I’m trying to start a new tradition/product line. So far I’ve almost carried through the tradition, but nothing on the product line front. What I’d like to be doing is designing a new festive tree ornament kit each year. If you look over at the shop site you’ll notice a distinct lack of ornament kits. It’s all in the timing and that, since I am the Queen of Procrastination, does not work in my favour.

This year just past and the year before that, I managed to design an ornament and make enough for seasonal teacher gifts. My criteria is something along the lines of stars, snow flakes, or other. Since I had been experimenting with the stellar knot that seemed like the most obvious candidate.

Trying out a variety of point counts and colours produced a selection to choose from. The 5 point red in thick and thin had a good texture, but not enough zing.
The 5 point in blue and silver-grey also lacked something. The 6 point blue and white had nice internal star, but failed to evoke snow flakes.

The design I chose as my 2007 xmas ornament was the 5 point in red and gold which I thought looked festive. The gold cord is of the kind that unravels if you look at it funny, so using gold thread, I would whip each gold end near to the knot, leaving the rest to unravel and make a tassel. I left the red ends unfinished too, giving a streaky effect. To my mind they are falling stars, a wish that the recipient gets what they want. My example here is the original prototype. The more successful and refined versions have all been given away.