Making a Mint on Knit Taxidermy

There are a lot of interesting ways people have found to turn knitting into a business, but one of the most bizarre may be the story of Louise Walker, a 25-year-old British knitter who expects to make £80,000 this year from knitting taxidermy animal heads.

She told the Telegraph that she started knitting animal heads as props for a commercial photography course, and in 2011 she was asked by Boden to create some heads for its press day.

From there she opened an online shop, started selling patterns as well as finished pieces and wrote a really fun book, Faux Taxidermy Knits.

She says it “started out as a bit of fun” that’s now more than a full-time job between developing and selling patterns, teaching workshops and making commissioned pieces.

[Photo by Eddie Mulholland, via the Telegraph.]

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Why should the fireplace get all the fun? Instead of knitting stockings this year, why not whip up a pair of Christmas themed socks? These Christmas sock knitting patterns are lots of fun to make and you can wear them to holiday gatherings for years to come.

For our friends in the southern part of the world, there are the Christmas in July socks from the Kiwi Lodge – Kylie (Ravelry link). These shorty socks are covered in Christmas trees and have bright pink heels and toes for a tropical feel. There’s also an option to make a longer sock if you celebrate somewhere it’s colder.

Twin Stitches Designs (Ravelry) has a fun pattern with mix and match colorwork motifs you can use to build your own cozy Christmas socks. From the sample socks I see Christmas puddings, trucks hauling trees, Santa belts, ornaments and a couple of different borders. There may be more patterns included but the listing doesn’t say. Make a pair that matches or use different motifs on each foot for extra holiday cheer.

If you want to stick to Christmas puddings on your holiday socks, check out this cute pattern from Stone Knits. These lovely socks feature a band of puddings around the leg and a bit of holly by the toes.

These vintage holiday light socks from Grey Owl Knits by Sarah are classic looking and lots of fun at the same time. I love this color combination but of course you can make your lights and stripes whatever colors you like or have on hand. They’re worked using stranded knitting.

And if you’d like even more of a mix of patterns for your socks, try Barbara Ceglédi’s Christmas Chaos socks, a free pattern on Ravelry. The pattern includes 25 little motifs you can choose from, ranging from snowflakes and Christmas trees to elf hats, reindeer and hearts.

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