Sara In Akko

This craft is borrowed directly from my mother. I can honestly say that I don't think she has any sort of crafty bone in her body, a statement I don't think she'd disagree with, so I can only assume that one of her crafty teacher friends lent her this go to Chaunkah gem sometime back in the 70's.

Our home was never heavy on the decorations but Chanukah did mean getting out our collection of Dreidels and these bags.

I've frequently used this project for classes of 3rd and 4th graders with much success and prepared these for a whole class of preschoolers with equally rave reviews. The key here is to paint everyone's name on their bag. It makes it individual and special.

In essence, the Dreidel Gelt Bag is quick and festive and can be completed by kids or by an adult as an afternoon activity or something to keep student's hands busy with crafting before going on holiday break.

Materials:
2 Sheets of felt squares, blue is kind of holiday-ish but I say go wild.
Glitter fabric paint or glue, any color you like
Embroidery thread and needle

Instructions:
1. Make single Dreidel template by folding felt in half. Calculate roughly half way down the open side and cut at an angle to bottom fold.

2. Next measure an inch or two from top center fold outward and cut a 2 inch vertical line, Cut from the bottom of this line straight out towards the open ends.

3. Trace onto the second piece to get two matching halves of your Driedel.

4. *Sew closed the bottom four ends.

5. Use glitter paint or glitter glue to add the Hebrew name of the recipient. Let dry.

6. Present finished bag to child filled with Chanukah goodies (Chocolate Gelt, Chanukah Crayons, etc...) and enjoy!

*Note:For a classroom activity for students to sew themselves, skip step 4 but continue to write the names of each student before presenting them with their project. I usually get the dull craft needles and pre-cut thread for each student to save time and aggravation in-class. Be ready to help younger students and often older ones who have never sewn before.


(This is my husband's Gelt bag, twice the of the kid's bags, but often worn as a hat for photos)

I've been holding on to a special skein of wool for some time now. I take it out to look longingly at it every now and then, but haven't quite put my finger on it's real purpose. It wasn't so expensive that I can't part with it but the colors are really so deep and lovely that I can't think what to do with it.

At least I couldn't until I saw a recent post by CreativeJewishMom. Why not crochet around some dollar store bangles?


Well, not these bangles I soon found out. The bendy nature of their shape makes for a wonky final product which, when translated to crochet, makes the bracelets look a bit sloppy.

But wait, don't I have some big wooden bangle that I have never used, hiding in a crafting drawer, waiting to be crocheted?


I'm happier with this round, clean looking final product. Also the large band of the bangle shows off all the colors in such a bold way that I'll be happy to pass this along as a gift. As an added bonus, the wool makes this bracelet really very warm to wear. After all, I like the idea of gifting something that is not only beautiful but practical as a multi-tasking accessory.

"Why not just wrap the yarn?" you may ask yourself as I did when I started on this project. Wouldn't the effect be the same and take less time in figuring out how to get the slipknot around that bangle. My personal answer is two-fold.

1. I like the finished look of the crochet which gives the piece an edge to the design but also...

2. If you start with a large skein you will either have to unravel and approximate how much yarn will be needed to wrap the entire surface or continually cut huge lengths to accommodate the wrapping (the ball of yarn just wouldn't fit through the hole).

Try it out as a quick project for yourself or someone else.