Day 1 - Anatomy Of The Heart

Today I have managed to give myself a day off!!! I have been promising myself that for ages, and have been failing to fulfill on it. I have spent all day in the kitchen drinking tea and being creative.

First I realized that I needed a starting point for my Advent Calendar. I have been rather busy during the weekend (with the Oggle Christmas thing) and didn't have much head space to think about it in more detail - I had a rough idea of what it would look like.

So I started experimenting with some wire, wanting to make a star above the hook but - let me tell you - bending wire into a star is not easy. I have made three attempts, and at best my star looked like a weird flower... So I decided to try something else and promptly came up with a simple heart shape. That was good. I have made a discovery by accident. Wire painted with glossy nail varnish looks rather good (and I found some use for my red varnish, as these days I have no time to varnish my nails). Whilst varnishing my wire heart I pondered the weirdness of the whole nail-varnishing phenomenon...

Then I remembered my bead bonanza and was enlightened by an idea. The good thing about this approach is that I have made a tiny "dent" in my huge bead collection. The red heart was given to C and another one was expertly (I am a quick learner) produced.


I used some antique heishi beads (white), fair trade shiana silver beads and silver tibetan beads (arranged randomly), and just a few Russian blues. The red bead is an antique glass tomato bead of venetian origin.


The hook will hold the daily pouches of treats.



Pouch 1 is now ready. Here is how to make it:

Cast on 21 sts and distribute evenly onto 3 DPN's (3 x 7). I used 2.5mm needles and Debbie Bliss silk.
Set up for working in rnd and mark beg of rnd.
Work 7 rnds in st.st.
Next Rnd (Inc): Work to last st on needle 1, K&P into last st. Rep on other 2 needles. 3 sts inc'd.
Next 3 Rnds: K.
Rep last 4 rnds until you have 42 sts in total.
After last inc. work 8 rnds in st.st.
Next Rnd(Dec): [K5, k2tog] x 6. 6 sts dec'd.
Next Rnd: K.
Next Rnd(IncDec): [K4, k2tog] x 6. 6 sts dec'd.
Next Rnd: K.
Next Rnd(Dec): [K3, k2tog] x 6. 6 sts dec'd.
Next Rnd: K.
Next Rnd(Dec): [K2, k2tog] x 6. 6 sts dec'd.
Next Rnd: K.
Next Rnd(Dec): [K1, k2tog] x 6. 6 sts dec'd.
Next Rnd: K. 12 sts rem.
Cut long tail and pull it through all open sts and secure.
Weave in all tails.


First lot of treats is in!