Advent Adventure 2018 - Days 7 - 10

Hello again my dears.  I hope that you're all doing well, and that you're on top of any festive plans that you may have.

I'm not, but at least I've got as far as actually having plans now!

Both my body, and my brain have had a bit of a meltdown on me this week, so in all honesty, I'm not entirely sure what day it is.  I know it's December 10th, well, 11th now, as it's almost half past 2 in the morning, but that is only because that's the number on all of the calendars that I opened today!

So let's show you what goodies I've found behind all of those doors:

December 7th

- Lindt mini Lindor.

- Bayliss & Harding scented candle.  I really like this one, it's bright, and fruity.

- Yankee Candle "Macaron Treats"

- Kiss makeup brown shimmer eyeshadow.

- Ilchester cheeses Jarlsberg cheese.

- T2 Southern Sunrise tea, which is lovely and fruity, and citrusy, and perfect as a morning brew if you're not a fan of actual tea leaves, or caffeine.  I'm pleased to say that I also have a small cube of this in a box of 12 fruit and herbal teas that I bought in the B;ack Friday sales.  I hadn't expected to like this particular tea much, so I hadn't opened it yet, but after trying my advent packet, it wasn't long before the cube was opened too!

- Homespun Wonders sparkle sock yarn in a light, creamy beige colour.  Definitely not one that I would have chosen for myself, but I'm really glad of that when putting together my blanket, as it turns out that left to my own devices, I mostly choose green and purple.  Who'd have guessed?!?

December 8th

- Lindt mini Lindor.

- Bayliss & Harding Jojoba, silk, and almond oil fragranced soap.

- Yankee Candle "Winter Glow".  I really like this one, I think it's my second favourite after "Perfect Tree".  If a scent could sparkle, it's this.  It's subtle, and fresh, and light.  The Yankee Candle website says it has these fragrance notes: 
       Top: Frosted Orange, Rosemary
       Mid: Eucalyptus, Spruce, Lavender
       Base: White Cedar, Golden Amber

- Kiss makeup pink makeup sponge.

- Ilchester cheeses Edam cheese.

- T2 Tummy Tea.  I already have some of this in the house, it's good for minor grumbling tummies. Maybe T2 expected people to be having parties and over-indulging this weekend, so they put this in the help settle indigestion and/or hangovers?

- Homespun Wonders sparkle sock yarn in a light, grass green colour.  Now this is one that does fin in with my regular colour choices, if a little lighter in shade than I'd usually go for! 

- Lindt mini Lindor.

- Bayliss & Harding Prosecco Fizz fragrances bath fizzer.

- Yankee Candle "The Perfect Tree".

- Kiss makeup blue curly hair tie.

- Ilchester cheeses Wensleydale with cranberries.

- T2 Irish Breakfast Tea.  This is a good old fashioned work day brew, only it's one of the best you've ever tasted.

- Homespun Wonders sparkle sock yarn, in variegated yellow and white.  Another bright splash in among the darker colourways that I usually choose, making this blanket so much more colourful and pretty!  Honestly, if you ever decide to make a similar type of blanket, and you know that you're prone to always choosing the same types of colours, and therefore you're worried that your blanket will look boring when it's finished, get yourself a few years worth of yarny advent calendars!

- Lindt mini Lindor.

- Bayliss & Harding scented candle.  Yay!  It's another one of the fruity ones!

- Yankee Candle "Macaron Treats".

- Kiss makeup red lip gloss.  At first glance, I thought this was the same shade as the gloss I got earlier in the month, but when I swatched it, this is actually an intense, bright red.

- Ilchester cheeses Red Leicester.

- T2 Pumping Pomegranate.  Incredibly fruity, but with a hint of that dry aftertaste that you sometimes get with cranberries.

- Homespun Wonders Blue Faced Leicester sock yarn, in a slightly tonal blue colourway.  I love this, it's like knitting the sky!

I spent a little bit of time this afternoon winding more mini-skeins into cakes.  This is a selection of those that I've bought over the last 6 months, plus those from this years advent calendar, plus a few Opal mini's from previous years advent calendars.  Oh, and a couple of scraps left over from socks and shawls too.  I wanted somewhere to store them while I'm working on the blanket, and a few matching cushion covers, and I remembered that I had this spectacular box that came filled with bath goodies last Christmas.  I think they just look amazing!

This is the first cushion cover that I've started. Every other square is knit with yarn from this year's advent calendar.  Most of the rest are by Ring-a-rosie, I think there's one in there so far that's by HeyJay.

Also, this is my standard evening nest set-up.  Candle burning, making the room smell lovely, pot of tea at my side, a snack of cheese and gluten free crackers, to be followed up by a chocolate or 2 if I fancy it (I've actually got 3 or 4 days worth saved up just now), and my knitting.

This is progress on the blanket.  It's wide enough to drape over the sides of a double bed, and I'm currently working on the 4th row of squares.  I hope to add at least another couple of rows of squares before it goes back into hibernation until next year.

Right, that's all for now, as my laptop is complaining that it needs to be plugged in, and I can't be arsed to find the cable!

Night night my dears, speak to you all in a day or so.

Advent Adventure 2018 - days 2-6

Hello my dears, no, I haven't forgotten about Advent, or about my blog.  I have been alternately busy and sick over the last few days though.  I'll cover those events along with the relevant days for you:

December 2nd

- Lindt chocolate square.

- Bayliss & Harding scented candle.  I'm not sure that I can identify the smell, it's subtle and sweet, a bit vanilla, and maybe a bit of musk.

- Yankee Candle "Spiced White Coco".  I think it smells a bit like baking gingerbread. Yankee Candle say it has the following fragrances: Top: White Cocoa

                                                                                     Mid: Salted Caramel, Sweet Cream, Nutmeg
                                                                                     Base: Butterscotch

- Kiss makeup pink lip tint.

- Ilchester cheeses Edam cheese (which I forgot to include in the photo)

- T2 Lemon Sorbet tea, which despite having a very ill advised colour combination for the packaging, making the brewing instructions remarkably difficult to read, tasted amazingly like Refreshers sweets.

- Homespun Wonders sparkle sock yarn in a lovely brick red colour.

This was on Sunday, and to be honest, I wasn't convinced that I'd bear any resemblance to an actual human on Sunday when I first woke up.  In the end though I did manage to get up and take part in dice rolling shenanigans.  It was very late by the time we'd finished, and everyone had headed home, so I figured that I could leave my post until Monday.

December 3rd

- Lindt chocolate square.

- Bayliss & Harding Midnight Fig & Pomegranate fragranced bath fizzer.

- Yankee Candle "Sparkling Cinnamon".  A lot more subtle than I expected, slightly fruity, but obviously smells of cinnamon.  Yankee candle say it has the following fragrance notes: 

                                                                                                               Top: Cinnamon Stick

                                                                                                               Mid: Clove, Cardamom
                                                                                                               Base: Bay Leaf, Cedarwood

- Kiss Makeup silver nail polish.

- Ilchester cheeses Cheddar Cheese.

- T2 China Jasmine green tea.  Which is really subtle for a green tea, and tastes mostly of the Jasmine.

- Homespun Wonders merino sock yarn in a beautiful fuchsia pink.

Monday was a busy day.  It started with Stephen taking the car in to have 2 new tyres put on.  Initially I'd planned to go with him, or at least get up when he did and do some housework while he was out.  I failed to do this, and instead remained in a state of semi-comatose exhaustion until sometime after midday.  

We then went to visit Dominey and her family, and me moulted on by her 2 incredibly cute and friendly golden retrievers.

Then we drove to Newcastle.  Meaning that there was no time for me to squeeze in a blog post.

December 4th

Sadly, Ring-a-rosie did not produce an advent calendar that I could buy, but as I was in that part of the world, and I needed some plain black 4-ply, I figured it would only be fair to drop in and pick up a few more mini-skeins for the mitred squares blanket while I was at it.  I'm in love with this bundle of greens!

Our reason for being up North was to celebrate Stephen's birthday by visiting Barter Books in Alnwick.  It's a second hand book shop, in an old railway station, with a model railway that runs on top of the bookshelves.  They allow dogs into the bookshop, they have comfy chairs scattered all over, and real log fires.  They also have a strange little cafe that spans all of the old waiting rooms, also with real log fires.

Alnwick also has a Wool shop.  I'd never been to this particular wool shop, despite visiting Alnwick many times.  I felt it was my duty to visit it.  I left Stephen in the book shop, and I walked to the wool shop.  Google Maps said it was an 8 minute walk. It took me about half an hour, and I was shattered when I got there!  The proprietor kindly allowed me to sit and rest for a while before perusing her wares.

Nope, this didn't come out of my advent calendars.  But it's become a tradition that I buy myself a cheap Christmas mug with a penguin on it sometime in December.  I especially like this penguin, because he's very excitable.

This was not in my advent calendars either.  But it was in the supermarket when we were looking for a roast chicken.  Obviously.

We had our roast chicken with dad, and watched Antman and the Wasp, then we set off back to Sheffield on what would turn out to be a bit of a nightmare journey.

Firstly, Google maps informed me that the A1(M) was closed, so we'd have to head south on the A19.  Fine, we've done this before, the A1(M) has been a world of roadworks for several years now.  Then we hit roadworks on the A19 that Google hadn't warned us about.  Roadworks that involved every lane being closed, except the one that deposits you neatly in the middle of Durham, with no diversion route posted.  OK, so apparently Google didn't know about this particular road closure, so let's see what our options are... basically, get on the A66 and head back to the A1(M).  Which turns out not to be closed, and never to have been closed.  However, it is shrouded in a thick layer of fog, as demonstrated in the above photo.  Then as we approached Leeds, a message popped up on the overhead signs saying "A1 closed from A369" Where in the Hells is the A369?  I end up finding it on the map where it starts in Leeds, and following it until it intersects with the A1 - just north of Doncaster, and several junctions north of our turn-off.  So, M1 it is then.  All the way to Meadowhall, where we encounter a rolling road-block... Feeling a bit like the Fates didn't want us to get home!  

Of course, we did make it home eventually, taking almost 5 hours to complete a journey that should have taken a little over 2.  Obviously, Advent calendars weren't uppermost in my mind at that point.  In fact the only thing in my mind was bed!

- Lindt mini Lindor.

- Bayliss & Harding scented candle (as previous).

- Yankee Candle "Snowflake Cookie".  I think this smells very sweet, like vanilla and toasted marshmallows.  Yankee Candle says it has the following fragrance notes: 

                                                                                 Top: Fluffy Marshmallow, Whipped Vanilla Icing

                                                                                 Mid: Warm Cinnamon, Nutmeg
                                                                                 Base: Sweet Buttercream, Sugar Cookie

- Kiss Makeup pink curly hair tie.

- Ilchester cheeses Applewood cheese.

- T2 Jade Mountain green tea.  Smells very strange, like nuts and biscuits, tastes like green tea with hazelnuts.

- Homespun Wonders BFL sock yarn in a lovely variegated green colourway.

December 5th

- Lindt chocolate square.

- Bayliss & Harding Prosecco Fizz fragranced soap.

- Yankee Candle "Spiced White Cocoa".

- Kiss Makeup white curly hair tie.

- Ilchester cheeses Cheddar cheese.

- T2 Geisha Getaway green tea.  Delicate and fruity, I really liked this one.

- Homesun Wonders sparkly sock yarn in a variegated orange and white, that reminds me of a ginger tabby cat.

I had fully intended on getting up to date with the blog on this day, but instead I had a migraine, and slept most of the day.

December 6th

- Lindt chocolate square

- Bayliss & Harding Midnight Fig & Pomegranate fragranced bath fizzer.

- Yankee Candle "The Perfect Tree".  So it turns out that I must have been suffering nasal hallucinations with the pale green candle on day 1, as today's candle is undoubtedly the real Perfect Tree, and smells even more like a pine forest on a rainy day.  This means that the candle I burned on December 1st must have been Macaron treats.

- Kiss Makeup bright pink lip gloss. I'm not a fan of glosses, my hair just sticks to them all the time, but I can't deny that this one looks quite impressive!

- Ilchester Cheeses Red Leicester cheese.

- T2 Morning Sunshine black tea.  Quite a strong morning cuppa, with a hint of fruitiness about it.

- Homespun Wonders BFL sock yarn in a gorgeous variegated purpley-pink colourway.

This morning was spent entirely at the hospital being poked and prodded, and having a lot of holes put in me in an attempt to get some blood off me.  After 2 nurses, and 4 different needles, in both arms, and the threat of using the back of my hands (shudder) they eventually managed.

This afternoon has been spent winding yarn into cakes, and catching up on missed cheese, chocolate, tea, and candles, while knitting many squares.

This is the final square on row 3.  I feel like I am making good progress!

Well, I'm up to date again, but it is very late, and well past time I should have been in bed. Hopefully, I'll see you all again tomorrow.

Night night my dears.

Advent 2018 - December 1st

Hello again my dears. 3 days in a row! I know!!!

The first day of December has provided me with this lovely selection. 

We have:

- a small chocolate reindeer.

- a creme lipstick in a very bright orangey pink colour.

- a tiny Wensleydale cheese with cranberries in it, which was surprisingly yummy! I'm not usually a big fan of mixing sweet and savoury, but I really liked this.

- a small bar of mandarin and grapefruit fragrance soap, reminiscent of the miniature soap you get in fancy hotels.

- a scented tea light, which is unlabelled, but I believe it to be "The Perfect Tree".  It smells like pine trees in the rain from across the room, but up close it smells like a newly lit campfire on a dewy spring morning. The Yankee Candle website gives the following list of scent notes:
Top: Evergreen Garland, Bergamot
Mid: Pine Needles, White Birch, Glowing Amber
Base: Fresh Cut Pine, Incense, Cedar

- a packet of Green Rose loose leaf tea, which is a green tea with rose petals, and tropical fruits. When brewed it is a very delicate green tea, with a very fruit flavour, and the tiniest hint of rose.

- a soft and smooshy mini skein of sparkly sock yarn, in a slightly muted lemon yellow. I would never have chosen this colour for myself, but when added to my mitred squares blanket, it adds a beautiful splash of contrast. It's perfect 

Without a single drop of any other makeup, this is what today's lipstick looks like when I wear it. It's so far from a colour that I would even consider buying, yet it goes beautifully with my hair!

Supper time snacks of cheese and chocolate with tea, accompanied by the scent of a candle that manages to make me nostalgic for childhood camping trips with my dad and my sister, and topped off with a spot of knitting with sexy yarn.

Now it is bed time  
Night night my dears. 

Epic Advent

Hello again my dears, I said I'd be back today, and miraculously, I am!

Previously during the period of Advent, I have used this blog to display the lovely yarns in the Opal advent calendar.  Last year I added to that with other advent calendars, and used them all as a means of giving myself a rest, a treat, and a break from the stresses of a roller-coaster of a year.

This year Opal have not produced an advent calendar, but thanks to my lovely friend Katie, of Homespun Wonders, and Yorkshire Dales Yarns, I do have a yarny advent calendar, so I can continue with my tradition.

I loved the multiple advent calendar thing last year, with lots of lovely little surprises every day, so I'm doing the same again this year.  Except that this year I might have gone a little overboard with just how many calendars I've got...

This photo shows most of the advent calendars I have for this year.  I say most, because I took these photos a couple of days ago, believing all of my advent preparations to be complete.  Then we went to the local pharmacy to pick up some of my meds, and get Stephen a flu jab, and while I was waiting for Stephen to be poked with a needle, I spotted another among the various beauty gifts on sale.  I expected it to be too expensive for me (With the obvious exception of the yarn and tea calendars, I'm not willing to spend a lot on these frivolities), but actually it was very affordable.

This is that extra calendar, and I believe it contains a number of sample sized bath products.  I'm looking forward to finding out exactly what they are.

Everybody needs a chocolate advent calendar, well, everyone who isn't lactose intolerant, or otherwise sensitive to any of the ingredients in chocolate.  Poor people!  I love Lindt chocolates, and since these particular calendars are not much more expensive than those really cheap ones with the moulded chocolate in a plastic tray, I prefer to buy myself one of these.  

This year I've rediscovered a little bit of my self confidence in my appearance.  I might be fat, but at least I'm no longer convinced that I'm ugly.  Because of this, I've also picked up my makeup again for the first time in many years.  Having done so, I also discovered that there are a vast array of beauty and makeup advent calendars available.  Most of them are incredibly expensive, but this one was the same price as my chocolate advent calendar!  I'm not expecting a lot from it for the price, but it is another little bit of decadence and mystery to add into my little advent pamper sessions.

Although I do love chocolate, I actually don't really have that much of a sweet tooth.  When given a choice of snacks, I generally prefer savoury.  Dad, Yasmin, and I were doing the grocery shopping one day when we spotted these cheese advent calendars!  So dad bought us one each :)

I wasn't sure if I'd be able to afford a Yankee Candles calendar this year, but then this appeared in my Amazon Black Friday deals at half price.  Perfect!

Doesn't give much away that photo...

I did really like the tea calendar that I had last year, but I was a little disappointed that there was actually only a few flavours of tea, and they repeated throughout the month.  This year though I have discovered T2, thanks to our friend Jo.  I've been wanting to reduce the number of teabags that I use, and switch to loose leaf tea as much as possible.  As a result, we now have a large collection of different loose leaf teas and infusions, and I have fallen in love with this store.

T2 are doing 2 different advent calendars this year, and neither as expensive as I would have expected, given the quality.  I chose the loose leaf version, and I can't wait!

Finally, the bit you've all been waiting for!  And with it, unexpected penguins!  Thank you so much Katie!

I only expected an advent calendar, but when I opened the parcel including 24 days of mini-skeins wrapped in numbered mystery packets, I also discovered this vast array of treats and Christmas decorations!  The pretty tin contains chocolates, the candle in a jar smells amazing, the silver sheep badge is amazing quality, and there are 2 penguins!  One bauble with a jingle bell inside, and one pin bade, which is going straight onto my handbag!  We also need to find a way to hang the little heart wreath on the front door.

On top of all that, there's a full sized skein for Christmas day!  

I'm so excited!

Roll on tomorrow!  Happy Advent everyone!  I'll be back every day or 2 for the rest of the month to show you what all of these beauties contain!

Nottingham Yarn Expo, and Nearly Christmas.

Hello my dears, I hope that you're all well.  As you can see, I'm back with another instalment, and it's more-or-less on time for a change!

Today is Stephen's birthday.  Happy Birthday Stephen!  This means that tomorrow it's allowed to be officially "Nearly Christmas".  We have already made our various travel arrangements for visiting families over the festive season, and I've made my plans for Advent (There will be an entire extra post about that coming tomorrow!) but so far no decorations have gone up, and no presents have been bought or made.

I'm not going to do my pre-Christmas rant about consumerism this year, because between Brexit, Trump, Austerity, Climate Change, and that bit on Blue Planet where they showed all the plastic in the oceans, I think that most people I know are either too poor, too environmentally conscious, or both, to be buying loads of unnecessary Christmas tat.  For the first time in my life I don't feel guilty that I have no plans to buy loads of presents, because for the first time in my life, I feel like everyone understands why.

Anyway...

This month included a yarny event fairly close to where I live (relatively speaking), that I've never attended before:

Nottingham Yarn Expo

Being disabled, primarily in the form of limited mobility, I often find most yarn festivals quite difficult, because they become very overcrowded, very warm, difficult to navigate even if you're able-bodied, and there is never sufficient seating.  Nottingham Yarn Expo is different. It's held in a large, light, open space, with loads of seating scattered around, as well as a small cafe.  It is spread over 2 floors, but there is a lift, and wide access corridors, all with a view over many of the stalls.  There was also an actual string quartet playing in the middle of the space!  There aren't so many stalls that you become overwhelmed, but there are enough to be interesting, and offer some things that are a little bit different.

I do confess to getting a bit lost while trying to find the venue however, but I blame Google Maps for that, as it dropped the pin in completely the wrong place!  I ended up phoning my friend Rachel, who I'd planned to meet there, and begging her aid in finding the place!

This was my haul from the day.

Let's break it down:

Before I go any further, I'm going to point out the tote bag that is the background to all of these photos.  I own many tote bags, but I always want more.  I deliberately didn't bring a tote with me, with the intent of buying one of these event bags as soon as I arrived to carry my acquisitions with me.

These things were the only things that I knew I wanted to buy that day.  I follow the Corner of Craft YouTube channel, and Instagram, and I'd seen this new Christmas themed colourway, and loved it.  It's called "Krampus", and this skein is on the Sturdy Sock base.

Hannah also makes these amazingly detailed little hand-beaded stitch markers.  I knew that she was making lots of them for this event, and I knew that in the past she had made penguin ones, but I hadn't seen any penguins in her pre-event sneaky peaks.  However, upon arrival, I was talking to Rachel, and mentioned that I was looking for the corner of craft stall, in the hope that there would be beaded penguin stitch markers.  As it turned out, I was within ear-shot of the stall in question, and Hannah heard me, and brought one over to me! Just look how cute it is!  Now, I do have to admit, that when you first see them, the price seems a bit daunting for just 1 stitch marker, but then you look at the quality, the detail, and the sheer amount of work that must go into making each and every one, by hand, and realise that they are totally worth the price!

Hannah's yarn dying business is called Chromatic Yarns, many of the colourways have a Dungeons and Dragons theme, and her logo features a D20 (20-sided dice).  As I'm also a Role-Playing Game geek, I had to have one of her little button badges too.

The second stall that I visited was Sable Yarns, and that was because Rachel dragged me there to show me these stunning gradient yarn cakes in matched pairs.  Each pair contains 2 identical 50g skeins, but they have been wound into the cake from opposite ends of the skein.  

I do feel a little bit guilty about this purchase, because Rachel showed me these not only because she knew I'd love them, but also because she wanted help in choosing which ones to get for herself, and of course although she didn't say so until after I'd bought them, this was the pair that she would have liked the most.  She did buy 2 other pairs though, one crazy neons, and one full rainbow, so I don't think she was too upset.  At least I hope she wasn't!

This one is called "Disco Inferno", and although I think they're meant to be used to make socks, I can't possibly use them for something that's going to be hidden beneath my boots.  These colours are almost literally screaming to be seen out in public!

I managed to walk right past the Black Elephant stall first time around, but after stopping for a rest, and a cuppa, sitting on a comfy chair, with a coffee table, with a view of many of the stalls, where we were joined by a couple of girls from Rachel's local knitting group, and one beautifully be-corseted young goth, who apparently decided from our appearance that we were "her type of people".  As knitters do, we then started to show each other the things that we had purchased so far, and several of them had some truly gorgeous skeins from Black Elephant, so I left them all with my bags, and went to find the stall for myself.  

Black Elephant is actually a local (to me) dyer, as she lives in Sheffield, but I've never managed to get my hands on any of her yarns before.  I am especially pleased by the yarn that I chose, as not only is it beautiful, it is part of a fundraiser for the Plastic Oceans Foundation.  While researching this blog post, I have also discovered that her partner is behind a new low-waste shop that has just opened in Sheffield, and which many of my friends are overjoyed with.  I am very proud to have these people living in the same city as me!

This colourway is called "Ocean Warrior", on Superwash merino sock yarn.

Although I bought from Hey Jay at Bakewell Wool Gathering, which was less than a month before Nottingham Yarn Expo, I couldn't resist these, because they were wrapped up in little mystery packets, so you had no idea what the colourway inside would be!  I love mysteries and surprises like this, so I had to get myself a couple.  I surprised Jay too by not opening the packets right away.  Apparently many people open them as soon as they've paid for them, and this makes her really paranoid that they won't like the colourway that is inside the packet.  I wanted to prolong the suspense though, so I saved opening them until Rachel and I were sat in Wagamama's waiting for lunch to arrive.  We weren't the only yarnies to choose this place for our lunch either, as our waitress looked at us in bemusement, and asked if there was some sort of wool event going on, as loads of customers had been in with "massive bags of wool"!

Needless to say, I am perfectly happy with greens, blues, and purples.

There were only 2 of these enamel pin badges left by the time Rachel and I reached The Loveliest Yarn Company stall.  It's almost like it was fate or something!

I am cursing myself right now for not recording the name of the stall that I bought this book from.  I've searched the internet for ages trying to find a photo that includes the stall, and shows it's name.  Unfortunately, although I have found photos of the stall, they are from too far away, or the wrong angle, or there are people stood in the way, so I can't discern the company name.  They also sold a rainbow of solid cotton crochet yarns, and little decorative wooden items with holes drilled through for you to sew your own yarny design onto.

None of that meant anything to me after I spotted this book with patterns for knitting my own penguins in it.

There are many places that you can buy this book from online, but I prefer to give you the link to the author's own page - Mini Knitted Christmas, by Sue Stratford.

My final purchase of the day was these 2 incredibly smooshy mini-skeins from Love Handeyed, in association with Woolmouse.  None of the mini-skeins were labelled, so I just chose colours that I liked, and assumed that they were standard merino, if exceptionally bouncy and soft merino, but having checked out their website, I now suspect that the reason these are so very soft is that they're quite possibly 20% cashmere! If this is indeed the case, they were an absolute bargain!

All considered, I had a brilliant day, I loved the layout and the venue, and it was great to see Rachel again.

FOs

Back to the regulars now, bringing us up to date with everything that I've done in November.

 First off, I finished the last of the Scandi style hats that I was knitting for my nieces and godsons.  I'm pleased to say that they all seemed very happy with them :)

The pattern is adapted from Scandi Baby, by Sophie Jordan, which was published in the Christmas supplement that came with Simply Knitting Magazine issue 178.  The yarn is Sublime Yarns Baby cashmere merino and silk 4-ply, in the colourways "Paddle", and "Pinkaboo", and the pompom was from a pack of 12 multicoloured fauxfur pompoms ordered on Amazon.

In among the multitude of issues that I suffer because I have poor circulation, is a condition known as Reynauds Syndrome.  It happens most times that I get cold.  It's not dangerous, just painful, and annoying.  So I wear gloves, and carry little hand hotties in my pockets.  The problem with gloves though, is that you have to take them off in order to use a modern phone, which rather defies the point.  

I saw a photo somewhere, and I can't find where, of something similar to these, that look like ordinary fingerless mittens, but the folded ribbed section is long enough, and snug enough, that when unfolded, it covers the entire length of the fingers, and the thumb.  I thought "Ah!  They will solve my problem!"  So I invented a pattern, and made some, and I am very pleased with them!

Obviously the pattern is not available, although I might make it available at some point,  This pattern is much easier to write out than my sock pattern!  However, the yarn is Ring-a-rosie Marvellous High Twist, in one of her recent One Of A Kind colourways.

WIPs

This has been my primary project for the last week or so, because I've been a bear of very little brain, and haven't been able to handle much that's complicated, but this is just a few simple increases, and miles of garter stitch.  Perfect.

I'm getting close to the end of this ball of yarn though, so soon I'll be starting on the ribbed section.

The pattern is TGV (High Speed Knitting), by Susan Ashcroft, and the yarn is another of Ring-a-rosie's Marvellous High Twist OOAK colourways.

My current portable project is a pair of socks for myself.  They haven't got very far, because whenever I've been out and about, I've been too busy to stop and do any knitting.

My usual 3&1 rib sock pattern, and the yarn is Regia Design Line by Arne & Carlos, in the colourway "03653".

Before casting on the socks, I was temporarily without a designated Portable Project, but fortunately, by default, I carry the necessaries for the next square in my crochet Memory Blanket in my handbag at all times.  So I've also finished another couple of squares on that while out for coffee (or festive hot chocolate, as the case may be) with dad and Davie over the last few weeks.  

As a happy aside from this, one of the reasons that I've been up north several times this month is because Dad had another CT scan, and I'm pleased to say that while the change is small, the chemo is continuing to work, and the tumours are continuing to slowly shrink. We know that it won't be long until the chemo stops being effective, but given dad was told 2 years ago that his time left on this earth was probably only to be measured in months, I think we're quite happy with this.

There isn't really a pattern for this, it's just simple granny squares.  The yarn in this particular photo is Woolyknit Colour Splash in the colourway "Rainbow".

Not much to look at, is it?

For this entirely inappropriately timed cast-on, I #BlameDunderknit.  Dunderknit is another of the knitting podcasts that I follow, (I absolutely recommend that you do too!) and this month she announced her first ever Knit-a-long.  Her thing is "Vicarious Knitting", that is the knitting that you wish you could be doing, when you're actually knitting practical items, gifts, or commissions.  The yarn you've had in your stash for ages that's been whispering sweet nothings in your ear, begging to be used, the pattern that's been in your Ravelry queue since dinosaurs walked the earth (I might be exaggerating a teensy bit...) you get the idea though.

In my case, there are numerous contenders that I could have chosen, but in the end the one that won it's way onto my needles is the Glasgow Rose Stole, by Lucy Hague (my all-time favourite designer).  This particular pattern has been in my queue for over 5 years, I had even bought the pattern at some point, but had never got around to casting it on.

The yarn is Fyberspates Scrumptious, in the colourway "Teal", and this has also been in my stash for over 5 years.  I can't say now if I bought the yarn specifically for the pattern, or the pattern for the yarn, but either way, they've been intended for each other for too long, and I felt I should take this opportunity, when I had been given a perfect excuse to cast on something totally irresponsible.

It hasn't got very far because it starts with a provisional cast-on, followed by some pretty serious lace work, and because our printer has run out of cyan ink, it would not print in black and white, and new ink cartridges cost slightly more than the Hope Diamond, so I was attempting to follow the lace chart on my phone.  I do not recommend this.  After a pitiful few rows, a certain amount of tinking, and a fair amount of swearing, I gave up, and ordered a new printer in the Black Friday sales.  The pattern is now printed out, but I haven't had the brain power to do anything more with this since then.

Stash Acquisition

With the exception of those things that I bought at Nottingham Yarn Expo, this is the only new addition to my stash this month.  The colourway is called "Apple", but in all honesty, I've never seen an apple this colour!  I'm very happy with it, because it matches my current hair colour (I was going for red and purple, somehow it turned out magenta).

For anyone who doesn't know, this is my November KnitCrate, because I love surprises, so I get a random sock yarn delivered to my door once a month.

Penguins!

I know that my hand-knit socks are sturdier, warmer, and fit better, but who could resist skiing penguins?  The blue bits are also sparkly!

I am due to have surgery on my knee at some point in the next few months, which will involve an overnight stay in hospital.  Obviously, this means I need new pyjamas.  However, annoyingly, the fashion this year seems to be for pyjama bottoms with a slim cut, which I anticipate not going terribly well with whatever state my knee will be in after surgery.  So I've bought my new PJs 2 sizes too big, meaning that the bottoms now fall off.  I shall have to do some sewing.  Still, I did manage to find some cotton jersey pyjamas with penguins on :)

Witness actual nail art!  Painted by me!  These are not decals, or transfers, these are the result of me working for 3 hours with tiny brushes and dotting tools, but I am very pleased with them!

"What is this?!?" I hear you say, "This is not a penguin!  This is clearly a snowman!"

Ah!  But look!:

Ta Da!

Magically it has become a penguin!

This is my Official 2018 Christmas Jumper.  I will not knit such a thing for myself for 3 reasons:

1) You've seen how long it takes me to knit a one-colour sweater for my gigantic form.

2) I hate intarsia with the fiery passion of a thousand burning suns.

3) I cannot make magic sequin snowman/penguin motifs.

That is all for tonight my dears, but I promise that I shall be back tomorrow with exciting news about Advent! (Well, it's exciting to me anyway).

Goodnight!