Twixmas

It’s that part of the festivities where things aren’t quite normal yet and you sort of don’t want them to be but also you kind of do. I can’t decide whether to make beads or stay on the sofa and knit by the light of the Christmas tree. (I reckon it’ll end up being the latter.)

Anyway, you can grab yourself 15% off anything on my website by entering the code TWIXMAS at checkout. The discount code is valid until midnight (UK time) on New Year’s Eve.

Bead creations and Christmas cats

I made some more Stormy Seas jewellery. There are a couple of bracelets...

...and I also made a few pairs of earrings. 

The beads are only about 9mm diameter so the earrings are lightweight and easy to wear.

The Stormy Seas bracelets and earrings can be purchased in my shop. I can no longer guarantee delivery in time for Christmas but I will continue to post orders as I receive them and on days that Royal Mail are doing their thing, so feel free to buy beady things and they'll be with you when they're with you.

In other news, I made a couple of catnip mice, one for Nigel and one for Enca, my sister Sally's cat.

They're made with wool felt and their tails are Icelandic lopi wool. I grow and dry catnip for Nigel every year but I normally just put some in an old odd sock of mine and tie the end up and he's more than happy with his nipsock. This year I decided that I should actually make a mouse to stuff with catnip. I don't know why because this involves sewing, which I loathe. I found a catnip mouse pattern on the PDSA website and I spent far too long sewing these two. I've hidden Nigel's away and I wrapped and posted Enca's with the other presents I was sending to my sister. The parcel of presents arrived with her yesterday and during the night Enca decided she was opening her Christmas present early and by 'opening' I mean ripping apart the wrapping, biting the ears, tail and arse off the mouse and leaving toy stuffing, catnip and ripped bits of felt all over the dining room floor. What a catnip-crazed maniac!

Utter carnage

Meanwhile, Nigel is taking his usual interest in the Christmas tree. 

He absolutely loves it and always tries to climb it. This year Chris has made a reinforced base for the tree stand to avoid it toppling over if Nigel gets too enthusiastic with it.

Adjusting that blue tit bauble

Nigel's off to the vet this evening. He's got to have a blood test to check his thyroid levels. He was at the upper end of the normal range when he had a blood test back in the summer so this is a follow-up to see what's what. He's twelve now and the older he gets the more I worry about him. I spend more time stressing and fretting about the cat than I do anything else in my life! I'm sure other pet owners can relate.

I'm going to go and tidy the spare room now. Half of it is home to my jewellery making and bead packing desk, all my packaging supplies and my yarn stash. It's all getting a bit out of hand and very messy in there and I cannot move without knocking something over or something falling on top of me.

Enjoy the rest of your day!

Stormy Seas

These beads are made with Effetre Avorio Lapis Dark 293 which as the name suggests is ivory and dark lapis blue together in one rod. When you melt the glass the two colours mix together and the resulting swirls remind me of weather satellite images and stormy seas.

I turned this lot into a long necklace. The beads are strung with plain sterling silver rounds and the necklaces fastens with a lobster clasp.

The beads range from 7.5mm to 10.5mm diameter and the necklace measures about 70cm (27 1/2 inches) long when unfastened.

The Stormy Seas necklace is available in my shop.

In the shop you'll also find a small strand of the Black & White + Turquoise & Red beads that I made a few months back.

I held on to these intending to make them into a bracelet but I've never got round to it so I'm selling them as they are. 

And if you're one of the four people who read my blog, thank you. To show my appreciation for your interest in my work and ramblings I'd like to give you a discount code. Enter the code DEC10 at checkout to get 10% off your order. This will work for any item in my shop. The code is valid until midnight (UK time) on Sunday 15th December.

Baa baa grey sheep

I've not had a lot to blog about as I've been pretty flipping sheep busy since my last post. I've made loads of them in that time. Massive thanks to all who have purchased them.

The sheep are available in grey and dark grey now, as well as the original cream.

I also got a big batch of stitch markers made.

These markers are all £4.50 each and they come with your choice of fitting - lobster clasp, leverback clasp or ring - so they will work for both knitters and crocheters.

Sheep and stitch markers are available in my shop.

Talking of stitch markers, here's a dark grey sheep one doing his stitch marky thing on my current knitting project.

This is a cable and lace jumper in a leafy green. It's knitted with two strands of yarn - one of DK merino and one of laceweight mohair - for a soft and fluffy finish. The pattern is Urban Romance by Veronika Lindberg from her fab new book Knits to Wear.

I finally finished my other jumper and I absolutely love it. I'll take photos of it when there is some decent light; it's so dull and overcast right now but then it is December and I won't lie, I kind of enjoy the gloom and the greyness of it.

How are your Christmas preparations coming along? I'm pretty much there with the present buying so I just need to wrap them all and post the ones that need sending to people and I also have to write my Christmas cards. Our tree is still in its box in the garage. We keep threatening to put it and all the decorations up but it still hasn't happened. It will, as it always does.

I'm away to the shed now. More sheep and some non-sheep are on the agenda for today. 

Have a good Tuesday!

Baaa!

The other day I was knitting and I was using my sheep stitch marker. He's the original sheep I made over a decade ago now.

The original 'Baaarney' bead

I decided that it was high time that I made a few more sheep so I set about reminding my hands how to make them.

My third attempt at Sheep Bead V2.0

I gave the sheep a little redesign around the head area in order to make my life a bit easier; the first ones I made used to have a tiny bit of 'fleece' on the top of their heads but it was always a faff to do and often resulted in ruined beads so I left it off these ones.

Sheep on mandrels

Obviously the sheep are handmade so no two are truly alike and just the slightest fraction of a millimetre difference in size or positioning of the eyes and ears changes the face of the sheep which gives each one their own little character.

As you can see, I've spent the last couple of days making sheep and this morning I added them to the shop.

They are available as...

Loose beads - £8.00 each

Pendants - £10.00 each

Stitch markers - £9.50 each

Stitch markers are made with your choice of fitting - lobster clasp, leverback clasp or ring - so they're suitable for both knitters and crocheters.

I'll be making more sheep this afternoon because they're selling quite well already. Big thanks to everyone who has bought some.

If you'd like to buy a sheep, the loose beads and pendants are here and the stitch markers can be found over here.

Have a good afternoon!