Knitting 101 for Christmas

This year for Christmas presents I am knitting a few scarves for special gift giving. My Grandmother taught me to knit when I was 5 and I have continued to knit on and off over the years. I love going into yarn shops and feasting my eyes on all the colors and textures available. On my last trip to the yarn shop I was captivated by this most exquisite shade of teal blue. It is a blend of wool mohair and silk, and knits up as soft and light as a spider's web. I love working with bamboo needles. This scarf is super easy. Cast on as many stitches as you need to make the scarf the width you want and then just knit every row until it is long enough. For this season extra long and very narrow scarves seem to be all the trend.

Happy Knitting If you have any knitting projects on the go please leave a comment [here].
PS I am going on a plane trip...does any one know if knitting needles are allowed through security??

Helpful Videos:
Knitting 101 Casting on Stitches
Knitting 101 The Knit Stitch
Knitting 101 Casting off Stitches
Knitting 101 Knitting Tips

Patricia Gray is an award winning Interior Designer in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada who blogs about
"WHAT'S HOT" in the world of Interior Design: New and Emerging Trends, Contemporary Design, Modern Architecture and Travel,
as well as how your surroundings can enhance the world around you.
© Patricia Gray | Interior Design Blog™ 2009

Chinoiserie Ornaments

This beautiful collection of Chinoiserie Christmas ornaments is available online from Gump's San Francisco. Shipping is free on ornaments. These would certainly create a wonderful Chinoiserie Christmas tree.

Eric Cortina Asian Wonders

These stunning heirloom quality ornaments are on my Christmas wish list. For an elegant and sophisticated no-fuss Chinoiserie Christmas tree, hang one or more on a bonsai tree. These are available at William Glen. To view the entire collection, click here.

The Red Chinoiserie Room

A Chinoiserie room done in red is wonderful all year round, but really comes into its own in the winter and especially at Christmas. Here is some gorgeous inspiration for every room of the house. Above, the iconic living room of Diana Vreeland.

Entry

Michael J. Dute

Dining Room

Martha Stewart

Posh Living

Goodbye Columbus

The Kitchen

Domino

Windsor Smith

The Bedroom

Coombe Abbey

John Loecke

David Salmon

The Bath

Anne Holden

Melissa Rufty

Chinoiserie Chic Christmas Gifts

I am excited to bring you more fabulous Etsy finds for the Chinoiserie lover. These would make perfect Christmas gifts. The Etsy shop Le Moineau offers socially conscious artisanal luxuries made by disadvantaged and/or disabled women in Vietnam. 10% of the proceeds of each sale go to East Meets West Foundation's "ADAPT" anti-sex trafficking project. This is a community based prevention program to combat sexual trafficking in Vietnamese children and young women by providing scholarships, vocational training, and job placement for high risk girls. The designs are created or selected by a New York City based designer who has worked in haute couture for Jean Paul Gaultier, Robert Cavalli, Fendi, and Narciso Rodriguez. They are then sewn in Vietnam. These hand embroidered items are beautiful-I especially love the silk pagoda pillowcase, the silk bird pillowcase, the silk and wood lantern, and the peacock card. Please check out this wonderful and worthwhile Etsy store. Your purchase will help keep alive these dying cultural arts and is a purchase you will be proud of both aesthetically and intellectually.

A Chiang Mai Dragon Christmas

Who wouldn't love a Christmas stocking made from Schumacher Chiang Mai Dragon and Kelly Wearstler Imperial Trellis? I first saw these designer stockings on the wonderful new blog Aesthetic Oiseau who also created my gorgeous new blog design. The Etsy shop Plum Cushion makes them and the price is great! I purchased the first two pictured and already received them and they are perfect. Have you ever seen Christmas stockings as chic as these? So simple and elegant, using the best and hottest fabrics, and letting the great fabric designs speak for themselves. Don't think stockings can only be used on fireplace mantles. I love them anywhere in the house at Christmas-on a chair, on a table, hung from a doorknob or kitchen cabinet-use your imagination!

Chinoiserie Chic Christmas

With the holidays quickly approaching, here we have been amassing dozens of wonderful ideas to have yourself a chic Chinoiserie Christmas. You will be seeing everything from Chinoiserie ornaments, home decorating ideas, hostess gifts, the best of Etsy, and gifts for the Chinoiserie lover in your life. We start today with Christmas cards. These are the cards I will be sending out. Replete with coral pink flamingos with gilt legs and scarves, to the palm trees with gold trunks and Chinese red, to the coral pink and gold Christmas tree and amaryllis, these Crane cards are perfect. My Christmas party invitations are these Kate Spade with the pink monkey and parasol. Wait until you see the gorgeous stamps I will be using!

Be forewarned that these fabulous Year of the Ox stamps are 42 cent stamps, so will require a 2 cent stamp. But they are too fabulous to pass up. This link page has a 2 cent stamp that will look great with it.