This second installment of the Twelve Days of Christmas Knitting Crafting brings us, in reverse order, to the number 11. Eleven, in this case, happens to be the number of tiny top petal shapes I cut out of sealskin one October afternoon.
I’m excited to learn how to work with sealskin, but I’m also intimidated. That’s why I decided to start small. Real small.
I have seen many designs of sealskin flowers at craft fairs around town, on headbands, pins, hair ties, or hot glued to a pipe cleaner and placed in a vase. It looked pretty manageable, so I decided to give it a shot.
Working with Skins Lesson #1: Don’t Use Scissors.
Oops. I wondered why there was a hairy mess all over the table when I finished cutting out all these pieces.
I considered using hot glue for this operation, but thought better of it and just sewed the pieces on. It helped that I’d purchased high-quality headbands with padded cloth covering. (I can’t stand uncomfortable headbands, so I wasn’t about to inflict one on little girls I care about.) I would describe the process for you interest, but I pretty much just winged it. A stitch here, a stitch there, awkward as anything, ’till it seemed well arranged and secure. I had some wooden beads stashed away that I thought made a nice centre.
I tried a six-petal and a five-petal, one with the bottom layer all in one piece, and one in three double-petal pieces. The latter looked better, since I could arrange the ends of each petal to go with the nap of the fur. Of course, I negated this advantage by using scissors, which cut off most of the tips. Live and learn.
One winged off to a cousin, and one went into M’s stocking. She’s generally the one whose bangs need more tempering.
May your Christmas celebrations be florally beautiful and warm. Happy (belated) St. Stephen’s Day to all my deacon friends, and to all my priest friends who are still deacons!
Osborn Fiber Studio 
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