start simple,” she advises. She suggests a beanbag made out of an old sock and tied off with some yarn as a simple first project. Or turn a plastic takeout container into a planter filled with a miniature garden. That makes a great gift, she says, but “as far as I’m concerned, the product is the least. You want to nurture creativity.”
If kids are worried that their homemade gifts might not stack up under the tree, Martin suggests they look to nature for their raw materials. “Natural things are so beautiful inherently. You can stick them together, and you’re going to have something beautiful. Start with something pretty . . . it’s going to be fine.”
Strength in Numbers
Crafting together
is a social event with a cause.
Four sets of hands might seem like a lot in a tiny Astoria apartment kitchen, but when Rena Nowacoski scheduled a family holiday baking marathon last year, her daughter’s apartment was the place to do it. “The grocery store was around the corner,” she says.
It was the first time the family turned the holiday baking into a team sport, and she says it worked great. “The guys chopped the nuts. There were enough people to watch that something didn’t burn.” The only problem? “You have too many samplers,” she says.
Nibblers aside, getting together with a group can be a great way to find the inspiration to get those holiday projects done, say many who make their own gifts. Nowacoski belongs to both online and in-person crafting groups. “I think it’s crucial. You need the encouragement and [people] to bounce ideas off of—and to steal their ideas.”
Joan Dreps-DeMarco, who teaches painting on Long Island, says any time she gets a group together to work she makes sure to get the supplies assembled ahead of time on a big table everyone can work around comfortably. Jazz plays softly in the background, and “we sit around one table and we talk about Britney Spears losing custody of her kids or whatever the topic of the day is,” she says.
Don’t want to host a session in your own home? You can also find convivial crafters at libraries, craft supply stores, and online at LIcrafters.com to urge you through December. And if you get bit with the crafting bug, we bet you’ll be back for January meetings, too.
Help
for Shopaholics
OK, so not everyone is the
crafty sort. If you still think it’s easier to shop for a gift rather than make
one, check out the Natural Resources Defense Council’s annual Great Green
Gift-Giving Guide, which is full of eco-friendly gift suggestions.
How about a backyard bat house for Aunt Betty? Or a year-long national parks pass for grandma? Stuff stockings with some compact florescent lightbulbs.
These ideas and more can be found at nrdc.org/giftguide
- Rag Coasters
- This idea from Martin’s book, Recycled Crafts Box (Storey Kids, 2003), is for more experienced hands, and is a great use for worn-out clothes.
- Equipment and materials
- Old fabric
- Fabric scissors
- Ruler or tape measure
- Needle and thread
- A few twist ties
Directions
Cut the fabric into strips about three inches wide and 24 inches long (longer strips will be harder to work with). If your fabric is stiff, like denim, cut the strips a little thinner.
Tightly tie three strips together at one end, leaving a short tail. Braid the strips until you are nearly at the end. Wrap a twist tie around the bottom of the braid to hold it.
Thread a needle so you have a double strand and sew a new strip to each of the old ones with two or three stitches.
Keep braiding, removing the twist ties as you go, until you have a 25-inch-long braid. Wrap a twist tie around the loose end to hold it.
Trim the tails above the knotted end, and begin to make a coil with the knot in the center. Stitch the rows together as you go by poking the needle up from the bottom through the edge of the inner coil and catching the edge of the next coil.
Continue coiling and stitching until you reach the twist tie. When you reach the end of the braid, remove the tie and trim the ends of the three strips to different lengths.
Continue braiding the strips as far as you can, and then twist the trailing ends so that the coil becomes skinnier and skinnier. Tuck the end between the coils and securely stitch it in place.
Log Bird Feeder
This unique bird feeder idea from Recycle! by Moira and Nicholas Hankinson (Kyle Cathie Limited, 2006) is a great use for a piece of found driftwood.
Equipment and materials:
- Wooden log
- Electric drill and 1 1/2-inch bit
- 1-inch wood chisel
- Three 1 1/2-inch galvanized screw eyes
- Lightweight chain
- Three small key rings or snap hooks
- One large key ring or snap hook
- Empty metal tea light candle bases
- Melted suet or fat
- Birdseed
Directions:
Place the log on a flat surface and drill several holes in the top surface to make a depth of approximately 1 1/2 inches with the electric drill and the 1 1/2-inch bit.
Remove the cores of cut wood from the drilled holes with a chisel and scrape the base of the holes level. Screw the three galvanized screw eyes into the extremities of the log to provide secure anchorage points for the hanging chain. Cut the chain (salvaged if possible) into three equal lengths, join one end of each to each of the screw eyes with a small key ring or snap hook and then join the remaining ends with a larger key ring or snap hook.
Place an empty tea light candle base into each drilled hole in the top surface of the log and fill with a mixture of melted fat and birdseed. Hang by large ring and refill as needed.
