Hello again my lovelies, I am returned from our trip to Wales, and celebrating Stephen's birthday. We've had a few days to recover since we got back, and now it's time to show you how our advent is progressing so far.
Let's start with a little bit about our holiday:
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| Beautiful holiday cottage in Wales |
This is where we stayed, a gorgeous little cottage just outside of Llanwrst. The weather was cold, but dry and sunny, the grounds that we had permission to roam at will were stunning, the view in every direction was beautiful, and we were less than an hours drive from many castles, and the seaside, and right on the edge of Snowdonia National Park.
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| Cocker Spaniel on the beach |
We were literally spoiled for choice in all of the places that we could choose to visit, but to be honest, what we mostly needed from this holiday was a break from routine chores and household stresses. So with all of the castles of North Wales to choose from, we decided to spend Stephen's birthday meandering around Llandudno, taking Finn to the beach, and getting Fish and Chips for dinner. It was perfect!
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| Yarn and sticks |
As Wales is famous for its sheep, I figured there must be a decent yarn shop somewhere nearby, and I was correct! In Llandudno there is a brilliant little place called Ewe Felty Thing. They allowed us to bring Finn inside, and happily let me poke and smoosh to my hearts content. In the end, as I didn't want to go crazy, I picked up a couple of locally hand dyed DK mini-skeins, a ball of black West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4-ply, because it's harder to find than you think, a 4mm crochet hook, as I'd failed to bring one with me, and I wanted to start crocheting up those mini-skeins straight away, and I took advantage of there being 2.5mm 80cm wooden circulars, and bought a couple for my stockpile.
They had Christmas mystery parcels all made up too, which Stephen took advantage of to be stocking fillers for me! Great for him, because he doesn't even have to wrap them!
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| Cake, and the view from Harlech Castle |
We didn't spend the whole holiday lazing around in the cottage, or buying yarn, we did also visit Harlech Castle, which is possibly the neatest castle I've ever been to. I would have liked to be able to climb up to the top of the walls, but there's not a chance that I could have managed, Stephen struggled enough! Besides, dogs are only allowed on the main level, so I remained on comparatively level ground with Finn, while Stephen explored on his own. I'll find out all of the bits I missed from the guide book at a later date!
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| A gatehouse in Conwy City walls |
On our final day we had a fairly leisurely stroll around Conwy city walls. We would very much love to visit the castle itself at some point, but firstly it's HUGE, and definitely needs a full day dedicated to it, and secondly only assistance dogs are permitted inside. Finn may be therapeutic, and even helpful, in many ways, but he doesn't have the necessary training to be an assistance dog.
All considered, it was a lovely holiday, and exactly what we needed. Most importantly, none of us suffered any potentially life altering injuries or illnesses, which is a distinct improvement on last year!
Advent 2022
So now it's time to find out what has been behind those little secret doors so far this year!
I should say, I decided to leave opening any doors on my 12 days of yarn calendar until 12 days before Christmas, so there won't be any of those just yet.
December 1st
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| Railway Children |
Advent of Change: My donation this day went to the Railway Children. "Today you have helped to pay for a school uniform and books, giving the opportunity of education to a street child in Tanzania."
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| December 1st advent contents |
Lindt: A little gold reindeer chocolate.
English Tea Co.: Gingerbread Treat tea.
Northern Waxes: Gingerbread wax melt.
Mint and Mustard Dice: Transparent Green, blue, and purple D12, with white gothic script.
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| Close up of the 12 sided die in better light |
You can't tell just how beautiful the colours of this particular die are unless you hold it up to the light, then you can see all the subtle variations!
Lily's Kitchen: 3 little bone shaped cheese and apple training treats.
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| Finn in Good Boy Pose, awaiting treats |
Golden Book escape room calendar: I can't really show you this one, as each day is a riddle to solve that tells you which door to open next, and it's Stephen's calendar, so he is the one solving the riddles! I confess, I'm more than a little envious, as it looks like fun!
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| Stephen solving advent riddles |
December 2nd
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| Marine Conservation Society |
Advent of Change: My donation this day went to the Marine Conservation Society. "Today you have equipped a volunteer with all they need to take part in a beach clean and survey, clearing litter and plastic pollution to protect our shores."
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| December 2nd advent contents |
Lindt: Square of chocolate, with a snowman picture.
English Tea Co.: Ghostly Green tea.
Northern Waxes: Blackcurrant and Liquorice wax melt.
Mind and Mustard Dice: Pearlised white D6, with gold numbers.
Lily's Kitchen: 2 rise and shine flower shaped treats.
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| "I'm so hungry! I've never eaten ever!" |
December 3rd
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| Baby Lifeline |
Advent of Change: This day's donation went to Baby Lifeline. "Today you have helped provide vital equipment for a midwife in Ukraine, helping them deliver a baby safely in a shelter."
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| December 3rd advent contents |
Lindt: Square of chocolate, with a sleigh picture.
English Tea Co.: White Wonderland tea.
Northern Waxes: Candy cane wax melt
Mind and Mustard Dice: Transparent clear, yellow, and pink D12, with gold glitter, and gold numbers.
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| Close up of this 12-sided die |
Lily's Kitchen: 3 cheese and apple training treats.
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| Doggy in his dressing gown, waiting for treats. |
December 4th
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| Rainbow Trust |
Advent of Change: This day's donation went to the Rainbow Trust. "Today you have given the mum of a seriously ill child some much-needed time for herself, while a Family Support Worker sits and plays with her son.
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| December 4th advent contents |
Lindt: Small milk and white chocolate truffle.
English Tea Co.: Festive Spice tea.
Northern Waxes: Black Opium wax melt.
Mind and Mustard Dice: Opaque white, yellow, and purple D20, with gold numbers.
Lily's Kitchen: 2 rise and shine flower shaped treats.
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| "Feed me now daddy!" |
December 5th
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| pdsa |
Advent of Change: This day's donation went to the PDSA. "Today you have helped fund life-saving treatment for a vulnerable pet."
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| December 5th advent contents |
Lindt: Square of chocolate, with a snowman picture.
English Tea Co.: Winter Warmer tea.
Northern Waxes: Apple and Cinnamon wax melt.
Mind and Mustard Dice: Transparent blue, green, and purple D10, with white gothic script.
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| Close up of this 10-sided die |
I'm sorry that this is a terrible photo, but my camera really wanted to focus on the background! This die matches the D12 from Day 1, but that's really difficult to tell in this photo!
Lily's Kitchen: 2 Bedtime Biscuits. These are supposed to be calming. I have yet to see much evidence of calm!
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| "I'm such a Good Boy! Please give me treats!" |
Golden Book escape room calendar: Stephen found this riddle a little frustrating. I think he would have worked it out soon enough on his own, although I think anyone with red/green colour blindness would seriously struggle, but I enjoyed having a go and helping out. Finn tried to "help" too...
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| "Does your advent box have treatos too daddy?" |
December 6th
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| Cavell Nurses Trust |
Advent of Change: Today's donation went to the Cavell Nurses Trust. "Today you have helped a healthcare assistant on a low income cover repairs to their car, enabling them to continue working."
I have to add my own little bit to this, and remind anyone reading that we live in the developed world. In the 6th largest economy in the world. How on earth are we in the dire state where people working in essential roles cannot afford the absolute basics? From travel to work, to food for their kids? Remember just a couple of years ago we were all stood on our doorsteps clapping every Thursday night to demonstrate to exactly these same people how much we appreciated the work that they do. Apparently our government appreciates them enough to ride on the popularity of that empty gesture, but not enough to pay Key Workers enough to live on, or enough to attract sufficient staff that every single one of them is burned out and struggling.
We're in this situation because we have a Prime Minister who is PROUD of taking money away from social services and public transport in deprived areas, in order to fund garden maintenance and extra dog poo bins in privileged areas, and because we've had over 12 years of Prime Ministers who believe exactly the same.
It's not rocket science people... #LikelyPreachingToTheChoir
./Political Rant
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| December 6th advent contents |
Lindt: Square of chocolate with a squirrel picture.
English Tea Co.: Super Star Anise tea.
Northern Waxes: Snow Fairy wax melt.
Mind and Mustard Dice: Pearlised D20 with gold numbers. This die matched the D6 from Day 2.
Lily's Kitchen: 3 cheese and apple training treats.
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| "Sofa is too comfy, I do Good Boy Pose here?" |
Some Regular Stuff
WIPs
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| Half a sock |
I have not made a lot of progress on anything since my last regular update. I suppose it's not been that long really, but normally I would have done more than this! I didn't get nearly as much knitting done in the car during our holiday as I'd intended, because I was mostly navigating, and the route was completely unfamiliar, plus there was a lot less motorway driving than we're accustomed to. I didn't get much knitting done in the cottage, because I spent most of the time working on writing detailed back story for my current RPG character - Linnea. Then I haven't got much done since we got back home because I've had my usual Post-Exertional Malaise, so I've been either asleep, or too fatigued to do anything beyond stare blankly at my phone or the TV.
So then, this is Stephen's sock so far.
The yarn is Schoppel-Wolle Crazy Zauberball, in the colourway "Herbstwind".
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| Granny Square in progress |
The lighting in the cottage at night wasn't great, so neither is this photo of me crocheting with one of the mini-skeins I'd bought in Llandudno, but at least it proves that I did get a little bit of crafting done while we were away!
It's just a plain, simple granny square, using yarn that I only know is DK merino, and was hand dyed in Wales.
Penguins!
I mean, there had to be holiday penguins, right?
There's actually one missing from this post, and I'm hoping that the reason I can't find it to photograph it is that it's still in the back of Stephen's car...
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| Cuddly plush penguin |
We planned to go into Llandudno on our way to the cottage to find a supermarket and buy food for the week. Stephen was pretty tired from the drive down, as due to the time of year, and the fact that we were heading South and West, the sun had basically been right in his eyes for the entire journey. So we figured it would be easier for me to go in and just get stuff for breakfast in the morning, plus a few other bits and bobs, while he stayed with Finn in the car (Read: fell asleep on the steering wheel for 15 minutes).
This left me unsupervised in an unfamiliar supermarket right before Christmas...
I suppose things could have been much worse, I only got this cuddly little fellow.
And these:
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| Penguin Tea Towels |
I maintain that our current collection of tea towels are well past their best, and we needed a couple more anyway. If I just happened to find some with penguins on, well that is just an added bonus, right?
Now I just need to hope that we discover the bag of stuff we bought in Conwy somewhere, then I can show you my final Welsh Penguin.
I think that's us all up to date! So I'll be back in a day or so with more little advent presents. Take care my dears.
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