Baubles

Is there no end to the possibilities for small knitted doo-dads?  Going with the inspiration of that book by Arne and Carlos, which I haven't bought - yet - I found this bauble pattern on a blog called Moth Heaven.  I use intarsia here because of the log gaps between the feet in the first row.  This created a mess of ends, but may be the way to go as the fabric has more give than in the Fair Isle examples which follow.  This is needed for the rounding of the ball shape when stuffing.

Two more baubles.  Each one can be done in an evening, so it's a satisfying little project.  For these, I used patterns from a leaflet I already own on the Selbu knitting tradition.  The central section has sixty stitches so it is just a matter of spacing the motifs evenly.

I used some remnants of Shetland wool, although I doubt that either would meet the new Shetland standard for accreditation.  I am not clear why the sheep have to be kept "organically" - whatever that means in relation to sheep as opposed to vegetables.  Neither can I see why being spun in a mill on Shetland would be  the deciding factor.  If it is true that the main wool buyer on the islands is excluded, then it makes no sense at all.