Saturday, December 22, 2012

Merry Christmas!

HI,
It is so very close now...  are you excited?  I love Christmas, and there's a lot of excitement in this house.  Naomi is as giddy as a kipper and yet she's not entirely sure why :)  I think it's the first year that Christmas is starting to mean something to her:  'Mommy, Santa's coming to our house', 'Mommy, we've got to be nice to the presents'  (for the last one I think something got lost in translation from 'you've got to be nice to receive presents'!)

I'm still cranking out a few last minute gifts.  Here's a another cowl that was a nice one-evening-knit.  Yes, it's that Malabrigo Rasta again.  It really is divine!  Essentially it is this handspun scarf pattern from Phydeaux designs.  I knit until I ran out of yarn, and it turned out a great length for a cowl. 

Rasta wrap/cowl

I was hoping it would be a good shawl... but I think it is just a bit too short on me.  Although the recipient is a teeny tiny sweet lady and I think it might work well that way on her.

Rasta wrap

I did make some little stocking stuffer gifts, using this 'Pinspiration': 'For your mistletoes' by Supreme Courtney.  I really like that she picked names of nail polish that featured something about the recipient.  For my version I made these little boxes (using a template and cutting machine from stampin' up) and popped a sparkly bottle of nail polish in each.  I'm super happy with how these turned out!

For your mistletoes

Wishing you a wonderful Christmas and all good things for the New Year.
Love,
Sam xxx

merry christmas

hubby in handknits... hat, scarf and jumper

(Erm, and that is not a blue boobie as one of my friends pointed out... it's a Christmas birdie :)))  But now you've read this, if you are like me, you'll see nothing but a blue boobie every time you look at this picture. ha ha.  Oh yes, and that is Naomi channeling Jake and the Neverland Pirates 'Yo ho ho'.  Not quite Ho ho ho, but I'll take it :o)))

Friday, December 14, 2012

Christmas Gifts


Yesterday I was trying to get this little beauty (that would be the cowl) all finished and wrapped for gifting today.  Which also explains the dreadful late-night lighting in the shots.

The 'I need sleep' shot

The cowl is a fabulous pattern from Phydeaux designs - the Phydeaux Twist Cowl.  It is worked on size 19 needles with a super bulky yarn.  Perfect for those last minute gifts :).  The yarn is Malabrigo Rasta in colourway Piedras.  Good grief this yarn is wonderfully soft and smooshy.  Oh, and this work in progress picture is a much better representation of the actual colourway.

Phydeaux cowl WIP

The recipient is a very dear lady from daycare that has known, and cared for, Naomi since she was 3 months old.  It was a Happy Birthday, Congratulations, Merry Christmas, Fond Farewell and Thank you gift.  This sweet lady is moving out of state and will be dearly missed by our whole family, but mostly Naomi who would run to class each day and give this lady a big cuddle.  (The congratulations piece - she got married, on her birthday, which happened to be 12/12/12. Very cool!)

The other little gifties that I put together since my last blog update were a handful of Christmas gifts for some local friends.  I found these chocolate fondue pots, and packaged them with mini marshmallows and some decorated forks from Tulle and Twig.  I was really pleased with how this all came together.
Fondue favours
Have you been Christmas crafting too?  I'd love to hear what you are working on.

Ok, I've got to run... more gifts to complete and the clock is ticking!
Have a wonderful weekend,
Hugs, Sam xxx

Wednesday, December 05, 2012

Christmas Preparations

You may have guessed this about me already:  I think Christmas is wonderful!  I love everything about it, but mostly the heartwarming, uplifting feeling at this time of year.  I also love the preparations:  Seeking out the special gifts, decorating the tree and crafting! 

First to be completed on the crafting front is another pair of felted slippers for my brother - he wanted them in classic red and white Santa colours :)))  They were completed while he was visiting this last week.  He's probably the #1 (and yet most unlikely) fan of these felted slippers, or what we call 'plitters' - a name I used as a toddler because I couldn't pronounce slippers.

Then there is Naomi's santa hat.  I'd made this for her last year, but one day came home to find Bruno - who was a brand new pup at the time - had taken a shine to it and decided it would make a great chew toy! Tsk tsk tsk.
chewed christmas hat collage

Thankfully the areas that took the brunt were the pom pom and the white band at the bottom (he must have a thing for the bulky weight alpaca yarn!).  When Joe pulled his Santa hat out of the closet the other day, Naomi was asking me where her's was... so that became the next priority for completion :)  Look how tickled she is with her reworked hat!

Yeah!

Well worth the effort. And of course her best friend is forgiven :)

This evening we also worked on paper chains together.  Remember those - 1" wide strips of paper that you'd glue into circles and string together.  Naomi really enjoyed helping out with these.  She was armed with the glue stick, while I was chief assembler of the chain.  We now have garlands draped over various pictures in the house.  I wouldn't have thought about making the paper chains - it was my sister that gifted me a book with patterned paper and guidelines for paper chains, snowflakes, woven hearts and angels!  Such a great idea!

Making Paper Chains

Hope you are having fun on the run up to Christmas too.
Hugs,
Sam

PS - We are making great progress on Bertie's Blankets, thank to you, my lovely friends. Big hugs to you xxx