Christmas countdown 2016: Days 23 and 24

Obviously I meant to write this earlier in the day, but here is the final Christmas coutndown post of 2016.

Day 23

A day mostly spent driving, initially in good conditions, then in horrible ones as it got dark, and wet and windy. The highlights of the day were knitting and hot chocolate in service stations, with the very highlight of the day being knitting on the sofa at home!

The advent calendars handed out some pretty yarn, which mostly got ignored as long-distance driving does not lend itself to blanket knitting.

Day 24

A day of last-minute Christmas preparations: food shopping, present-wrapping and baking. I made a batch of mince pies, but couldn't find the cutter for the tops so went with the letter 'M' instead, which allowed for comic 'mmm' mince pies! I also made sausage rolls, which are one of my Christmas Eve traditions.

The advent calendars provided some lovely colours for the final day, and some banana cream, which is not my favourite!

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Time to wait for Santa to come, and to catch some sleep before two very excited children make an appearance! Hope Christmas is good to you. Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas countdown 2016: Days twenty to twenty-two

Day twenty

A lovely relaxed day with family. I even managed to fit in some knitting on my sock yarn blanket, and somehow knitted an entirely green square from what, at the end of the square, looked like a purple ball of wool. I'm pretty sure this makes me a magician (though I am a little miffed that the purple didn't make it to the square - the purple and green makes me think of Spring, which is very welcome at this time of year)!

The advent calendars might have given me their best day yet! I love everything that came out, and can't wait to add Day Twenty to my blanket.

Day twenty-one

The shortest day, although with children that just means the shortest period of time available to let them run around outside... I finally got round to putting on my Christmas nails (these are Tinsel Time by Jamberry; they're nail wraps, sold via independent consultants, I buy mine from http://samfindlay.jamberry.com/uk, run by Sam, who is a friend in real life). It's the first time I've put on a whole set of Jamberry wraps (I normally do a couple of accent nails with nail varnish on the other nails), and a couple of the wraps could have been applied better, but the overall effect is great, and I can knit while I wear them, so I will use them again.

I also did some knitting on the Christmas socks I started in November; while I did knit a couple of stripes on them, they're definitely not going to be done by Christmas, oops.

Another good day from the advent calendars, although the lack of light did result in a slightly blurry photo, which I didn't notice until I made the photo bigger this morning, sorry!

Day twenty-two 

It's still early as I write this, but I have a good day ahead: I am off to see school-friends for coffee this afternoon and get to meet my friend's (who lives in Australia, but is over in the UK for a couple of months during her maternity leave) daughter, who is 8 months old, I can't wait!

My daughter has loved having access to all the jigsaw puzzles at my parents house, so we've already completed one this morning (fortunately not too big - we've hidden anything with more than 54 pieces).

Today the advent calendars yielded a bonus surprise: two tokens from my son's Batman car. I had noticed my daughter poking about with the Paintbox Yarns box, and that a couple of the doors had been disturbed, but not that she had made additions! It made me smile, so I thought I'd share. A bit of a mixed bag of colours, and I love them all individually, although maybe not together. I do finally have some red from the Paintbox Yarns calendar, so whatever I make from the yarn will look more festive!

I found one festive treasure at my parent's house, a cd my sister played on a loop over one Christmas (and I've no idea what the B-side was, so I suspect she played just the one song on a loop), and a song I'm pretty sure I can sing in it's entirety now, many, many years later: I Want an Alien for Christmas by Fountains of Wayne. I'm saving it for the car journey home, it might amuse the kids for a bit. Or drive us up the wall!

What plans do you have for the next couple of days? Are you all ready for Christmas?

Christmas countdown 2016: Days fifteen to nineteen

Hey there December, could you please SLOW DOWN a little! Having said that, I am starting to get into the holiday spirit a little (probably helped by my children being rather excited!).

Day fifteen

An utterly un-festive day, occupied by routine appointments and things that need to be out of the way before everything slows down for Christmas. I did manage to get the final few Christmas cards written though, which is always good!

More crazy combinations from the advent calendars: the Opal one seems to produce a lot of shades of orange, which is my least favourite colour (probably, that might be reserved for brown...). I do like the purple and the speckled yarn though, and am still enjoying opening all the calendars every day.

Day sixteen

The final day of term; cue excited small children asking, repeatedly, how long they have to wait until Christmas. My son is five and pretty much the perfect age for Christmas. When we visited Santa earlier in the month he was totally sold. I cannot wait to see his face on Christmas day!

Some more muted shades from the advent calendars. The one on the bottom right was donated by a friend and is gorgeous and sparkly.

Day seventeen

A day of travelling to see relatives, which is never all that much fun with small children: 'are we nearly there yet?' and 'I want to go home' are pretty common refrains. While we live a long way from relatives it's certainly worth making the effort, the kids love all their grandparents and aunts and uncles.

My husband went out to see the latest Star Wars film in the evening, which I'm not bothered about seeing at all (am I the only one? It does feel like it sometimes, even though I know I'm not). So I settled down to watch the Strictly final after the kids were safely asleep in bed (I don't watch the whole series of Strictly, and just dip in and out over the series depending what else I have to do), which was excellent, even already knowing who'd won when I started watching (grr, Facebook; yes I know looking at Facebook on finals night was a mistake if I didn't want to know who'd won).

Gorgeous shades from Opal in the advent calendar, and the brightest peach from the Paintbox yarns calendar - my phone did not capture it well!

Day eighteen

Panto time! For my son, husband and his mum. My son had gone to see a different Panto with school and LOVED it! So we were happy to send him off to see another, which he also loved. We let him choose who he wanted to go with as my daughter is still a bit small to enjoy it (my son said she would be scared), but next year I think we might all go along. While I don't love Pantomimes, they are a festive tradition, and I quite like those.

I got on with knitting the final must-knit-before-Christmas project, which I can't show you as it's for a magazine. I was still knitting it at midnight, at which point I called it quits and vowed to finish it in the morning. Sometimes that really is the best decision!

I love all of the yarns from the advent calendars on day eighteen, even the pink and orange one! And that green is fab!

Day nineteen

The must-finish project was finished over breakfast, washed in the sink while I grabbed a shower, then dried over a radiator (after squashing out all the water into a towel) until we were ready to drive on to the next destination. I had the project hung in the car to get it really dry - this one has to be in the post on the 20th, so I wasn't taking any chances!

The kids and I drove further South (more complaints about the distance). We stopped at several service stations along the way (I don't like driving in winter, the changing weather and light make my eyes ache, so we stop much more frequently than at other times of year), and, as always, my kids loved the stop at Gloucester services, which has an indoor play area that is always a hit! I also appreciated ten minutes to get a little bit of knitting done.

Just look at the neon. Actually, you probably can't avoid looking at it, it is a tad shouty. I've wanted to try Regia Fluormania for ages, and 10g is probably just the right amount!

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Last week I commented on the selection of colours I was getting out of my Paintbox Yarns advent calendar after Sara mentioned that hers were rather pastel; I'm still not sure what I want to make from it, although I do have an idea that I'm going to look into and maybe do with the kids on Christmas Eve (no spoilers in case I totally run out of time, which is a distinct possibility). Sara sent me a photo of her colours (below) and they are so neutral! I'm really hoping she has some brighter colours now, although hers has gone so far down the neutrals route it'd be really odd if she suddenly got some neons!

Sara's Paintbox Yarns Advent Calendar selection. Image copyright Sara Roberts

I wonder how Paintbox Yarns chose the colours for the advent calendars? Does every calendar contain 24 different shades? Are they planned in any way? And is every calendar different? There are 60 different shades to choose from, so it's certainly possible that they're all different! I'm pretty sure (from my assessment of the #opaladventcalendar2016 tag on Instagram) that the Opal calendars have 24 yarns to choose from, but the order they appear in is random. has anyone else been opening a yarn advent calendar? Are you pleased with the yarns that have come out?

I'm hoping to get a bit more done on my sock yarn blanket this week as most of the Christmas planning is out of the way now (I still have to wrap the Christmas Day presents, and put one pre-Christmas birthday present in the post; this is the most organised I've been in years!); it's stalled over the past week.

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Christmas countdown 2016: Days eleven to fourteen

Day eleven  

I could have sworn I had written a post for the eleventh, but apparently not. I think I spent it frantically knitting the rainbow hoodie, which is written to be rather long, so took longer than expected (and why do hoods always take more time to knit than I think they should?!).

Some slightly meh colours (read too orange for my liking) from the Opal and Paintbox Yarns advent calendars, but the blue rainbow yarn is beautiful, and I'm very much looking forward to adding it to the blanket.

Day twelve

Monday was the crazy day in the lead up to Christmas with the nursery party and the school show. I was also meant to be at my work Christmas dinner, but decided from the start that the day would be too busy if I tried to get to that as well! I also managed to whizz through some sewing of last minute gifts to people I was seeing at my Monday night knitting group. Phew! I did get to have a nice relaxing knit in the pub in the evening though, which was lovely, and I managed to get a bit more knitting done on my sock yarn blanket, so am not quite so far behind.

And I finished the rainbow hoodie, just in time to pass on to its recipient on Monday morning!

The advent calendars handed my some crazy clashing colours, including the most neon neon yarn I have ever seen. And it's sparkly! Not totally sure that one will end up in the blanket...

So neon you can see it through the bag!

Day thirteen

A much quieter day: a morning to myself to get on with some non-festive pattern writing (though the deadline is Christmas day!) and start knitting a sample. And coffee in peace!

I loved all the colours from the advent calendars - isn't the festive yarn from Felt Fusion beautiful? I won it in a competition in the summer and have been saving it for Christmas. And just for Sara Roberts, here are all my Paintbox yarns colourways in one photo. I hadn't realised quite what an assortment I have (Sara, do yours look better slung into a pile - I tried laying mine out in order and they looked rather drab), and still haven't decided what I'm going to make from them, but I'm starting to think that I'm going to wait until they're all out of the box and make something wonderfully coordinated for next Christmas.

Day fourteen

My final child-free day before Christmas, so I have spent this morning frantically trying to finish writing the Christmas cards written and get anything that needs to go in the post wrapped (largely unsuccessfully, fortunately our Post Office is in a shop and is open until late). I have also stitched the final two Christmas presents that needed doing, so I'm feeling pretty on top of things at the minute.

Today's advent calendar colours are lovely. Nicely coordinated! I added the Paintbox Yarns ball to my Advent Kilner jar, and might have to find an alternative display system for the yarn, the jar is full!

What's everyone else been up to over the past few days? Is all the Christmas prep done?

Christmas countdown: Days nine and ten

Day nine

Having got the simpler of the two hats to knit for this weekend finished, I was a woman on a mission yesterday, my primary objective being to finish the dragon hat. I managed to finish the hat part on Thursday, and made a decent start on the body section before going to sleep, so thought I had a decent chance of finishing it on time. I didn't. I did however, manage to get all the bits crocheted and started to assemble them.

The advent calendars provided some nicely muted tones for Friday.

I also bought myself a chameleon kit from Toft to knit for myself between Christmas and New Year. I wanted one when they were launched in the summer in a kit with a skein of hand dyed but the price was out of reach. Toft have re-released the kits, but with their wool, which has brought the cost down rather. He's going to look fab!

Day ten

Up early with the children (who never seem to want a lie in when I do), I got up and set about completing the dragon hat. And I did, by 9.40 (except for the braids, which I added after our guests had arrived, as I figured they would prefer it if I was finishing off the hat in front of them, over my answering the door in my dressing gown).

The hat is a feat of engineering. Lots of pieces that are cleverly constructed, then stitched together with the aid of *a lot* of pins. I also used a wooden bowl to mount the hat on while I was stitching the bits together. It looks great finished, and the recipient loves it!

We spent the part of this morning that wasn't spent frantically sewing entertaining friends we've known since my son was tiny. It was lovely to catch up, and we got to enjoy lots of wonderful festive treats.

And the advent calendar came up with a beautiful ball of blue from Opal and some 'woah orange' from Unbelievawool. They clash horrendously and I am not certain I can let them sit next to each other in the blanket! I also noticed when I was fishing for bag 10 that bag 12 will be yielding some neon yellow yarn. apparently this will be the crazy bright section!

Christmas countdown 2016: Days seven and eight

Day seven

Pre-Christmas panic has started to set in, so while I've done the shopping aspect of presents, the making aspect still has a way to go. Yesterday I decided to tackle this, and whipped up a hat for my friend's daughter. Handily there were no specific requests, so I decided to try out a ball of DMC Top This!, which is a yarn and pom pom set, but the pom pom is actually a tiny soft toy. I enjoyed knitting the hat, and will post a review of the yarn in the next few days.

The Christmas tree went up yesterday, much to my children's delight. We have previously had two trees, with one featuring the precious ornaments, and a second for the more generic ornaments. This year I have gone for one tree with all the decorations, and it looks lovely.

The advent calendars keep on giving, and I really like yesterday's offerings from the Opal and Paintbox yarns calendars.

Day eight

This morning I started on a hat for a friend's son. The request was very specific: a dragon hat in red, green, blue and turquoise. I am following the Dragon Hat pattern by BriAbby, which fits the bill perfectly. I need a hat by the end of today and it must be finished by the end of tomorrow. I have swatched and used five hooks and two different yarns before hitting gauge, which doesn't bode well. Fingers crossed I have something to show you by Saturday...

The advent calendar yarns today clash spectacularly. Which had to happen eventually!

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Christmas countdown 2016: Days four–six

Day four

Some pretty bright yarns from my sock yarn advent calendars, and I finally got to go to the cinema (late on day three) to watch Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which I had been very excited about going to see. Unfortunately it didn't quite live up to my (excessively high) expectations, with not quite enough plot to fill the length of the film, but it did look very impressive. I might go back and re-watch all the Harry Potter films over Christmas to reminisce.

Day five

A really very cold day. There was frost on the ground when we woke up, and it was still there when we went to bed! I also had to brave the Metro Centre to get the last of the purchased presents bought, which is never fun in December, but is at least better on a Monday during the day that it is at the weekend.

Day six

I had coffee with Lucy (lucylocketpocket1 on Instagram) this morning, and managed to get some more squares added to my sock yarn blanket. I have now completed the knitting for day four, so am only a couple of days behind; anything is better than nothing! She also gifted me a couple of DPN cosies that she'd made so that my needles do not escape while they're in my bag.

My Paintbox Yarns Advent Calendar finally gave me a bright colour! Not that I know what I'm doing with all the tiny balls. At the minute they're looking rather pretty in a Kilner jar.

I finally feel like I'm making some progress on my Christmas knitting. This cardigan has to be done by Monday, and I have two hats to do for the weekend; I suspect this is not possible! The bright cardigan is an excellent antedote for the dull weather today - I took the photo of the advent calendar bits at about 4pm, and the light had totally gone.

What's everyone else been up to this week?

Christmas countdown 2016: Days two and three

Welcome to days two and three of my Christmas countdown 2016!

Day two

Yesterday the advent calendars offered up some more yarn (obviously), I particularly like the one from the Opal advent calendar, pink and the turquoise end of blue is one of my favourite colour combinations. And I have managed to stay on top of the square knitting. Not that I'm using the whole of each ball from either sock yarn advent calendar, which means I'll still be adding yarn from them to the sock yarn blanket well into the new year. I still haven't decided what I'm doing with the Paintbox Yarns calendar, but I think I might try knitting a wreath around a polystyrene ring, maybe.

I'm certain I won't keep up with two squares a day, especially as I have Christmas gifts that I haven't even cast on (and the recipients know about them, so I can't not make them), but I should be able to manage one. I'm also hoping to knit a hat for the Giftalong, using something from my stash, but that might not happen until after Christmas.

We went to Durham Christmas Market yesterday, as Friday is always the quietest day, but it was more stressful than festive as it was already busy, and I couldn't find parking close enough to town to make it to our swimming lesson on time, and I was a little annoyed at missing it. I did manage to pick up our Christmas pudding, from Proof of the Pudding; my husband loves Christmas pudding, and this one is his favourite, so all was not lost.

I was also very lucky to receive some mini skeins from Mothy and the Squid in the post yesterday as an early Christmas gift.* I am in love with the green one; I might have to send in a request for a custom order after Christmas. The skeins will be added to my sock yarn blanket, but not until after Christmas (and by the 25th I might not want to do anything on the blanket for a bit, so possibly not until Spring!).

The other thing I found yesterday was my stash of books I'd been saving for Christmas. As you can see, they are defintiely top-quality literature, but I couldn't resist the combination of Christmas and knitting. I'll let you know how I get on with them.

Day three

Today we went to see Santa, so I was very relieved to get my son's Rudi jumper finished. This is now the largest size, and it should fit for the next couple of years, but I might need to revisit the pattern over the next 12 months and add a few larger and smaller sizes, I might even go as big as adult size, if there's enough demand (or I decide I want one; at least I'll only have to knit it once and be able to wear it for years!).

And here are today's treats from behind the advent calendar doors. My son helped me open them today as he asked very nicely last night if he could help.

Hope everyone has had a good couple of days, and I'll be back in a day or two to continue with my Christmas countdown.

*The skeins were donated to me for free; any opinions given are my own.