Christmas 2016

There they all are.  24 balls of Opal 4-ply.  They've been nominally the focus of my advent blogging, but now the advent calendar is empty, and in just a few minutes it will be Christmas day.

I've managed to get everything finished that needed to be finished, but only because there are people who I won't see until the new year, so I've got a few more days, or in some cases even weeks.  In particular, the crochet projects have been set aside completely until I have the brains to deal with them, and it might be quite a while before that happens.

So what I've been working on tonight isn't really my project!  I went to visit my Geordie godsons earlier today to take their presents, one of which was needles and yarn, because one of the sweetest, and steadiest 5 year olds you could ever hope to meet asked me to teach him how to knit.  Despite all of the excitement, and way too much sugar, he still settled for long enough to learn the basic knit stitch, and knit a few stitches for himself.  He then confessed that he thought he'd be too busy on Christmas day, and could I take his knitting and finish making a scarf for Mr Bunny?  Of course I agreed, and I've even started making him some mittens too:

I've also got a bit further with the cardigan for our little birthday girl, but I'm relieved to have a few more days to get it finished!

Here's a close up of the last 4 balls from the advent calendar:

And of course, there's a selection of additions to my colony:

I made up the lego penguins, and discovered that I'd mis-counted the number of orange pieces, so my somewhat unusually shaped baby penguin is beak-less.

I saw it when shopping for ingredients for dinner with Yasmin, and couldn't resist.  I must remember that I still owe Yasmin the money for this, as she paid for the entire shop!

There's a paperchase on Newcastle central station.  I was early for my train.  I don't see that any further explanation is necessary.

Today dad wanted to pop out for a short walk and to visit a cash machine.  Conveniently Davie rang and asked if we'd like to meet for a coffee in the Forum.  So we had a lovely half hour chatting and watching the world go by, before heading to the bank.  As we passed one shop they had all of their Christmas tat on already on sale for half price, and this fellow was all on his own among reindeer, unicorns, and owls.  I'm really not sure if the fluff is meant to be ear-muffs, crazy grandpa hair, or they couldn't find any yellow and were aiming for a knitted Macaroni penguin.  I don't care though, I love him :D

Well, now it actually is Christmas day, so I need to wash the dishes and get to bed.  In the morning, daddy and I have a little pile of gifts to open, our amazing friends are bringing us Christmas dinner, and we have a lovely lazy day of Christmas movies and snacking on nuts and satsumas ahead of us.  

Have a lovely Christmas everyone!  I'll be back in 2017.

Advent - days 16 - 20

Today has been a good day :)

Yesterday dad came home from the hospital, and he's SO much more comfortable in his own home.  He's doing great!  My sister and I are overjoyed at how well he's doing, how much energy he has, and how much activity he's managing.  Very confident that he'll be fit and well enough to start chemo straight away in January.

With all the to-ing and fro-ing I've not actually had much time to get much knitting done, except for yesterday afternoon, sitting in the day room at the hospital waiting for dads prescription to be ready, because it was the last thing that needed sorting before they would sign his release papers so-to-speak.  Still, I've made a bit of progress on the ballet-wrap cardigan I'm making for my youngest niece.  The back is all finished, and I'm more than half way through the left-front.

I do apologise for the quality of today's photos, against the dark green of my dad's carpet it's difficult to get lighting that works well.

The yarn I'm using for this is Jody Long Cherub DK, in the colourway 11, and the pattern is Ballet-wrap cardigan from Baby & Toddler Knits Made Easy.

I've had a lovely selection of colourways out of my advent calendar over the last few days:

Aaand... I need to give the penguins their own section...

Penguins

So it turns out that I forgot to tell you about a penguin related item from day 13.  Easy to forget among all the stress of that particular day.  If you recall, I spent the day shopping in Newcastle city centre with my sister and Krissy so that we could all distract ourselves from the fact that dad was in surgery.  Well, while we were there, Krissy bought me a present, that she insists is not a Christmas present, it's a thing she's been wanting to buy me for ages, but didn't know for sure if I already owned it.  I'd been wanting to read it for ages, but hadn't seen it in print.  So that worked out nicely.

Kelly came up for the weekend to comfort me, and visit dad, because he's lovely like that.  But he also brought a few Christmas presents up for me from Sheffield so that I would have things to open on Christmas day.  Isn't he sweet?  You will notice that the gifts are appropriately wrapped in penguin wrapping paper, or with penguin tags!

Then yesterday I had to go to the post office to collect a parcel.  I was expecting it to be a quite large parcel, because the only thing that I was expecting was my godson's Christmas present, and I knew roughly what size that would be.  Instead I was handed a small brown paper package about the size of a tennis ball, with my name and address typed, so no clues from handwriting.  Inside there was a gift wrapped in penguiny paper, but no tag, or note, or any other indication of who my mystery gifter might be!  I am very intrigued, and excited to open this present on Christmas day, and see if I can guess from the item who has sent it.

Today the family Christmas cards arrived from Krissy, and tucked inside was this sweet little tree decoration for me, which I love twice as much because in buying it for me, Krissy has also made a donation towards Macmillan Cancer Support.

Finally, today I did almost the last of my Christmas shopping.  I'm still missing a gift for one person, but while I want to show him that I love him, I don't want to just give him useless tat for the sake of giving a present, and I'm struggling to find the right thing.  I've got a few more days...

The problem with being a penguinophile at Christmas, is that there are penguins in their millions in every store.  It's basically impossible to go Christmas shopping without also buying more penguins.  Today I bought 5.  Plus something that looks like a purple spotty penguin-like creature, but may in fact be meant to be a seal.  It's honestly not at all clear.  In my defense,  I was looking for a 2017 diary, so that doesn't actually count as an impulse purchase...

That's all for now my dears :)

Advent - day 15

Errm... Sort of on time mini advent blog post.

Dad is doing well, gradually getting rid of all the tubes and things that have been attached to him since the surgery. Today he went for a walk, and sat in his chair for most of the day.  Oh, and put 6 sugars in his latte! Yasmin told him off for that, as a newly insulin dependent diabetic he really shouldn't be doing that!

I didn't buy any more yarn.  Go me!

I did knit a lot of stockinette for the ballet wrap cardigan I'm making for my youngest niece:

And I opened today's calendar door:

That's it for now though. 

Advent - days 9 - 14

Hi guys, I'm doing this update just so that I'm back up to date, but I'm a bit numb emotionally, so I doubt I'll be able to make much sound exciting.

Over the last few days I've been back down to Sheffield, met up with old work mates, celebrated a friends birthday, come back up to Newcastle, attended my step-mam's funeral, taken my dad into hospital on the same day as his wife's funeral, and spent a day with my sister and our friend Krissy getting Christmas shopping done while distracting ourselves from the fact that dad was in surgery.

Unfortunately this morning we met with dad's surgeon, and learned that once he opened dad up he could see that the cancer had spread.  He couldn't remove it all.  He did what he could to ensure that dad will be comfortable, and won't encounter many of the complications of Pancreatic cancer, but he couldn't make it curable.  If dad responds well to the chemotherapy then we could still have a couple more years, but hearing that another member of our family had been diagnosed too late was like a kick in the gut.  We're all feeling a bit punch drunk now.  Too much all at once.  I can't even properly process it all.

Anyway, on with the regulars...

FO

Only the one, because I've been too busy, and unable to concentrate.  I found the missing ball of wool down in Sheffield, and finished Dave's hat.

The yarn is King Cole Merino Blend DK in the colourways French Navy, and Slate blue, and Wendy Merino DK in the colourway Birch.  The pattern is adapted from Duskelue/Pompom Hat by Tina Hauglund.

WIPs

I've only got 3 or 4 things left on my Christmas knitting list now, but 2 of those are crochet.  They're gifts for friends who may read this, so I'm not going to give away too much detail, but suffice to say that the pattern is too complicated for my frazzled brain right now, so after working out the first round I've had to set it aside for a few days until I can concentrate enough to work out the rest.  I've had to photograph this one with flash to make it look like anything more than just a tangle of yarn.  My phone doesn't have the greatest camera unfortunately.  The red/green strand is just the marker for the start of each round.

The yarn for this one is Drops Delight in the colourway 09.

Today I finally cast on a project that I bought the yarn for nearly 4 years ago.  My sister bought me the pattern book because it has a pattern for a cute knitted penguin, but it also has a sweet little ballet-wrap cardigan that I'd hoped to knit for my older niece, but didn't get the chance to before she out-grew the range of sizes the pattern covers.  Now though I can knit that cardigan for my younger niece, who will be one year old on Christmas day.

The yarn is Jody Long Cherub DK, in the colourway 9195, and the pattern is the Ballet Wrap Cardigan from Baby & Toddler Knits Made Easy.

Stash Acquisition

First of all we have 6 days worth of advent calender yarn:

Then as a direct result of today's bad news I went in search of a little shop in Wallsend, that turns out to be run by the same girls who run the Wool Works in North Shields.  The Wallsend shop mostly stocks the cheaper yarns, but every yarn has it uses, and many of these I thought would be perfect for charity knitting for premature babies.  I only picked up 1 ball of each yarn that caught my eye, so at least this wasn't an expensive comfort shopping trip.

I chose Wendy Peter Pan DK in the sparkly colourway 3010, Peter Pan Cupcake in the colourway 832, Sirdar Snuggly Tutti Frutti in the colourway 305, and King Cole Party Glitz 4-ply in the colourway 2353.

Penguins

Due to all the travelling, and confusion right now, I chose to open a couple of Christmas presents that friends gave me while I was in Sheffield rather than carry them up and down the country on trains.  My lovely friend Annie gave me a little something to help me have a calming bath:

As well as some socks that don't require knitting:

Then this evening, on the way home from the hospital, we popped into the supermarket to pick up a few essentials, and I spotted this unusual biscuit tin:

Comfort shopping solves nothing, but it calms me down a bit, and planning what to do with the yarn, or just looking at these cute penguins distracts me, if only for a little while.

It's definitely bed time now.  Night night my dears.

Advent - day 8

Super mini update today, as whatever it was that afflicted daddy yesterday has wiped me out today, so I've not done much at all.

I did open my advent calendar.  Today's colourway isn't one that I'd normally choose for myself, but I think that's a good thing.  It means that when I eventually make the sock yarn blanket I'm vaguely planning on, it won't be made of nothing but green and purple.

I've done enough knitting to finish the booties for Mr Rabbit, so that little outfit is now complete:

That's all for today my dears.

Advent - days 5-7

Sorry for the brief absence, too many things to do, and too little time to do them in.  I find myself burning the candle at both ends somewhat, and there hasn't been time for even miniature blog writing.

Today I have time because my poor daddy is feeling a bit off colour, so I sent him to bed early.  Now I'm watching Love Actually and trying to pay attention while I write.

However, today is also almost a "proper" blog update!  I've got WIPs, and FOs, and Stash Acquisition, and even a Penguin!

FOs

Not sure if I should call this one FO or 2 to be honest, but here are the last 2 Christmas Stockings of 6 that I've knitted in total.  The first 4 I managed to finish in time for last Christmas, but having completely over-committed myself, my 2 Geordie godsons have had to wait until this year.

I also need to apologise for misleading you all over the last few days, as I've been confidently telling you all that the yarn I've been using for these stockings is King Cole Shine, but I found the ball band for the last ball a couple of days ago, and actually it's King Cole Glitz in the colourway Christmas, and King Cole Tinsel, in the colourway White.

WIPs

I've had to put this project on hold for a little while, because mysteriously a whole ball of King Cole Merino Blend DK in French Navy has disappeared!  I've searched every bag that I brought with me, in every corner, and under every cushion.  I can only assume that I've either left it back in Sheffield, or I've dropped it out of a bag somewhere.  I'm visiting Sheffield for a couple of days for a meet up with old work friends, and for a friends birthday, so I can at least check if I did leave it there.  If I didn't leave it there, then I can probably get away with buying a replacement, as the placement in the pattern means any dyelot miss-match shouldn't be too obvious.

Now I've started on a present that wasn't originally in my Christmas Queue.  I know, I said I wouldn't add anything because I didn't think that I would have time to do anything else, but this is just a little quick present, and knitting it has helped me to write a really simple pattern that I'll be using to teach one of my godsons how to knit.  This is because he asked me if I would teach him how to make a hat for Mr Bunny, and it had to be done.  He's a bright, and attentive lad, so even though he's only 5, I'm fairly confident that he will at least be able to master the garter stitch that forms the brim of the hat, and possibly even manage the stockinette and decreases.

Now of course I'm not just making a hat for Mr Bunny, but a whole extra outfit - hat, cardigan, and booties.  The hat and booties are improvised, but the cardigan is adapted from Jack and Jill Premature Baby Jackets, by Marianna Mel.  The yarn is Sirdar Snuggly Crofter Baby Fair Isle Effect DK, in the colourway 0174.

Stash Acquisition

Obviously, I have 3 days worth of advent calendar yarn to show you:

But I also took another trip to Ring-a-Rosie's in Whitley Bay looking for suitable yarn to make the full Bunny outfit, yarn for my godson to learn with, and maybe a couple of extras for myself, even though I really, really shouldn't be spending money on anything non-essential right now.  Still, it's just a couple of balls of DK to be included in the crochet memory blanket, and a couple of balls of sock yarn, because I need to replace the 3 pairs of my hand knit socks that walked off into the sunset last year.

So here we have: Louisa Harding Yarns Cassia Prints, in the colourway 508; Woolyknit DK Classics Colour Splash, in the colourway Rainbow; Schoppel Wolle Admiral R Druck, in the colourway Magic; and Schachenmayr Regia Design Line 4-ply, in the colourway 03653; and Sirdar Snuggly Crofter Baby Fair Isle Effect DK, in the colourway 0174.  

Penguins

I've not even seen this in real life for myself yet, but Kelly sent me this photo of what he's done to the doorway to my bedroom:

How brilliant is that?!?  

I think it might be bed time now though, so sweet dreams my dears!

Advent - day 4

I've had a lovely Sunday today!  My dad, my step-niece, and I, all went for a walk along Tynemouth Longsands with my step-nieces mischievous little pug, who had a whale of a time playing chase with other dogs, and digging many, many holes in the sand.  Then we returned to dads house for a traditional Sunday roast, and an afternoon watching movies, and sorting through a few more bits and pieces.  My step-mam was also an avid knitter, as is my step-niece, so we spent a while looking through a big pile of knitting patterns.  Dad assures us that there are even more awaiting our perusal.

In among all of that I've not actually done much knitting today, but I am nearly finished the final Christmas stocking for my godsons.  Just need to finish the trim, add the heel, and sew in the ends.

Today's calendar door opened to reveal this little monochrome beauty:

That's all for today my dears :)

Advent - day 3

December 3rd has been a little more relaxing than the last couple of days.  Only one relatively short meeting this morning, then a day of looking at old photos and having a good laugh with dad and my step-niece (It's weird somehow thinking of a grown woman as being my niece!)

I started the day continuing to work on the last stocking, but I forgot to pick up the last ball of King Cole Shine before I went to see dad (I'm staying in my old bedroom at my step-dads house), so I had to stop just before reaching the heel as my yarn ran out.  I'll get past the heel marker tonight now that I'm back at my step-dads with my mini stash.

So without the ability to work on the stocking, I picked up the other scandi style bobble hat that I'm working on for my friend Dave.  

Finally, today's smooshy advent gift:

Back again tomorrow my dears :)

Advent - day 2

Day 2 mini update, and among sorting mountains of paperwork, and meeting up with a friend I hadn't seen in over half my lifetime, I managed to finish one xmas stocking:

Not the greatest photo in the world, as dads fireplace is currently acting as temporary storage for a multitude of the afore mentioned paperwork. But you can see how it looks, and get a rough idea of how big it is at least.

The fluffy white trim is King Cole tinsel in the colourway White, knit in garter stitch.

The final stocking has been cast on:

I also opened door number 2:

This is definitely the best advent calendar I've ever had!

Advent - day 1

I know that technically speaking Advent began on Sunday, but these days I figure most people count the first day of December the start of Advent. Certainly that's when we all get to open the first door on our Advent calendars.

I showed you my advent calendar in my last update, and I intend on doing a mini update each day just to show you how I'm doing with my Christmas knitting, and what was behind the calendar door that day.

Today I'm working on a Christmas stocking for one of my godsons. The nurses at the hospital were fascinated by me sitting knitting while we talked through dads pre-op assessment.

The yarn I'm using is King Cole Shine, in the colourway Christmas.  The pattern is a basic afterthought heel sock, just bigger!

What's behind door number 1?

Beautiful!  I love this colourway! 

Each mini-skein is 25g, so once I've opened all 24 doors I'll have 600g of lovely sock yarn. I don't know what I'll do with it yet...

That's all for today my dears :) Back tomorrow!