Waste Not Want Not

I've been knitting lots of little hats for the Big Knit, and accumulating lots of short, scrappy bits of yarn in the process. I couldn't let all that yarn go to waste, could I?

The very short pieces have been stashed away for future pincushion stuffing, and I'm using the longer pieces as strings for some homemade gift tags:All the tags have been made from scrap card, offcuts of giftwrap and other papers too nice to just throw away. I do like a nice bit of thrifty crafting, and I always need lots of tags and mini cards to use when sending out my orders.

Website Building

I got a very sweet gift yesterday - a copy of "Echoes from Cape Clear", as a thankyou for helping set up the book's promotional website using MrSite.The book tells the tale of Tom and Stephanie's adventurous year as wardens of the remote Cape Clear Island Bird Observatory, with bird watching a-plenty as well as tales of community life and the trials of raising a new baby in primitive conditions through a harsh winter. It's illustrated with drawings and photographs plus some really lovely prints by Robert Gillmor.

I'm delighted to hear they've had some sales through their shop already & I'm really looking forward to curling up with a blanket and a nice cup of tea and having a good read!

Pick Your Own

Back in my shop after a long absence - custom packs of felt squares, so you can pick your own selection from the 60 available colours.I'm really pleased to have these back in my shop, and especially delighted that my boyfriend has offered to add "custom felt colour picker" to his role as "postal assistant." He's even (willingly!) sacrificed one of his bookcases to the felt cause:Mmm... so much lovely colour!

The custom selections are currently only available through my Etsy shop but if you want to purchase through another venue or direct from me, just get in touch :)

Christmas Colours

Every year I tell myself I'm going to be much more organised about my Christmas designs and get them all sorted out well in advance etc etc etc... and do I ever manage it? Do I heck!

Despite not being half as organised as I'd like to be, I have plans for a couple of mini "mix and match" collections this year as well as the usual robins and reindeer.

One collection will be filled with an explosion of bright rainbow colours and the other is a modern twist on classic Christmas colours - red & white plus a fresh turquoise.

Here's the first finished "peppermint" design - sweet heart baubles with mini gingham check ribbon loops:I can't get enough of those peppermint colours at the moment and I'm having lots of fun playing around with matching ribbons and buttons, too. What colour combinations do you like at Christmas? Are you modern or traditional? Do you stick to a colour theme when you decorate or do you like to mix things up?