Tag: Christmas

Birds and Bees…

Birds and Bees

We haven’t got enough space to put up our Christmas tree this year, so I wanted to try and make the house look a little bit festive with some other decorations. I’ve been coveting these tiny sparkly birds ever since I first spotted them, so I decided that a Christmas wreath was as good an excuse as any to go out and buy a set.

These are the ingredients:

The birds and bees are all on little clips, so it was just a question of positioning them on the wreath and speading them out neatly. Easy peasy, took about ten minutes, and required absolutely no crafty or artistic skills at all!

Once I’d added up all the bits, £21.98 seemed like a lot of money for what looks like a few twigs with some chocolate wrappers chucked at them. But it looks very sweet (no pun intended), and I can put it away safely in a box at the end of the season to be used in future years.

Actually, as it doesn’t really look all that Christmassy, I might just relocate it to the Shed and leave it up all the time. It feels like better value for money if I can look at it every day, rather than just for one twelfth of the year!

Milly’s Monkey Hat

Now that we’re into the New Year, I think it’s safe to reveal some of the things I made as Christmas gifts.

I don’t have photos of all the knitting because I wrapped and posted it as soon as it was finished. But I made a pair of socks and a pair of wristbands and a cowl and a pair of fingerless gloves. And a hat and mittens.

I do have a picture of Milly’s Monkey Hat and Matching Mittens:

Milly's Monkey Hat and Mittens

The pattern was one of Ann Budd’s basic hats, and I made up the ears as I was going along. The mittens are from a Ravelry pattern by Anke Klempner, designed for newborns. The pattern calls for 3.5mm needles, so I used 4mm to make the mittens slightly larger. I managed to get the hat and mittens out of one 50g ball of Sirdar Snuggly, and I used the leftovers to make the mitten string. The cream parts on the monkey’s face and ears are made from fleece, blanket stitched into place, and the eyes, nose and mouth are simply embroidered on.

I made the string for the mittens on my knitting nancy, and I think it’s probably long enough to last Milly until she’s at least eight. I was a bit worried that the hat would be too small, but it seems to be okay:

Milly's Monkey Hat

The ears do make it ridiculously easy for Milly to grab the hat and chuck it across the room, but apparently that happens to all hats at the moment – and she was far more interested in the crinkly wrapping paper anyway!

This is what I’ve been up to:

I hope this doesn’t spoil a surprise for anybody whose gift hasn’t arrived in the post yet, but this is why I’ve been a little bit busy and stressed out over the past few weeks.

There’s only one item missing from the photo call, and that’s a hat that I knitted for Paul, mostly in the middle of the night. I ended up resorting to knitting it inside a carrier bag, when he arrived home earlier than I’d expected from his work leaving do! (Thankfully he was slightly drunk and far too tired to wonder what on earth I was doing.)

Most of these are gifts that I gave, but a few were things that I made to be given as gifts by other people.

Oh, and I did finish Bryan’s second sock, but I forgot to take a picture of the pair before I wrapped them up!

Black and white skull & crossbones slippersYellow Flea Market Fancy slippers
Red Katie Jump Rope slippersPink leopard slippers
Pink leopard slippersCoral slippers
Sock Monkey Medicine slippersBryan's Slippers
Dad's slippersMum's slippers
Stef's beaded wrap jacketPaul's eco-hoody
Thelwell tote bagMore skull slippers...
Flower Arranging ApronJo's hat & scarf
Slither glovesA sock and an ex-sock.

Frantic Displacement Activity.

I’m almost there with the Christmas gift sewing! Just a few pieces to finish off by hand in front of the television, and then I’ll be done.

Oh, and one complete garment to make from scratch.

I’m not sure why, instead of making that garment, I decided to make a little something for myself. Call it frantic displacement activity.

Reindeer cowl jersey top

This draped top is half of Butterick 4920, another from my collection of patterns I’ve been hoarding for so long that they’ve been discontinued!

The pattern is actually for a tunic or dress, with an elasticated dropped waist. I didn’t have enough fabric to make the whole thing, so I simply left off the skirt part and just made the top.

The front and back are grey cotton lycra, which I’d previously coloured using Dylon Antique Grey washing machine dye. It was white, but there was a dirty mark which wouldn’t come out. Thankfully the dye has covered that nicely.

The sleeves and inside front are made from a very lightweight cotton jersey. I bought this cute little reindeer print several years ago, but couldn’t find just the right pattern for it. I was shuffling some fabrics around this afternoon, and just happened to drop these two in a pile together. Aha!

Grey jersey, grey reindeer, red overlocked hems to match their little noses. Perfect.

I’ll be wearing this on Christmas day, with a pair of floppy white trousers. Very festive!

Tree’s up!

Christmas Tree 2008 Christmas Tree 2008
Christmas Tree 2008 Christmas Tree 2008

We have enough decorations for two trees, so we take it in turns. Last year we used Paul’s red and gold decorations, so this year it’s the turn of the pink and silver.

The pink baubles with the painted flowers used to belong to my Grandma.