Proper work

Lately I've been busy with the Advent Calendar. Only few more gifts are missing. This year it will be more like an Advent bag. The reason is the calendar includes 7 books. I bought these books from the second hand and they all are horse books. See, this year someone wished to have horse themed calendar. I told it won't include alive horse but I got the reply "that's ok". Well, it won't include death one either. But some horse stuff. It is not a coincidence the books are for the weekends. Otherwise someone would refuse to go to the school before reading.

The calendar include also mittens which I have knit three times so they are very proper now. I think best ever. I usually knit mittens only once... Sometimes people ask how come I am so skillfull. I always tell it is not up to it how well you do it all, it's up to it how well you can fix your mistakes! If the mittens need to be knit three times then I just do it.

Advent calendar can also be in a bag. The bag I used is old. This bag includes different kind of things and is horse themed. The horse books are from the second hand shop. There's also some other horse stuff and something sweet too. I have included also three cards -each have a poem. The wrapping paper I used is just white and enviromental friendly. You can decorate white paper with stamping or drawing and add pretty ribbon with card.

Card ideas

On the other day a card factory was started in the house. It is a good refressing thing to remind us all about it that all you get in Christmas time -or any other season- is not trash. Pay attention on wrapping papers, tags and other stuff you see around. You will find excellent materials for the next year craft making form the stuff people usually just throw away.

Left: Pictures from an old Advent Calendar

Right: Picture from an old post card pack

Left: Picture from an old chocolate bar wrap

Middle: Picture from an old chocolate box

Right: Picture from an old post card pack

Left:Picture from an old chocolate box

Middle and right: Picture from an old chocolate bar wrap

Middle: Recycled card

Left & right: new

All new materials

Baking and sewing

Christmas season is always up to bringing joy to someone. Easy idea is to bake some biscuits and put them into a pretty jar decorated by self made cloth. I baked ginger biscuits.

It is my own design but easy to do. You can use left over fabric and lace. You don't need much materials to be able to sew this cloth or bake some biscuits. The best thing is -if we don't count the biscuits now- the jar and cloth will be saved and reused again and again. You can give something permanent and useable.

So close but so far

I am still trying to tame the polar bear. It is a huge project. At this point I feel it will never be finished. Two more shades left to stitch but it feels I never reach the goal. I am so close to finish it but so far away to be able to make it true. At this point I always realize why designing and making it true are two different things. It is so easy to draw, choose shades, fabric etc. But at the end you need just hard work to make it all to come real. Stitch after stitch.

At the same time I have been thinking more about the door decoration. Its size is 42cm. Today I found the wool I am going to use for it. Nature white shade. Then I need to find my cinnamons and cones. Perhaps some paper and wool yarn too. It all comes more clear now when we finally have got the first snow.

I saw a small display today at the library. It was put up by a local yarn shop. It of course caused the feeling I need to go shopping there. But I must hold my horses. I still have a lot yarn left which I inherited over a year ago. Heritage is connected to sad things too but it is a wonderful gift to have a huge pack of all kind of craft stuff...

Materials

Reading a craft catalogue is fun and interesting. Unfortunately you often notice all those beautiful staff are expencive. It is also difficult to trace from where they have got started, how much they pollute the world, from where the wood they use for the paper stuff has come from etc. But we all earth lovers are lucky. World is full of useable trash. I -again- made two cards from "trash" I have collected; they are free recycled materials.

This card has got its monkey picture from used note book cover. The paper behind the monkeys is from a women's magazine.

This card has got its picture from a free magazine that represents wall papers. By using recycled material you get very unique cards.

 This Hello Kitty is a tag from a brand cloth. It decorates the card and is cute.

 

 These cats for the card have been cut out from an old note book covering.

Christmas door decoration

Today I was at the town centre and I ended up to a craft shop. It was not any kind of surprise. I have visited the same store several times. And still there was the same old background frame for a door decoration in the sale. This time I bought it and my fingers are already wishing to get on it.

This is a frame I am going to create to turn out to be a Christmas door decoration. The color is a bit weird. I guess that's why it was on the sale for months until I bought it.

For years I have wanted to create a Christmas wreath door decoration. But now it finally seems to come true. I have an idea to use some wool and cones. But we'll see, at the end we may see it docorated with sparkling silver spray only.

Green as her eyes

Is there any bigger pleasure than the moment when someone takes you to yarn shop and tells you to pick up anything you want and promises to knit something from them for you? And pays it all! Well, some time ago I took a girl to the local yarn shop and she chose green shades of yarn to get new woolly hat and scarf. I must tell we spent few intensive moments to pick up right yarns. And later on she needed to think did she pick up the right shades or not. When she saw it all finished she was so happy because of the shades. They fit so well to her green eyes! She doesn't know yet she's going to get woollen mittens too with her Advent calendar... It is always so nice to make someone happy.

These woolly hat and scarf are very easy to stitch. These ones are my own design but you don't even need an instruction for it. Just keep on knitting. :) The woolly hat has tiny ears which appear more and bigger during the time. The hat is rectangular shape and at the end you just seam the left and right sides. The width of this rectangular is half of the head size. If you want make sure the hat won't get too big after using it for a while, make the width to be few centimeters too small. Woolly hat is flexible so it won't be too tiny easily.

The scarf is a very long rectangular -as long as you wish. Both hat and scarf can be knitted with basic right loops or using right and reverse (right on right side and reverse on left side). If your climate is not so cold you can use only furry yarn. I wanted these items to be more warm so I included woollen yarn with the furry one. I also knit woollen lining inside the hat. I used smc Brazilia from Coats for the furry look. It is 100% polyester with spruce green shade. The woollen yarn is from Garn Studio's Drops Fabel Superwash collection. It includes 25% polyamid and 75% wool. The shade is forrest green with different variagated shades.