So, for fear of the brain fog rolling back in, and fatigue stealing control of my limbs, let's get on with what we've missed in the last few days...
Advent
December 22nd
On the 22nd, my Advent of Change donation helped:
ABF The Soldiers Charity who help veterans and their families in any way they can.
Behind the doors, and inside the packets of self-indulgence I found:
Lindt - mini Lindor truffle
Hotel Chocolat - tiny chocolate slab with Santa Claus on it
Charms - flying dove stitch marker
Yankee Candles - Snowflake Cookie scented candle
Imperial Candles - white soy wax melt
Cath Kidston - Hand cream! I can't remember the name of the fragrance, and the tube is now in the bedroom, where Stephen is sleeping, and I don't want to disturb him just to find out the name of a smell! It's a floral scent though.
Bird and Blend - Banana Bread Chai
Made by Penguins - the bottom mini-skein, in the colourway "Polka Dot Splash".
Vicki Brown - the top mini-skein, in the colourway "Sea Monster".
Gamer Crafting - The middle, sparkly mini-skein, with gorgeous green speckles.
My baby boy being gorgeous and patient.
December 23rd
On the 23rd, my Advent of Change donation helped:
Child Rescue Nepal, who work to free children from child trafficking, and prosecute those responsible.
Behind the doors, and inside the packets of self-indulgence I found:
Lindt - mini Lindor truffle
Hotel Chocolat - tiny chocolate slab with a snowman on it
Charms - Stitch marker made of a bi-convex disc with "Christmas" written on it
Yankee Candles - After Sledding scented candle
Imperial Candles - red soy wax melt
Cath Kidston - Bath fizzer, that went straight into Stephen's bath, and turned it pink!
Bird and Blend - Spiced Pumpkin Pie flavoured tea
Made by Penguins - the bottom mini-skein, in the colourway "Fizzy"
Vicki Brown - the top mini-skein, in the colourway "Lacewing"
Gamer Crafting - the middle, sparkly mini-skein, with black and teal speckles
We just couldn't have ever hoped for a more wonderful dog than Finn!
Stephen chose to leave his last door on his 12 days of Sockmas calendar until Christmas Eve, even though up until this point he'd been opening the sock calendar on odd numbered days.
December 24th - Christmas Eve
On Christmas Eve, my Advent of Change donation helped:
Baby Lifeline, who provide essential equipment and staff training to neonatal units across the UK. Equipment and training that in a fair society, and adequately funded NHS, would not need to be supplied by a charity, but as things stand, this charity is vital in helping to save lives, and reduce the number of preventable infant deaths.
Behind the doors, and inside the packets of self-indulgence I found:
Lindt - Large Chocolate Santa Claus
Hotel Chocolat - Large chocolate slab with a penguin, Santa Claus, and snowman on it, saying "One more sleep to go!"
Charms - Santa Claus stitch marker
Yankee Candles - Christmas Magic scented candle
Imperial Candles - Large pale green soy wax melt, with the words "Happy Holidays!" on it
Cath Kidston - Large tube of Christmas Village Hand Cream
Bird and Blend - Apple Strudel flavoured tea
Made by Penguins - the bottom, sparkly mini-skein, in the colourway "I saw mummy kissing Santa Claus", plus a metal notions tin containing wooden buttons, and tiny metal "Made with Love" tags.
Vicki Brown - the top mini-skein, in the colourway "Grandfather Snail", plus a chocolate coin, and a £5 gift voucher.
Gamer Crafting - the middle, sparkly mini-skein, with dark purple and blue speckles.
Finn was so good with his advent calendar that I actually bought him an entire bag of these "bones" wrapped in chicken. He's not always as good when I open the treat bag as he was when I opened the advent calendar! I guess we're too soft with letting him have treats normally, and don't always make him sit before we give him one.
The box in the background is my cardboard recycling crate, in case you're wondering. All of that advent calendar packaging can, and will be recycled. Even the few that had plastic trays inside, I'm pleased to say that that type of plastic can be recycled in Rotherham.
The box in the background is my cardboard recycling crate, in case you're wondering. All of that advent calendar packaging can, and will be recycled. Even the few that had plastic trays inside, I'm pleased to say that that type of plastic can be recycled in Rotherham.
As the grown-up Hotel Chocolat advent calendar didn't have anything exciting for Christmas Eve, and the Lindt advent calendar contained the same as mine, Stephen didn't think you needed to see those, but here is his completed Millennium Falcon, and his last pair of socks. He was overjoyed by these socks, as his favourite animals are Tyrannosaurus Rex, Bears, and Dragons. Oh, and of course Dogs!
This was hidden inside the soy wax melt from Christmas Eve. Stirling silver, with cubic zirconium.
December 25th - Christmas Day
The full 100g skein at the top left, is my Made by Penguins Christmas Day yarn, and the colourway is called "Penguins after Midnight". It's just perfect! Goth penguin yarn!!! I also got a black project bag with a shiny silver Brian the Penguin on it.
The full 100g skein on the right is my Homespun Wonders Christmas Day yarn, and the colourway is called "12 Days of Christmas Wreath". I love the contrast in styles and interpretation between these 2 brilliant dyers!
The mini-skein in the middle of the photo is the First day of Christmas yarn from my Homespun Wonders 12 days of Christmas calendar.
The mini-skein at the bottom left of the photo is the day 25, and final yarn from my Gamer Crafting calendar. I am so glad that I won this calendar, the yarns have been beautiful. Assuming that I survive 2020, and have money available to spend on myself, then I will definitely consider buying myself a Gamer Crafting calendar next year.
This is everything else that I opened on Christmas day. Including gifts from friends and family, as well as little extras from my Homespun Wonders 12 Days of Christmas box. As usual, there's a lot of penguins :D
December 26th & 27th
These are the Second and Third days of Christmas yarns from my Homespun Wonders 12 days of Christmas box. Technically I could open the Fourth day now, as it's now 07:05 on December 28th, but I think I'll wait until after I've had a couple of hours sleep at least.
Regulars
FO's
I finished my 24 baubles using my Made by Penguins advent yarns. I realise that there are only 21 baubles in this photo, and that's because I chose 3 of them to gift to friends and family who like to fill their Christmas Trees with decorations that evoke memories, rather than fit a particular colour scheme.
The pattern that I used is Scrappy Christmas Baubles, by Rachel Kluesner. My baubles are between 4cm and 6cm in diameter, as the foam balls that I bought to fill them were not all a nice uniform 5cm in diameter!
WIP's
I promised myself that I would cast on a selfish sweater before Christmas. Technically I cast this on on Christmas day.
I did this on the 23rd. These 4 yarns came packaged together. I bought them at Woolness 2019, from HeyJay. I knew I wanted to make a Fade type sweater with them, but it took me a while to find a pattern that I like, as most Fade sweaters have round necks, presumably it makes aligning the fade easier, but I hate tight necklines, they're uncomfortable, and don't suit me.
On Christmas Eve I did this. It's half a tension square/gauge swatch, which is just about enough to check that I had the gauge I wanted. I had intended on actually casting on the sweater on Christmas Eve, but I was lazy, and did this:
After half a bottle of wine it's not wise to be placing the stitch markers that will determine every increase you make for your raglan shoulders, so I decided to wait, and cast on sober! Incidentally, this is also what I was doing rather than writing a blog post on Christmas Eve. I'm not even sorry.
So, the yarn is 4 different skeins that together form a nice fade, all by HeyJay, and the pattern is Ground Pepper, by Suvi Simola. I'm making size XXL.
Finn
Because he's so adorable, and I can never show you too many photos of him.
Just before he went for his evening walk on Christmas Eve, I filled the stockings for him and Stephen. He very quickly realised that there was something in there he might like!
Stash Acquisition
Nothing I'm about to show you is actually new. These are the full 24 days of advent yarns all collected together for you to see in all of their glory:
Made by Penguins - day 1 top left, to day 24, bottom right.
Vicki Brown - Day 1 on the left, to day 24 on the right.
Gamer Crafting - Day 1 top left, to day 24, bottom right.
Knitting Adjacent
These are all of the stitch markers that I found inside my various advent calendars.
Penguins!
I did the vast majority of my Christmas food shopping as late as I could get away with on the evening of Saturday December 21st. I was the last but one customer leaving Sainsbury's before they closed at 10pm. It's the only way I could think of to be able to get my shopping done without it being busier than I could tolerate. However, inevitably there were things that I forgot, due mostly to rushing around trying to get everything before closing time. So on Sunday 22nd I went to the Tesco just down the road to get the things I'd forgotten. It was pandemonium. But there were penguin socks, so that's ok.
This was included in my Christmas Day photo, but I wanted to show you it in detail, so you could see one of the many reasons why shopping with small independent brands is so brilliant. This was in my Homespun Wonders 12 Days of Christmas box. Katie knows who I am, and little details about my life, so she was able to make the box that she sent to me so perfectly personal, and it was a complete surprise to open this on Christmas day, it actually brought tears to my eyes. I will treasure this forever.
That's all for now my dears. I'm definitely flagging, and need some sleep. No matter how crazy and disrupted my sleep patterns are likely to be until I make it through this particular flop, I will do my best to keep doing updates as often as I can until the 12th day of Christmas.
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