Christmas Sale Thursday

The next group of patterns that I am including in my Christmas sale are a little bit left field. The seaside themed Christmas tree decorations include - Scallop Shell, Sand Dollar, Starfish, Little Minnows, and I have included my Spiral Shell. 

It was 10 years ago that Mary Ann asked me to design a Christmas Sand Dollar pattern, to hang on her sister-in-law's ocean themed Christmas tree. I had a lot of fun with this design, which was helped by the real sand dollars that she sent me, which still decorate my bathroom. 

So while not completely traditional, why not have an ocean-themed tree? Tomorrow I will be showing the last group of Christmas decoration that are included in the 50% off sale, and publishing the discount code. The sale starts on Friday and continues until Christmas Day, and there will be a few more not very traditional decorations. 

Is It Too Early?

I think the answer to that question is probably "yes". Too early to be thinking of shopping, and I am very happy to have a husband who takes the lead with cooking. But perhaps not too early if you are thinking of making some Christmas decorations.

I am trying to design a pattern for a new Christmas decoration - which may not be done in time for this year. I would definitely put it in the non-traditional category, with my Christmas Elephants, Shells and Sand Dollars.

So I thought I would just make a collage of some of my other Christmas patterns. I love using the Layout app to put pictures together. Patterns for all of these Christmas ornaments can be found in my shops, with links to the patterns in ravelry in the lefthand sidebar.

Just a reminder that there are still is still plenty of time left to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for November. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

"A Christmas Pickle"

Has anyone else got themselves in a Christmas knitting pickle. Taken on too much, and not got it done in time. I've mentioned a few times that I'm knitting a garment, which is in fact a cardigan for my son. It's taken a bit of planning, as he doesn't like anything too flamboyant. I am not completely sure he will wear it. I know that handknitted cardigans are probably not the coolest thing, but he might, as he is not particularly into fashion. 

So I am in a pickle in two ways. Firstly, as you can see, it will not be done for Christmas. The back and two fronts are done, but I am still on the sleeves. Second problem is that I think I am not going to have enough wool. So I have decided to try and solve this problem in two ways. I'm knitting both arms at the same time, and the new plan is to have some stripes of other colours around the elbows. (Does anyone knit arms like this? I have heard that some people knit socks this way.) He is at university, and perhaps this will give him a preppy look. I think this might work out, but will keep you updated, and perhaps eventually I can get my son to model the finished garment. Not sure he will, as he is a shy young man.

And I just thought I would finish off with a few of the knitted ornament that are on my tree this year, made from my own patterns. Christmas Tree, Sand Dollar and Scallop Shell.  

These come out every year, but I may have to think of a few more ideas for next year, as the dog had a bit of a session on some of my other decorations. These are the broken ones on her bed. She had got some knitted ones off the tree, but they seem to have survived. So perhaps she is the "Christmas Pickle"!

Happy Christmas to you all!

That Time of Year

That time of year is approaching, and as I still having nothing new to show you (working on the mystery pattern), I just thought I would remind you of some of my Christmas patterns. Here are photgraphs of some of the patterns that I label as Christmassy.
 

 Although my own tree is usually covered with some of my seaside creatures.

Just click on the photo to link to any of these patterns on Craftsy. (Feeling rather proud of myself for having worked out how to make a photo into a link!)

Sea Urchins

I have added a new pattern to my sea creature collection: a Sea Urchin Shell. Do you like my real sea urchins? They were my Christmas present from my husband. I know that is a bit odd, but I really like them. They sit on a shelf in the room where I make things with a few other seaside bits and bobs. I thought they would look good with the knitted ones in my photographs. 

Sea urchins are really fascinating creatures. It took me quite a while to find exactly the right wool. These are knitted with James Brett DK Marble Colour 5, which seemed to have exactly the right mix of grey and pink to give a natural look. This is the same wool that I used for my Our House project.

The knitting is done on two needles, and is not difficult. The dots are then embroidered on down the ridges afterwards. I refer you to my photo tutorial for some help with these french knots. I have tried to be very careful with the number of ridges, and there are five main ones with large bumps, each with two smaller ones inbetween. 

Seaside Boy on A Scallop Shell

I've been putting on so much crafty stuff recently I thought I would have a bit of a break, and post a photograph. This was taken at Aldeburgh a few years ago. My son is on a statue called The Scallop, by Maggi Hambling. If you want to see the whole statue, which is rather fantastic, and is on the beach click on the link below http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Scallop,_Maggi_Hambling,_Aldeburgh.jpg

I absolutely love this photo. He is holding Mike The Osprey, who we had just bought at the RSPB reserve at Minsmere. We had a few holidays in Suffolk, and it became a bit of a tradition that we would go birdwatching at Minsmere, which is just a few miles up the coast from Aldeburgh. What was really great was how helpful the serious birdwatchers were to us amateurs, with two noisy children in tow. They never seemed to mind it when we arrived in the hides, and always helped us identify the birds. We have a little collection of birds from the shop, which all make the accurate birdsong for that bird when you squeeze them. My son's favourites were always the birds of prey, which might be because he was going through his dinosaur phase. Do all boys go through phases?

Seaside Biscuits (Our Signature Bake)

Our favourite TV programme at the moment is "The Great British Bake Off". The week before last they had a small section on Aberffraw Biscuits, a traditional biscuit baked on the Island of Anglesey in North Wales, and shaped in a scallop shell.

So, because we have a few scallop shells handy, we decided to have a go at making our own version.

My white scallop shells were just too big to use as biscuit moulds. They were bought at a fishmongers in Southwold, when we were on holiday once. So we decided to use a smaller black one that my husband found on a beach in Cornwall.

So first we made a standard shortbread. We didn't have any wholemeal flour, so used 200g of butter, 300g of plain flour, and 100g of caster sugar.

First cut up the butter.

Then mix the flour and sugar.

Then rub the butter into the dry ingredients.

We kneaded our dough into a ball, and then rolled it out.

Then we cut around the shell.

 My shell was too flat to put the dough in, so we pressed the shell as hard as we could into the dough.

I was a bit worried that the markings would disappear when cooked. But all was fine.

They looked great on the baking trays.

We also made a few round biscuits, for which I had another plan.

For the round biscuits I made a very simple stencil from a piece of paper, and we sprinkled icing sugar to turn them into sand dollars. If you don't know about sand dollars, see my previous post in September. Some people call sand dollars sea biscuits.

Our final plate of seaside biscuits looked very appetizing, and melted in the mouth. The scallop biscuits were quite large, so I am on the look out for a slightly smaller shell to mould them in next time.

"Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside"

My recent family trip to the seaside, closely followed by a school trip to the Sea Life Centre in Brighton, put in mind that I should branch out a little from the insects and try my hand at some sea creatures, or maybe I should say beach creatures.

The knitting patterns for these sea creatures are available on Ravelry. 

I have a special offer running on Ravelry, where you can buy any two of my seaside patterns, including my popular spiral shell, and get a £1 discount. I also have a few of my seaside sets for sale for non-knitters in my Etsy Shop.

I have a few more sea creatures in the pipeline, which I am still working on.

I have tried to photograph them below so that you have to look quite hard I hope to see which are knitted and which are real. 

I have been working on the patterns for a while, and am pleased with the way they have turned out. The scallop shell can be knitted as one half, or as two and sewn together and stuffed. I thought it might be nice to make into a lavendar bag. 

Hubby suggested fashioning two shells into a bikini, but soon told him what to do with that idea. Scallops seem to come in a huge variety of colours and patterns, as you can see from the black shell that we found on a beach in Cornwall. So anyone who knits one could really let their imagination go wild.

This version of the starfish has a bit of embroidery, but this is optional. As usual I have tried to go for realism. I have put a page on my blog on how to sew a french knot, as I love using this stitch. I seem to use it a lot, and people think it is difficult, so hope I have shown how simple it is.

This is the underside, which my son says is where a starfish's mouth is?

I have a few more sea creatures in the pipeline, which I am still working on.