What can I show you at this time of year?! Everything that’s going on right now will be a Christmas present, and I can’t show those. It’s a serious dilemma for a crafty blogger, I’ve got nuffink to talk about!
Actually, I have managed to scrape a few bits together…
Christmas Craft Fair
I enjoyed last Saturday at the local school Christmas craft fair. Not exactly a money spinner, but it still counted as a success in my eyes. Plus, it gave me an excuse to make things and making things is what I like best! (The felt owls are my new favourite Christmas decoration!).
I won’t blather on; I did that last week. Needless to say, I’ve got enough Christmas felt designs to write a book! (I even looked into that the other day, but I’m still not entirely sure how it works. I’m too much of a chicken to ask the experts all the stupid questions that have arisen in me noggin).
A Little Deer Toy
Anyway, Christmas came early for one person. I took part in my first (of three) Secret Santa craft swaps. It turns out that these things are absolutely brilliant. You get the best presents! Why wouldn’t you, when like-minded crafty people are doing the buying and making? It’s great!
This crazy reindeer (by way of dolphin!?) was the present I made for my Colour Pop Craft Swap person. This swap was arranged by Miki at Set Free My Gypsy Soul. In my head, it was the stuff of Legend: A Grand Stag of Epic Proportions!
It ended up more cutesy and feeble than I’d envisaged, but do you know what? The recipient loved it, and that’s what counts. Does it look like a dolphin?
I used a pattern I’d found in a magazine from a couple of years ago. It’s also on Ravelry as Little Deer Toy. I designed the antlers and made two pairs, which I stitched together for a bit of stability. I also made up a little sparkly star to jazz up his rump.
I felt the need to compensate somewhat (I had rushed my deer, and he didn’t turn out as expertly crafted as I wanted). Into the parcel, I also popped a few cotton crochet coasters and a little toadstool brooch.
I love these coasters, so so quick to knock up; I bet every crocheter has had a go at making these at some point.
These are my Christmas spoils. They arrived beautifully packaged, from the Netherlands. I was so happy to receive this fabulous bundle. I can tell you that the cat has had her eye on the spangly jangly stars. She pounced on them this morning, and I’ve had to put them out of reach. I’ve been wearing my wrist warmers (I changed to mittens this morning cos the temp was -2 degrees C).
I absolutely love my Father Christmas. He is super awesome! Mirjam from Stin’s Place is the creator behind all these marvels.
Crochet Winter Woolies
The last few days have been focused on getting my crochet winter set of cosy things ready. The patterns need typing up, and some photographs need sorting. Then I can hopefully have a pattern for sale. This will probably take longer than I want because I’ll be making it up as I go along (when am I not?)!
I’m aiming to work on it all day on Friday, and I think that should get me a good way into it. Given more time and more energy, I’d make a whole other set in different colours. I really like it all would love to see it in a different guise. What I need now is a name!
Well, I haven’t done too badly with this blog post. This time of year is definitely a struggle. I’ll be scraping the bottom of the barrel next time. Crikey, what’ll I do!? Anyone else suffering from the same problem? At least there will be plenty to talk about in January!