Craft Quickie Thursday - Knit Gift Card Holder

In continuing with our (unintentional) gift packaging theme this week, I started thinking about another way to use up those small amounts of yarn us knitters have lying around - make a gift card holder.

Here's what you will need:
Yarn
Knitting Needles
Approx. 1 yd of ribbon or yarn
Embroidery Needle

Start by knitting a rectangle to approximately 4"x8" in a pattern of your choosing (purl, knit, rib, etc). Once finished, lay your knitted piece flat and fold the bottom edge up approximately 2". Find the center point of the ribbon (I used silk cord) and place that inside the folded piece, centered inside the fold at the bottom so that the ribbon sticks out of both sides. Thread an embroidery needle with your ribbon on one side and stitch a few times up that side, ending with your ribbon on the back of your piece. Repeat stitching on the other side, also ending with your ribbon on the backside.

Insert your gift card, fold the top over, bring your ribbon around to the front and tie a bow.

The best part is that in using up your left over yarn, so it's not costing anything!

I-Cord Ribbon

I was recently introduced to ravelry.com. I love to be organized, and for me, that is the great thing about this site. It has forced me to sit down, pull out my yarn and see what I actually have hiding in my stash. It has also inspired me to try and use up some of that left over yarn.

In my family, January is one of our big birthday months. I thought, what better than to use yarn as a decorative element on a package. Instead of just using it as is in place of ribbon, try making an i-cord (you can see directions here - scroll down that page to see the how-to video).

It's very easy to do. You'll need some yarn and double point knitting needles. The yarn I used is Berroco Comfort Nylon - 9743 Goldenrod and my needles are a US4. I cast on 3 stitches and continued knitting until the piece measured approximately 30 inches. One nice thing about an i-cord is that it has some stretch to it, which made it perfect for tying a bow.