Christmas Crafts...Crochet Panda and Crochet Hook Roll...

I can't believe it's taken me this long to finish making my mums Christmas presents!  For shame!  It was the Panda's fault, I couldn't make him how I wanted him to look, so I gave up in the end and we'll have to live with a funny looking panda.  You might think a crochet panda is a strange gift for a mother, but she actually wanted one to go in her new car which is a Fiat Panda.  The panda pattern came from the 'Ultimate Crochet Handbook'.  I love the rest of the book but the pattern for the bear turns out a lot bigger than the one in the  picture, which is disappointing :( I only wanted to make a small one!  I actually didn't do as many rounds for the head and body as they recommend and he still turned out giant!  This is the first amigurumi I've made so I didn't really know how to make it better and our computer helpfully crashed so I couldn't turn to the internet for help!  Oh, well...it's part of his charm.  His name is Fred.

I also made her a crochet hook roll, from vintage fabric and armpit ribbon (you know, that lovely free ribbon comes in the armpits of tops!)  I really like it and it was easy to make too!   I googled a couple of tutorials and then made up my own...