Bunting, hearts and needles

After the Christmas garland had come down the fire place seemed a little bare so to bust some of the stash I decided to knit some bunting. I'm not entirely happy with the colours but it made a dent in the DK pile at least. Excuse the dust on top of the fire, I've only just noticed!

I found the bunting pattern here  http://greenmountainmama.blogspot.co.uk/2007/10/knitted-bunting-pattern.html

But I found my bunting curled so I knitted  smaller garter ones (cast on 23) which I sewed to the back which straightened them out.


Flowers were buttercups from Nicky Epsteins Knitted flower book http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/buttercups

I also was inspired by Lucy's heart garland over at http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/. But I still haven't made time to learn to crochet so I knitted mine instead.

Lots of fun knitting up these little buttercup flowers and they were a hit with the cats who liked to steal and play with them...one has yet to be found!

Not sure I like the garter leaves I should have done stocking stitch ones instead.

But the finished result is bright and pretty, perfect for February.

Running a retail business means you have to be ahead of the game with regards to universal events like Valentines day. So I ordered beads and charms in early January so overseas customers had time to order and receive them. I like these little 10mm heart charms with their slightly different designs.

Another departure for Crafty Cat is to buy in some knitting needles and hooks to cover more of the yarn experience for my customers. I fell in love with these brightly coloured bamboo circulars. The 80cm cord is nice and flexible and the wood smooth.

These crochet hooks have rubber handles making them very comfortable to use and again just my bright colours!

I made myself a row counter a while ago and sat down to make some for sale. I came up with 2 colour ways as these aluminum jump rings are so light to use.

And that brings me to snow envy! I love snow! I love being out in it, I love how it changes the quality of light that you wake up and just can tell it's snowed. I love how it covers  everything and makes all pristine for however little time.I love to watch the animals reaction to this change in their world. The feel of snowflakes against my cheek, AAAhhh SNOW and we have had NONE. I feel cheated and left out. Photograph below is the sad offering we have had here in Bristol and that melted pretty quickly too. Huummphh. At least my tulips are alive.

I recently found http://planetpenny.co.uk/ and this is my first Happy Friday!