I was hoping to write this update somewhat earlier today, but life never works quite the way you want it to, and so I have instead spent today walking Finn, recovering from walking Finn, seeing a friend who we don't see often enough these days, taking Stephen to A&E, bringing Stephen back from A&E several hours later, walking Finn some more, and collapsing on the sofa in exhaustion. This is because Stephen has somehow managed to detach his retina, so tomorrow, instead of him attending a job interview, as originally planned, he'll be attending hospital for surgery on his eye.
All of this, plus I've still had no response from either Instagram, or Facebook, on the subject of allowing links to this blog.
Anyway...
Advent
December 6th
On Friday, my Advent of Change donation helped:
Sustrans, a charity that helps to make urban areas healthier, and more pleasant, through the creation of footpaths and cycle-paths, and through helping to create policies that encourage people to walk or cycle more.
Behind the doors, and inside the packets of self-indulgence marked "6" I found:
Lindt - chocolate square
Hotel Chocolat - tiny chocolate slab with Santa Claus on it.
Charms - faceted blue gem stitch marker.
Yankee Candles - Christmas Cookie scented candle
Imperial Candles - lilac coloured soy wax melt that smells fruity, I think this might be the "Celebration" fragrance.
Cath Kidston - Plant Pots Body Scrub.
Bird and Blend - Pink Grapefruit fruit infusion.
Made by Penguins - the bottom sparkly mini-skein, in the colourway "Peacock Blue". Genuinely in love with this colourway! Also, a crystal stitch marker in traditional Christmas colours.
Vicki Brown - the top mini-skein, in the colourway "Purple Mint".
Gamer Crafting - the middle, sparkly mini-skein, in a lovely semi-solid purple.
More tasty little stars for Finn :)
December 7th
On the 7th, my Advent of Change donation helped:
The Willow Foundation, who arrange special events for young adults suffering from terminal, or life-limiting illnesses, to give them, and their families, a break from the stresses of living with such illnesses, and special memories to treasure.
Behind the doors, and inside the packets of self-indulgence marked "7", I have found:
Lindt - mini Lindor truffle
Hotel Chocolat - tiny chocolate slab with a snowman on it.
Charms - faceted green gem stitch marker.
Yankee Candles - another of those spicy scented candles that I think might be "After Sledding".
Imperial Candles - another white soy wax melt, and I've still no idea which scent this one is!
Cath Kidston - grapefruit and ginger cuticle cream. I am going to love this for after I've painted my nails!
Bird and Blend - Salted Caramel Lebkuken flavoured tea. I LOVE lebkuken! but I'm not supposed to eat them, as they contain gluten. This might be an excellent compromise!
Made by Penguins - the bottom mini-skein in the colourway "Christmas Tree"
Vicki Brown - the top mini-skein in the colourway "Pumpkin Juice"
Gamer Crafting - the middle sparkly mini-skein in delicate pinks and lilacs.
I'm not sure if Finn is being less patient here because it's Stephen giving him his treats instead of me, or if he's just so excited to get 2 days worth of treats in a row!
Stephen forgot to photograph his advent acquisitions, but he did put the socks on straight away, so I took a photo of his feet when I was back from Newcastle and settled back down. Covered in dog hairs, of course, because he'd been wearing them all day.
December 8th
Today, my Advent of Change donation has helped:
Dellaglio Rugby Works, who work with teenagers that for whatever reason have found themselves excluded from mainstream education, using Rugby as a focus, they can help these people get back into school, or find employment.
Behind the doors, and inside the packets of self-indulgence I have found:
Lindt - mini Lindor truffle
Hotel Chocolat - tiny chocolate slab with Santa Claus on it
Charms - little Christmas present stitch marker
Yankee Candles - Candlelit Cabin scented candle
Imperial Candles - a deep pink soy wax melt, that could be Festive Cranberry, or possibly Mulled Cider.
Cath Kidston - Green Apple Lip Balm
Bird and Blend - Fairytale of New York flavoured tea. I love this tea, I bought a whole box of it at Nottingham Yarn Expo. If you make it up cold, with milk, it tastes like baileys. If you make it up hot, without milk, it tastes like spiced coffee.
Made by Penguins - the bottom sparkly mini-skein, in the colourway "Pink Robin", and another crystal stitch marker in Christmas colours.
Vicki Brown - the top mini-skein, in the colourway "Rhubarb Pie", and a chocolate coin.
Gamer Crafting - the middle sparkly mini-skein, in colours that just screamed "Becky" at me! I think she'll be jealous of this one!
There was just too much going on today I think, Dave arrived just as we were getting back from an extra long walk, with extra ball throwing, and Stephen was getting increasingly stressed about how much vision he was losing, so although Finn did sit nicely while Stephen opened the door on his calendar, then I opened the little packet with the treats in, by the time I tipped them into my hand he couldn't contain himself anymore! Hence the slightly blurry photo! He was still super gentle taking them off me, one at a time though!
I'd like to add at this point, that Finn is currently laid on the rug in front of the fire, having been curled up right next to me until he dropped the stinkiest fart you can imagine, then got up and left me alone with his butt stench! So yes, he's adorably cute, but sometimes he is also Disgusting Hound!
Regulars
FO's
I'm only using the yarn from my Made by Penguins calendar to make baubles, otherwise I'll end up with far too many! Some of them are also going to be gifted to friends and family who like to use Christmas decorations with memories attached to them, and let the kids loose decorating the tree, rather than do tastefully themed, but really rather boring decorations.
I'm mostly using the Scrappy Christmas Baubles pattern by Rachel Kluesner, although obviously I'm just working the entire bauble in one yarn, rather than adding any colourwork. I would rather let the genius of Lisa-Lou shine through in the colours of the yarn on it's own.
I've also experimented a little with the pattern, and if you look *really* closely you might just about be able to tell. The pattern describes a M1l increase for the increase rows, so that is what I used for the first bauble that I made (Day 1 yarn, Coconut Ice), but once I'd finished that, I thought that actually, a M1r increase would look neater. So I made the second bauble using that type of increase (Day 2 yarn, Pink Blush), and it does indeed look neater, however, it's even more fiddly to work. So then I thought I'd try a Kfb increase for the 3rd bauble (Day 3 yarn, "Crocus"), and that was the easiest of all to work, and looks nearly as neat as the 2nd bauble. So I'm using Kfb for all of the rest.
I've also used DPNs to make these, which if you're a regular reader, you may know I usually hate. I nearly always use circular needles. Mostly because my grip is not reliable, and if you drop the end of a circular needle, it's still attached to your work by the cable. I've already had to retrieve my working needle from down the side of the sofa, down the side of the drivers seat of Stephen's car, and off my Step-dad's floor, several times. However, once you begin the decrease rounds of these baubles, you put a foam ball inside to hold the shape, and have to work around it, and I don't think that would be possible on circular needles.
Here is the first bauble in progress so you can see what I mean. I was knitting in the car because I had Finn in the car, and didn't want to just leave him there on his own. So my sister went to do a bit of shopping while I chuntered away at Finn, repeatedly dropped my needles, and made a bauble.
The first couple of baubles on our tree. Can you tell I'm quite proud of them?
Bauble number 4, in yarn from Day 4, colourway "Evergreen". It looks very similar to the colours of Day 3, but in reality Day 3 has a lot of yellow, and this one is entirely shades of green.
WIPs
I've finally picked up my Mitred Squares Blanket again, and started adding some of the yarns I've got so far. I'm not adding these in the order I get them, because I always try to mix up the colours and not have too many similar ones next to each other. Also, some of the Made by Penguins yarns are singles, rather than plied, which means they feel softer, but aren't quite as sturdy as the plied yarns, so I want to keep the squares made out of singles spaced out in order to maintain the structural integrity of the blanket overall. This is going to have to stand up to years of use on our bed eventually!
Penguins!
I have no idea what I'm going to do with these yet, but when I was in the craft shop looking for 5cm diameter foam balls for my baubles, I found bags of felt penguins for only £1. It would have been pure foolishness on my part to have left those on the shelf.
Right, it's just gone midnight, and I have to be up and functional at silly O'clock in the morning in order to get Stephen to hospital for surgery on his eye, so I'm posting this, then going to bed.
Night Night my dears, hopefully I shall be back tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment