Another one bites the dust ...

It is amazing how many objects I've found in my ornament supplies that are started but not finished. Actually not all that amazing - I love the excitement of starting projects. This week I decided to work on a little knitted stocking, one of the first ornament kits I for from Knit Purl in Portland. All I had done was knit the green facing that is folded inside the top.

It's always a relief to find all the supplies and directions. These were (fortunately) trapped inside a Rubbermaid container. Fortunately because as I wound the wool into little balls it seemed to be in multiple pieces. I think some little friends had had a snack. Knitters live in fear of little friends! Most of my yarn is stored in plastic bags but I should probably make a pass through and check things out.

Anyway, the cute little stocking with its Fair Isle pattern was

fun. But, not without its challenges. I am a very loose knitter. This pattern had no gauge or size information so I didn't change needle size - probably not the wisest decision. Clearly the size isn't an issue. Except that I ran out of red yarn 3 rows before the toe. I searched through my other Knit Purl kits. None had the same yarn but one was close. I used that and decided it looked pretty good - a bit brighter but I think it looks okay.

How long has this been going on?

Actually, not going on at all. Sitting in a cute little plastic box.

Anyone remember Daisy Kingdom? Adorable little store in NW Portland which then turned into an adorable bigger store in NW Portland. Some of it was actually a bit too adorable for my taste. In their larger store they taught a variety of classes. In fact, I took my first beading class there around 1990. It was for beaded earrings. Sometime after that I took a class to make beaded Christmas ornaments.The class was taught by Carol Perrenoud of Bead Cats. Beads Cats is a great source for beads. Their website is not so great - no pictures, no color samples, just words. But, they have a huge selection and are very helpful. Best way to interact with them is at a bead show.

Anyway, back to the 90s! The ornaments used round green glass bugle beads from Mill Hill, craft wire, ribbon and some accent beads. I had all of those in a plastic box with some beads from a Martha Stewart ornament kit. Some weeks this is like an archeology dig. Along with that was an almost finished pine bough. Seriously the only part not done was the top inch. The branches and pine cone were finished.                  

The truly miraculous thing was that in a beautiful Vera Bradley looseleaf notebook with a label on the spine that says "Ornaments" were the (not very fancy) directions. A true anomaly in my normal organizational style. But a very happy anomaly!

I remember finishing the wreath and giving it away as a gift. But I, of course, planned on making another for myself. And this week I did!

Carol provided some directions for round Czechoslovakian ornaments as well (carefully stored in the same lovely notebook - go figure!). They remind me of the ones I've made from blown glass but use 4mm pearls, pony beads, and seed beads. Perhaps they will show up in a few weeks.

Pushing pins again

Not much to say about this one other than it takes a boat load of pins and sequins to cover these kind of ornaments! There are two more of these stocking ornaments in the kit, each with a different pattern of sequins. Usually I'd make just one of them but these are pretty cute. I think I'll set them aside and use them later Maybe.




A few people have commented on what my tree might look like this year. At the risk of losing my citizenship in Oregon (we grow a lot of Christmas trees here!) I'll admit that I have an incredible artificial tree - full but enough room between the branches to put tons of ornaments on. I also have a great space in my living room for it - in front of a bay window - where I can put ornaments all the way around.  More on this later.

Not a kit (for a change)

I do love these blown glass Czech beads. I've used them in the Czech kits I did earlier. The same website, 32 Degrees North, that sells the kits also sells beads. I had a pattern I had bought (3D Bohemian Star) and picked out beads from 32 Degrees North. The beads they had didn't exactly match the ones in the pattern but they were close. Since I had bought a variety of beads it was pretty easy to find some in the stash to make it work.


I had hoped to use fuchsia 3-bump beads joining the center and outer star points but they were out of stock for a few months. Gold seemed a pretty good option too.

I put all these beautiful blown glass beads in a little plastic container I had sitting in the craft room. After making this ornament, the open container was sitting on the desk calling to me. I wasn't quite ready to put them away. I pondered a few of them that were the same shape but not matching colors and came up with this simple extra.

Ornament or cat toy?

I enjoy many different crafts - probably obvious from the assortment of ornaments I've made so far this year. One of the things I particularly enjoy is chain maille - putting together jump rings to make various objects.  I've made bracelets, necklaces, earrings, pendants and a cute little tree ornament. I've used metal rings - the norm - as well as rubber rings and glass rings. Chain maille isn't too hard although sometimes manipulating the rings can be tricky. The size of the rings you use makes or breaks the design. Aspect ratio - the ratio of the thickness of the jump ring to the size of the ring - is a critical part of making a design work. Different metals and thicker gauge rings can be more difficult to open and close smoothly. My favorite way to mess up is to mangle rings with my pliers.

I saw a chain maille Santa that could be used as an ornament or a pendant on pinterest. When I followed the link to the website I discovered the pattern came from a website in the UK - Beadsisters. They have some interesting patterns as well as kits and materials. I thought I should be able to find the right jump rings at one of my usual US sources but I had trouble finding the correct gauge and size in the right colors. I probably could have done a little arithmetic and found different combinations but there are not as many colored rings available as plain metal ones. I decided to give in to temptation and buy rings from Beadsisters. The rings arrived relatively quickly - along with a few extra kits (surprise!) - and I set in on the ornament. It went well and I had an adorable little santa.

But then there's the rest of the story. I brought it downstairs

from my craft room and set it on the coffee table waiting for a photo. A little later I heard my cat Pepper playing - chasing something all over the kitchen. Later when I put food in their bowl I noticed Santa on the floor next to the bowl. I guess we know what he was playing with! Hopefully he didn't bite or scratch it too much. I guess if he did it would hide any plier marks that I left on my rings.

I wonder if I could make a bigger ornament with bigger rings?

Silly ... and quick!

I spent Mothers Day weekend in Seattle. We enjoyed two Mariners game - a win and a loss - and some shopping. And dinner at Poppy - one of my favorite restaurants. I started two felt ornaments thinking I would do the embroidery on them while I was there. I took them out in the hotel room but just wasn't inspired to work on them. I really don't like embroidery. Another one I wonder why I bought!

Anyway, I got home Monday and evening and needed an ornament. Another kit to the rescue. This really is cute albeit kind of silly looking. It might even look sillier in the photo than in person. And boy was it quick! A little glue, a few cuts and voila!

I have stuff for two more. Anybody want it?

Another one that was a long time coming ....

I'm trying to keep things mixed up: not too many beads or pins or whatever in a row. After a few beaded objects I thought it was time for some knitting. For a few years (and definitely a few years ago!), Knit Purl in Portland released 3 or 4 ornament kits each December. Guess what? I bought them. Not too surprising I guess.

One of the early ones was a sweet little star. It was knit in a beautiful Tilli Tomas beaded silk The kit came with silver yarn. I attempted it pretty much right away. I wasn't a great lace knitter at that point. I struggled with it, ripping it out multiple times. Eventually I got a reasonably close. Until the bind off.

The bind off calls for knitting with a piece of fine wire along with the silk.I remember struggling until I pretty much threw it across the room. By this time, the yarn was not at its best so I went and got some more in gold.

For years I have been working up the courage to try again. This year long project spurred me on.  I am a much better knitter now. The lace knitting was not difficult at all! I used 5 short double points, down a size from that called for (I always need to go down at least one size).

Then I got to the bind off. I clearly am not meant to knit with wire. After taking that out and getting things back in order on the needles I decided to bind off with just the yarn. Once that was done, I fed the wire through the edge. The wire is absolutely essential to shaping the star. It might have been better knit in but I think this worked fine. So fine that I might have enough silver that I can salvage to make another - maybe following the six pointed star directions instead.