I’ve Been Bad Part 1

 

I have been very bad of late. November I had planned to get in all my Christmas shopping. And actually, I am almost finished on that front. However, I did not plan to buy myself yarn at the end of October. But I did. I’m not even sorry. My bank balance probably is but I’m not. The lovely Lisa of For the Love of Yarn has been VERY busy of late. Go follow her on Instagram and you will see for yourself. With three children and her own business she is always busy but she’s been busy on the creative front. She brought out a new striped yarn base and she is calling it the Glesga Zebra. All of them are beautiful and all of them are linked to famous Glasgow slang. I picked this one because it’s called Ya Belter which is apt for this colour (because it is a belter).

It gave me an excuse to buy this yarn which I have been coveting for so long. The colour inspiration is my favourite soft drink, Irn Bru. If you are Scottish and don’t like Irn Bru there is something wrong with you (I’m including my sister’s BFF in that one). It’s such a vibrant yarn and it fits the drink perfectly. I can’t wait to knit with it. The problem is that both my sister and I will fight over who gets it. So I might have to design a pair of shorties or splash out on a second skein.

My Sea Creatures subscription also arrived and it it a beautiful purple. This is of course by Mothy and the Squid. Her inspiration this month is the Ochre Starfish. Mothy has also been busy of late which you can see from her Instagram (again she usually is busy). Just now she is working towards her own studio. She has signed up to Kickstarter and there are various ways you can help. I’ve signed up for a skein of sock yarn. Please go check it out or check out her Instagram.

Not from one of my friends I’m afraid. I have seen a few people knitting with WYS sock yarn of late and I’ve been a little envious. Sometimes it’s good to have a few of these in your stash for when you want to knit up something simple and effective. Although Christmas is up in the air for most of us at the moment I have one good thing about it. Thanks to my new job I will guarantee to have Christmas and New Year off. New Year I’m not so bothered about but I have always preferred Christmas off. It was my mum’s birthday and it was her favourite holiday. My family struggle at that time of year and I am still a huge fan. I try to make it a good time as I can which isn’t possible if I am working. So this year I will be in a new job and finishing at a reasonable time. We are assuming that we will not be going to my dad’s. So my sister is staying with me. She will be there on Christmas Eve and I have bought us matching pyjamas. I decided also to knit us matching socks and what better than to use Christmas themed yarn. My sister picked it from the name alone which is Candy Cane. I love it.                                     

   This one I didn’t purchase. I talk often about the Flower Power fund which raises money for Marie Curie. I have purchased yarn and patterns which have went towards this. Every so often the lady who runs it holds a raffle with dyers and makers donating items. Anyone who donates a pound to the just giving page is in with a chance of winning. A few weeks ago I had noticed I had a message from the organiser saying that I had won. I was tagged in the announcement post but didn’t see it. I never win these things so I didn’t expect it and winning is besides the point really. However, I feel privileged to have been the winner for this yarn by London House Yarns. The sock set is called Hermione and it is so pretty. I can’t wait to knit it up and I know who I will be knitting the socks for (of course it will be socks). I have never used London House Yarns before so I will be looking forward to that alone.

  Lastly this one is not yarn related. For the last few years or so I buy my sister an advent calendar because it was something my mum always did. My mum always bought us the Cadbury one which has the same thing behind the same doors every year (I know because timehop would show me). For a few years I got her the Loccitaine calendar and I would usually get myself a yarn one. Then I got it for us both and it was fun opening our calendars each day. Took us back to our childhood. Then last year I went for the paperchase as we both love stationary and I thought it would be a fun change. Which it was. There were issue with the delivery though and their courier recently let me down again so as much as I love the store I won’t be ordering from them unless they change their courier. I then saw that Nikki’s Supply Store was doing one and what could be more perfect. It’s still stationary so it is something we can both share and it supports small business. I can’t wait until December 1st.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Christmas Advent Socks

Over Christmas I had two yarn advent calendars. The second was by Bluebell Yarns. I could have added these yarns to the blanket I was making with the other advent calendar. However, this yarn had a completely different texture to it. It felt a little tougher and so I decided to use them for scrap socks. Each new yarn would be added to the socks as I opened them so that I wouldn't know the outcome until that last yarn is opened. I managed to make two pairs from them. One for myself and one for my sister.

Mine came first. Only a few of these colours I would actually pick out for myself. It forced me to experiment with colour and I actually quite like them. The colours are muted enough that they don't really clash with each other.

My favourite pair is actually my sister's. I love the colours that came out for her. The mustard is my least favourite colour. However, it adds pop to the socks and is one of my favourite things about this pair.

This is also a good way of using up scrap sock yarns. I highly recommend it. The downside is all the ends you have to sew in. Part of the joy of knitting socks is that there are so few. However, you have two ends with every change of colour. This is what took me so long to pull them out of my WIP back to finish. Persevere though as it is wort it.

The last parcel produced 50g of this lovely green yarn. I plan to get some cream sock yarn and use them together. And yes, for another pair of socks. I'll finish some more projects before I do that though.

I would definitely get another yarn advent calendar. It's a lot of fun. I have actually signed up for one for this year although it's a little different from last years and starts 16th Decemember rather than the 1st. You'll have to wait for that one though.

Christmas Stocking Blanket!

Last week I hunted out my WIP bag. I had a few projects in there that needed very little to complete and it has been bothering. Although not enough to do anything about until now. One of them is this lap blanket. All I actually needed to do was sew in the ends which I finally did. Actually didn't take long at all. I just hate sewing in ends. Most boring part of any craft.

This blanket was actually started at Christmas. You might remember that I purchased two yarn advent calendars. One of those was by For the Love of Yarn. Lisa provided a shawl pattern but I quite fancied the idea of a small blanket. Perfect for over the lap while working on a project.

I love the fact that I didn't know what the next colour was going to be. Despite my lack of will power I was actually very good and didn't open them in advance. Not like me at all. As I wanted to make the blanket slightly bigger I used leftover sock yarn. I chose a slightly thicker sock yarn for the edging to give it a nice drape and used my favourite fan pattern.

It's sitting in my living room for now but I might eventually move it to my little book nook. Can't wait for next years calendar.

Christmas Countdown Week 3 - Advent Calendars

I love an advent calendar. It is my personal belief that you are never too old for one. I have always wanted to make one but never found the time or the design I really wanted. It's too early for advent calendars but not too early to start making them.

This one is by Ruffled Sunshine and looks fairly simple to make. You are also limited to what items to put in there so it shouldn't break the bank either. You can also make it your own by choosing your own colours and little motifs for each pocket. This blog also has a lot of good ideas for different holiday crafts which involve the kids so worth giving it a visit.

I love this one because each of the little decorations is found in the pockets and you hang it on the tree each day. It's a kit which you can by from etsy seller Sesame Seed Designs so you also get the bonus of making it yourself. Not chocolate or gift related but one that would never get boring and can be handed down the family.

Any craft that involves jars I tend to love. This one seems quite simple and the little pockets are big enough to hold one sweet. It means you can chose your favourite sweets but it does mean that it might not last for the following year. You would have to be careful with the cardboard pockets. This one is by family crafts.

This one is fairly simple too. It uses toddler sized mittens, some printed card and some string. If you have lots of odd mittens it's a good way of recycling them. Or if you have family who have outgrown mittens you can recycle those too. Failing that you could scour charity shops. I think this is for people who want to make their own advent calendar but don't have a lot of time to spend on it. This is by HGTV. 

If you find a tree decoration that you like you can also make your own. I'm thinking of the stocking pattern from my first Christmas countdown post. The free pattern by Little Cotton Rabbits would make a cute garland advent calendar.

This one is quite possibly my favourite. It's more personal and I think it's one for the grown ups. It would be a fab gift for a friend. I think my sister would love this (although she might love the lego advent calendar I got her more). I can definitely see myself making this one. It's by the Thinking Closet.

Most of these ideas can be found on my tutorial links page. And all of these images belong to the linked websites.