Advent Adventure 2021 - December 1st - 7th

Hello my dears, and welcome to my Advent Adventure 2021.  I have deliberately waited to make the first post this year, because I wanted to be able to show you my Made by Penguins advent calendar!

Made by Penguins 2021 Advent Calendar

It finally arrived in the second post yesterday afternoon, having been languishing in the postal system for at least 10 days!

"Little Extras"

The calendar came with these "Little Extras", a project bag with the Made by Penguins logo on it, crochet patterns for a heart-shaped bauble, an adorable snake, and Brian the Penguin, plus 3 colour coded crochet hooks.

Before I show you the contents of my calendars for the last week, I should update you all on how Stephen is doing since the surgery on his eye.  He still has very limited vision in his right eye, as the gas bubble that they inject into the eye to hold the retina in place has not yet dissipated.  However, he had a check up at the hospital this morning, and he's been told that everything is healing nicely, so it's looking like he should recover the majority of his sight in that eye.  He still won't be able to drive until about February though, as he's been told that he will have to wait at least another 6 weeks before his vision has stabilised enough to be able to do an eye test, and get new glasses for his new prescription.  In the mean time, he's frustrated by having to stand right in front of the TV to be able to see what's going on, or hold his phone right up to his face to be able to check the socials, and of course by not being able to play computer games at all.  He's tired, because he barely made it past the stage of his recovery where he no longer had to remain in the same position all the time before my body rebelled.  So he's been doing more things like walking Finn than he really should have been doing, simply because I was unable to do those things as well as the things that he can't do (I'm never keen on putting a large kitchen knife in his hands even when he's not 80% blind!)

Hopefully, we'll be able to find a balance over the next few days, and at least he should be able to sleep better now that he's allowed to turn over!

Now I'm going to do a mini-regulars update:

FO's

Christmas Dragon

Instead of a star on top of our tree this year, we decided to have a little green dragon.  To make the dragon a bit more festive, I knitted him a little Santa hat!

I didn't use a pattern for this, just made it up off the top of my head.  The yarns are Peter Pan Cupcake, in the colourway "White", and Zwerger Garn Opal Uni Solid, in the colourway "Berry".

WIP's

I've no WIP's to show you today, as the only things I've been working on have been intended as gifts.

Stash Acquisition

October and November Little Penguin Subscriptions

The same day that my Advent calendar arrived, these also arrived in the morning post.  October's Little Penguin subscription yarn is the white and neon rainbow colours, and it's called "Unicorn Tears".  The November Little Penguin Subscription is tonal pinks, and is called "Pink Fixes Everything".  As always, both came with adorable little progress keepers, this time in the shape of fluffy clouds.  Plus little yarny stickers.

Finn

Adorable Doggo/Elf

I managed to get a photo of Finn wearing his Elf hat!  Well, sort of...

Penguins!

Mini penguin biscuits

There is a tiny part of me that feels bad about eating the penguins, but then I remember how tasty they are!  Mini chocolate orange biscuits in the shape of penguins!!!

Advent Stuff

December 1st

Today you have given a healthy, hot meal to someone who might otherwise have gone hungry.

I discovered Advent of Change 2 years ago, and thought it was the most amazing idea. Every year they choose a selection of charities, usually smaller, less well funded charities, and they donate a percentage of the price of each calendar to the 24 charities.  I will continue to support them every year that I can afford to do my Advent Adventure.

The charity supported by the donations from the 1st of December was Food Cycle, who collect food that would otherwise go to waste, then turn it into nutritious meals for the under privileged.

Tea, Wax Melt, and Chocolate

Knitting with a cuppa, chocolate, and nice smells

December 1st's tea was called "Gingerbread Treat", and it was yummy!  The chocolate had a hazelnut filling, and the wax melt smelled like mulled wine and Christmas spices.

Unfortunately, as I worried might be the case, after the wax melt had been on for an hour or so, Stephen's eye started to itch, and seemed to be getting worse over time.  Fortunately it cleared up fairly quickly after I blew the candle out. 

Finn in Good Boy Pose waiting for Advent treats

As soon as the advent calendar came out of it's wrapper, Finn seemed to remember what happens when the tree and the shiny things go up indoors in winter, because he got very excited and tried to take the calendar off me!  When he realised that wasn't going to work, he seemed to recall that last year sitting in Good Boy pose yielded good results.

December 2nd

Today you have helped keep our beaches, rivers, and trails clean, by removing 2kg of litter and plastic pollution.

Surfers Against Sewage are an organisation who work to tidy up waterways, and educate people on the importance of keeping aquatic environments clean.

Teabag, wax melt, and chocolate

Cosy

Day 2 provided me with a tea called "Superstar Anise", which was more subtle than you might expect, but still gently spicy, and warming.  The chocolate was all milk chocolate.  The Wax melt was a sweet, fresh sort of scent, so Stephen decided that we should give it a go, thinking that maybe the problem with the first one had been the spiciness.  Sadly, after about an hour the itchy eye problem started again, so we have decided not to use any more of the wax melts until his eye is feeling better, or at least until he's finished taking the eye drops that dilate his pupil, and seem to make his eye more sensitive.

"I'm so hungry, I've never been fed ever!"

Finn decided to try the pathetic, poor starving spaniel approach to getting his advent treats...

December 3rd

Today you have provided a farmer in rural Uganda with a chicken, whose eggs can be sold to pay school fees, and provide food for the family.

Self Help Africa work in 9 sub-Saharan African countries to help tackle poverty, and improve the lives of local communities.

Teabag, Wax melt, and chocolate

The tea was called "Chai Charge", I wasn't sure if I should make it with milk, but decided not to in the end, it was very nice, but I might try it with milk if there's another of these in the box.  The chocolate was a simple square of chocolate. It's difficult to tell what the wax melt smells like without melting it unfortunately, as all of the scents are a bit overpowering if you just sniff at the block of wax!

What if I hold this paw up just a little bit?

Still working on variations of "Good Boy Pose" and puppy dog eyes.

December 4th

Today you have helped a child with disabilities feel the pride of taking part in a sporting competition, by providing a gold, silver, or bronze medal.

Panathlon Challenge is an organisation that helps disabled children get involved with sports in ways that they would not usually be able to do, especially if they are taught alongside able bodied children.

Teabag, chocolate, and wax melt.

"Ghostly Green" was the name of the tea on this day, and I'll be honest, I barely remember what it tasted like.  This is because Saturdays are our table top role playing game days, and we're currently at a particularly intense part of our storyline, as the majority of our party are attempting to track down the assassins who infiltrated our castle, and attempted to murder the Duke, and his entire blood line, including one of our player characters, who is the Duke's half sister.  My character is recovering from having used her own life force to magically save the Duke's life.  I am aware that I drank the tea during this particular gaming session, but I couldn't tell you anything about it!

This particular wax melt smells amazing, so I am especially looking forward to using it!

Maybe trade my blankey for a treato?

Finn dragged his blanket into the living room, and brought it with him when I started opening calendars.  I wonder if he was hoping to trade it for extra treats?

December 5th

Today you have helped give a warm bed and a filling meal to a pet still waiting for a home this Christmas.

Wood Green is an animal shelter and pet adoption charity.  I'm a huge advocate of adopting a pet who doesn't have a forever home, rather than buying a puppy, or kitten, and thus encouraging unethical breeders who are only after the money, and don't properly care for their animals.  There is so much joy to be found in giving an older animal a safe, and loving home.

Teabag, wax melt, and chocolate.

This tea was called "Tropical Lemongrass", and it was lovely and fresh!

No more Mr Good Boy!

Finn was too impatient to wait for his treats.  Probably my fault for spending too long arranging them carefully into a little shamrock pattern.

December 6th

Today you have helped parents hear their long awaited baby's heartbeat for the first time at a specialist clinic.

Tommy's is a research and support charity that works to find the causes of child loss during pregnancy, complications during pregnancy, and neonatal death, as well as helping parents who have experienced any of these things.

Yarn, teabag, wax melt, and chocolate.

Woop! There it is!  The yarn from day 6 of the Made by Penguins advent calendar was this beautiful rich green with flecks of white, hand dyed on a 4-ply sock yarn.

The tea was called "Peachy Keen", and was a subtle, fruity tea.

Trade a squeaky penguin?

Attempting Good Boy pose, and trading the squeaky penguin that he got last Christmas, even though it is now permanently filthy, no matter how much I wash it.

December 7th

Today you have gifted a period pack containing sanitary products and a mini hygiene kit to a young girl living on the streets of Nepal.

The Toybox is a charity that works with street children to improve their prospects, and keep them safe from exploitation.

Yarn, teabag, chocolate, and wax melt.

Utterly in love with today's yarn!  It's a base of pale greens and blues, with bright pink, and dark purple speckles, on a sparkly 4-ply base.

The tea is "White Wonderland", and it's probably my favourite of all the tea's so far.  A white tea with a hint of winter spices.

Nom!

I just nibble a little bit off the end of the treato?

Advent Yarn, days 1-5.

These were the yarns from days 1-5 of the Made by Penguins calendar, which of course I opened the moment it arrived!  The teal blue with purple splashes from day 1 is my absolute favourite of these.  Day 2 was deep, tonal purples on a high sparkle base. Day 3 is like winter wonderland in yarn form!  It is a mix of white, pale blues, teals, and purples, on a sparkle base.  Day 4 is a total contrast to that, being bright sunshine yellow shades.  Day 5 is a selection of pale pink shades on a sparkly base.

Just a bit for Christmas...

On my tree.

Advent of Change started in 2018 with a small run of their original advent calendars, but in the 3 years since then they have increased their range to include sustainable Christmas crackers, candles, and baubles.  I like to gift tree decorations to the children in my life, so that over the years they fill their Christmas trees with memories.  This year I bought myself one as well.  

Although they're hard to see in this photo, this beautiful glass bauble has 10 unique stars on it, and each of those stars represents a charity that has benefitted from the purchase of the bauble.

Just above the bauble is another decoration that is new for this year.  It was produced by a tiny company of just 2 people, one of which is my friend Boo.  Boo is a huge advocate of sexual intelligence, and believes that everyone benefits from a comprehensive sex education.  Of course, I'm not talking about "Practical lessons" here, that would be ridiculous.  I'm talking about knowing exactly how human sexual organs work, the proper names for them, the symptoms of diseases that affect the sex organs, sexually transmitted or otherwise.  I have to agree with her.  This sort of education would help prevent the sort of ignorance that leads to men policing women's bodies, while not understanding that a period is not the same as urination, and cannot be "held in", or that a woman's body cannot "flush out" unwanted semen from rape.  Proper understanding of our bodies helps when we need to explain to a medical professional any symptoms that we're concerned about, and increases our chances of an accurate diagnosis, and effective treatment.

So what has all that got to do with a decoration on my Christmas tree?  The decoration has the form of a human clitoris.  Cliteracy (Clitoris, and Literacy, see what they did there?) is the name of the company.  Not to be confused with the larger US based company of the same name, and similar goals.

Christmas Wreath.

I have no real reason for sharing this, other than I wanted to show it off, because I made it myself.  Last weekend there was a workshop run in the local church to teach people how to make their own Christmas wreath.  Stephen suggested that I attend in order to have a bit of "me" time, after all the stress of the last couple of weeks.  I had a brilliant time, and this is what I produced.

It's already been blown off the door twice, as we're getting the first gusts of our second winter storm - Storm Barra, and I've already heard the first wheelie bin bouncing down the street.  I've created what I hope is a more sturdy method of hanging it now, so let's see if it survives the night...

Sweet dreams my dears, I shall be back in a couple of days with a much shorter update!

2021 Pre-Advent - Never tell the Fates your plans.

Hello again my dears, I hope that you're all doing well.  Yes, I am aware that I promised this update would go live on November 27th, however, we've had a few changes of plan in our household during this last week...

Let me start with the story of why our plans have changed:

Any of you who have been following this blog for several years now may recall that on the 6th December 2019 my partner Stephen suffered a detached retina in his left eye.  Surgery to repair it was delayed, and unfortunately by the time he had the surgery it was too late to fully save his vision. He has been left with significant scarring on that retina, and limited vision in that eye.  Well, one week ago he suffered the same thing in his right eye.  Apparently this is exceptionally rare, but knowing that is little help to us!  This time he recognised the symptoms much more quickly, having experienced them before, and had me take him straight to A&E.  Where he waited for almost 12 hours to be seen.  The doctor who finally did see his was horrified that he'd presented with a time-critical issue, yet been left for such a ridiculous length of time.  Suffice to say, a complaint has been raised about it!

Stephen got no sleep at all, and I maybe managed a little over an hour, as I had to go back home in order to look after Finn, but not knowing how long Stephen would be, I had to stay awake in case he called for a lift home. In the end, I picked him up from one hospital, and drove him straight to a different hospital that has an emergency eye unit.  He stayed there all day, and had surgery in the afternoon.  I stayed with our friends Ian and Jo, who live much closer to the hospital than we do, and who Finn knows well.  Quite grateful for the fact that Covid has made working from home much more commonplace, so Ian was in all day.  While Stephen was in surgery, Finn's Fairy Dogmother, Boo, kept me distracted by bringing Finn's former kennel mate, Bounty, and her adopted brother Blake out for a walk with us, which was tiring, but very beautiful.

3 spaniels sit among autumn leaves, eagerly awaiting a treat.

Following his surgery, Stephen is completely blind in his right eye.  It takes a couple of weeks for any vision that has been saved to begin to recover.  Until then, we don't know how successful the surgery has been.  Stephen could recover 95% of his vision in his right eye, and be able to continue life as normal in the new year.  Or he could be left severely sight impaired for life.  

Due to my own disabilities, Stephen acts as my part-time carer.  Since his surgery, I've had to act as his full-time carer, and my body is struggling with this.  From previous experience, I know that I can keep up this level of activity for about 2 weeks before my body puts me down and forces me to rest in no uncertain terms.  Stephen is doing everything that he can to ease the burden on me.  Obviously we've had to cancel the holiday that we had planned for his birthday (which was yesterday), as with his current level of vision, he has been advised to remain in familiar surroundings.  We're both trying to keep the inevitable anxiety about what the future might hold at bay, with fluctuating levels of success.

So, that's why this post has been delayed, and why I'm writing it when I said I would be on holiday.

FO's

Anyway...

I delivered a couple of early Christmas presents while I was up in Newcastle a couple of weeks ago, which means I can now show you what they were.

Hand knitted socks with stripes in shades of orange and blue.

Socks that I made for Demi, and tried to use to distract her from the fact that I'd also brought a large box full of yarn to feed Gemma's new habit... err, I mean hobby!

My usual sock pattern, and the yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4-ply in the colourway "Pheasant".

Hand knitted socks with patterns in many shades of grey.

Socks for Gemma, delivered along with a box full of yarn that I don't need anymore, because Gemma has got herself a small knitting machine.  I delivered these the day before she was due to have what will hopefully turn out to have been the last of many surgeries to fix a problem that she's been struggling with for almost 2 years now.  My thought was that she'll need plenty to keep her occupied while she recovers from the surgery!

My usual sock pattern, and the yarn is King Cole Zigzag, in the colourway "Smokey".

4 skeins of handspun yarn in shades of red and grey.

The Fluff to Stuff craft along ends today.  I have managed to turn my fluff into yarn, but I have not yet turned my yarn into stuff.  That's ok though, I'm quite pleased with managing to get this done, and I'm hoping that I can turn the yarn into a simple shrug before the end of this year.  I managed to create a little under 200g, and 564m of 2-plied barber pole effect yarn, in roughly DK weight.  I had some of one of the types of fibre left over after I'd used up all of the other, so I also made about 33g, and 53m of chain-plied yarn, that is roughly aran weight.

Spun Z-twist, and plied S-twist, on a Haldane Hebridean wheel. Commercial merino tops in a solid burgundy colour, and a BFL/Sparkle blend by Wildcraft Fibres, in the colourway "Dorset Heath".

Bad selfie of a white woman in a hand knitted purple wrap cardigan.

I finally finished the purple cardigan made from horrible yarn. It wasn't at all difficult to make, just working with the slubby thick-thin yarn is difficult to relax into, so I couldn't get into a rhythm the way I usually do.  This certainly wasn't a meditative knit!  In the end I only finished it because I'd made a list of things I wanted to get done in November, and this was the last thing on the list that I hadn't done!

Usually when I knit a garment for myself I would ask Stephen to take a better photo, but he's not really capable of doing that right now, for obvious reasons!  So instead all I have is this terrible selfie.  

There is no pattern to this, it's just a big rectangle with arm holes, then stitches picked up around the arm holes to make half length arms. The yarn is King Cole Opium, in colourway "260".

WIP's

I do have a couple of projects on the go, obviously, but since they're presents, I can't show you.  Sorry!

Stash Acquisition

Only one thing to show you here:

2 balls of sock yarn, and 3 mini-skeins.

Since I was up north for the first time in ages, and since Gemma has taken up machine knitting, but didn't know anything about her local yarn stores, of course I had to introduce her to Ring-a-Rosie's.  It would be rude to visit and not pick up a little something.  I think I was very restrained all considered.  One ball of West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4-ply in one of the new Zandra Rhodes colourways "Bluebell Mist".  One ball of Regia Pairfect in a wonderfully bright rainbow colourway called "01735", and 3 mini-skeins hand dyed by Barbara of Ring-a-Rosie's.

Knitting Adjacent

Look at this work of absolute beauty and genius:

Framed print of the Yarn Owl - Creature of the Knit

Our very talented friend Hannah is the creator of some amazing comedy artwork, and this is her latest creation.  A thing of such beauty needed to be purchased for display in my yarn cave.  Hannah came to visit us to check if we needed any help with anything, and to wish Stephen Happy Birthday, so she brought it along only one day after she'd finished the design!

Hannah has a blog where she posts her latest creations, and where you can also buy copies of her hilarious books.  Her blog is called Idol Scribblings, and I absolutely recommend that you take a look!  You can also buy many of her art works on all manner of objects from the Idol Scribblings Red Bubble Store.

Finn

Finn the cocker spaniel holding his elf hat.

It's only a few weeks since I last did an update, so I'll try to be restrained about showing you too many photos of my dog, but there has to be a couple!  His advent calendar for this year came with a free "Elf hat".  After many attempts to get a photo of him wearing it, I gave up and settled for a photo of him holding it, which is what ended up happening every time I put it on him.

Finn the cocker spaniel standing in a snowy landscape.

Storm Arwen may have caused a bit of destruction in Northumberland, but here in South Yorkshire we escaped largely unscathed.  We reached wheelie bins blown over level, then when the wind died down, we got a couple of inches of snow.  Finn loves snow, and the countryside around our village looks so beautiful in this weather.

Penguins!

Well, one penguin.  I've not had long enough to collect more than one since the last update.

flocked penguin tree decoration

As is traditional, I have to pick up at least one flocked penguin decoration while shopping at Tesco for something entirely unrelated to Christmas.  I always feel a little bit guilty about doing this, as it is a bit of plastic tat, and I shouldn't be encouraging the production of more pointless plastic.  However, they've already produced them, I can't change that, and he will bring me joy, and he won't be single use!  

Advent 2021

Let's get the important thing out of the way first - my yarn advent has not yet arrived.  I'm not too worried, as I know exactly why it's been delayed.  Lisa, the genius behind Made by Penguins, has many of the same medical conditions that I do, and her mobility is much more limited than mine is.  Her body has been doing exactly what mine does at the most annoying moments, which has lead to some delays with monthly clubs going out.  On top of that, she's had issues with the supply of advent calendar boxes, then when the boxes finally arrived, the combination of Black Friday sales overwhelming the Post Office, and Storm Arwen delaying many deliveries means that although the last of the clubs and calendars were shipped several days ago, many of us are still waiting patiently for our Postie to knock on our doors with that happy parcel.  I'm certain you'll know about it as soon as mine does arrive!

The next calendar on my list is the Northern Waxes wax melt calendar:

Northern Waxes Wax Melt Advent Calendar

I discovered Northern Waxes because I wanted to find a UK based independent brand advent calendar for either scented candles, or wax melts.  I tried a couple of their snap bars first, and I'm utterly in love with their Fresh range of scents.  

I may not be able to use these during December, depending on how Stephen's eye feels when I try using one tomorrow.  He has to avoid dusty environments for at least 6 weeks after surgery, and although the scented oil vapours aren't dust, if they do irritate his eye then I won't keep using them until he's fully healed.

English Tea Shop Advent Calendar

While I love T2, their local store has closed down this year.  I considered getting a calendar from Brid and Blend, but with my more limited budget these days it was a bit too expensive for me.  So I had a look for other tea calendars.  When I found this one by the English Tea Shop I was so happy, because I love their ethos of fair trade and sustainability.  I'm really looking forward to trying these.

Advent of Change Advent Calendar

Ever since I discovered Advent of Change 2 years ago I have been in love with this idea.  As long as I can afford to keep up my advent ritual, I will continue to support this incredible organisation!

2 Lindt chocolate Advent Calendars

I thought I'd try a different type of Lindt advent calendar this year.  We always get the ones with the Santa on Christmas eve, but I decided that this year I wanted teddy bears. I've no idea if there are any other differences, but I guess I'll find out.  Obviously, one is for me, the other is for Stephen.

Doggy Advent Calendar

Yes, we spoil our pup, but he's our baby.  Of course he needs his own advent calendar!  Good Boy do great quality dog treats, and as you saw above, this one also came with a free elf hat!

That's everything for now.  I'll be back in a day or 2 with the first instalments of my 2021 Advent Adventure!

Take care my dears, and be extra careful!

Socks, and Bakewell, and More Socks.

Hello again my dears, I hope you're all well.  I'm back to get everything in order before the end of the month, when it's time to start on my Advent Updates.  I seem to have accidentally left everything for over 3 months again, oops!

Covid is still a thing, although much less of a thing than it has been.  Infection rates are up, which is to be expected as winter approaches, however, due to high uptake of the various covid vaccines in the UK, hospital admissions are just about manageable, and death rates have stabilised.  This means that our government has decided Christmas can go ahead without interruption this year.  There are some, myself included if I'm honest, who think it would be prudent to reintroduce some basic measures, such as social distancing, and mandatory wearing of face coverings when in indoor public spaces, in order to keep more people safe during the busy pre-festive period.  Mostly though, people are acting as though everything is back to normal.  

It's not of course.  This was emphasised to me just recently, when a friend of mine died from covid.  He was the first person in my age group who I knew to be taken by this disease.  I didn't know him well, but I know others who did.  The few times I met him, I liked him.  He was a unique character, and he'll be missed by many.  I won't wish that he rests in peace, because that's the last thing he'd want, so I'll say instead that whatever world he's moved on to couldn't possibly be ready for the punk rock party he'll be bringing!

My apologies if my mood is on occasion a little maudlin during this update, but it's that time of year.  I had thought that I was getting better with autumn, feeling able to fully enjoy all of the things I love about this season.  Then this week it's suddenly become a problem again.  3 days ago was the 9th anniversary of losing mam, and next week would have been her 72nd birthday. It's a little over 7 years since we lost Myra, almost 5 years since we lost Trish, and over 2 years since we lost dad.  I have suddenly become hyper aware of my fear of losing Davie, even though dad broke the pattern by dying in the middle of summer, my subconscious is telling me that our family is "due" another loss. Grief is complicated.

On that cheery note, let's get into the knitting stuff, shall we?

FO's

These are the socks I was knitting last time, and I made them for Boo, who I've come to think of as Finn's Godmother.  Boo made a lovely rainbow collar for Finn, and in exchange, I made her these socks.  My phone camera does something weird to colours, so they're actually a bit less pink, and a bit more purple than they appear here.

My default sock pattern, and the yarns are King Cole ZigZag, in the colourway "Crush", and Zwerger Garn Opal Uni Solid 4-ply, in the colourway "Berry".

These are the 5th pair of socks that I have made for Stephen, yet somehow they are the only pair that he can currently find both of.  I can only assume that he will lose at least one of these within the next 3 months too.  Somewhere in this house, Finn must have a secret stash of stolen socks, but I have thus far failed to locate it.

Default sock pattern, and the yarns are King Cole ZigZag, in the colourways "Wicked", and Zwerger Garn Opal 4-ply, in the colourway "Anthrazit".

Knot Bad shared some Halloween amigurumi he'd made on his Instagram, which inspired me to make these Zombie Octopodes/Octopi/Octopuses!  Except that only one of them actually has 8 legs, because apparently I can't count and crochet at the same time.  They have an average of 8 legs...

Knot Bad also has a pattern for a large fluffy crocheted penguin, but as I'm still struggling somewhat with crochet patterns, and the penguin requires ludicrous fluffy yarn (that I'm not even sure I can get in the UK), I am resisting the urge to buy the penguin pattern.

These are actually based on the Amigurumi Octopus pattern by Mari-Liis Lille.  The yarns are 4-ply mini-skeins by Made by Penguins, Ring-a-Rosie, and Hey Jay Yarns.

The last 2 pairs of this year's Marie Curie Sock Quest socks, the top pair are size 9, and the bottom pair are size 4, because I didn't dare risk making a larger size for the last pair, just in case I ran out of the yellow yarn!  In total I made 4 pairs this year, and got them washed, labelled, and posted off last week.

The pattern is a combination of my own standard sock pattern, and the official Sock Quest pattern by Sherlock Knits.  The yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4-ply, in the colourways "Turmeric", and "Kingfisher".

See what I meant by the title of this post?  I've been making a lot of socks recently!  This particular pair are for Stephen's mum, or my "mum-out-law" as I call her (Stephen and I aren't married, so she's not an in-law you see!)  We video call Stephen's parents every week, and one time we were talking about how we all have varying degrees of lymphoedema in our ankles, so store bought socks tend to dig in and leave marks.  I explained that I don't have that problem, even though I also have Lipoedema, because nearly all of my socks are hand knit to fit me exactly, and I offered to make some for Stephen's mum.  

The week after she sent her measurements to me, and chose the colours of yarn she'd like, I showed her the beginnings of the first sock, and she was dubious about it fitting.  I knew that it would, because her ankles are actually slimmer than mine, and I'd cast on the same number of stitches that I would for my own socks, AND I'd used an extra stretchy cast on (German Twisted cast on).

The socks arrived, via a neighbour, which is more complicated than it sounds on the Shetland Isles, where they live, earlier this week.  Of course, they fit perfectly.  I'd be quite disappointed in myself if I couldn't make socks that fit by now!  I've made dozens of pairs!

Excepting the cast on method (I usually use a simple long-tail cast on), these were made according to my standard sock pattern.  The yarns are West Yorkshire Spinners Signature Sparkle 4-ply, in the colourway "Silent Night", and West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4-ply, in the colourway "Blueberry Bonbon".

This is my small offering to the 2021 Commit to Knit campaign.  Although this is the first year since I've discovered this campaign, they have been going for a while, and they have supported several different charities.  Last year, and this year, they have been working with several homelessness charities to supply plenty of warm hats, not just for the physical warmth and protection afforded by woolly head gear, but also for the love and care that goes into hand knitting something for another person.  That tangible proof that someone cares can be a significant boost to the mental health of someone who has been forced into a terrible situation.

This hat is knit to the Basic Ribbed Beanie pattern by Kessa Tay Anlin.  I used this pattern for hats for Stephen and I last year, and I genuinely love it.  They are so simple, but so snuggly!  The yarn is King Cole Riot DK, in the colourway "413".

Finally, one of the most ridiculous, and tiny projects I've ever knit.  

Stephen has lost the little foam thingy that acts as a sort of pop-shield and sibilance reduction device on his gaming headset.  We suspect that it's fallen off, and either been eaten by Finn, who will mistake almost anything for food, or more likely, I've vacuumed it up.  So I spent 20 minutes last night knitting him a new microphone cover.

There is no such thing as a pattern for anything this daft.  The yarn is Zwerger Garn Opal Uni Solid 4-ply, in the colourway "Smoke".

WIP's

There are a couple of projects I'm working on that I'm not going to include here just yet, as technically they're Christmas presents.  I promise I'll show them after they've been delivered to their new owners though.  I'm also not going to really talk about my Free-form cardigan, as although I've put a few rows on it, it hasn't progressed that far since last time I showed it to you.

I have made a few more squares for my crocheted Memory Blanket though. They're all just basic granny squares, using DK yarn.  The 2 on the left are mini-skeins from Made by Penguins, the one on the right is Stylecraft Cabaret DK, in the colourway "Ocean", and I *think* the dark grey/green one is Third Vault Yarns Caroline DK, in the colourway "Death", left over from making a jumper.

Today I finished spinning the last of the singles for my Fluff to Stuff, although I think it's unlikely that I'll finish before the official end date, as that is the end of this month!  To be honest though, I'm doing this more as a personal challenge, and I'm not so bothered about entering my finished objects into prize draws, so I'll be happy if I have this lot turned into something wearable (the plan is a simple shrug/cardigan) by the end of the year.

I started with just under 140g of solid burgundy merino tops, and just over 140g of Wildcraft Fibres BFL and sparkle, in the colourway "Dorset Heath".

Stash Acquisition

Made by Penguins August Little Penguin subscription box.  The colourway is called "Autumn Sunset", and it's so much more beautiful than my phone camera can show!  It is quite clear that Lisa is all about the pink this year though!

Made by Penguins September Little Penguin subscription box.  This colourway is called "Butternut Squash", and it's giving definite autumn vibes. I'm loving these little autumn leaf stitch markers too!  

The October subscriptions haven't gone out yet, as Lisa has been really struggling with her health, and has been concentrating what energy she has had into making sure that the Advent calendars would be ready on time.  She assures us all that she's starting to feel better now, and that the October boxes will go out at the same time as the November ones, which is usually in the middle of the month.

When September's issue of The Knitter arrived through my letterbox, it contained an ad for what I thought was a new West Yorkshire Spinners yarn - Signature Sparkle 4-ply.  I'd just been thinking that I was quite low on purple colourways in my commercial sock yarn stash, so I went looking for some to buy, and ended up buying mostly blues.  You might recognise a couple of them from earlier.  Technically speaking, these are outside of my "Cold Sheep" allowances, as I didn't have a specific project in mind when I ordered them, but I did know that they'd be used for socks sooner or later, and I had just won £25 on My Trees, so it wasn't breaking my monthly budget!

The 2 solid colour yarns are both ordinary Signature 4-ply, bought partly because I've developed a liking for contrasting heels and toes of late, and I thought these colourways would go well with the 2 variegated colourways, but also because buying the extra couple of balls took me past the free postage spend.  They also came with free sock patterns.

From left to right, the colourways are: "Blueberry Bonbon", "Vintage Tinsel", "Silent Night", and "Juniper".

This is my Bakewell Wool Gathering Haul.  I used my primary Yarn Festivals budget to the last penny, but I did have some money left over from my Spare Change Collection budget, which I'd tipped out of my money box (yes, I literally have a money box for saving loose coins in!) So the few coins I had left over have gone back in the box for next year.

I'll share a better photo of the non-yarn items later on, but here's a bit more information about the yarn:

Truly Hooked      - 3 full skeins of Peruvian Highland 4-ply, in the colourway "Charcoal".  Believe it or not, these all came from the sale bin!  I managed to get a sweater quantity, and still have a decent amount of my budget left over!

                            - 3 10g mystery mini-skeins.  I love me a little surprise, so I always try to buy a few mystery mini's when I'm at a festival!  These ones actually go together really well!

Rosie's Moments - 1 full skein of sparkly 4-ply in bright red, with splashes of other bright colours, with the colourway name "Christmas".  This was my first purchase of the day, and it was one of those that called to me from a distance, just because it's such an incredibly bright red, and really good reds are hard to find.

                            - 5 20g mini-skeins in bold, jewel tones.  Another gem from a sale bin!  The Rosie's Moments sale bin is always our first port of call at Bakewell!

Knitting Adjacent

When you're visiting your local English Heritage site, and you spot a zip-close pouch, the ideal size for 2 balls of yarn, and it's in a little pile of "reduced to clear", so it costs you less than a quarter of it's original price, you pretty much have to buy it.  Who wouldn't want a project bag with pictures of the work of Capability Brown on it?

You all know how I love the work of SkeinHead.  Sadly, I can't afford to own every t-shirt design that Mikie and India produce.  However, they also put many of their designs onto stickers, and they've also made a brilliant Halloween pin badge with a pumpkin on it!  So my laptop is now sporting a large holographic sticker of their "Knit and Purl can change the world" design, and the pin badge has pride of place in my pin collection.

Here's that closer look at my non-yarn purchases from Bakewell Wool Gathering.  

A GIANT green and purple faux-fur pompom, by The Crafty Bird.

A little yarn protector pouch thing that acts as a sort of portable yarn bowl, in a gorgeous black, with brightly coloured balls of yarn print fabric, by Pickle Lily.

A face covering made from black fabric with a print of balls of yarn in muted, autumnal colours, also from Pickle Lily.

A penguin progress keeper (more about that in the last section).

Finn

Unashamed squeeing about my beautiful baby boy!

Well, I say it's all *squee!* but actually, there's a fair bit of "OMG! What have you been in!?!?"  In this case, the fetid mud surrounding a stagnant pond.

He is not especially fond of being bathed.  I am not especially fond of bathing him.  Or of cleaning the bath after I've bathed him!  But this photo is a direct result of the behaviour exhibited in the earlier photo.

He can also make a nuisance of himself in the house.  This blurry photo is him stealing the wrappers for my Marie Curie Quest Socks as they come out of the printer.  He then runs about with them until they're suitably crumpled, then he drops them on the floor and tramples on them!  This is in Stephen's office, which isn't the tidiest room in the house at the best of times, but with Finn in there it becomes utter chaos!

OK, so this is mostly an excuse to demonstrate that nobody in this house is a proper adult.  We're both 44 years old.  Stephen will be 45 at the end of this month.  Yet we have glow in the dark dinosaurs, wearing Christmas jumpers, on our king-size duvet cover.  The single duvet that covers the bottom of the bed, in order to protect our feet from a spaniel who likes to dig a nest at the bottom of our bed every night, also has dinosaurs in Christmas jumpers, but they don't glow in the dark. Finn doesn't care what's on the duvet, as long as he can sleep on the Big Bed with us.

I had to crop this one, because Stephen had fallen asleep on the sofa in the background, which is why Finn was all up in my face asking for attention.  How dare daddy fall asleep, when he knows it's his job to give Finn AllTheFussels in the evening, in order to compensate for being gone for all the HoursDaysWeeks at work!

Penguins!

It is essential that I make a detailed shopping list every week, based on meal plans for that week (with some flexibility, to allow for my body and it's general unreliability as regards capability to cook anything more complex than a cup-a-soup, and even that might involve a certain amount of kitchen destruction, and/or scalding myself).  We have discovered that this method saves us money, and prevents excessive snack purchases, when compared with our previous shopping and meal planning method, which was to go to Tesco every other day, and wander around with no goal or purpose, until £30 of snacks and a pack of fresh pasta had fallen into our basket. On the days we didn't go to Tesco, we ordered takeout.  The pre-planned meals and weekly shop has also successfully condensed a daily half hour of indecisiveness regarding what we want for dinner, into a single weekly hour of indecision.

It is not essential that the shopping list be written on a notepad with pictures of penguins on it, and colour-coded according to type of produce, but it is much preferred.  Therefore when my old shopping list pad ran out, I bought myself this one.

I know not if this idea was copied from Made by Penguins, or if having a giant crocheted penguin on your yarn stall is just such an excellent idea that it was thought of by multiple indie yarn dyers.  All I know is that if there is a giant crocheted penguin on your yarn stall, then I need to take a photo of it.

This penguin lives on The Crafty Bird's stall, and this photo was taken at Bakewell Wool Gathering.

Finally, a close up of the penguin progress keeper that I bought from the Knitting Companion stall at Bakewell.  He's one of several progress keepers that I've attached to a bracelet that I got at Bakewell Wool Gathering several years ago, and now use as a combination charm bracelet/knitting tool.

That my dears, is all I have for you right now.  As we're allowed to go places, and do things this year, Stephen and I will be celebrating his birthday with our traditional short holiday in North Yorkshire.  This means that I am unlikely to be able to update my blog on the last day of November, or the first of December.  Therefore I'll be doing my pre-advent post hopefully on the 27th, and my first advent post will be as soon as I'm feeling up to it after we get back.

Take care my dears, and keep on keeping safe.