Christmas Balls

Now that Christmas gifts have been given, I can post about a few of them. First up, Christmas balls.

I don't remember how or where, but two years ago I saw the work of "The Ornament Girl" and signed up for her free tutorial. The ornaments are all made by folding fabric and pinning it to a foam ball.

Then I got emails every week with new examples of the same design or new designs. (She has an ornament of the month club so there are always new ones.) I deleted the ones I didn't like and collected the ones that I did like.

This year was finally the year when I was going to put the tutorial to good use.

Over Thanksgiving weekend, I spent some time at my sister's. We always talk about doing "craft days" together and that's what I decided to make it. I gathered and brought all the supplies to make some ornaments. (At first the only fabric I packed was a strip set of Christmas fabric that I got as a gift but by the time I left I had three gallon bags full of red, green, and blue Christmas or winter fabric!)

I didn't take any progress pics, so the rest of this post consists of pictures of finished ornaments. The first ornament strictly follows the instructions of the tutorial.

The tutorial even shows how to do the ribbon on the top, which is good because I am not great at those fussy embellishments. I used a bunch of leftover ribbon so none of them match!

This is the same eight-pointed star design with different fabrics:

Then I decided to try one of the other designs that I had collected:

I didn't have a tutorial for it and tried to figure out how to adapt the other technique on my own. I don't think I did it the same way, but the final effect is pretty much the same.

Another eight-pointed star:

Later, I added the beads to the ornaments.

Where I put beads was influenced by the pictures from the Ornament Girl and also determined by what colours of beads I had! The beads are applied with a pin through them so that is why they all have a silver "head".

I think I got three done at my sister's in an afternoon and the next morning. They took a lot more time than I anticipated!! (Picking and cutting the fabric takes quite a bit of the time.)

When I got home, I kept the supplies out and made a few more over the next week or so. I made a few where the center was a scene cut from a fabric.

(These "double pictures" show the two sides of the same ornament.)

Look at those sweet bunnies!!

And I had to make a pink one for my sister who does her tree up in pink. (When she does a tree; this year she didn't have one.)

Then I tried a little fussy cutting. Lucy Boston having her influence on me!

Here, the center pieces are fussy cut and folded to line up.

The center and outer pieces in this one

are fussy cut as well. The center lines up holly leaves on the fold and dotted lines where fabric pieces meet. The outer pieces are folded so a solid green line forms at the fold.

Here's a top view of the ribbon.

Some got single bows; some double. It just depended what I had to match and what I felt like the ornament needed.

And the final ornament was made with a collection of black and white holiday fabric I had.

I really liked this one!

There was one more ornament I made with a spiral design but I gave it away without getting a picture!! It was my attempt at this style:

Picture by the Ornament Girl

in red, green, and gold. (It looked a little like this but not so nice...this was one I really could have used instructions for!!)

A few other people got ornaments, but here's a picture with my sisters after I gave them theirs:

This was a really fun project and the results came out better than I expected. (It's hard to cover the raw edges of the fabric and to "finish" it when there's no place to hide the ends.) I don't naturally trust things that aren't fastened together somehow (pins pushed into foam can be pulled out!), but it seemed to work well.

It's a fun way to use up some small amounts of fabric and adding beads or other embellishments (sequins, charms, rhinestones, etc.) can make them sparkle in the tree lights.

The Grinch is Alive and Well

Today we had a little Christmas get together at work. The people who only work one day a week came in and naturally we full timers were already there. And we received the gift cards from our boss that we had told him we wanted three weeks ago (and some of us even picked up our own and dutifully turned them in to the office to be handed out at the appropriate time). We didn't give him gifts because he doesn't like Christmas and apparently has never used the gifts they've gotten him in the past. (Even practical stuff like t-shirts--and he does wear t-shirts.)

And we exchanged gifts. Instead of going into a full blown rant about these obligations, maybe I'll just copy the description of my project that I wrote in Ravelry. I think you'll get the idea:

Gifts for co-workers, needed in a rush.

So you start a new job, and the first Christmas rolls around. A Christmas party gets scheduled, and then cancelled, and then you find out that doesn't apply to the "smaller" party in the office. (What office has two Christmas parties?) And then you find out everyone else has already gotten gifts even though all these months all they've been talking about is that they don't get gifts for the boss because he's not into Christmas. And you realize your plan of just skipping out on the whole gift thing isn't going to work. And then you search for patterns grumbling a little about how disproportionately much trouble "little" gifts cause. And then you find out that the "smaller" party has been moved a week closer because of someone's schedule and now you need 4 "little" gifts in 5 days. (And guess what...the rest of your life isn't going to stop because you need 4 "little" gifts in the next 5 days.) Grumble grumble grumble. (I should have just knit a grinch for myself and called it good.)

Now that I got that off my chest, I'll tell you that each gift took 1.5 - 2 hours. Think of what you make per hour at your job, or at a previous job if you're not working right now. And ask yourself: would you spend 1.5 - 2 hours of your wages on gifts for co-workers who are friendly enough at work, but not your friends? Grumble grumble grumble.

Why didn't I just buy cheap ornaments made in China? Good question.

Grumble grumble grumble.

And what did I make? These adorable mini stocking ornaments: (pattern link)

Bad news? I didn't get to keep any of them.

Grumble grumble grumble.

A Star is Born

I have for you today two more Christmas items I actually made over the holidays this year.

The first is an ornament ball crocheted out of 34 gauge craft wire (two strands). The beads were prestrung on the wire and added after every other stitch.

I used a very simple ball pattern from Dragonfaeriee Crochets, originally intended for children or pet toys. Instead of doing it in two halves and sewing it together, as the pattern says, I made it one piece. I could get away with that because I wasn't stuffing it with anything.

I was hoping the ball would be a little more malleable, but it's not too bad a shape--not quite sphere, but close enough. (Next time I'll think about stretching it over a clear glass ball if I want it to be more "perfect.")

It was a quick project that I finished in a "bonus" afternoon when a flight I was supposed to meet was canceled. Working with wire is always a little fussy but no worse than some fussy yarns I've worked with!

The second project was a little more involved (to grossly understate the situation). It certainly took more time, for one thing. And it had a lot more shaping and fiddly work. But the pattern caught my eye just at the right time to take advantage of some clearance yarn and...ta da! a star is born!

It is a dodecahedron, (in the "small" stellated version according to Wiki); that is, a twelve pointed star. How could that not catch my eye, right?

The pattern is by the prolific Norah Gaughan, well written and easy to follow. Each point is made in the identical way and joined as you go by picking up stitches off of previously made points. There's a lot of casting on, however, and it all goes in fits and starts as each point is quick, but there are 12 of them to do.

Things zip along like holiday traffic (fast in between bouts of stop and go) until you get finished the penultimate point. Then you have to stop and stuff:
Then you have to figure out how you're going to pick up all the stitches around the opening for the final point.
Things are a little stretched out and although it is quite straight forward, that doesn't mean it's simple to actually do!

But I managed. Then you proceed to knit the final point, stopping occasionally to stuff it while you still have the chance.
(That opening is only going to get smaller.)
Until finally, the point is knit; the star is stuffed; and you are holding a perfect 12 pointed star in your hand:
It really came out great.

Project Stats
Started: 12 Dec 09
Finished: 2 Jan 10
Pattern: Celeste (free)
Materials: Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca & Silk (color 144), 1.2 skeins @ $7.50/eaI'm very happy I used a "luxury" yarn for the star--it is a tree-topper after all and should be worthy of that position of honour. The silk gives it a very nice sheen without being as gaudy as actual sparkles!

I was planning to just lay the star on the top of the tree next year (removing the center spike that's usually there), but Troy has plans for suspending it from the ceiling so it hangs just above the tree. Should be nice.

I haven't had a tree in years, so this will be a nice incentive to get going on it next year.

Merry Christmas Wreath

How can this wreath be anything but merry? Just a little project I put together this year.

If you want your own, take a wire coat hanger and bend it into a circle shape. Take a few packages of Christmas balls (I used five*) and attach them to the hanger. I took the top off the ball, looped the wire around the hanger and then put the ball back together. A little fiddly but very simple.

Project Stats
Total time: about 1 hour
Materials: about 50 Christmas balls (under $10) and a wire coat hanger

Gravity pulls the balls to the bottom so it's not exactly symmetric, but if you want yours to be perfect you may be able to fiddle with it. I let my balls fall where they may, so to speak. Or you could do what my mother-in-law suggests and just add a bow to the top. Voila!

And if you every grow tired of your super-shiny Christmas wreath, you can just remove the balls and reuse them for some other project.

Hope you're enjoying your day...I have a few hours of knitting in front of me!

________________________

*I started with two packages of a dozen balls I had got on clearance last year. When that wasn't enough I went out and bought three new packages. (Yes, I paid full price--$2.50--on Christmas eve because I couldn't wait!) The new packages cleverly put the balls in diagonal rows (instead of a 4x3 grid) so you wouldn't notice that the packages now hold 10 balls instead of 12!

More Christmas: Ornaments

A dear friend wanted to do an ornament exchange at a Christmas party and this got the balls rolling, so to speak. The idea didn't actually pan out for that party, but it did get me inspired to make a few ornaments from a Vogue Knitting pattern I had seen...somewhere...hmmm... Yes, I found the pattern in the Holiday 2007 issue.

The balls are pretty quick knits, but still about 2 hours each. And that's plain and simple; no beading, special patterns or striping. I had some 3" styrofoam balls sitting around so I adapted the number of stitches and went to town. Ok, I did make a few changes. If you follow the link to the pattern, you'll notice that the knitting is not very smooth; it's all bunched up where it gathers at the top and bottom: this will never do! So 1. I used a crochet cast on so I could have live stitches and gather each stitch up (instead of every 4 stitches like the pattern called for); and 2. I ribbed for the first and last 5 rows so it would more naturally pull together. It makes the balls slightly bulkier there, but much smoother. A worthwhile trade off in my mind.

The first ball was done straight and simple with a red sparkly yarn I had left over from an aunt's "Red Hat Society" Hat I made her a few years ago. Observant readers will notice it's the same yarn I used for the Joy Pompom Hairband. Whatever you might say about its rather hideous appearance as a yarn, it performs beautifully as a Christmas ball.

With that success under my belt, I went a little fancier on the next one. You see, my friend had been rapsodizing about some chocolate brown Christmas balls she had seen in the store, and I happen to have some chocolate brown yarn interwoven with gold sparkles. (Left over from a beautiful Vogue pattern for a sleeveless sweater which turned out to flatter me not in the least.) And I also happen to have some leftover gold lame (yes the said same from the Christmas postcard). So I knit the pattern up but added a few rows of YOs [yarn overs] to make some peak-a-boo holes. Then I covered the styrofoam ball with strips of the lame pinned into place before covering the whole thing with the knitting. It all worked out great:

Next up was an attempt with some beads for sparkle. I needed some sock yarn which was all the excuse I needed to visit my favourite Red Purl. Amy had some sock yarn on sale so I chose 2 colours: the closest to red (really a taupe) and a variegated green. So far I got the beads strung on the taupe and a ball knitted up. The bead stripes aren't quite centered but I can pretend that was a design feature.

And this still leaves the green yarn to play with. Haven't quite gotten to it yet though. Too many Christmas parties and other activities!

Have fun decorating your place for the holidays!