Cat Christmas

my newest German Christmas spiders

1	spool, jewellery wire
1	needle nose plyers with cutting edge
1	tweezers (optional but helpful)
FOR EACH SPIDER
1	straight pin with flat top (long enough to put on both head and body bead and loop at end to hang
1large	body bead
1small	head bead
40	seed beads or larger as leg joints
32	long beads for leg bones

1

Gather the head bead and body bead and put on the pin and twist slightly to make sure it is long enough and this will keep those beads together while you make the legs

2

For the legs
Note my spiders were made with seed bead joints so they are approx 3 inches wide with the legs set.
To make this size cut 4 pieces of wire as wide as a envelope is tall.

3

On one end twist a small circle so the wire comes together so the leg will not scrape if made as jewellery

4

For the sake of this recipe I created a chart
s = Seed bead
l = long bead

For each leg which is actually two legs once you wrap them on. You will follow the pattern below

s-l-s-l-s-l-s-l-s-s-l-s-l-s-l-s-l-s

Note the two seed bead together in the center. that will divide your two legs. Make 4 of this pattern for each spider having twisted one side to put wire under beads and leave the other side with an extra inch and fold and do the same by pushing the beads back over the twisted wire. This will leave about 1/2 in or so of empty wire in the center if you use the two connecting seed beads as guides to separate the legs

5

To put it all together

Straighten the pin again and remove body. twist the legs first together with each other and then around the pin at the bottom of the head.

6

Put the body back on and crimp back into a circle so it can be hung.

You can use as a necklace by putting on a gold or silver string or necklace

You can use as an ornament on a tree

You can add to an autumn wreath

You can use as a Halloween spider.

You can hang and collect a bunch of them on a mantel

To read the tale of the German Spider and how tinsel was made follow this link
http://cronecronicles.blogspot.com/2013/12/i-have-been-making-german-christmas.html

More Yule / Christmas ideas

creative homemade holiday ideas from around the web

I have been making German Christmas Spider ornaments

I put the craft how to's on JAP. Here is the link. They are simple to make and so pretty. If you buy larger beads even kids can do it.
http://www.justapinch.com/recipes/non-edible/non-edible-other-non-edible/german-christmas-spiders-craft.html?p=5

This last one is my favorite!

I give them in a pretty box with this on the Christmas Spider came to be on trees at Christmas time

The Yule/Christmas Spider
A long, long time ago, a gentle mother was busily cleaning the house for the most wonderful day of the year... yes it was time for Yule. Not a speck of dust was left anywhere. Even the little spiders had been banished from their cozy corner high up on the ceiling. To avoid the housewife's busy cleaning, they finally fled to the farthest corner of the forgotten attic.

Finally, it was the eve of Yule. The tree was decorated and the children delighted. But the poor spiders were frantic, for they could not see the tree, nor be present for the magic of the season. The oldest and wisest spider suggested that perhaps they could wait until everyone had gone to bed and then sneak through the crack in the door to see the wonders of the tree. The little spiders silently and carefully came down out of their attic corner and across the floor to wait in the crack on the threshold.

Pretty soon all was quiet, so the spiders quickly crept into the room. The tree towered so high that they couldn't see the ornaments on top. In fact, the little spiders' eyes were so small that they could only see one ornament at a time. They all scurried up the trunk, out along each branch, filled with a happy wonder at the glittering beauty. The spiders loved the Yule tree. All night long, they danced in the branches, and every place they went left a trail of dusty, gray web. When at last they had inspected every bit of the Magical tree, it was shrouded in the dusty gray of spider webs.

The Holly King smiled as he thought of the happy spiders seeing the tree and how much they liked it, but he also thought of how sad the little mother would be over the dusty tree. He reached out his hand -- and just then the sun came through the window and touched the tree. All the webs started to sparkle and shine turning into shimmering, sparkling silver and gold. The tree glistened in greater beauty than ever before!

According to legend, ever since this happened, people have hung tinsel on their Yule trees and A Magical little spider, would spin a web of silver or gold

It is raining today.

The rain is my special attachment to the weather. Maybe it is my name sake, or maybe it is just the way it washes away the exterior part of my life as it renews my days here on this plane.

As I stood outside the rain washing down on me, these words came pouring through my head. I just thought I would share

~ The Blessing Chant ~ From Scott Cunningham's "Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner"

~ The Blessing Chant ~

"May the powers of The One,
The source of all creation;
All-pervasive, omnipotent, eternal;
May the Goddess,
The lady of the Moon;
And the God,
Horned hunter of the Sun;
May the powers of the spirits of the stones,
Rulers of the elemental realms;
May the powers of the stars above and the earth below,
Bless this place, and this time, and I who am with you."

From Scott Cunningham's "Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner"