My local bead shop, Bead Time, had a sale a few weeks ago. (I'm in there quite a lot, as they sell ribbons and cord, and all sorts of other useful things. It is very hard though not to come out with a few beads as well.)
As many beads as you could fit in a small plastic bag for £1. Never one to miss a bargain, so I picked and crammed in beads. So above you see my £2 worth of beads. It may be hard to tell from my photo, but these are really beautiful beads, lots of them made of glass. I sort of wish I had gone back and bought some more ...
So here are some of my beading projects. I've made the necklaces threaded on elastic thread, and they are both for my Mum. I thought it would be easier for her than fiddly fastenings. And I've still got stacks of beads left for some more projects ...
I would call this Christmas Tree decoration a bit of a stash buster. It basically has worked in every wool I have tried so far.
As you can see I love knitting them. I think they would look nice on a tree, but could also work as a decoration for a table or mantlepiece.
The basic design was hubby's idea. (He has just told me that he doesn't like me calling him hubby on my blog, so I'm trying to think of a new way of referring to him. I suggested "technical support" and he said "head of the household", so we have yet to agree.)
Anyway, I was knitting flat tree shapes on our holiday, and he suggested making the more interesting 3-D design. All my examples have 4 pieces sewn together, but I think it would also work with 3 if you want a bit less knitting, or more than 4 if you are ambitious and want a much for spikier tree.
We had to go to the local park to take most of these photos, as I don't have many Christmassy backdrops in my garden. My children were dreadfully embarrassed about me hanging the decorations on bushes, and prancing around with my camera.
The pattern is for sale on Ravelry, and as with all my patterns I give permission for you to sell what you make on a small scale at craft fairs, so long as you credit me as designer. I think that is fair if you have purchased the pattern. Not quite sure what the definition of small scale is, but I guess it means no sweat shops or small industrial units.
I am also selling a very few of these original Little Trees in my Etsy Shop. Was filled with enthusiasm because I have sold my first pattern through Etsy, so I decided to expand my shop a little.
The pattern contains all the knitting instructions and how to make up. It points you to my blog for extra advice on the decoration with embroidery, as it impossible to get all the embroidery photos into the pattern without the file getting too big. My embroidery corner on my blog is a permanent fixture, which I plan to add to in due course. I love embroidery on wool, but I think the tree also looks lovely plain if embroidery is not your thing. Different textured and coloured wools might also be interesting.
I have another rather unusual Christmas decoration in the pipeline, so watch this space.
I have been working all week on a new knitting pattern, Little Minnows.
It is a really simple little pattern, but I am happy with the way it has turned out, as it gives the knitter options, and all the choices are included in the one pattern.
First of all 4ply or doubleknit. The pattern works well in both.
There is the beaded fish. The beads are not sewn on, but incorporated into the knitting.
Then there is the Minnow with Bobbles. I thought this would be a fun way to make the scales if you didn't have any beads handy. But even with this version you can decide whether to do it in one colour or two, for which the patterns are slightly different.
Then there is the decision of whether to use a separate colour for the tail and fins, or even whether to knit the top and bottom fins at all.
A minnow does have fins, but I knitted a few without as I thought they also looked nice. Hubby says those ones are not minnows, but anchovies, but I think he is just thinking with his stomach.
So not a good pattern if you find decision-making difficult. It might put you in a spin trying to decide.
Thank you to my virtual friends for all the kind comments on my starfish and scallop shell last week.
