Today, my Advent of Change donation has helped:
The Refugee Council help children torn out of their ordinary lives by terrible events beyond their control to settle into a new school, and a new life.
Behind the doors, and inside the packets of self-indulgence I have found:
Lindt - little chocolate reindeer.
Hotel Chocolat - tiny chocolat slab with a penguin on it.
Charms - plain bracelet chain.
Yankee Candles - Pomegranate Fizz, beautiful deep red candle, in a cute glass holder. I'm really pleased that this year they've provided the holder on day 1! In previous years this has been in day 24, by which time you've already burned 23 candles without a holder!
Imperial Candles - Christmas Tree, pale green soy wax melt.
Cath Kidston - Watermelon flavoured lip balm - this is very rich!
Bird and Blend - Hazelnut Rocher black tea.
Made by Penguins - the bottom mini-skein, sparkly merino in the colourway "Coconut Ice", and a cute hand made wooden button.
Vicki Brown - the top mini-skein, 10g, 4-ply, in the colourway "Kaffir", and the handy drawstring project bag.
Gamer Crafting - the middle mini-skein, 20g, sparkly 4-ply, in this beautiful green with hints of grey and blue.
I'm not the only member of our family to be celebrating Advent...
Apologies for the broken nail, it didn't survive putting the tree up. Finn didn't care, he was being a good boy and sitting nicely waiting for his advent treat.
These are from Stephen's advent calendars. He has decided to open his 12 Days of Socks calendar during advent, rather than the actual 12 days of Christmas. He's going to open a door every other day. The object that looks suspiciously like the chassis of the Millennium Falcon is part of a model building advent calendar.
Regulars
So far I've not had a chance to start on my actual advent projects, as I really must finish the handful of other projects that I was working on during November. I've made reasonable progress on those though:
FO's
Socks for my eldest niece, slightly unusually patterned, as she asked for the shade of blue that the legs and heels are knit from, but I realised during the first sock that I wouldn't have nearly enough of this colourway to finish both socks, however I did have this matching variegated, which I think works very well.
The pattern is my own. The yarn is Regia My First Regia, in the colourways "01888", and "01819".
Another project that didn't quite go according to plan, because I lost at yarn chicken :( However, as in this case I only ran out after finishing the cable pattern, and beginning the decreases for the crown, I decided that I could save my work by using a similar yarn, in a slightly darker shade of grey, to finish the crown, then adding this glorious pompom to disguise my error. It also has the bonus advantage of marking Olly's hat as different from Finn's hat, so they won't accidentally get them mixed up, and find themselves wearing hats that don't fit properly.
The pattern is Declan's Hat, by Samantha Kirby, and the yarn is (mostly) Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed Aran, in the colourway "360015".
WIPs
This is pair number 4 of my Marie Curie Sock Quest socks, and I really have to get these finished tomorrow so that they arrive in time to be sent out to the patients in the various Marie Curie Hospices. I should be able to do it, as my only plans for tomorrow are knit these socks, walk Finn, and update my advent blog. For the sake of speed, these are a women's size 5, as obviously smaller sizes knit up much quicker!
The pattern is a mix of my own sock pattern, and the Marie Curie quest Socks, by Sherlock Knits. The yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4-ply, in the colourways "Marie Curie", and "Turmeric".
I have done a little bit of work on the border of my mitred squares cushion cover, but I haven't finished it, and I've not done enough to be worth photographing. Hopefully I'll finish it this week though.
Stash Acquisition
These are a mix of mystery mini-skeins that I ordered at the same time as I ordered my advent calendar from Made by Penguins, so they arrived in the same parcel. I'd completely forgotten that I'd ordered these too, so they were an extra surprise present from Past Me!
Month number 2 of the Beehive Yarns Dark Crystal yarn club, which contains 6 mini-skeins dyed around the theme of "Deet", and a beautiful stitch marker.
Penguins!
I'm afraid there's only 1 new penguin to show you. He's called Pesto, and he lives on the harbour front at Scarborough. His job is to tell you that you're not very far from Sea Life, where you can see real live penguins. Sadly, we were there late in the evening, after Sea Life had closed, and our purpose was to walk Finn along Scarborough beach, even though it was raining, and dark. He didn't care at all, he loves chasing his ball on the beach, no matter what time it is, or what the weather is like!
That's all for today my dears, talk to you again tomorrow!
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