Crafting for Christmas 2009, let's begin again.......

Ladybag

mardatha wrote: »

If you were buying hand knits for a present for somebody, what would you look to buy ?
A neighbour is getting a shop this summer & wants to stock handmade things, (not just knitting) but she asked me what sells and I havent a clue as I just knit what I like knitting !

Because times are tricky I would suggest that your friend stocks small and cute items that are cheaper to make and therefore cheaper to buy. How about:

*Little bugs/animals
*Flower brooches
*Small knitted purses
*Shawls/scarves
*Hats
*Hair decorations
*Mobiles
*Girls purses
*Socks
*Knitted jewellery
*Egg cosies
*Holiday decorations: Valentines, Easter, Xmas etc.

Good luck to your friend!

mardatha

Wow lots of help already thank you ! This lady is very arty crafty, been to art school and is into sculpture and all sorts of stuff, so I don't know how much knitting she will have, but I said the wee things will fill in space on shelves etc. I'm off to lookat that etsy link now myself now, might find inspiration for family pressies for thingymas..

Anglea

Mardatha -Hand knitting - I only found out today that knitted baby clothes are back in vogue - from a friend that is always knitting her granddaughter jackets. I commented that I was surprised that the DIL was dressing the baby in it as it's rare to see these days and was told that lots of the new mums that go to the mother and baby club all dress their newborns in woolies.

So perhaps some of those then.

Ladybag - all those links - when am I going to find time to do any chores?:D

I was given a brilliant idea for an ornement by the friend who was knitting the baby jacket - small plastic canvas cottages! I'd never heard of that before as an ornie, but she had been given a kit (still unmade LOL from years back). I'm definitely going to make some. Anyone else fancy this - or seen some like it?

mardatha

i USED TO WORK FOR A COMPANY UP HERE WHO MADE SMALL TEDDIES & churches and villages, they were cast in plaster and we painted them.
Put me off the bl00dy things for life... LOL
Edited to say sorry for yelling, I have a fancy font on this laptop and cant see when I'm in caps !

donna73

ladybag thanks for all the links to tutorials etc
so many ideas and not enough hours in the day, what i need is a wife to do all the cooking cleaning etc than i can concentrate on the more important things in life i.e crafting!

bikerchick1066

donna73 wrote: »

ladybag thanks for all the links to tutorials etc
so many ideas and not enough hours in the day, what i need is a wife to do all the cooking cleaning etc than i can concentrate on the more important things in life i.e crafting!

Donna

I now pay my 18 year old son to do my cleaning on a Friday afternoon, so I come home from work on a friday night to a shiny house and a weekend free for crafting x

soblivion

Anglea wrote: »

I was given a brilliant idea for an ornement by the friend who was knitting the baby jacket - small plastic canvas cottages! I'd never heard of that before as an ornie, but she had been given a kit (still unmade LOL from years back). I'm definitely going to make some. Anyone else fancy this - or seen some like it?

Sorry I snipped your post Angela, is this the type of thing you were meaning?
http://www.anniesattic.com/plastic_canvas/detail.html?prod_id=21133
I've seen many different ones. There's some lovely patterns for plastic canvas around. I've got a large piece of plastic canvas here that I bought years and years ago. The shop I bought it from has been closed for I don't know how long. I had good intentions but only used a little piece as stuffing for a peak of a crochet cap. I really must get round to doing something with it.

s_michaels

Draft blockers make brilliant presents as I have recently found out, they are really fun to make as well. I posted a thread about them before I realised this one was here, will try and find the link to it.

I made mine with an over the knee sock, filled with 2KG of rice, (cheapest place I have found is morrissons and it works out cheaper to buy the 1KG bags rather than a 4KG bag for some reason), I stuck two googly eyes on with super glue and my mum sewed the end up for me.

She also sewed the toe part of the sock over to make a head, (will post pictures when I can as this will give you a better idea), then we made a red tongue out of felt and sewed that on to.

helenhugs

s_michaels wrote: »

Draft blockers make brilliant presents as I have recently found out, they are really fun to make as well. I posted a thread about them before I realised this one was here, will try and find the link to it.

I made mine with an over the knee sock, filled with 2KG of rice, (cheapest place I have found is morrissons and it works out cheaper to buy the 1KG bags rather than a 4KG bag for some reason), I stuck two googly eyes on with super glue and my mum sewed the end up for me.

She also sewed the toe part of the sock over to make a head, (will post pictures when I can as this will give you a better idea), then we made a red tongue out of felt and sewed that on to.

So where is the pic then lol we like piccys too. I keep thinking about making some draught excluders. Do you put the rice in a bag inside or just do it loose?
Hugs
Helen

Anglea

soblivion wrote: »

Sorry I snipped your post Angela, is this the type of thing you were meaning?
http://www.anniesattic.com/plastic_canvas/detail.html?prod_id=21133
I've seen many different ones. There's some lovely patterns for plastic canvas around. I've got a large piece of plastic canvas here that I bought years and years ago. The shop I bought it from has been closed for I don't know how long. I had good intentions but only used a little piece as stuffing for a peak of a crochet cap. I really must get round to doing something with it.

##

Thanks for the link, those houses are gorgeous.

I think the ones my friend meant were even smaller so they could hang on the Christmas tree. Thinking about it, the plastic would have to be a very small count to stitch on unless you just use the canvas as a wall then stick on felt and embroider the details. I think I might experiment.

maradatha - I can imagine if you had to do that sort of painting it could put you off those models. I've got some Lilliput cottages that are unpainted, still haven't got round to doing them.