Keyrings for Christmas

Although I am not doing any craft fairs this year (huge way to reduce stress in the run up to Christmas) I did think I should add a bit of stock to my Etsy shop. You may have already seen my caravan keyrings, which have been popular, but I thought that handknitted car keyrings would be even better. After all more people own a car than a caravan.

And if perhaps you drive a bus, you also need somewhere handy to put the keys for that!

So these keyrings are for sale in my Etsy shop. I also offer to personalise them by adding an embroidered name to the felt back. Or if you fancy making your own keyring then the pattern is available in all the usual places. It includes the instructions for all three keyrings that you see here: caravan, car and bus. They are a great way to use up those oddments of wool that you have left over.

Lavender and Crochet Bunting

That time of year has come again when lavender has been picked. I had a tiny amount from my own garden, but this was added to by the lavender from the communal gardens of the sheltered flats where my mum lives. As no one else seemed to want it she claimed the whole lot.

Both these sets of bag were made from old blouse material. The bird blouse was a favourite, although I think I prefer the traditional little pink bags.  I will explain below the reason for the rather curiously shape triangular bags.

You may have been wondering if I was going to continue with my Crochet Diary. It has been a few weeks since I did any crochet. So much crafting to do, and so little time.

I was shopping with my daughter when we saw some lovely bunting, with was made of little triangular lavender bags. It was quite expensive, and as I knew I had quite a lot of lavender this year, said I would have a go at making one. So that is the reason for the bags being triangles. The extra bags were just the ones we had left over.

But to add a bit more colour I decided to alternate with some crochet granny triangles. Not the granny squares on my to do list, I know, but I think I am confident enough now to go on to some squares.
 

The garden fence was not the final display place, and the bunting is now in my daughter's bedroom. It just never seems light enough these days to get a good photo indoors.

Crochet Diary One - First Steps

Crochet Diary Two - Teddy Puppet

Crochet Diary Three - Country Flowers 
Crochet Diary Four - Bowl or Hat?

Red Fox

I'm a bit short of woolly stuff this week, so thought you might like to see my daughter's latest make from school art club. Isn't he cute? He is just made from paper and masking tape, with acrylic paint. He sits on my sewing table, and might be giving me idea for a new knit. I'm not sure you would even call him paper mache, as he is just really scrunched up paper and a lot of tape.
 

He reminds me of Pablo the Red Fox, which was a beautiful children's animation I used to watch with my son when he was little. Does anyone remember it? It was based on a book by Hannah Giffard Red Fox. I bought a secondhand copy of this from the discard shelf in our library, which despite being very tatty, I keep. The illustrations are so simple and beautiful.

Other news that is that I decided to reopen my Folksy Shop. I very briefly had a shop on Folksy a few years ago, which hardly got looked at and sold nothing so I just didn't renew any of the listings. 

But Folksy have a special offer this weekend, that you can list 20 items free of charge, so I thought I would give it another try. I have put my 20 best selling patterns in.

At the moment my shop is not getting many views, and I wonder if it is a bit like Etsy, where until I got a few sales it was very slow. It also looks to the casual visitor like I have had the shop a very long time with no sales, which is probably off-putting. Or perhaps Folksy is just more of a place to sell crafted items, and not patterns. I thought that at first with Etsy, and now do fairly well there with patterns and knitted items. If you have any experience of selling on Folksy good or bad, especially of selling patterns, I would love to here about it. And if you have your own shop (or fancy opening one) now is the time to restock, as the offer only runs until the end of the day. (Just thought I should add that Folksy at present is only open to sellers in the UK.)

 

Dutch House Wallet or Pencil Case

After our visit to Bruges this summer the beautiful houses that we photographed from the canal gave me the idea to knit a house with a step gable roof. I have called this a Dutch House, so apologies to the Belgium houses that were actually my inspiration. 

I started with the idea to make a model house, a bit like my Little Woollie House Pattern. Somewhere along the way I changed my mind, and decided it could become pencil case or wallet. But then thinking of our visit to the Chocolate Museum in Bruges, decided it would make a really nice gift wallet for a bar of chocolate. (You may have noticed that the chocolate is Swiss, and from my local supermarket, but I hope it gives the idea. The chocolate we bought in Bruges has long since been eaten.)

The house is knitted in red, cream and brown double knit wool. Some of the details like the black window frames and railings were embroidered on afterwards. I do enjoy stitching on knitting, which I find much easier that embroidery on cloth. 

The construction is very easy. The front and back are just sewn together. I made a black felt lining, which is just oversewn in at the mouth. This is not absolutely essential, but I thought if anyone were to use it as a pencil case, it would stop anything getting caught up in the loops of wool on the inside.

My wallet has a simple button and loop fastener. A different fastener (perhaps Velcro) would be better if it were a container for pencils. My wallet is 9cm by 30cm, and the pattern is simply the chart I used for the front section, and some instructions for the back section, and making up.

I am already working on an idea for another Dutch house which will be 3-D, and a functional object. Are you intrigued? So I have decided to put the pattern for this one on as a free pattern. It is available on ravelry, Craftsy and Loveknitting.