Crafty Christmas #2: pom pom and crochetr garlands
Pom Poms are so easy to whip up they virtually make themselves, so there's no excuse for tacky (or even non-tacky) shop-bought decorations at Christmas when you can make such an attractive festive garland as this one, which is essentially a string of yarn pom poms.

Crafty Christmas #1: Poinsettia pillows
It's almost here! The season of cardmaking, cake-baking and decorating is nearly upon us, and as crafters there's a lot to love about that. But if you'd like to make something a bit less obvious than tree baubles and paper chains, I've found a project here that I think you'll love.

Accessories: awesome cutout cutlery keyring
A normal person sees a spoon, dips it in their dull-as-dishwater normal person dinner, and casts it aside. A crafty person, on the other hand, sees potential for a million quirky accessories, then goes about finding a way to create them.

How to: touch screen your gloves
It's ever so very cold out there are winter sets in. The hats, scarves and gloves appear once more and all is cosy with the world. With one small problem. I'm standing at the bus stop on the way to some fabulously festive Christmas shindig and I'm late. As usual. I fumble my iPhone out of my pocket with my warm woolly be-gloved hands and set out to text the usual apology to the poor sap who thought I might arrive on time. I poke in vain at the screen with my cosy digits. My iPhone shakes its virtual head. It isn't having any of it. To use my touch screen I am going to have to deglove and take the chilly consequences.

The Sweater Curse unpicked
There is an ancient knitting law that every soldier of the stitch learns very early on: never knit your man a sweater (unless you have a ring). Even with a ring it is frowned upon to launch yourself into a bit of husband-hugging handmade. The Sweater Curse is lurking there in the shadows of knitting superstition just waiting to take your relationship by the heartstrings and cruelly cut every single one.