Sweet Lavender

 We have had a few days of hot sunshine, such a balm for the spirits. I've wandered through my rain ravaged garden, despaired at the ruination of the roses, the jungle of bindweed and found that my lavender bushes have endeavoured to persevere. I wish I had the time to do all the home maker crafts my ma and grandma did so lovingly. On a chosen morning before the sun got high in the sky a table cloth would be spread out in the shade, the cool cream and white ceramic mixing bowls would be set out and the air would fill with he scent of fresh lavender. Our thumbnails turning green as we riffled them down the stems to remove the flower heads.
Once harvested the bowls would be left to air and the contents to gently dry, while busy hands turned tired household linens and scraps of dressmaking fabrics into little sachets.

When I grew up and finally had my own garden a very dear friend brought me ten lavender plants. As Sally Owens says 'There are some things I know for certain, always throw spilt salt over your left shoulder, keep rosemary by your garden gate, plant lavender for luck... and fall in love whenever you can'. More of rosemary another day.

I began making lavender wands just as soon as those plants matured. It starts in the spring with the gradual gathering of ribbons. Some summers I've have mountains of lavender in various stages of the process, come autumn I would sell them and use the proceeds to fund Christmas treats.

Here's how it's done:

Gather lengths of ribbon,
1 meter or more.

Harvest lavender. Bind stalks into
bunches of an odd number.

Allow to wilt, then bend the stalks over, a
gentle twist prevents stalks from snapping.

Wrap the ribbon end to cover the binding thread
then, bring it through between two stalks

Weave the ribbon over and under the stalks
to hide the flower section.

With all the stalks drawn together,
wrap the ribbon around the stalks. 

With the stalks wrapped, trim the ribbon.
Cut two tails to knot the ribbon in place.

Cover the knot with a bow of ribbon scrap

Snip the stalk ends to tidy them.
Make lots more!

Batch bake beading

Well, it's the time of year when anyone with an ounce of craftiness is either sitting smug or in a tail spin. I'm referring to that subtle pressure to hand make lovely presents. The smugly smug gals started last January and are now happily doing artful giftwrapping. For the rest of us, life got in the way, or we spent the summer gardening, or like with me, didn't really think about it until the weather turned a bit nippy, which is honestly too late.... almost.
I often thought that it would be lovely to spend my spare time all year industriously making things, then book a booth at the local Christmas market. Having just walked around the one in Bath on this bitterly cold November day, I can honestly say that I'm not sure I could stand the chilly winds of commercial reality!

knitted and felted and waiting for beads

Anyhoo, it's batch bake beading time and although a bit eleventh hour here's a project that is definitely
do-able at the rate of beading up one an evening.

First get a ball of Wash+ Filz-it! felting yarn, and a 4pin knitting dolly. Knit yourself 20 -25cm (including the bit in the bobbin). Sew the ends together then felt it. I make several and put them in with a regular washing load. You can easily knit five or six in an evening.

Once dry your knitted bangle will have shrunk a bit.
Also the join may look a bit blobby but will disappear under the beading.

Now for the beady bit. I tend to use up oddments of beads, bags of weird sizes and cheap and cheerful's which may not be ideal for precision beading, but you know, you fell in love with the colour...

seven bead netting, three sets fit a treat

Work the netting around the knitting. I find three sets of seven beads fits well. You can use a bigger  or different coloured bead for the centre/intersection bead. Not sure about netting? there's a good tutorial here So keep beading and rather than stretching out the knitting, push it into the beading so that it is the beaded net which stretches over the knitting. I use a little wooden stick, or knitting needle, or blunt end of a biro.
Tweek the size at this stage if needed, by squishing up the knitting more or less to get the diameter you want. It will look a really weird shape until you've beaded right round.

Once the beaded tube ends meet up, zip them together and the bangle is suddenly perfectly circular and good to go.

One ball of yarn will make about 8 -10 bangles... and there are lots of lush colours to choose from.
Make a gift tag to explain that these bangles are a bit stretchy, can be rolled on, and hand washed too.
If you're feeling generous, tie two or three together with a pretty ribbon and hand them over. If not, pop one in one of those cute organza bags.

finished bangles... can I really bear to part with them!

I am a big fan of netted beadwork, it works up satisfyingly quickly. If you'd like to explore some new ways with netting, my book on CD Beadnet covers all sorts of shaped and hollow form netting, with lots of colourful projects. One of my favourites is the spiky 'Sea urchin' bangle, it's really easy to bead.

Sea urchin bangles in monochrome

More acorns...

knit an acorn today

When I'm not busy beading, I do like to tinker with a bit of yarn! To make these acorn pomanders you'll need some pure wool (a skein of tapestry wool is ideal) for the acorn, some chunky wool for the acorn cup.
Also gather together some acrylic toy stuffing, an 8 pin knitting bobbin a 3mm (or similar) crochet hook, some dried herbs... I used a mix of cloves, crushed cinnamon sticks and dried lavender.

Knit the Acorn, wind the yarn around each bobbin pin in turn, then wind round each one again so that you have two rings of loops. Stitch by making a new loop, lift the bottom one over the top two and off the pin. This gives a nice snug stitch. Work for 20 rounds then cast off by lifting the two stitches off each pin and pulling the yarn through both. Pull the cast off yarn tight.
Turn the whole tube inside out and stuff lightly with toy stuffing. Sew the end closed.
Felt the acorn... dunk the whole thing in hot soapy water and keep washing until you feel the yarn begin to firm up and shrink. Rinse it in cold water and squeeze out the excess. Roll the acorn into shape and leave it to dry.

add a scented mix of spices

To make the acorn cup, use a chunky yarn and cast on one row of stitches onto the 8 pin bobbin leaving a long tail to work with later. Knit 8 rows and cast off loosely, leave another good long tail.
Use the yarn tail at the start and crochet three or four chain, work back up the chain in single crochet to form the stalk of the acorn cup. This is not an exact science, but use the rest of the yarn to fill in around the base of the stalk until you think it looks nice and cup shaped.
Stretch out the top of the acorn cup and single crochet around the edge with the second tail (or just over sew the edges if it's easier).
Fill the base of the cup with a pinch of dried herbs. Slot the knitted acorn into the cup and stitch the two together.
Make several and pile them in a bowl for a sweet and seasonal room scenter!

sew the edges together

add some fir cones and horse chestnuts too