I am in the midst of gift knitting. This month I have Mother’s Day, three graduations, two birthdays and an anniversary for which to come up with gifts. And it is the beginning of wedding season. Frankly, my brain is starting to hurt from scrounging for ideas. It is particularly hard to find gifts on a limited budget. Though truthfully, I would still have problems coming up with ideas with Donald Trump picking up the tab since I am not much of a shopper and suffer from acute lack of imagination.

I find that I have trouble selecting gifts for people who:

1. I don’t know extremely well (which describes everyone who is not my kid).
2. Those who have few needs or wants (in other words, they already own one of EVERYTHING and two of most things)
3. Those who have significantly different tastes than me (which may include everyone on the planet who is not me)
4. And those who are rather picky (you know who you are).

Did I leave anyone out?

Sadly, both my mother and my mother-in-law fall into many of these categories. I will leave it to you to decide which ones. Normally, I do a decent job a picking gifts that my children will like. This is not the case with anyone else on the planet. I especially stink with Mother’s Day because there is the perception that your gift is in some way a reflection on what you think of the recipient’s performance as a parent. The pressure!

I am hoping this year will be different and the mothers in my life will actually like their presents. I designed AND hand knit their gifts. Surely, that will say “You are the best mother on the planet and I love you very, very, very, very much.” Wishful thinking? Probably. But at least, I made the attempt.

In case you are having difficulty finding a gift too, I thought I would share the pattern with you. The design was inspired by the pink shawl that I knit for Ms. Emerald. As I was knitting the back lace panel, I realized that it would look really nice knit in cotton which starting me thinking of wash cloths which made me think of towels which made me think of those nice bath sets. You know the frilly, outrageously priced kind that you use in your guest bathroom.

Here is my interpretation of guest bathroom linens – Emerald’s Lace.

I didn’t do a very good job blocking that washcloth. Mental note: reblock that cloth before you give it to your mother!

Here is what the set would look like on your towel bar. Or porch swing if you prefer to display it as shown.

Here is what it would look like from the back side so you know what the wall will be seeing when it is hanging on your towel bar.

Here is one more shot with two washcloths just to insure that there are entirely too many photos in this post.

The white set will be for my mother-in-law whose bathroom is white and blue and the ecru set for my mother whose bathroom is beige and plum. I haven’t knitted the coordinating cloths for the sets yet. Well, actually some are finished but not blocked but that is another story. The pattern is available on my website on the Hands of Service page or by clicking the link on my sidebar or my Ravelry designers page.

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Project Details
Pattern: Emerald’s Lace Bath Set by me
Yarn: Peaches and Creme white and ecru
Needle: Size 8 (5.0mm)