Nearly There

Christmas is coming along almost perfectly around here. Elly arrived back home safe and sound, and amazingly only a half hour late. She had to make a change of planes at Pearson airport in Toronto on Saturday afternoon, and somehow she managed to be one of the few lucky ones who sailed through with no cancellations and almost no delay. She was very lucky. One of her friends from Dublin got stuck in Heathrow and then Seattle as she tried to travel back home to her family in Spokane Washington. Poor Kalen, I hope you managed to make it to your family by now.

I've finished all my Christmas knitting, and I've decided to show it off (I'm fairly sure Elly and Ian will be too busy over the next day to check out my blog).



For Elly I made the Celtic Cable Neckwarmer, a free pattern available from Storm Moon Knits. The pattern called for worsted weight yarn (hooray, for worsted weight - it knits up lickety split), I used Mirasol Miski (that's 100% Llama, and oh so soft to the touch) in the classic colour for cables, cream, and finished it off with three vintage vegetable ivory buttons.

***Now Elly, I know you like everything matchy-poo and I realise the buttons don't match,but if that drives you crazy we can take them off and add something else, like a matched set of wood or mother of pearl buttons, don't panic***

And for Ian, who happened to see the Fish Hat from the latest issue of Knitty and longed for one of his own.



His wish has been granted. Hooray again for worsted weight yarn. Made form Fleece Artist Blue Faced Leicester Aran in a green colourway with shots of brown and turquoise and a little bit of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in black for the fins and lips. This pattern was fairly easy and I think the results are quite hilarious.

I've got my fingers crossed that they'll both like the choices I made for them.

And here are two gifts to all of you.

Though I'm none too sentimental and pretty much completely irreligious, I have a fondness for certain Christmas Carols, so here's one of my favourites:



And here's This for all the kids.

Happy Christmas everyone!

A Little Christmas

Aren't these adorable little birdhouse ornaments for the tree? I was very pleased with this little purchase back in November. Sears had decided not to sell any more Martha Stewart products, so they were clearing out all of last year's Christmas stock at drastically reduced prices. I think these may have been originally marked at $8, but they were marked down to $1.94 and then had ANOTHER 75% off that! Wow! I won't bore you with the math, but I bought all they had - seven - and still had change from a five. I love a bargain, and was very pleased with myself.

'Course, you can't please everyone, and Nigel frequently shudders when I veer off to the bargain bin (I think he thinks it's beneath him). When we decorated the tree the other night I told him the story of my great bargain and there was some wise-ass remark about looking like Blitzen threw up.

Well!

I went out today to a lovely little boutique down the road, and before you could say, "they cost HOW much?", out came the Visa card,



and there are now THREE of these on the tree.

Only 'cause I'm trying to please everybody, don't you know.

I've got a little bit of last minute Christmas knitting on the needles, so I decorated a little (large) basket for myself.



And here's two snaps of what's in the works,





but no guessing as to what, or for who. You're just going to have to wait and see...

Come On Baby Light My Fire

Okay, December's handmade is on it's way to Jane, so I guess I'll show it off. Since Jane's household is a diverse one, I opted for a Hanukkah themed handmade for December (to go in the box with all the Christmas presents).

Full frontal, it's the Menorah Pillow from Handknit Holidays by Melanie Falick. I used the recommended yarn, Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, in a soft cream colour. I realise cream isn't always the best choice for a busy family, but you can wash the pillow cover in cool water, Jane, and lay it flat to dry.



And from the back,



I swapped out the recommended knitted i-cord knot buttons for some sleek and modern shell ones. Much more to Jane's taste I think.

It should arrive by the end of the week in amongst the Christmas presents.

Happy Handmade for December Jane!

Oh yes, and I've fixed the link to ambermoggie from the last post. Go check out her work, lovely!

In The Mood

It's starting to look a little Christmasy around here.



That's December's handmade, very soon to be on it's way to Jane. Once it's mobile I'll show what it looks like full frontal, as it were.

Last week I received another ambermoggie creation in the post.



Her name is Bastet and she is the Egyptian guardian goddess of cats, also known to be a house guardian. She likes to spin negatives aspects into positives ones. Hmmm...I've been doing exactly the opposite of that lately, so I think she's going to be just the influence I need.



Here she is next to Coventina. I adore these little dolls. I've always liked faceless dolls, so easy-going and non-judgemental. I'm going to have to add some more of these little lovelies to my household, two is definitely not enough

I don't have much in the way of knitting to show you today, in fact, I've almost completely lost my will to knit lately. I always get to feeling just a tad overwhelmed before Christmas - I don't think I'm alone in that.

Here's a couple of shots of the dogs.

Gus doing his best imitation of a gargoyle from the top of the stairs,



and here's Whimsy, pretending to ignore him at the bottom of the stairs.