one good apple

I’ve had two days off school to go on courses this week and it has been heaven.  Not that I don’t like my job, I love it, but you underestimate how tired it makes you.  In other jobs I’ve had the best parts were where you get to play around a bit, slack off a little and do something creative instead of the usual.  In this job the best parts are the hardest parts so you’re having loads of fun but tiring yourself out at the same time.  Very odd situation indeed.  Anyway, it’s been nice to be taught for a couple of days rather than doing the teaching so I am a happy little bunny.

Speaking of (not so) happy bunnies, I’ve been playing around here making pictures for Christmas cards for this year.  This is my favourite so far,

My very own Scrooge.  I’m going to couple more different ones I think and then order a batch.

This weekend will be filled with baking, knitting and making some Christmas decorations - it is the first tomorrow after all - as well as sorting out a last little package for my secret pal.  I have two parcels waiting for me at the post office that I’m going to pick up in the morning, I have a feeling that one might be my SP sender reveal - can’t wait!

I made some real cupcakes for a change,

Worked on Muir some more,

Finished the main body of my sister’s Christmas present,

I also got some labels through the post for sewing into things I’ve made as modelled by this otherwise naked cupcake,

I am now going about the flat sewing them into everything I have ever made *^_^*

Off to the flea market this morning then will spend the afternoon making some clay tree decorations.   I am chomping at the bit to get the Christmas tree up but I think we’re going for a real one this year so Don can get in touch with his ancestors so we’ll have to wait a while yet.

There’s been a lot going on around here lately.  Finally finished my advent calender for my sister.  I can’t remember if I said or not but she has no room in her house for a Christmas tree and I didn’t like the thought of her having one so I made her this,

The tree was knitted in some old yarn I bought on impulse and finished with single crochet around the edges to neaten it up.  I found some great little star buttons that liven up the tree on those first few days of Christmas when it will be pretty bare.  And to top it off, 25 little ornaments to put on for each day leading up to Christmas.  I made these with some Fimo clay that I painted with acrylic and varnished to finish it off.  Varnish makes everything look ten times better.

My favourite part of this is the fact that it can all be folded up into a neat little triangle to be put away safe for next year,

I also made some stitch markers from the modelling clay, a sort of family portrait that includes Rebus, our new addition.  The photo of them isn’t the best in the world but they’re on my flickr in crafty things if you want to see them.

We also got a new pad for Donald as an early Christmas present.  He loves it.  Normally he’s barrelling up and down his cage to be let out on a morning but he’s very happy in his new gaff as you can see,

The house has also served to soften the blow of the fact that he is now on a diet after bing told that despite being a handsome chap he is a pound overweight.  No more bran flakes for this ape!  Luckily the carrot biscuits my secret pal sent me are helping him through this tough time.

My Christmas knitting is coming along nicely.  I’ve just started working on Muir from this month’s Knitty and I’m enjoying a lace project for the first time.  It’s so satisfying seeing it grow quickly and the yarn I’m using is a beautiful light grey and very soft and cosy.  For my mum, I think.

This weekend will be a lazy one.  Work has been far to much like, well, work this week and I’m exhausted with still four weeks to go.  I’m in the Christmas nativity (another story to tell) and I’m co-directing the House panto for the last day of term so it’s rehearsals a-go-go.  So tonight we’re watching Zodiac on the telly and eating our body weight in comfort food.  Tomorrow is a birthday lunch for the boy’s mother and then I plan to do some serious knitting and maybe make a little something to go in my last secret pal parcel.  Oh and go to the post Office to pick up some goodies that have been left there.  Relaxing weekend ahoy!

It came!  It came!  Another parcel from the best Secret Pal that ever existed *gush gush*  And, oh my, were there treats in store,

For me, some gorgeous roving to card and spin and make into something soft and amazing,

The Dyer’s Garden by Rita Buchanan

that has meant I spent the weekend in the boy’s father’s garden seeing what I can gather and take home, a cute little bunny bookmark, some Thorntons chocolates that lasted about an hour, sparklers, Haribo and, most exciting for Donald, Flumps and rabbit biscuits. 

Thank you so much Secret Pal, I can’t wait to get started with the fleece and dyes.  I hadn’t realised what a positive experience this swap was going to be but I’m totally sold on it and will definitely be coming back for more *^_^*

In other news, the will was strong but my laptop’s desire to pack in was stronger last week as it gave up the ghost and refused to let me use it in order to blog every day as I’d planned.  Typical isn’t it?  Luckily she has been pushed aside and replaced by the boy’s PC that we’d left in his mum’s when we moved last.  He is a very happy bunny and I am now able to type words with the letter ‘d’ in and make spaces without pounding at the keyboard.

I’ve also started work on this,

which is going to be a present for my sister who doesn’t have enough room for a Christmas tree.  I’m nearly done and will post pictures as soon as I have.  It’s turned cold here today so I’m off to put some woolly socks on and bed down for the night in front of the (rubbish) telly.  Happy snuggles.

Finally ended up seeing Elizabeth tonight after post-TV shopping stress and refusal to budge from the sofa.  The boy wanted more fighting and I very much liked the clothes, oh the clothes!  And Walter Raleigh of course.  King Phillip was a bit of a pantomime baddie though but the thing made me switch off from a crappy day at work so, really, that’s what matters in the end ^_^

And now for an episode of Lost series one before bed, then getting up and doing the whole thing all over again…

Pretty easy one to start the week on wasn’t it?!  Fireworks round at the boy’s sister’s house whilst Donald was safely ensconced in the bathroom with a cabbage for company.

I also, after living here for nearly a year, got round to putting up pictures that have either been in the cupboard or laid against a wall since moving in. 

AND I started on  a pair of Christmas socks for my sister using the other pattern from my secret pal.  I’ve messed up the toe a little but don’t think it’s too noticeable ^_^ 

I swear I’m on a roll…

It’s always this time of the year that I feel like curling up into a little ball and hibernating until the spring.  Looking at other blogs I’ve noticed that a lot of people have signed up to NaBloPoMo and are writing a blog a day for the whole of November.  A fantastic idea, but when it comes to me I know I’ll be great for the first few days and then gradually lose interest.  It’s also the fourth of November already so I’ve totally missed the boat…  But the idea seems appealing to me anyway and for one week only, instead of coming home and curling up into a ball in front of the telly I will do something different and blog about it.  Maybe if I get into the habit this week I’ll be able to keep it up throughout the winter months and avoid the pseudo-SAD that I seem to get.  I mean, it’s not SAD, not for me, it’s just laziness and needs to be combated!

The TV hunting expedition was a complete washout.  We went, we agreed (sort of) on a telly to be told that there were none left in stock.  We went back.  We looked again.  Our agreement on the next telly was slightly more tense and, well, you can guess what happened next.  We were in there an hour, by which time we were soooooo fed up that we spent the night watching programmes about real-life vampires after which I scared myself and couldn’t sleep.  Twenty seven and I still haven’t learned.  So, no new TV, just a new barrage of images to kept me up at night.

I’m off to plan my week, looks like I’m going to have a lot on x

I finished my secret pal socks this morning and am in love!  They are soft, warm and above all, purple.  Thank you secret pal for ending me such amazing yarn.  My WIP hidey-hole is full of single, forlorn socks who I couldn’t be bothered to make a friend for but for these two it’s a happy ending -aaahhhh….!  Now everyone is getting socks for Christmas *^_^*

It’s Saturday afternoon here in Liverpool (and everywhere else in the UK unsurprisingly).  The boy is out at work and Don is under the bed sulking.  He ate too many spring greens this morning and last night and now has a lovely pair of poopy pants.  He has been told that if he doesn’t sort them out pronto then the baby wipes will be coming out and I will be doing it for him.  He’s weighing up his options I think. 

We’re going to buy a new TV when the boy has finished work and I am not looking forward to it.  He’ll want something big and flashy and flat screen like all boys do and I’ll want something that sits quietly in the corner and doesn’t cost too much money.  I’ll win the battle, I always do because he’s far more easy-going than I am and hates shopping so will relent, but I still hate the whole process, the looking, the discussion, the pros and cons….  We’re also going to see Elizabeth tonight though so that’s something to look forward to.  I hadn’t even seen the original until last week when it was on the telly but loved it and even though this one seems like it’s going to be a little melodramatic a bit of unreality will be called for after the shopping expedition!

In a fit of mania I have cleaned the house from top to bottom including under the sink where I was terrified to put my hand in - like one of those black boxes at Halloween that have eyeballs and zombie snot in them - and am now going to have a look at some of the patterns in One Skein and think about what I’m going to knit next.  Happy Saturday bunnies…