Miss Aine

I've been feeling a little demotivated - but that's probably because I spent a few days just knitting these little decorations: I'm not really one for knitting the same thing over and over - it gets boring! I now need to decorate them with beads, buttons, etc to make them look a bit more special, and sell-able!! I used the heart from my little ' Heart Wand' pattern .  Size 3.5mm needles and dk yarn.

This year I will be ready! (Pattern from Little Cotton Rabbits )

These are from Little Cotton Rabbits .  A really fun and quick knit - each bear only took me about 1 hour to make.  They're also really easy to customise, and you could have great fun trying out new patterns for each bear (or rabbit).  These guys just need little hanging loops now to complete them. I may be making lots of these for all the last minute presents that I don't have organised yet!

The poor blog has suffered over the past week.  We've all been sick (boo!), and I'm using every free bit of time I have to get stuff made for the Christmas market I'm doing next weekend (11th at the Glenroyal in Maynooth, for any Irish readers). One of the ornaments I'm making this year are these felt trees.  Just two different colours of green, with silver seed beads and some glittery fabric stars I had in my stash, with a ribbon loop.  I think they look pretty cool - will have to wait and see if they sell!

Lots of Santas, snowmen and stockings from my Mini Christmas Tree Trims pattern.

Bought the Christmas Knitties pattern last week and got a bit of time today to make one of the ornaments. Meet the mini snowman. The pattern calls for 3mm needles. I made mine with 2.75 needles as that's what I knit all my toys with. Think next time though that I may make them with 3.5's as they don't need to be stuffed much so the knitting doesn't have to be so tight. A nice easy to follow pattern. Linda, the designer, also has an Etsy shop with knitting kits for sale.

Feel like I've been knitting these guys for weeks, but its just 'cause I've been busy and not had a chance to knit a lot. They're going to some pseudo-extended family members as late Christmas presents. They're from the Jean Greenhowe pattern and are super quick and easy to knit - 2 strands of yarn held throughout so they knit up very fast. Crazy busy this week now as it turns out I'm supposed to be knitting the cake toppers for my brother's wedding - which is this Thursday! All fun and games here!

Today myself and Smem put up the Christmas tree. Kinda' early but its the first year that Smem really gets Christmas. (Plus my sister saw the Kellog's Christmas ad on telly last night which is our family's sign that its officially Christmas - it was kinda' early for Kellog's this year too I think). We also posted her letter to Santa today. Woo hoo!

I was doing a little blog reading and just had to pass on some cool info about two online craft magazines which I read about on Mollie's blog, Wild Olive . I can't figure out how to link to the actual magazines so have a look at Mollie's blog post . Read it and be inspired this Christmas. I know I can't wait to get started making some of the projects.

Some little decorations I've been working away on for the market tomorrow. Can't wait for Christmas - my favourite time of the year!!

Finally typed up and available for download through my Ravelry store: buy now for just $4 Like my fake snow in the background!

Finally typed up and in my Etsy and Ravelry stores for sale - only $4 buy now He's got pose-able limbs which makes him great for playing with. And lovely and cuddly for hugs! Most important for little kids.

A blog I want to highlight, 'with blueberry heart quilts' At the moment she is posting a free little Christmas embroidery pattern each week. They are absolutely adorable, and her illustrations are amazing. Just scroll down through older posts to see others that she has shared. Haven't made one yet so can't post a picture but I'm seeing these maybe on potholders or something as Christmas presents.

All lovely patterns that I found through Ravelry. How did I ever survive before I found Ravelry?! I had some lovely soft 4ply yarn I'd gotten on our honeymoon in Stockholm and it worked out perfect for this present. The gloves are ' La Princesse st le lapin '. Its originally a french pattern so the translation is a bit funky in places but as long as you do the exact same for both gloves it probably doesn't matter too much. I found it a very easy pattern to knit and it looks really well, and didn't take too long to make. The necklace is ' knit your pearls '. This was a really fun pattern. Its really just 3 i-cords with rectangles at each end for fastening. Still have to sew on a button but its pretty much done. And its another quick project so perfect for last minute presents. The corsage is from my new favourite pattern, ' corsage '. Its a really quick and simple project to make but looks so good. It was originally designed as a Fourth of Ju...

I knitted a horrible misshapen stocking for Smem last year so I thought I'd better make her a nicer one this year. And as I've been doing so much knitting recently I decided to take a break from that and make her a quilted stocking. I think it turned out quite cute so I though I'd share the pattern. Materials: cream cotton for stocking, wadding, cream fleece for inside of sock, some green gingham (or other fabric of your choice) for angel's dress and top of sock, gold fabric for the wings, peachy felt for the head, some 4-ply yarn for the hair, embroidery floss in gold, pink and blue, sewing needle and white thread, some scraps of trims and beads for embellishment, some fabric stars to sew on. 1. First off print off the pattern pieces. I haven't learnt yet how to attach files to my blog so I've just uploaded jpgs of the pattern pieces. Print them out to cover an A4 page each. Cut out all the parts, and join the top and lower halves of the stocking together. ...

And yet again, another project from last year - the almost no-sew garland

Another project from last year - the knitted star , which seems to be a reasonable hit on Ravlery.

Another simple wreath tutorial , from last year

A picture heavy post today, but its all for good reason. I made this cute little wreath for my front door and thought I'd share how I made as it was really simple and really quick. You'd whip it up in a few hours. You'll need fabric in red, green and white (or whatever combination you choose. Different golds would be nice, or blue and white...... or any number of possibilities!); some polyester stuffing; some thin white ribbon and some wider green ribbon; sewing needle and thread. Cut a length of fabric in each colour 3.5 inches by 42 inches. You may need to sew pieces together to get the length. I used fat quarters of red and green so I cut two strips from the long side and sewed them together. Fold each strip in half lengthways and sew all along the edge, about 1/4 inch from the edge. Turn all the strips right side out and stuff well. A pencil or knitting needle is a handy tool to help with this. When they are stuffed catch one end of all the strips together and wor...