24 December 2011

all wrapped up

Yay! I've finally finished off my work family's Christmas presents and have wrapped them up ready for the day. I finished off the second mitt I've already told you about. I also finished up a heatbag. I crocheted the front with a star stitch in a multicolour half wool half acrylic that I had in my stash.
I knitted two sides for the back that are buttoned up to hold in the heatbag. Only one minor issue I needed to cover up. I laid all the pieces overlapping in the right order to sew them together but forgot that as I was doing that inside out the order needed to be "inside out" so to speak. So basically, once I'd turned it in the right way the button side overlapped over the button holes instead of the other way around. So I pulled it to overlap the right way which twisted the ends a bit. But I sewed them down so it all works. ;) The bag is denim sewn in sections and filled with buckwheat.I also made some wine glass rings with a black, white and silver theme. So it can go with any table setting. I had to get a little creative to come up with ways to make each one look different. I only had a few mini charms. I think they look quite smart though.Now to pack and catch a train to the country house where I'm having Christmas with my work family since my actual family is all the way home in Australia. I'll see them online on Christmas morning then I'll kick back and relax and enjoy a wintery few days away.

16 December 2011

feeling the season

Merry Christmas everyone!!
I'm anticipating my second winter Christmas but my first one was in San Francisco, USA and it didn't get that cold there. So this is my first REAL winter Christmas. It's almost a week to go and the weather here is regularly below 8°C. A top of 3-4°C forcast for this weekend. I went and bought myself a squishy, warm down-filled coat and some slippers this past week. They are both well used already. For all my life Christmas has had winter attached to it (movies, products, wrapping paper, decorations...) but it's just not like that in Australia. Down in the southern hemisphere it's summer. Christmas is hot (generally speaking) and Christmas meals are often BBQs in the back yard or at the beach. Here all the wintery Christmas things fit which makes it all the more exciting and despite objections from the locals, I hope it snows. A white Christmas would be tremendous. This week I spruced up my bedroom window with the winter Christmas theme. Simple but lovely. My "tree" has two presents under it already. Three if you count the ticket to see Billy Elliot the Musical (technically not under the 'tree' but it is a Christmas present). Most boastfully I crocheted some cute little snowflakes to dangle in the window. ^^ My favourite is the middle one. I basically searched for snowflakes on ravelry just for ideas and then created my own versions. A lovely little festivity in my room and they are most welcome to stay all winter long. I'm looking forward to experiencing a full-blown winter (snow in the city--will surely be an experience).
Hope you all have a wonderfully, delicious, fabulous time in great company.

10 December 2011

half done projects

So I have been knitting. I've only been half finishing things. Knit the fingerless mitt on the right with a bit of possum (and merino, alpaca and nylon). ^^ It's from two skeins of Fibreworks yarn that my sister so kindly bought from the Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show and posted to me. I've knitted 'stripes' alternating between the mostly blue and the multicolour. As the blue is not quite a solid blue the stripes are a little blurred together but it's just a different kind of cool than I was imagining. This is the Pay It Forward project I blogged briefly about a few posts ago.

The white fingerless mitt I decided to start after my boss thoughtfully brought me back a ball of Carriag Donn 100% merino wool from her weekend away in Ireland. When I saw the pattern (Susie's Reading Mitts) on raverly I decided to knit some for my boss for Christmas. Since the yarn is different to what the pattern uses, I'm just using the general pattern idea. So I put the other mitt aside and got straight to work on these. So one of each finished at the moment but the second white one is under construction.