Bedwarmer, via Blather Magather.

Here’s a beautiful Lace Shrug (by Holly Stalder) to wear to a Christmas party.

They don’t do the religious bit, but they do the other stuff swell.

• Japanese-Inspired Ornaments
• How to Make Japanese-Inspired Ornaments
• Temari Balls Patterns Shop
• Temari – The Art of Japanese Thread Balls

Make a Froebel Star using the instructions here. Apparently it’s a German tradition! I had no idea. You might be able to make permanent versions of these stars out of interfacing (as shown here), so they can be reused every year. Via whip up.

Here’s a video:

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/eGB9DSTLS6o" height="344" width="425" /]

The past few weeks I’ve been asked by a few people what I want for Christmas. I’m quite picky when it comes to Christmas presents because I hate to waste things and if I get something I’m not going to use, I feel bad about giving it away. So this year I’ve asked people to give me knitting things, because I am certain I will use them eventually. This got me thinking about what the best things to buy a knitter are, which eventually developed into this list:

1. Hand creams and balms, handmade by you, or from etsy. If you’re making a little basket of smaller things, the best hand cream I have ever tried is Glysomed, which you can pick up at any drug store. Believe me, I have tried all the fancy things, spending up to $20 on a tube of blah that doesn’t work. Repeat after me: Glysomed! I am Canadian, so I know something about cracked hands

2. Yarn winder and swift. I am desperate for these. If you know a knitter who doesn’t have one, get them one. They will love you forever.

3. Stitch holders, embroidery needles and other notions.

4. Yarn. Fancy yarn they couldn’t justify buying themselves! But make sure you know your stuff. Little Knits is a nice place to find fancy yarn for a good price.

5. If you’re US or Canadian, get a gift certificate from KnitPicks! You can send it by email, and it means you don’t have to learn the difference between Merino and Bluefaced Leicester.

6. Needles (I highly highly highly recommend Options!)

7. (Practical) sheep-related things, like this cute little soap or this tape measure.

8. A sweater stone for removing pills.

9. Actually, I can’t think of anything else.

10. I should have kept it to just eight.

Help me out! Anything you would add to this?

I saw this today and I figured I’d get it on the blog before it explodes all over the blogosphere. This is work by Joana Vasconcelos, and there’s a whole bunch more beneath the jump. Via whip up. You know this shit is going to go crazy.

Read the rest »

Hands full of pearls. What a beautiful image.

Wood Ornaments, via Creativadoration.

Grassimesse Teacup, via Designer’s Block.

I thought I had published this FO report, but it turns out that WordPress ate it or something. So I’m publishing on their 11-month anniversary! Bon Anniversaire, ornaments!

Sweater Ornaments, started December 21st, 2007, finished December 27th, 2007
Pattern: Rough guideline to Sweater Ornaments from brooklyntweed.
Yarn: I think it was Bernat Satin Sport. It’s not bad in terms of sheen, but it is acrylic so it isn’t as flexible as a natural fibre.
Needles: 5mm circs
Modifications: I adapted the recipe for knitting flat because when I decided to start them I only had bigger circs on hand.
Would I knit it again? Yessirree! These are great gifts. I gave these to my aunt and uncle, whose initials are R and C, hence the letters. I also made a pair for my other aunt and uncle, but I forgot to take pictures before gifting them. I knit the base colour first, and then either duplicate-stitched the letters or embroidered them. It was really fun!

I got the hangers at Michael’s. They’re for doll clothes. Idunno about you, but when I had dolls (only one or two, but I still had ‘em), I kept the clothes rolled up in a ball. Once a clothes-baller, always a clothes-baller. These were about a dollar each.