2nd of Advent

The tree is up! We both agreed that this was the earliest we've ever put a tree up in our lives, but they aren't cheap (we tried keeping one in a pot last year but it didn't survive) so we want to get the most out of our investment. Also, we have plans for an early Christmas party on St Nicholas' day next week, so wanted to make the house festive in time for that. We definitely don't have matchy-matchy themed ornaments and decorations, having gradually bought one or two special things each year since we've been together. Some of the tree decorations are ones I handmade some years ago. Now we have children too, their decorations will no doubt be added to our traditions. It's already happened with our somewhat less than traditional tree-topper:

A 'reindeer' made by P when he was at Nursery last year. Apparently he stuck the eyes on himself!
There is also this knitted stocking given to P by his Great Grandma last year. As I write, Father Christmas is still in his chimney. How long he'll remain there is yet to be seen!


These trees are something I made years ago based on an idea whose source I forget now:


While these mini stockings I knitted from this free pattern last year.


And so our Christmas traditions are growing, organically and to my eyes rather beautifully.

1st of Advent

When you teach in Primary school, there comes a certain time in the winter term when you realise it's time to break out the glitter. Christmas crafts beckon and compete for time with Nativity play rehearsals so you take a deep breath, sweet talk the cleaner and resign yourself to a good few weeks of having everything ever so slightly sparkling, from the carpet to your face to your lunchtime sandwiches. As I'm on a break from teaching just now I don't actually have to do the glitter thing but it must be something inherent in a teacher's nature that come the end of November, it's glitter time. It began with the crafts for the winter season table and continued with the Christmas cards I've made for this year.
I considered the idea of making decorations to send people instead of Christmas cards this year. I'm torn between dislike of the waste of binned Christmas cards at the end of the season and the fact that most of our family and good friends live far enough away that sending Christmas cards is important. I'm just not sold on the idea of e-cards and thought that making something that might be kept and used another year would be nice. Well, it would be if it didn't mean making dozens of whatever we send. In the end, for reasons of economy and to satisfy my taste, I made something- and for reasons of time and to retain my sanity, it was cards not decorations. Cards whose construction mainly involved glue and...glitter. I now understand why there are lots more people who do craft for fun than make money from craft. Doing something once is fun, doing it fifty times is less fun. I had to do what I labelled my 'Christmas Card Sweatshop' sessions in batches, making 10 or so each evening until we had enough. Which meant that each day meant a fresh dusting of the sparkly stuff over everything. Oh well, it's only once a year...

Maeve's Reversible Pinafore Dress

It's been a while but I've finally managed to write a 'How To' for the reversible pinafore dress I created after being inspired by Anna Maria Horner's 'Quick Change Pants' (from Handmade Beginnings). There have been a few changes since the original version, mainly the addition of bias binding to finish the hem and neckline, which I think gives it a much neater and professional look.
So here (hopefully) is the link for the PDF. I decided to share it this way as the instructions are a bit lengthy for a blog post.
Do share with others, let me know what you think, and send me pics if you have a go!

Baby, It's Cold Outside

We may not have the bright lights of the big city round here, but we do pretty well for little town festivals and celebrations. The town we lived in until the summer has a wonderful Christmas tree festival in its Church each year, launched by a Christmas procession through the town. Since there is a Wild Animal Park just nearby, the Christmas procession includes a real donkey for Mary and real camels for the Wise men! I got a sneak preview of the Christmas Tree festival when we had to find an emergency place to feed M- it felt very seasonal to be a woman seeking a room for her and her baby on a cold winter's night! The idea is that lots of community groups decorate trees around the Church and collect money for charities. I couldn't get pictures since I was juggling a still grumpy M and an empty buggy, while C chased P, who was overcome with the urge to touch all the glittery loveliness, but take my word for it, the spectacle is magic.
M certainly made her presence felt last night- I think she objected to the cold despite her brand new 'Snow Gnome' hat, a last minute improvisation with some spare chunky wool I had lying around- pattern on Ravelry now. Funny to think that this time last year she was not much more than a little secret sparkle as we waited for a New Year scan. Now she's such an integral part of the family, and asserting her growing personality more each day.

Seasons Change

I had already planned to change our new Seasonal display this weekend, and right on cue this was the snowy scene out of the kitchen window as I cooked up an indulgent full English breakfast this morning. We can claim the breakfast as medicinal since three out of four of us have had a truly awful cold the last couple of days, with number four making up for her lack of cold with teething pains. Thankfully we all seem to be on the mend, even if there is no sign of actual teeth yet.


I'd already broken out the glitter earlier in the week when P and I prepared a backdrop for the Winter display. I was originally looking for some dark blue card, but then I saw this dark indigo felt and thought 'Why not?'. We used cotton buds dipped in PVA glue to create the stars and moon, with glitter heaped on top, then the excess shaken off to settle over everything inside and outside the house, probably until next July. Cotton buds are great for controlling how much gloopy stuff- glue, paint etc- an enthusiastic toddler transfers from pot to artwork. With a bit of experience I've seen lovely pointellism (spelling?) effects using this method.

Since the glitter was already all over the place anyway, we did a bit of instant, post lunch/ pre nap art using pine cones, glue, two empty cream cheese tubs and yes more of the shiny stuff. Actually it's quite a good way of minimising the glue and glitter mess and has the added advantage of involving noise and surprise, always good as far as two-year-olds are concerned! Basically, put some PVA glue in one tub and some glitter in the other. Put the pine cone in the glue tub, put the lid on (firmly!) and give it a good shake and rattle. Open it up, carefully transfer into the glitter tub, repeat the process and 'Surprise!' a frosted pine cone!


We began with 'realistic' white frost but ran out of that colour so ended up with 'tasteful' purple as well.

Also featuring on our Winter display is the Steiner advent calendar we made at the toddler group we go to: an angel made of cleverly tied wool tops moves up 27 stars on the dark blue ribbon until Christmas day (27 because the first Sunday of Advent is not the first day of December). The angel has a slightly unfestive bulldog clip sewn to the back of her to enable the heavenly ascent...
The Season display is becoming one of my favourite things in the house. We do our best to light the candle from it each day at our evening meal, to help P to understand that it's a special time to sit together. We're developing the habit of finding things or making things to add to it as the weeks go past, and while I'm lucky enough to spend a reasonable amount of time outdoors and watching the year as it turns, this focal point helps to give me a heightened awareness of time ticking by, which in turn seems to remind me to take a longer view, rather than sweating the small stuff. Every home should have one!

Into the woods

Okay, I'll admit it, I have serious woodland envy issues! I love the idea of owning some woodland, learning to manage it, maybe heating the house using fuel we'd grown, maybe building a yurt on it...you get the idea of what is definitely nothing more than a dream at the moment. Maybe the next best thing then, is to have some good friends whose family have bought some lovely woodland in a valley near us. Today we got to visit it for the first time and it was magical, from shuffling through the leaves to making music by banging sticks on logs, from being able to let the toddlers tootle off on their own adventures (nearly) out of sight, to eating lunch and drinking tea in the cosy little caravan they've moved there. I get the feeling we'll be back.
Meanwhile, I can't believe that it's been a week since I wrote anything here. It's not that I haven't been productive, but just that I seem to have lots of projects part way through and nothing to show for it just yet. In the case of a certain pirate jumper it's a case of rip it up and start again (ouch!). But hopefully soon I'll have some good stuff to show and tell, especially with a certain special season approaching!

Goodies!

Ever since they started stocking it, I've been tempted by Clothkit's Liberty print bias binding It's Liberty Print! It's on a wooden bobbin (although I've realised it's cheaper to buy by the metre, but hey-ho)! What's not to like? Ok, maybe the answer to that question is the price, so it took a 25% off deal to get me to go for it. By happy coincidence they also had some Rowan Revive on offer too. I've been looking for a chance to try some of this out for a while as I'd really like to source as much yarn as possible from sustainable sources in future and/or support British sheep farmers. This yarn ticks the eco-box and I've an idea for a wintry number for little M, once I finally crack on and finish the sleeve of P's pirate sweater. On that subject, all I can say is that once again I've got a stocking stitch in brown versus entrelac in multicoloured glory situation once again (remember this one?)- I'll get there in the end!!