How to knit tinsel for Christmas.

When you think of making Christmas decorations you may recall struggling with glue paper and card.
However you can make fantastic decorations with sewing and knitting. We've shown you how to make an advent calendar, a Christmas bauble and how to use ribbon and cinnamon for a simple decoration. To knit  this tinsel we are going to knit a scarf almost, of 5 stitches in width. But with a little twist. I must stress I'm very new to knitting, and I suffer from "sausage fingers" and even I managed this project!

Now our wonderful COO has shown me how to make tinsel by knitting! you will need:
Can Can knitting yarn.
Double Knitting Pins. 4mm

Can Can yarn comes in a ball like other yarns, at first glance it looks like a thick cord.












However when you tease it open you find it's more of a ribbon of mesh.













Casting On
Casting on with Can Can is simple.
Just slide one needle through the yarn on one side.

 3 cm along the yarn slide the needle through the yarn again. DO this until you have the needle through the yarn five times. That's it, we've cast on, see, simple!

 The Knitting. 
Slide the second needle UNDER the first THROUGH the loop it's made in the yarn.

 Loop the yarn around the front of the first needle.
Slide the second needle through the yarn about 3cm along from the first loop in the first needle.

Slide the second needle around  to the right and poke the needle through the loop on the first needle again.

 Just like this. Slide this new loop off the first needle, it should now be on the second needle. Repeat this for all five stitches.

 Rotate the second needle and then wrap the yarn around the front. Then slide the first needle under under the second (which now has the stitches on) and knit as you did before.  And that's all there is to it.

 Keep up this process until you run out of yarn and you should have a beautiful length of tinsel, or indeed a scarf.

 These lengths of tinsel look beautiful in any colour, and make fantastic boa style scarves for the new year.










You can also knit up multiple lengths and twist them together for this beautiful candy cane effect.

Finally we have a video where I attempt to knit on film! As I've said before I'm VERY new to knitting but even I have managed this project!

Ribbon & Cinnamon Decoration and Christmas Card Holder.

Love it or Loathe it, you can't ignore Christmas. I realized the other day that I'm normally a lot happier this time of year. I sat down and looked at what was wrong and it came to me. I have more work to do than time to do it, and less money than I'd like to spend at Christmas. It occurred to me that I can't be the only one thinking the same.  Therefore I decided to experiment and come up with some decorations that were festive and yet quick and cheap to make. This would allow me and  anyone else in the same boat to have a hand crafted personalized Christmas, without spending too much time or money.  I thought about Ribbon. Ribbon is cheap and plentiful at this time of year. Not only is it inexpensive to buy but many people have plenty spare in their homes. The other advantage of ribbon is it comes in many styles and patterns, allowing you to make a truly unique ornament  which could also me a nice early gift to someone.

For the Cinnamon decorations you will need
Ribbon
Cinnamon Sticks
Scissors 
Optional 
Needles
Thread
Elastic Bands

For the Christmas Card Holder you will need;
Ribbon 
Needles
Thread
Scissors 
paper clips (or sticky tape)
Cinnamon sticks decorations.

This simple decoration is my homage to the yule log symbolizing warmth and comfort. Cinnamon sticks can be often found very cheaply at oriental supermarkets.

Bundle the cinnamon sticks together. Things are a lot easier if you hold them in place with elastic bands.  I used Dalchini Sticks which are very thick.

You can simply tie  the ribbon around the sticks and pull it into a bow. Then hang or rest the sticks into your tree. This also can give an artificial tree a warm subtle scent.

You can hem the ribbon first by folding the ends over double and top stitching in place.

Smaller cinnamon sticks give a more delicate looking decoration.











Christmas Card Holder

Christmas Cards always help a room feel festive, however finding space for them all can be a struggle.
For the cost of a piece of ribbon and a few minutes you can have a custom made card holder.

I find Grosgrain Ribbon works best

To begin with take some ribbon, about 3 times longer than the Card holder needs to be. Pleat the ribbon along it's length, make the pleats around 1.5 cm deep.

Stitch the pleats in pl;ace with a singe row of stitching down the middle.

Take a paper clip and slip it into one of the pleats

Slide a Christmas Card under the paper clip so it's held in place

Add more cards as you receive them and just pin or otherwise fasten the card holder in place.

The pleated detail of the ribbon does add a festive charm to this little project

I chose brown to match my sofa  but red, gold or green would look fantastic.

For more idea on festive projects and amazing wrapping ideas check out this fantastic blog I found today.

 http://claireabellemakes.com/2012/11/19/christmas-wrapping-ideas/

A thrifty and easy Christmas Bauble

We are now getting into November, from this point I start feeling very Christmasy. Last year I made up a Christmas Tree shaped table decoration following a pattern. I had intended to do the same for some fabric Christmas Baubles. However most commercial patterns required a polystyrene  ball of an exact size, and then limited your choice of fabrics to felts. They also required a lot of spray gluing  Spray glue and me  do not get on. As a result I sat down and created my own template and instructions for a Christmas Bauble.

 You will need:
Fabric (around 20cm by 40cm)
Needles
Pins
Scissors
Thread Snips
Small piece of ribbon
Toy Stuffing
Thread

Print out and cut out the template (click on the image to get a high quality image, and then save and print, MS paint or any other basic paint package can shrink or expand it to the size you want, this one is 15 cm long)

 Cut out 6 pattern pieces per bauble. You can make them all the same or use a mixture of fabrics. A seam allowance of half an inch (1.2cm) has been included
 Place one pattern piece on top of another, right sides together and pin and then sew along one length. Repeat this for the other sections so you have three different sections, each consisting of two of the panel pieces.

Right sides together sew one section to another, and then the final section leaving a gap to turn the bauble right side out. Clip all the seams. You should now have a ball shaped piece of fabric, turn it right side out and begin stuffing.

Close up the bauble with a ladder stitch. A ladder stitch is formed by first anchoring a stitch from within the bauble and popping the needle out at the seam allowance. Then put the needle directly into the fold of seam allowance on the opposite side of the gap. Then on the same side of the gap bring your needle OUT of the seam allowance fold a little further up and sew directly across the gap. Repeat until you are at the top of the bauble and pull the thread tight gently.

Stitch a little loop of ribbon at the top and you have a bauble.
These can be adorned with beading on the fabric or a trail of beads from the bottom, let your imagination go wild.  For me apart from being fun to make these have the advantage of letting you tailor your ornaments to your room decor and make your tree a little more personal.  The basic bauble can be made in 15 minutes or so, and then embellished at your leisure.