Laurel Burch

I made ornaments as gifts for nieces this Christmas. The images came from a book of Laurel Burch Christmas crafts. It is a wonderful book of mostly quilted decorations for the holidays.



The ornaments are glazed ceramic blanks from Michaels. I traced two of the designs from the book onto the ornaments, then I used some paints designed for painting on glass (so they are translucent) and a gold paint pen for the details.

Another way to "do good"

I saw an ad for this [Herdy] in a British knitting magazine. What a beautiful site, and what a great idea!

I admit, I'm a sucker for anything that has great design and helps animals. But you have to agree that Herdy is a cute little sheep.

There has been more interest lately for saving and renewing breeds of sheep and cattle that have been neglected in favor of those that produce more wool or meat. But as we are learning, lack of diversity can be very dangerous when it comes to disease.

Anyway, check out Herdy...

Magic Pair of Socks

The latest issue of Piecework, Jan/Feb 2009, has an article with instructions for knitting two socks at a time using a double-knitting technique so that one sock is knit INSIDE the other! I don't know if I'll give it a try...I have yet to try the Magic Loop or two socks on two circular needles, but this is so ingenius!

Check it out Piecework's website.

First Rule of Dyeing

Wear gloves! 'nough said. I'm not completely happy with the results of the dyeing process. Even though I followed the directions, blue dye continues to bleed out of the yarn when it is wet. Best thing: the dissolvable packet the dye comes in.