Valentine Hearts - Free Pattern

If you fancy knitting a heart for someone you love, then I thought I would remind you of my Free Heart Pattern on ravelry. Ok it is called Christmas Love Heart, but it would suit Valentine's Day too. Here are a few hearts which you may have seen before.
 

The pattern has instructions for three sizes of heart, and as well as my Fair Isle charts there are also blank charts so you can work out your own Fair Isle design. Or if embroidery is more your thing, then there are some photo tutorials in Embroidery Corner in my righthand sidebar to remind you of the stitches you could use.

There is still time to make a few hearts.

Love Heart Phone Cosies

One last batch of iphone/phone cosies, and then I am definitely moving on. I decided to have a go at something a bit more graphic with simple colours, that I hope might appeal to teenagers. So these are the Love Heart Cosies. The colours really are this bright.

The embroidered hearts are made up of lots of hand-embroidered french knots. It is fun slowly building up the knotty area, and the padding of the knots give a bit of extra protection to the phone or iphone. I have found them really quite hard to photograph, but hope you can tell how thick and luscious the hearts are.

The top of the cosy is so stretchy it is really easy to get your iphone in and out, but tight enough so it won't fall out. If you want to make your own my pattern is still available free on ravelry, and my tutorial on french knots is in my right sidebar.

These are really aimed at my forthcoming craft fairs, but I may put a few in my Etsy shop. I am toying with the idea of something for the boys. Perhaps an embroidered skull made up of knots, as there do seem a lot of skulls around. Can't quite decide, as time is running out, and also my son insists that no self-respecting boy would want any sort of knitted cosy for his phone. He's probably right!

Christmas Hearts and A Winner

Getting ready for Christmas fairs, I have been making some decorations from my own Christmas Heart pattern. I decided to go a bit less traditional, and used my lovely sparkly blue wool, which you may have seen before on this blog.
 

This simple pattern is in my ravelry and Craftsy shops for free, and has instructions for three different sizes of ornament. 

I love embroidering snowflakes on the hearts with wool, but you could let your imagination go wild. There are some embroidery tips in my righthand sidebar. You could also add buttons or beads.  

But my top tip for making tree decorations is to always make the loop twice as long as you think. There is nothing more frustrating than struggling to hang your decoration because you have sewn on a tiny loop.

A few of these decorations are for sale in my Etsy Shop. There are two types of snowflake, but can't quite decide how to distinguish them by name. Spikey and Knotty?

Unusual Uses for Knitting Needles
 
Announcing the winner in my Unusual Uses Competition. After a bit of debate my children decided that the most amusing use was from Mari of MariReads who said:

"Let's see, my 2 year old finds lots of crazy uses for my needles...drumsticks, cat torture device. The hubby has used one for detangling the brush on our Roomba. Yuck."

So a spiral shell is hopefully mid-Atlantic on its way to her!

Thank you do everyone who left a comment. We enjoyed reading them all.

A Bit More Christmas Love

I'm still knitting away at my Little Christmas Love Hearts, and have put the instructions on how to make them on ravelry for free. I'll put a link in my sidebar tonight. Making them is a bit compulsive, as the knitting does not take very long, but the fun is in deciding how to decorate them.

I love doing a little bit of embroidery, but it is also quite fun making them Fair Isle. I've put some blank Fair Isle charts at the end of the pattern, as I definitely have not explored all the options.

And finally the sun came out this afternoon, so I pottered around in my back garden, hanging up the decorations, and photographing them. I do think my neighbours might think I'm a bit nuts.

Christmas Love

I've been knitting away like mad all week, as I have finally booked two Christmas Craft Fairs (one in a school and one in a library), and now am worried I don't have enough to sell. Not very pleased with these photos, but the light was fading.

I have found it really hard to find fairs that aren't exorbitantly expensive. I have only done a couple of fairs last year, but if the table is £35 (or more!) I have to sell an awful lot of little knits before I've made anything. Would love to know what other crafters pay for a table at a fair? Is it impolite to talk about money? (I think perhaps the best idea would be to get together with some like-minded crafters and organize it ourselves.)
 

So I've been beavering away at these little hearts, and will probably put the pattern on ravelry as a freebie. Very quick to knit, but the fun is deciding how to decorate them.