My Christmas tree is up! I could hardly wait until December. It's the culmination of the High Tea series, where I took it upon myself to make my own sewn cakes from original patterns. All cakes are now hanging on a pink flocked Christmas tree I bought at Michaels in America and shipped to myself almost a year ago. I'm so excited to show it off!
I thought it might need something besides the sewn treats. I thought about stringing popcorn and cranberries, or getting some small Christmas balls. But when I turned out the lights and plugged it in, I decided the cakes were enough.
It's getting some pretty strange looks from the streets of London. It's beginning to look a lot like, well, I don't know what...but something secular, garish, and delicious. I hope you're starting to feel as Christmasy as I am!
In other news, I'll be picking a winner of the November giveaway this week, so enter if you haven't yet, and desire to do so. I know you need a new apron.
Sometimes I see other people's knitted projects, and I want to knit them too. Sometimes, I see other people's knitted projects and I just want them, like I would want a necklace that a girl at work is wearing. That's what happened with this striped scarf. I saw that Jared had knit one, without any pattern, and I had to knit one for myself. 
This is a plain scarf, knit in the round with two color-corregated yarn, so that it blends itself when you knit 3 (or however many) rows of each ball. I used one Crazy Zauberball and one Noro Kureyon, and am so pleased with the results.
As much as I was coveting owning this scarf, however, I'll have to knit myself one in the new year. I'm short on Christmas gifts for men, and there's one on my list that just might love this!PS. Do you see our attempt at growing chilis? We've come this far, and then plateaued. Does anyone know how we can get past the 1 inch mark?
I haven't seen Mr. Furly for ages. He's been gone so long, I'm starting to worry about his safety again. When he left me in Bristol, he did say he'd be back by Christmas, and that he'd meet me in New York.
I dug up this baby picture of the two of us, when we were young and unblemished. I do hope he sees it, and hurries home soon.
Mr. Jones has three nieces age 12, almost 2, and almost 1. I wanted to make them complementary knitted gifts, with touches of color in each that would correlate with each other. I love relationships between the colors people wear, and thought it would be great if, when they played with each other, they coordinated in a really subtle way.
For 12 year-old Chloe, I made Endpaper Mittens (from this free pattern). When I work at the wool shoppe, all the 12 year-olds girls request fingerless mittens from their knitter moms. You never know with 12 year-olds, but I'm hoping these will be cool enough to make it out of the house!
For almost 2 year-old Poppy, I used the extra Liberty fabric from a dress I'm making for myself (will I ever finish that dress?) to make a simple elastic waist skirt that I sewed from a vintage children's pattern (McCalls 5793). The Cable Yoke Sweater is a design of my colleague Claire, from her new book. I might have to adapt these patterns to adult sizes. I love them so much, I would wear the whole outfit.
Finally, for almost 1 year-old Summer, I made a fair isle yoke sweater. It's the same one I made before, though this time I charted my own fair isle hearts. I'm really happy with how it came out.I can't wait to give these gifts to three lovely English ladies at Christmastime. I hope wearing them brings the girls even closer!
It's been raining a lot, and Penny and Calvin have a hole in their roof:
A lot of Christmas kniting! And some work at the yarn shop, and the animation studio.
The best part of the knitting is thinking about the recipients as I'm making their gifts. It really makes giving a lot more special.
This month's giveaway is a Mr. Furly apron, handmade by me!
Made of fabric designed by me and printed through Spoonflower and backed in white cotton, the apron features extra long ties, a deep utility pocket, and Mr. Furly in many of his brilliant disguises. It's just what you need to cook a great Thanksgiving dinner or Sunday Roast. I like it so much I just might make another one for myself.
To enter this contest, please leave a comment in this post. I'll pick the winner a few days before Thanksgiving, and send the apron to the winner! Good luck!
I thought it might need something besides the sewn treats. I thought about stringing popcorn and cranberries, or getting some small Christmas balls. But when I turned out the lights and plugged it in, I decided the cakes were enough.
It's getting some pretty strange looks from the streets of London. It's beginning to look a lot like, well, I don't know what...but something secular, garish, and delicious. I hope you're starting to feel as Christmasy as I am!
In other news, I'll be picking a winner of the November giveaway this week, so enter if you haven't yet, and desire to do so. I know you need a new apron.
