The grand Christmas challenge 2011

During my recent move, a certain fact became very clear to me.  It's not like I didn't know it already, but there's a certain something about seeing it for fact, in person, a tangiable, undeniable fact.  I have silly amounts of yarn and fibre.  I mean there's having stash, pretty to pet and indulge in... but then there's having an addiction - where it just bulges out of every storage space in your tiny little flat.  When did this happen?  And how much have I spent!?

A second fact has also become very clear since the move.  That is the fact that I've had a pay cut and at the same time, an increase in expenses - more rent, more bills, bus fare.  Suddenly, I'm living a very close existance!  I mean, there's nothing to really complain about, but I've gotten used to a certain level of disposal income, which I don't really have any more, and I forget this, and end up broke, or at least very near to it by mid-month.

Now, I'm not telling you these things as a moaning outlet or a boast or anything of those sorts.  I'm setting a scene.  So, what happens when these things combine?  I fun crafting challenge! 

I hereby pledge that everyone on my Christmas gift list will be getting handmade items using fibre and yarn I already own.

The rules -
1) No fibre or yarn is to be brought - I'm on a strict yarn and fibre diet until the new year, at least.  I have to make up some more room first!  The only exceptions are the two clubs that I belong to - my Wildcraft fibre and spindle subscription which runs every other month, and my Piperfic's luxuary fibre club.
2) I can buy patterns, buttons and the like.  Only essential "notions".
3)  Any craft will be permitted - knitting, crochet, felting.  I'm going to try and knit with as much of my handspun as possible.
4) Everyone on my list has to get at least one item, the adults will most likely only be getting small things - hats, scarves, mitts, shawls.
5) If I decide to get someone a Christmas present, a part of it must involve an item fitting the above criteria, i.e. any last minute "Oh, I was going to give so-and-so a pressie" must get something made from my stash.

And as for my list of Christmas recipients.  Well, this is where it's potentially tricky.  If I'm going to be strict and stick to the rules, then I have to keep the list relatively small.  But here's my initial thoughts:
1) Both parents, although not sure what I'll do for my dad.
2) Grandparents (UK ones only, it's not practical to get the SA ones things)
3) Brother - although haven't given it much thought as to what.
4) Aunt and cousin
5) Sarah and Martin
6) The Clark girls
7) The Clark baby
8) Conner
(6, 7, 8 are all little kids, so they are to get a cardigan or sweater each, make this rule 6!)
9) Emma
10) Lorri
11) Sam and Kev
12) Mary
13) Fiona
14) Mrs Spoon

And I think that's enough to get started with... right?  I'm sure I may yet think of a couple others!

And so it begins... or rather, so it has begun.  I've made a start - it's a lot of crafting to get through before Christmas.  And I'll keep the blogosphere updated on it.

Snowmen and skullcaps

This was the picture that greated me as I looked out of my window this morning, having listened to the radio about how the city had ground to a halt and buses weren't running.  My first instinct?  Curl back up in bed.  But decided that this would be too lazy.  Gave it lots of thought whether or not to try and trek into uni today, but decided that it wasn't worth the possible 2hour, potentially dangerous, slipping walk in, just to find out that it had been cancelled and then have to come all the way back, cold, wet and uncomfortable.  I think that if I didn't live so far away, I would have attempted it. 

So I curled up in front of the telly instead, with my knitting.  I've now completed my new hat which looks a little like this as a work in progress (trying to gauge the length, hence the needles sticking out of my head):

And it looks a little like this when finished:

It's a beautiful varigated pure wool yarn, which was lovely to work with (not too harsh on my hands, some of the pure wools I've used before have left me with dreadfully dried out hands) and I'm very happy with the outcome.  Thanks very much Sarah and the Clarks for your wonderful Christmas pressie.

I also ventured out briefly to get some food (all lovely warm, wintery things - rice pudding, hot choc, pies, breakfast oats) and was amazed by the winter wonderland that greated me.  And the fantastic spirit of the community, such as cheeky little kids throwing sneaky snowballs at me, and everyone all bundled up and in their wellies (would have been useful things!)  And there was beauty everywhere and wonderful art creations.

Just out my front door, reasurring me I did the right thing not attempting to walk in on those pavements!

Snow sticking, somehow, to one side of the trees.  Very pretty effect.

A true masterpiece watching the world walk by down Gloucester Road

And this one was huge.  I bumped into his creator too, who was busy trying to figure out the hair do (pet bedding straw, held in place by long pieces of metal bent into u-shapes).

I've just checked the current weather conditions, and apparently it's about -5 out there, so very grateful to be snug inside with good heating and cosy blankets.  I really need to make the effort to go into uni tomorrow, but I just don't think the weather will be much better than today, although they aren't predicting any more snow over night, they don't think it'll be warmer than -1, so the pavements and transport links are just going to be hideous, but hey, wouldn't life be dull without these little challenges interferring with our attempts to just get on with things?

Mmm, spent Christmas just as I needed to, but not as I expected to!

Merry Christmas everyone.  I hope that you all had lovely days with your loved ones and that you had wonderful pressies and tasty food. 

I spent most of the early hours of Christmas day in the bathroom with a lovely dose of D&V, so I unfortunately spent the vast majority of Christmas day in bed asleep.  I went downstairs for about half an hour for pressie exchanging, and then briefly to talk to my ouma and oupa in South Africa on Skype.  And that was about it.  I would have felt dreadfully unsocial if it were not for the fact that I actually slept most of the day!  And also didn't really want to give everyone else gastro as a delayed Christmas present.  I do feel slightly guilty that I didn't really feel enthusiastic at present time, I really did love my gifts, just didn't really feel energetic enough at the time to express that!

Now that I have given them all away, I can put up some pics of the Christmas presents that I have spent the last month working on (oh, and Emma's birthday present).

 

Slippers made for Morgan (red) and Jenna (pink).  They're made out of 100% wool, and Sarah has since felted them (which I was very impressed with, can't believe she found the time already!) thus they may look ginormous here, but they have shrunk alot.  I will get photos of the finished items when I can.

The quwerky present I mentioned and showed a teaser of was this - a dodecohedran, a.k.a. a twelve pointed star, with each point a different colour.  It was a great way to use up some of my odds and ends, and was very happily recieved by Emma on Connor's behalf, as were these socks, which should just about still fit:

Then carrying on the sock theme, I made Rowan a set of three colour co-ordinated but non-matching socks, which hopefully should fit:

Then to use up some of the wool left over from Rowan's aran cardigan, I made Sarah some wrist warmers (awww, bless, potential for co-ordinating mummy and daughter!).

 

 And finally, Emma's scarf.  This I actually crocheted for a change.  It was one of my favourite wools that I've used so far.  It wasn't the softest of wools, but it is 100% pure wool that has been hand spun and hand dyed in such a beautiful colour set, with plenty of green.  I love that it has such a natural feel to it (in fact spent a lot of time during making it picking out little bits of twig and straw) and the fact that it is truely a unique wool, with varying thickness and colours.

Apparently, more days can be like that!

I have so many wonderful things to talk about that happened today.  It was a truely special day, filled with love, friends and Christmas!  I do have some photos, but I don't think I'll get round to putting too many up just yet, as it's getting late (damn that Shakespeare in Love being on so late!) and it is Christmas Day after all, so will need to be up relatively early, and be full of energy, so that amounts to tonight's post being much shorter than it could be.

I finally got paid and did my Christmas shopping today - what a nightmare, but I'm so glad it's over and done with.  So I won't bother saying very much about that.

Then this afternoon, I spent some time with the Clarks and the Symes at a children's church service, complete with crafting - I ended up with lovely multi-coloured hands.  It was lovely fun crafting with the girls, you can totally let your inner child out and not have people judge you!  Awesome, messy, colourful, beautifully unperfect (bye-bye inner control freak!) fun!

Afterwards we all headed back to Emma's house, as it's her birthday today and Sarah made us all a lovely meal.  It was a perfect evening.  Children running round, all excited about various pressies, catching up, making Ems feel special, crafting (well, I was finishing off the last of my Christmas pressies), giving and recieving of lovely, thoughtful gifts.  Truely a special day.  Made all the more special by Connor laughing (and such a gorgeous, beautiful laugh) for the first time when I nuzzled and blew onto his tummy.  Wonderfully witnessed by both his mummy and daddy he repeatedly showed off his new party trick.  It was a wonderful time, and I'm so blessed to have been part of it.

And finally, one picture, because it's too cute to resist!  A smiley Connor with his Mummy.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Aw, why can't more days be like this?

Despite my early attempts at going to bed, I had a rubbish night sleep.  This consisted of dozing off about 1am and then waking up with a start following a really horrible, distressing dream at just before 3am.  And then I was too wired to go back to sleep.  It took ages to calm down, and it was the most upsetting dream I've had in a very long time.  After a while, I completely gave up trying to get back to sleep and instead watched stuff on my laptop for a couple of hours and then eventually was able to go back to sleep.

Needless to say, this morning it was very hard indeed to wake up and get out of bed.  I had set my alarm for 9am, but that came and went with repeated snoozes, until I decided that I would get up, so switched the alarm off and promptly fell fast asleep again.  Until I had a lovely wake up call in the form of Sam phoning to let me know how her job interview had gone.  Since she didn't fancy being alone following this, I took my mom and Sam to the chaos that was the supermarket to do the last of the grocery shopping that my family needed.  We're having an extended family Christmas at our house, and as always, my mom is making sure she has enough to feed an army and then some!  I was very relieved to leave the supermarket, although admittedly having the company of two people I love very dearly certainly made the experience more enjoyable.

Just after lunch we found out that Sam got the job!  Yipee!  I'm so very proud of her, she very much deserves it, and I know it's something she's wanted for so long now.  So it was a very positive day.  I eventually took Sam home and had a cup of tea and kept her company for a little longer, but the poor lass was exhausted from all the excitment, so I left her be and went and found people with more energy - little people!

I popped in to see my darling Sarah and her wonderful family, and thoroughly enjoyed every moment.  It was wonderful being in a home with children at this time of year.  Christmas is so exciting, and it's so easy to catch their enthusiasm.  I had a lovely catch up with Sarah, and had a chance to spend a little time with each of the girls and have a cuddle.  This little family means so much to me and brightens up my life so much, I am so lucky and privileged to be part of their lives, and spending time with them is a very important aspect of helping me remember about the life that still exists outstide my little medicine bubble.  Thank you Sarah! :)

And just to prove what amazing friends I have, I have recieved two early Christmas pressies today.  Both of which contained some beautiful wool!  Hehehe!  They know me so well, especially Sam's comment that she was worried that she was enabling me!  I will get round to putting pics up at some point, but needless to say, I am so excited and can't wait to have a sit down and decide what to make with it.  I think I may even make something for myself for a change.  And as well as the wool, I got a lovely new piece of art to stick up on my wall when I get back to Bristol from the Clarks.  It is so wonderful and pretty, and I'm so touched to have something original and handcrafted with so much love and time put in.  Thank you all very much for my lovely presents, you have truely made me feel special and thought of.

Oh Christmas tree, oh christmas tree!

Yay, FINALLY got organised enough to do this:

 

 

 

 

(Sorry, not the best pics ever!  Bit out of focus, but you can get the idea!)

Still have a couple of decorations that I need to let dry and pop on the tree, and I'm still debating if I should make a star for the top, and if I should (decorate? and) use the snowflakes I made a while back with Mary.   I'll get it all finished eventually! I was so excited to finally get it up.  It really feels like Christmas is getting close now.  So seasons greetings everyone! 

I've almost used up both the balls of wool I brought yesterday, and I've discovered I'll need another one.  Bugger!  I only justified getting this wool (which is gorgeous and I lust after everytime I go to the wool shops) as I thought, although quite expensive, I'd only need the two.  Now costs have just gone up by 50%!  But I don't really mind as it is gorgeous, so pretty and vibrant, I'm fairly sure that it will be adequately loved by the eventual recipient and I'm so happy with how it's worked up so far. (I'll put up pictures after the intended has recieved it.) Ohhh dear.  Seems like my wool addiction has got the better of me... again!

And thank goodness it's Friday.  I'm just so ready to get this week out of the way.  I'm much, much better now, just mainly the sinus headaches that are bugging me now.  I've got quite a busy weekend ahead.  I really, really need to tidy my flat - vacuum, recycling (for some reason, when I put my recycling out, it doesn't get picked up, so I end up storing it up and then taking it to the local supermarket), tidy away the crafting stuff (ready to make more decorations next year.  Yipee!).  I also have two shifts at work, which I really am grateful about, because my MOT is due in the next couple of weeks, so any money will be coming in handy!  I'm just hoping I won't be feeling to lousy or headachy because that would just make for very long, horrid shifts.  And finally, one of my old uni friends is coming to visit us in Bristol, so Mary has arranged for a mulled wine and mince pie evening at hers tomorrow night.  Just a bit annoyed that it clashes with work - why can't I actually have it all?  So I'll make a mad dash from work and probably be about an hour and a half late!  Just hope I have the energy for all this, the way I've felt this week makes me feel a little worried about this.  But I'm determined to give it a go!

Still nothing to say!

Yup, that's it, just another day of feeling sick. Barely slept last night due to constant need to blow my nose (yuk!) and a very heavy congested headache. So needless to say, another very long lie in was necessary to catch up on those hours of missed sleep. Woke up around 2pm, and actually made it out of bed today! And did some knitting. Slowly though, as just unable to keep up the concentration for that long. And that's about it.

Have decided to give up on the snowflakes, as I really don't think that the yarn I was using was that suitable, they just ended up looking too messy. So, have gone back to knitting some small things for Christmas pressies (and to help reduce my stash!).

I don't think I'll be heading into uni tomorrow. I'm sure by then, I will be feeling much better, but I don't think quite over it all enough, and caught up on sleep enough to get through a day of looking professional and presentable. But I am aiming for Wednesday, as I have something on then that will be signed off.

Snotty goodnights to you all!

Mmmm, Mondays

Some days are barely worth documenting for prosperity!  And today was one of those.  Didn't end up going into uni, as my teaching was cancelled, and I didn't feel like going through the effort of trekking in for an hour just to clerk.  So, lazy me, and I do feel somewhat guilty about this, as I should be all about the clerking this year, and whilst, yes, it is early days, I can't just carry on saying that.  Before I know it, the year will be nearing the end and I will still be procrastinating!  I will definitely be going in tomorrow, I have teaching at 2pm, so tempted to go in earlier, clerk around 1-ish, go to teaching, them possibly clerk again after teaching, depending how long it goes on for.  Well, that's the plan at least, and it still allows me to have a relative lie-in - which is great, I'm really not much of a morning person!

So, what did I do today instead of going in?  Well, I did a bit of tidying this morning and then got thinking about what projects to knit next.  I've decided on a few things, which I mainly want to do as Christmas pressies, so I can't really talk about them, at least not yet!  I'm going to try and do lots of smaller things, which will be quick to knit, so I can get more pressies for more people made, and it will also hopefully be a good way to use up some of my wool stash.

Also, Mary picked out a hat pattern yesterday whilst she was here, so I went and got some wool for that.  Spent ages trying to decide what sort of wool to get.  The sort of wool that the pattern had used/recommended has been discontinued and the nearest equivilent was really expensive (about £7.50/ball, and I would have needed two balls!) and I wasn't entirely convinced the colour was what Mary wanted and it was really fuzzy, and I wasn't sure if this was the sort of thing Mary would like.  So after discussing it with the shop assistant, I settled on something else.  I'll let you know how it progesses.  Hope the wool works out ok.

I painted the silly polystyrene balls a few more coats.  I think I'm finally getting close to having nice solid, non-blotchy colour on them, then I can decorate them some more.

And finally, I thought about doing some reading to make up for not going in... never did quite get round to it.  Come to think of it, I really can't explain how I filled all the hours today.  This is not a good thing.  Must try and make tomorrow more productive!