Advent 2020 - Days 3-6

 Hello again my dears, I am back, and very sorry for being gone for so many days in a row!

My body has done that thing it does sometimes, and my fatigue levels are ridiculous.  Today I slept 18 hours straight, and still had only enough energy to sit on the sofa watching Strictly, and playing stupid games on my phone.  Poor Stephen has had to do all of my chores for the last few days, even though he has been on holiday, and tomorrow he has to go back to work.

Anyway, since I'm forcing myself to do this now, mainly in order to prevent it from becoming a chore too big to face, and I don't know how much longer this brief burst of energy will last, let's get on with getting you all up to date with what I've been up to as regards fibre crafts, and what has been in my advent calendars.

WIPs

Unsurprisingly, I've not finished anything, but I have put a good few more inches/stripes onto my niece's blanket, and a few more squares onto my Mitred Squares blanket.

So far I am adding one square each day, and that square uses my advent yarn by Mothy and the Squid.

Stash Acquisition

Advent yarn doesn't count in this section, but anything else I get does.  There shouldn't be a lot more added any time soon, but more on that later in the month.  I do have a couple of outstanding yarn orders still waiting to be delivered, but as the post is significantly disrupted by both Covid, and Christmas, I'm being patient about their arrival.

This actually arrived pretty fast after I ordered it!  Another yarn by Mothy and the Squid, in the colourway "Frozen Flowers", which I've been drooling over on Instagram for a while now.  Then a combination of being miserable from being so tired and useless, discovering that there was enough still available to make a small top, or with just one or 2 contrast skeins, a substantial sweater, Jillian announcing that freebie mini-skeins with any order over £30 were available again, plus, a giveaway for some truly gorgeous black and purple yarns for anyone who bought anything that day, I decided to have one last yarn splurge before 2020 is over.  I promise I'm not buying any more yarn this year though!  So anything that appears in this section before January has already been ordered and paid for!

The 2 10g freebie mini-skeins are called "Advent Candles", and "Christmas Tree".

Knitting Adjacent

Not the best photo ever taken, but I'm saving this to wear on Christmas day, so it was photographed lying in my lap, also, Skeinhead sends all of her parcels covered in stickers, and with confetti inside, so there's an unfortunate silver reindeer jumping over this brilliant punk rock woman's nose!  I wasn't sure when I ordered it if this t-shirt would even get made, as it relied on enough other punk-rock crafters pre-ordering one.  I'm so pleased that it was made, and that I got one!

Advent

December 3rd

The Advent of Change charity for the 3rd was Surfers Against Sewage, who are a UK charity campaigning for cleaner waters, and better treatment of our aquatic environments.  They also arrange litter picks on beaches and river banks.

Finn got 2 little doggy bones in his calendar.

Made by Penguins - 20g 4-ply mini-skein in shades of peach, plus a sparkly pink star progress keeper.

Mothy and the Squid - 10g 4-ply mini-skein in shades of blue and teal, in a dark blue drawstring bag.

T2 - A sachet of Morning Sunshine tea.

Lindt - a square of Lindt chocolate

Finn is still convinced that we're concealing biscuits in the tea, but we've now eaten all the ones that our friends baked for us!  As this was a morning tea, I made it much earlier in the day, before I'd had a chance to tidy away everything that I'd piled on my little table, so my apologies for the messiness in this photo.  Also, our milk jug doesn't even vaguely match this tea set, but it does the job of holding a small amount of milk, so that's all that really matters.

Morning Sunshine is a fresh, slightly fruity, black tea, and we both enjoyed it with a drop of milk.

December 4th

The Advent of Change calendar donation today went to Cavell Nurses Trust, who help those who spend their lives, and their health, helping us.  Nurses are without a doubt under-valued, and under-paid by our government.  I would say that this is one thing the Covid pandemic has served to highlight beyond a doubt.  There are too many nurses out there working long shifts, then going home exhausted to a house in disrepair, or energy bills they can't afford to pay, or a cupboard bare of food.  Even those in higher tiers, whose salary is sufficient (although still not as high as it should be, when compared to the salaries of business people who's jobs have been proven by Covid to be far less important to our society!) still have to face other hardships, not least the mental effect of spending a lifetime watching all of the incredible moments, and all of the devastating moments in the lives of their patients.  The Cavell Nurses Trust helps all of these people, from financial help, to help escaping domestic violence.  

I'm really pleased to see this charity in this year's calendar.

Finn even dropped his tennis ball in order to sit patiently in good boy pose waiting for his advent treats!

Th day of Pink!

Made by Penguins - 20g, 4-ply, sparkly mini-skein in shades of pink, with flecks of dark purple, blue, and green.

Mothy and the Squid - 10g, 4-ply mini-skein, in a deep purply-pink, with darkened, and black patches, in a black drawstring bag.

T2 - Pumping Pmegranate fruit tisane.

Lindt - Small milk, and white chocolate Lindor truffle.

I really liked the Pomegranate tisane, it smelled amazing!  I think it would work as a cold drink in summer too.

We drank our tea, and ate our chocolates, while watching this on Friday evening.  This being the second Comic Relief Dungeons and Dragons game!  You can just donate to the cause while watching, or you can use your donation in order to get a vote on how the game should progress for the players.  A series of polls go up as the game goes on, such as which magic item should the players be given, or which NPC (Non-Player Character) should they encounter.  At one point people donated money in order to be allowed to see Sally Philip's dog!  We voted for the party to encounter Minsc - an insane beserker with a pet miniature giant space hamster, who you might be aware of if you've ever played Baldur's Gate.  Sadly, our vote, while apparently part of a last minute surge in favour of Minsc, came second to a grumpy goose.  

December 5th

The Advent of Change charity for the 5th was Think Equal.  A global charity that aims to improve Social and Emotional learning, starting with young children, in order to combat the cultural prejudices that lead to violence against anyone who is "Different".  

This charity came into being following the creation of the documentary "India's Daughter" 

Content Warning: prejudice, brutality, rape, and murder.

I sometimes think you'll get bored of seeing lot's of photo's of Finn waiting for his advent treat (Although he was less patient in waiting for these ones!) but then I think that you maybe need the cute pupper to lighten the mood after the seriousness of the talk about charities.

Made by Penguins - 20g, 4-ply, sparkly mini-skein in pastel shades of yellow, pink, and green, and deeper tealy blue.

Mothy and the Squid - 10g, 4-ply mini-skein in white, with lots of speckles and splashes of blue, green, and burgundy, in a pale green drawstring bag.

T2 - Wakey Wakey herbal tea, which I failed to photograph brewed up(!) I thought this would be a black tea with lots of caffeine from the name, but it was a herbal tisane that brewed up a pale yellow, and tasted like mint and liquorice.

Lindt - Square of Lindt chocolate.

December 6th

Today's charity donation went to Excellent, who help communities in remote areas that struggle with drought to build sand dams, in order that they can have access to clean water.  Giving people easy access to this basic necessity of life can then allow them to take control of their own livelihoods.

Don't worry!  This is not Finn ignoring his treats! I just decided to share a different photo of him today.  This is quite typical of Finn in the evenings.  He believes that after his night time constitutional, and his dental stick, the spot on the sofa usually occupied by Stephen, should then belong to Finn.  If Stephen fails to get up and get ready for bed, then Finn will sneak himself behind Stephen, and gradually shove him out of his seat!

Finn curls up here until I finish whatever I need to do before I go to bed (Just one more row...) then he follows me into the bathroom, and when I am brushing my teeth, and he's certain that it's definitely bed time, he will go and lie on my pillow.  Every night he tries to ignore me, hoping that I will let him sleep there, and every night I have to pick him up, or otherwise encourage him, and move him to the middle of the bed, where he will happily sleep between Stephen and I.  Somehow, this little 15kg dog can take up over half of a king size duvet, leaving both Stephen and I with cold bottoms!  But we wouldn't change it for the world!

Made by Penguins - 20g, 4-ply, mini-skein in pink and white, with splashes of yellow, and blue.

Mothy and the Squid - 10g, 4-ply mini-skein in very bold jewel tones of the entire rainbow, in a red drawstring bag.

T2 - Gingerbread chai.  I haven't made this one yet, as my fatigue has been so bad today that I couldn't even stand long enough to make tea.

Lindt - square of Lindt chocolate.

I think that's us up to date now, which is good, because my eyes are itching, and I'm struggling to keep them open.  Hopefully I'll feel a bit better tomorrow, and hopefully you are all keeping well too.

Sweet dreams my dears.