I absolutely love making handmade gifts.
Every handmade gift feels like a small love letter. It says, “I was thinking about you while I made this.”
Over the years, I’ve also learned that not every handmade gift is worth making.
Some projects are so ambitious that they become stressful instead of joyful. Others take so long that the holidays arrive before I even finish them.
These days, I find myself coming back to the same kinds of gifts again and again: projects that are beautiful, satisfying to make, and easy to personalize.
Garlands are at the very top of that list.
I love them because they’re incredibly flexible. You can make them in traditional holiday colors, soft neutrals, metallics, or bright modern palettes. You can hang them on a tree, drape them across a mantel, decorate a window, or even wrap one around a beautifully wrapped gift as part of the presentation.
They also become part of your holiday traditions. Every year, when you pull them out of the box, you’ll remember making them.
My favorite holiday projects include the two beautiful snowflake patterns I’ve curated below, along with two handmade gifts I find myself making again and again for the people I love.
All my love,
Vanessa
1. Jewelled Snowflake
Delicate and timeless, this snowflake by Caron has a vintage feel that reminds me of heirloom ornaments passed down through generations. I love making several in different colors and stringing them together into a garland, but they also make beautiful individual ornaments tied onto gifts or hung in a window where the light can shine through them.
2. Sun Star Snowflake
This one by Renata Saj feels a little more modern, with its beautiful geometric shape and clean lines. It’s incredibly satisfying to crochet, and I love mixing it with the Jewelled Snowflake so the garland feels collected rather than perfectly matched. A few of these, strung together with wooden beads or velvet ribbon, make a decoration you’ll look forward to bringing out every holiday season.
I love mixing a few different snowflake designs together so the garland feels collected over time instead of perfectly matched. Add wooden beads, bells, ribbon, or simply string them together with twine, and you have a decoration you’ll look forward to unpacking every year.
If I’m making a gift for someone I really love, there are two projects I come back to again and again:
3. The Granny Square Coaster Set
A granny square is made up of four rounds of simple stitches that build into a tidy, textured square. Once you get the rhythm down, you can stop at four rounds for a coaster, which is exactly what we are doing here. Make a few, stack them, wrap them with a ribbon, and you have a perfect little gift!
What you will need:
A size H or I crochet hook
One skein of worsted-weight cotton yarn (cotton holds up best for coasters), plus a second color if you want to mix it up
Scissors
A yarn needle for weaving in ends
Stitches used: chain (ch), slip stitch (sl st), double crochet (dc), and the granny cluster, which is just three double crochets worked into the same space.
Round 1 Chain 4 and join with a slip stitch to form a ring. Chain 3 (this counts as your first double crochet), then work two more double crochets into the ring. Chain 2. Repeat this pattern of three double crochets and a chain 2 three more times, so you have four clusters total. Join to the top of your starting chain 3 with a slip stitch.
Round 2 Slip stitch into the next chain 2 space. Chain 3, then work two double crochets, a chain 2, and three more double crochets all into that same space. This is your corner. Chain 1, then move to the next chain 2 space and repeat the corner. Do this in all four corners, then join with a slip stitch.
Round 3 Same idea, but now you will also work a granny cluster (three double crochets) into each chain 1 space along the sides, not just the corners. Corners still get three double crochets, chain 2, three double crochets. Join when you reach the start.
Round 4 Repeat Round 3’s pattern once more, working clusters into every chain space along the sides and full corners into the chain 2 spaces. Join, then fasten off and weave in your ends with the yarn needle.
4. The Lucy Shawl
The Lucy Shawl began after a trip to Venice, where I wandered into a tiny yarn shop and discovered the most beautiful Loro Piana cashmere paired with a cashmere silk yarn. I brought a few skeins home, started experimenting, and eventually created the shawl that so many of you have made over the past year.
When my mom saw it, she immediately fell in love with it, so I gave it to her. It quickly became her favorite thing to wear, which is why I named it The Lucy Shawl after her.
Since then, I’ve made it in so many different yarns, colors, and fibers, and I still think it’s one of the most meaningful gifts you can make. It’s elegant, incredibly soft, and light enough to wear year-round. It’s one of those pieces that works just as well thrown over a sweater on a chilly morning as it does dressed up for dinner.
If you’re looking for a handmade gift that someone will treasure for years, this is always my recommendation. You can find the pattern here:
