Category Archives: Christmas

Advent Calendar – Day Three

For the Planet Penny Advent Calendar today I’ve gone to a Christmas favourite of mine, Origami Stars. I first tried Origami when I was about 11. My mother found a book in the library, and thought it was a great idea as it didn’t require any cutting up of bits of paper. (She says I spent my entire childhood creating scraps of paper which were too small to pick up, and too big to be vacuumed. Nothing’s changed there then!)

The stars didn’t make an appearance then, but my lovely daughter-in-law, Celia, discovered them a few Christmases ago, and decorated the mantelpiece in their old house in Rouen, and they now remind me of the last Christmas we spent there together before she, my son and grandsons move back to the UK. Happy memories, and I’ve been making them every Christmas since…

What I love about them is that they are so simple to make, and yet can be made to fit in any colour scheme, from the wild and colourful to sophisticated and plain. You will be very surprised by my particular choice, given my love of colour but I really like them plain and white and simple…

The possibilities are endless when it comes to decorating ideas. They look good just in a glass jar, dish or vase…

…so pretty scattered over a red Christmas tablecloth…

In the past I’ve strung them together to make garlands, added individual strings to each little star to hang them in the Christmas tree branches and attached them to mirrors and windows with double sided tape. Made in gold and silver and glued on to a simple wreath they would look stunning and in bright colours stuck to the ceiling to a child’s bedroom they would look pretty any time of the year…

Tempted? Well, there’s a great tutorial here which will get you started, and before too long you’ll be churning them out in every spare moment!

And if you’d like a little colour fix, I found these on Pinterest. Aren’t they gorgeous? (no source I’m afraid)

If you missed yesterdays’s post don’t forget to join in with the Prize Draw, see this post for all the details of the prize. Just follow Planet Penny in some way, whether it’s by email sign up, or on Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter. Don’t think I expect you to do everything, and if you are already following, well thank you very much! All I need is for you to tell me somewhere in a comment during the Advent Calendar posts because that where I will be compiling my list of entrants from. Hope that make sense…

In the meantime, Have fun, and I’ll be back tomorrow!

Day Two of the ‘Virtual’ Advent Calendar!

I’ve had lots of encouraging comments about my Christmas blogging marathon, a post a day for the virtual Advent Calendar until Christmas Eve, thank you all very much! (And if you’ve just discovered what I’m up to, scroll down to end of this post and find Day One’s crafty wrapping ideas…)

Today is all about my celebratory Giveaway for my 5 years living on Planet Penny, and I’ve deliberated long and hard to think of something everyone can enjoy, whether you are a maker, or someone who just appreciates what is made. So the prize is ready made, and part of it is the Advent Calendar make for today.

Having spent so much time with my Rainbow collection of yarn I thought it would be good to celebrate that with colourful tree decorations, so I have made some mini balls of yarn complete with tiny knitting needles.

These look lovely on the Christmas tree…

…but are far too pretty and colourful to hide away for the rest of the year. Can you imagine them strung on a line adorning someone’s crafting corner, or hanging round the edge of a lampshade perhaps?

They are simple to make if you want to do your own. I used a small polystyrene ball as a base and glued the yarn on to start with. Then you just wind round carefully until the base is hidden and the ball is the size you want. Glue the tail back on itself to form the hanger. The needles are made from cocktail sticks with beads on the end and pushed through the ball…simples!

But you can win your own if you enter the Give-away Prize Draw!

The next part of the prize has to be needlefelt don’t you think? It’s been so much of what I do. So this too could be yours…

..a little Christmas Mousie…

And finally, I’d like to include a book, and this time there’s a choice. It could be a copy of ‘Knitting on the Road’…

…if you are a knitter. There are some beautiful and unusual patterns from around the world…

Or if sewing’s more your thing, there’s ‘Zakka Style’…

This has some stylish and unusual designs which are very appealing…

…or if you or someone in your family would prefer to snuggle up with a good read you could choose this…

…which will be signed by the author, Thomas Taylor, just for you. I know him quite well! (You can find out more about Thomas, the book and how we know each other from this post)

So to recap, the prize is –

14 hanging ornaments – mini rainbow balls of yarn with knitting needles
a Christmas needlefelt mouse with hat and bell
And a choice of one of three books

And what do you have to do to have a chance of winning? I didn’t want to make things complicated so all you have to do is follow me in some way. You can subscribe by Email in the little box at the top of the left hand column. If you do that already there’s also the choice of Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter. And then just leave a comment on this post or any other of the Advent posts to let me know so I can add you to the list. You only have to do one thing, but if you sign up for more than that you get more chances!

If you sign up to follow me on any of the other sites, please let me know via a blog comment so I don’t miss you off the list!

This will run until after Christmas to give every one as much of a chance as possible to take part and I will make the draw via a Random Number Generator in the week between Christmas and New Year. In the meantime, do call back and find out what happens next on the Crafty Christmas Countdown Calendar!

See you soon…!

P.S. Don’t forget to call over to Handmade Monday to see what else is going on in the crafty world!

An Advent Announcement

It’s December 1st, I can’t believe it’s come round so quickly and Planet Penny is celebrating! It’s five whole years since the first tentative post, with that fear of having nothing to say, to anyone! Since then there have been over 200,000 visits, so to celebrate I’m trying something a little ambitious. I hope I can keep up!

The first plan is the Planet Penny Advent Calendar…

Everyday until Christmas Eve I shall be posting a Christmas make, recipe or link which I hope will give you a little inspiration for the Christmas Season.

Secondly, there will be a Christmas Anniversary Giveaway as a thank you for all the support over the last five years and this will be explained over the next couple of posts.

But, to begin with, the Advent posts…and it’s …

Advent Calendar- DAY 1

It’s wrapping time, and although pretty paper can be very expensive there are lots of ways to make very basic materials look special and individual. I was recently send some pretty tape by the DotComGiftShop which has meshed really well with my current favourite Scandinavian theme of red and white.

The tape comes in a natty little box with a cutting edge so it’s easy to tear off just what you need.

I’ve used Kraft brown wrapping paper which comes in a massive roll and is a great background colour for lots of projects. The red and white is set off beautifully by the buff colour of the paper and the tape is easily cut to mite the corners as shown here.

I’ve also experimented with wrapping leftover yarn and butchers red and white string, looks pretty doesn’t it…?

I also found this gorgeous woven Christmas ribbon which I shall use sparingly on very special pressies if I can bear to part with it!

If you run out of gifts to wrap and there are still a few centimetres of tape to use, it makes really lovely teeny tiny bunting, which can be hung across windows and around the Christmas tree or across the fireplace. The tape is folded round fine cord, embroidery thread or yarn and cut to shape. Really easy, and a fun project for older children to do.

Tomorrow I will tell you all about the Giveaway, which will run until after the ‘Big Day’ , so do pop back then and every day to see what I’m getting up to!

Angels and Light – Part 2

A brief pictorial post to bring you up to date with the angels from this post. I’d like to share the beauty of our local church, St Michael and All Angels, and the talents of people in the surrounding area who have made it look even more beautiful for this festival.

You can see Knit and Stitch have quite a selection of angels, apart from the dollypeg ones!

The one I found most moving was the British Legion Angel, an amazing labour of love made as a tribute to all the lives lost to date in Afghanistan. Four hundred and thirty five men, three women and one dog…

Each poppy an individual tribute to a lost life… Such a waste…

If you live in the Norwich/Broadland area this is well worth a visit. The church is open until next weekend from 10 -4 and you will also find some lovely ladies serving delicious soup, cakes and tea and coffee!

And if you are too far away, I hope you enjoyed this virtual visit!

See you soon…x

Christmas Jumper Day for Save the Children

My goodness, what a week! I’ve just galloped in from manning the tea urn at the Angels and Light Festival and switched hats so I can tell you all about the exciting time I had last Thursday meeting Debbie Bliss and the Save the Children crew at the launch of Christmas Jumper Day. I could almost say I was blown in, it’s sooo windy, I hope those of you who live in the west are not flooded out, as a Somerset girl I’m thinking of you…

My adventure began with hopping on the train in Norwich, I’m almost blasé about it now having done the same journey not all that long ago for the Buttonbag launch. No panics about the possibility of getting lost on the tube this time! I met my daughter in London and was able to have a peek at where she is currently studying, the Central School of Speech and Drama. Maybe I trod in the hallowed footsteps of Judi Dench and Jennifer Saunders, Lynn Redgrave and Virginia McKenna? Or touched the same door handle? Who knows…!

After a bite to eat we set off at a brisk walk to Primrose Hill where the evening was planned at the Mary Portas’ Living and Giving shop.

image – Save the Children
(click for info)

A completely different concept for a charity shop, I could quite happily move in, it’s beautiful…

But I wasn’t there to admire the scenery. I, and a group of other knitting bloggers had jumpers to make!

We were given a warm welcome by the Save the Children ladies, and by Debbie Bliss herself who was sporting a sling having broken her wrist after an argument with a wobbly chair(don’t ask!)

photo – Save the Children

Once we had been plied with yummy Christmas nibbles and a glass of something nice we were ready for Debbie to introduce our task for the evening, mini jumpers, for egg cosies!

We were all given a bag of yarn and the patterns and set to work. It’s not easy chatting, eating drinking, working out the pattern and knitting but we had a good stab at it…

without too much unpicking or dropped stitches!

It was a fabulous evening, and so lovely to meet not only Debbie and so many other like minded bloggers, but also the Editor in Chief of Vogue Knitting magazine, Trisha Malcom, who was over from New York. All very exciting for someone who lives at the corner of a field in rural Norfolk!

But I need to tell you what it was all about don’t I?

“On 14th December, more than 250,000 people (and counting!) will be wearing a festive woolly to school, offices and workplaces all across the UK, with everyone taking part donating £1 to Save the Children.

Think fluffy nosed reindeer and cross-stitched snowmen! Anyone can take part – you can decorate an everyday jumper with tinsel and baubles, rescue an old one bought in a moment of festive joy, or even knit one if you’ve got the skills – it’s completely up to you.

Money raised from Christmas Jumper Day will help bring life-saving care to some of the world’s most vulnerable children. In the world’s poorest countries almost 7 million children die every year from easily preventable causes like diarrhoea and malnutrition. Simple solutions, like vaccines and mosquito nets, save lives – so your knitted jolly jumper could make a real difference.

We want to spread the word far and wide to get as many people as possible involved in a day of jumper joy on 14th December. “

Do follow the links, there’s so much going on and I’ll be wearing my Christmas Jumper on the 14th, will you?

If you want to knit the jumpers, the patterns are available here and if you want something a little more manageable in size the egg cosy patterns are here

I had the needles out on the train home the next day, and have now finished all three of the patterns…

We thought these would also be lovely hanging on the Christmas tree, strung together as a little garland for the fireplace or even to decorate a bottle!

If you’d like to visit all the other bloggers and find out their take on the evening, you’ll find them here, do call in and say hello…

Damn, Knit and Blast It
Angharad
Bee and Buzz
Chichidee
Shoreditch Sisters
Misadventures in Craft
I Heart Teaching Art
The Knitter
Simply Knitting
My Life in Knitwear
Fraggle Knits and Stitches
Nest
Dorothy Does

And now it’s time to leave you with another link, this time for Handmade Monday over on Handmade Harbour where you’ll find lots has been going on as usual!

I’ll see you again soon…x

Angels and Light – Part One

Do you remember me mentioning our forthcoming Angels and Light Festival and my date with dolly pegs? Well, I spent a dolly peg day or two last week and have created a dozen assorted angels, all ready for setting up the display in the church at the end of the week.

I don’t know whether spending a few hours in the company of angels went to my head or not but having spent a few hours with white lace, white yarn and white parchment coming out of the studio blinking into the bright Autumn light for a walk with Higgins gave me some magical moments which I tried hard to capture in the next few photos.

A beautiful Autumn day is a treat, coming in the midst of rain and wind, mist and fog and needs to be savoured. I set off with Higgins and took our usual route across the footpath through the stubble and was amazed by a sight I never noticed before, and yet I must have past it time and time again looking up, looking down, thinking of to do lists and never actually seeing.

The low sun was shining across the stubble creating a shimmering pathway, like the moon on the sea…

…which when I looked closer was caused by thousands, millions of spiders webs spun across the tops of the stubble and reflecting the golden light of the sun…

Shooting into the sun with a compact digital camera without specialised lenses or setting was never going to give me the best of shots, but I hope this will give you an impression at least.

It was mesmerising.

After Higgins had charged across it hot on the scent of a rabbit and returned I found he is just the right height to be a cobweb brush!

At far side of the field, where the footpath continues in the shade of the hedge the previous nights mist was still lying on the grass…

..and the cobwebs here were beautiful in quite a different way…

(It was only later that evening I realised that as an arachnophobe I must have been in the company of thousands of the little beasts!)

The golden light continued…

Everywhere I turned was another photo opportunity…

It was quite hard to return to work and the angels but they are all done and dusted now and ready for next weekend. I’m sure you’ve been wondering whether I would ever get round to showing you! These have auburn locks, made from Wensleydale fleece…

…and these have blonde hair, made from dyed Merino fleece.

They are made in the same way as in this tutorial using oddments of Broiderie Anglaise edging, white felt and cotton yarn. the wings are cut from parchment printed with sparkling flowers. Next week I hope to share the pictures of them as part of our display at the Church.

Talking of next week, I’m off to London again with an invitation to spend an evening with Debbie Bliss as part of the promotion of the Save the Children Christmas Jumper Day As yet I don’t have any details to share, we are knitting a ‘Christmas Surprise’ but I’ll be back next weekend to tell you all about it!

Finally, do you remember Higgins being an artists model?

You can now find out a little more and see some other little sketches by visiting the Thomas Taylor – Author website. I’m struggling to keep up with his fan club by the way, he now has over 200 ‘likes’ (or should that be licks) on Facebook!

I’ll leave you now with the usual link to Handmade Monday. Thank you to all the lovely people who turn up each week to comment on the blog. I do try to return the compliment as far as possible and wish I had time to visit everyone, but I do read all the comments and really appreciate them.

I’ll be back soon …x