2011 in crochet

Finished objects 2011...

Blimey, I had a bit of a doily frenzy at the beginning of the year! 
And a snowflake frenzy at the end of the year - I made a total of 21.


There's more finished pieces of work there than I'd expected - I hadn't realised I'd been so productive. I think this must be because the things I did make tended to be small projects. I also can't believe that I only produced two amigurumi.


I wonder what 2012 will bring?

Merry Christmas!

 Merry Christmas everyone - I hope you all have fun!

Off the hook :: mohair scarf

Finished last weekend and photographed very hastily today before heading out to see 'Charlie and Lola'...

It got it's first outing when I went to the 9 lessons and carols service at my local church on Sunday afternoon.  It's much warmer than the scarf I had been wearing.

The downside to crocheting with mohair? It is near to impossible to frog.  The upside of crocheting with mohair? I haven't worried too much about weaving in the ends as securely as I normally would. I'm assuming they couldn't come unravelled if they tried.

Hook :: 3.5mm

Yarn :: Sublime Kid Mohair, now discontinued, but I guess any 4-ply weight mohair would do

Pattern :: the motif is from the Floral Fiesta Afghan designed by Maggie Weldon

According to Ravelry I now have only one WIP - a doily.  But just look what's under the Christmas tree...

Destined to become a granny square blanket. Just because.

Rocky Road...

...Christmas style 

The recipe comes courtesy of Nigella, of course. Who else would think up such a thing? Lots and lots of chocolate, stuffed to bursting with marshmallows, amaretti biscuits, Brazil nuts and glacé cherries.

You can't really tell from the photographs, but of course I added edible glitter to the icing sugar dusting.  It is nearly Christmas, after all...


x

Christmas is coming...

And we've got lovely new baubles that look like Quality Street...

my seasonal Lebkuchen addiction has well and truly kicked in. Chocolate coated or iced; with or without jam inside - I don't care, I'll eat 'em anyway. You don't even want to know how many packets have already been consumed...

three miniature Christmas cakes have been made, marzipanned and iced ready to give to the in-laws...

some festive Winterberry holly has been purchased...

and the front door decoration has been made and put in place...

This week at school we had both the carol concert and the Nativity play. What is it about little children singing that makes grown women want to cry?


Yesterday we had the excitement of several snow showers (it didn't settle), school finishing early and watching 'Elf' when we got home. Today the Christmas tree has been delivered and it smells divine. 


Christmas is coming and I'm starting to get a little bit excited.

Well...

nearly every blog post I read at the moment centres around pictures of Christmas trees and decorations. This is the one place where I am sadly unorganised.  I haven't got around to even ordering the tree yet and the only decorations that are up are those that I made using Fimo, which I've hung on some twiggy branches...

and the things the children have been making either at home or at school...

I did hang my snowflake garland in the window a few weeks ago, but I consider this to be a Winter decoration as opposed to a Christmas one...

This week I received another giveaway prize, this time from Jackie at Button Tree Crafts.  There was lots of chocolate and some lovely Christmassy ribbon as well as 'Cute and Easy Crochet' by Nicki Trench. Thank you, Jackie!

Right, I'm off to do something about a Christmas tree...

This week...

The postman brought me a new-to-me Emma Bridgewater 'Christmas Stars' mug to add to the collection. This is a discontinued design. Ebay can be a wonderful thing.

A bit of after school crafting at a local craft cafe. #2 decorated the tree and #1 the reindeer...

The recipient of the baby blanket I made last year came to visit (with his Mummy). I'm pleased to say that he still loves his little blanket and that his Mama has been inspired to learn to crochet...

Making a pair of bright yellow trousers for my #2. He's a moon in the nursery/reception Nativity play. Quite how he's going to react to having to wear yellow trousers I don't know, but I can't wait to see the nativity and am loving hearing him sing snippets of songs that he's learning for it... "Far away in Bethlehem you will find a king, He's the ruler of heaven and earth, Lord of everything..."  

A few more snowflakes to be attached to cards for the teachers/TAs at school (5 in total!)...

Looking forward to visiting the Manchester Craft Mafia's Christmas Fair this Saturday. It's at the Whitworth art gallery on Oxford Rd and is usually well worth a visit. 

Hope you're all having a great week.

And the winner is....

Faith!

Faith, please send me your address details and I will package these, and the blue heart, up and send them on to you.

Faith has a blog which I've never visited before - check it out here.

Thank you all so much for entering and for your lovely comments.  Most of you preferred the blue heart, which came as a bit of a surprise to me.

I hope you're all managing to keep warm where you are - we had a change of plan regarding going into town to visit the Christmas markets this afternoon. Too cold, too wet!

Sunday evening

Glögg, pepperkaker and a pile of Christmas cards...

Don't forget that my snowflake giveaway ends tomorrow. I'll be picking a winner sometime in the afternoon...