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!

Sheep, sheep and a few more sheep

Well, I'm overrun with sheep beads here. They're in the kiln, on the kitchen window sill, on the dinner table, on my knitting needles and I can also spy one on the coffee table. Sheep everywhere.

They're also in my shop.

They can be purchased as ...

... an individual loose bead at £6.00 ...

... a charm at £7.00 ...

... a knitting stitch marker with a ring fitting at £7.00 ...

... a crochet stitch marker with a clasp fitting at £7.00 ...

... or as part of a set of five stitch markers, made with the fitting of your choice, at £10.00.

See? Sheep all over the show.

Have a very good Good Friday and a super duper long weekend!

Baaa

Oh heck, its been twelve days since I last blogged. That's a bit naff of me, isn't it?

What have I been doing? Well, I've been to the vet with the guinea pig and the cat. Again. I know. I'm sick of going, the vet must be sick of me going and my bank account is sick of the vet too. However, Ruth seems to be okay. She has no bladder stones (a £50 X-ray showed that) and she's on antibiotics for some sort of internal nethers infection. Nigel seems to have some kind of gastritis so I've been cooking him chicken and fish and feeding him small meals. We've got to just wait and see how he goes. (Thank goodness he's insured.) Nigel's also got a new drinking fountain which he loves. He loves both drinking from it and also splashing it all over the place like a child in a paddling pool.

Speaking of animals, I've taken to making them. Glass ones. That don't require special cooking and feeding, or medicine syringing into their faces twice a day.

Sheep.

Baaa.

I've had sheep on my mind recently. Odd, I know. I'm blaming it on listening to Felicity Ford's excellent KNITSONIK podcast and also stroking my Jamieson & Smith pure Shetland wool that I bought as part of a fingerless mitts kit from Kate Davies.

Gorgeous Kate Davies Designs 'Ecclefechan' fingerless mittens kit

So, with the aforementioned sheep on my mind, I sat and twiddled about with glass and after about seven attempts I came up with the little fella at the top of this post. Chris has named him Baaarney. I say I had seven attempts but it was more like fifty-seven. (Seven just sounds less obsessive.) You see, there's no point in me making a bead that I'm potentially going to sell that I can't replicate. Each bead needs to be made in the same way, with bits added and worked on in the same order every time, so that I can make roughly the same bead over and over again.

Baaarney, rearing up like a scared horse and also relaxing

The sheep is tiny. He's only about 10mm tall.

I've turned Baaarney into a stitch marker for my knitting. The sock in this photograph doesn't even require marking but I just like having a tiny glass sheep there, dangling from my needle.

Baaarney doing a knitting-related dangle

Facebook and Instagram seem to like Baaarney so I think I'll make a small flock for the shop.

Have a fun-filled Thursday!