Holiday Crafting

I cannot believe the cuteness. I keep carrying this little sweater around with me so I can look at it (candy cane included for scale). This is the Sweater Mini from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I'm working on the Stocking Mini too, so I'll show a pic of that later on. The sweater is knit on size 2 Brittany Birch needles, with Koigu and Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn leftovers. It took me about two hours, with all the ends to deal with (I knotted and tied them. I'm a cheater). The next one will be a one-color, made from self-striping yarn.

I was googling around to see if I could find any other people's pics of these projects and discovered that there is also a book called Last Minute Fabric Gifts.

The reviews are Good and Bad. I think I'll take Greed's advice and give it a thumb-through at the book store. I enjoy some fiber-y eye candy, but if it's too basic I might not like it.

I am having a *Crafty Crisis of Conscience*. I like to make things. However, I am trying to reduce the number of things in my life. The obvious answer seems to be to give things away. However, many others do not appreciate or need these things either. I don't want to be making crafty crap like crocheted toilet roll covers, or embroidered toilet paper, etc. I want to make things that are useful. Maybe it's time to start making more projects for charities. . .

Any thoughts? How do you deal with your urge to create? Do you limit the type of projects, or the amount? How do you draw the line between tacky junk and lovely handcrafted?