Crochet catch up

So I have been a busy hooker lately, much has been created, most things have been photographed. Want to see?

Beanie for our favourite teacher

Robyn Chachula cardi for Miss T. I did age 2-3 and got the gauge right, but I think she'll be wearing it when she's seven- it's enormous! She really likes it anyhow.

Beanie for my Niece-who-has-no-plan. I simply did not have enough time to make a cardi, so a pink hat like Mouse's was a quick solution.

A cardi for my other niece, Tink.  A remake-in-a-bigger-size of one I made for her last year. A Sue Whiting pattern. It hooks up beautifully, but I chose a yarn so dark that I could only do it if I sat in the bay window at midday. It took a while!

Earflap hat for Papa in merino wool. He and Toot are in the arctic currently, so I thought this would be useful. From Crochet Today.

I also made another two jumpers, which I then forgot to photograph (I was in a bit of a flap by then), and another hat. Then there were all the other makes that did not involve a hook:

Mouse ripped her new gloves after about a week, so I made her a pair of mittens from an old Ikea blanket...

and she decorated them with fabric paint. Aren't they beautiful?

A towel for my Dad with an embroidered trim designed by FHB and Mouse. In the foreground are a pile of bookmarks made from the brim of the sombrero that saved W's life when he was a kid. (The brim stopped him falling down an open manhole in Spain!)

Amongst all the other stuff I realised that our cushions were quite repellent indeed, so I made a set of new covers from the bottom of some curtains, an offcut of corduroy jumper, an thrifted pillow case and table runner and a scarf.

A selection of stuff from Papa's stocking, including two etched whisky glasses (designed by FHB and Mouse), and a Fimo sign for Papa's painting shed, made from old fimo he and Toot found when they cleared out their study.

I had a load of fun making things this year, I just wish I had photographed more of it!

And now here we are, standing right on the edge of another year. I have a list of things whizzing around my head already that I want to make, places to visit, things to do, goals to achieve, jobs to be done, books to be read...
My children are growing up, slowly but steadily, and time seems to going faster and faster. I am looking forward to making the most of 2011 with them.

Hope you have a happy year ahead of you. x

Christmas catch up

Well hello! Hope you had a wonderful, warm, merry, cozy Christmas. In this house of Bears it was a hectic, noisy affair, but lots of fun and with much good cheer.

I did not finish the last of the elf-made gifts until the 23rd, leaving me not much time to do the many other jobs I had on my list before my home was filled up with another 10 people. Thankfully, I have wonderful relatives who pitched in merrily and we got there in the end. And then you reach the other side of Christmas and wonder what you were worrying about anyway!

So here is a short photo diary of our festive season:

Mouse was an angel in her school's not-quite-a-nativity-play:

At my Mum and Dad's for our early mini-Christmas we had two inches of pretty snow. Enough for snowballs and snow angels, but not enough to prevent us from getting home. Just right!

W bought me some Amaryllis (?) stems. Very pretty on my table:

The seven small bears in our house on Christmas Eve left Father Christmas a heaving tray of goodies. Whisky, with an umbrella and monkey stirrer (Mouse was just prevented from putting some sliced cucumber in it, much to Santa's relief), clementines, carrots, mince pies, a banana and a bowl of sprinkles. FHB was most insistent about the sprinkles (I assume he thought Santa might do a little cake decorating while he was here):

Our cat looked fairly glum, much put out, as cats are, by the uproar in the house:

Papa and Toot made a Harry Potter kit for the bears, which was a complete hit. They have not stopped playing with it for a moment:

Boxing day held a walk on the beach. Here I am with Mouse and my Niece-who-has-no-plan. It was cold but so lovely to be on the shore, even just for a little while:

My alcove. We gave up on the advent calendar when FHB began exploding with excitement (about December 10th) and Miss T pulled all the tags off the ornaments. The little reindeer stared sadly at me from a charity shop window the other day and I HAD to bring her home. She needs a little remedial attention to her hooves but I love her already:

Our tree, seen through a sophisticated glass of my brother-in-law's homemade sloe and vanilla gin, served with a little lemonade. The tree is pretty, the gin was excellent, though not a lot remains, as my waistband and headache will testify:



So there you go- Christmas in a nutshell. All is now peaceful and calm. We have a pile of brand new books and board games to entertain us, and a kitchen heaving with food. The bears are slowly investigating all the things they were lucky enough to receive and W and I are enjoying the quiet days here between Christmas and New Year, no time constraints, no commitments...it's great!

I am looking forward to a royal telling off from my Wii fit when I get going on that again in two days time- I think I must have put a stone on over the festive and crafting season. In the mean time I am enjoying a large glass of Baileys.

Good night! x

Christmas swan song

We seem to be caught up in the pre-Christmas whirlwind, so there has been a lot of making things, a lot of school related Christmas activities that require fancy dress/party clothes/tray loads of food, much wrapping, not enough card writing, a disproportionate amount of washing up and far too much cleaning. Consequently, not much time to blog, and not a lot to blog about (until I can post pics of our elf-made gifts anyway).

Add to this the fact that the bears have attained a level of excitement bordering on levitation, W is spending a fair bit of time looking harrassed and I feel like I am bailing out the ship again (but, as ever, not quite fast enough).

So, this is my Merry Christmas To You, may your festive season be full of happiness, joy and a lot of sparkly things.

.

I shall leave you with a photo of Miss T shuffling the decorations about on my tree. I am making myself not go 'Grrrr' here. Note to self: It's all about the kids, so it really doesn't matter.

x

Catching up

In a rare and most appreciated event, I have had a weekend away. Toot took myself and my sisters-in-law to Brussels to the Christmas markets to celebrate her birthday. What a star!

We stayed up by the EU and my bedroom overlooked parliament, which I thought was quite exciting:

It was about -6degrees and towards the end of Saturday it snowed enormous great pretty snowflakes. I was
far more excited by this than by the inconvenient snow at home. The lights were lovely:

I managed to do a few bits of Christmas shopping:

We had a go on the big wheel:

Really good views, but bitterly cold.

We had a couple of good meals, two slap-up hotel breakfasts, two exceptionally good nights sleep, a little Belgian beer and a lot of Gluhwein with Amaretto:

This should be Wrong, but turned out to be Oh-So-Right. Especially when consumed in copious quantities and atmospheric surroundings. (That's snow on the top, by the way).

And the best hot chocolate I have ever had. Venezuelan chocolate with just a little chili. Warmed your cockles from the inside out, that did:

Lots of fun, thanks Toot xxxx

Since returning I have:

*overslept by an hour and a half (and the bears still got to school on time)
*witnessed a reenactment of a High School Musical/Harry Potter mash-up, featuring Troy Voldemort singing 'The Boys Are Bad' while Harry Pottimer tried to wallop him with a wand made from a garden cane.
*admired Miss T's impressive black eye (now a boggy green with yellow stripes)
*FINISHED TWO CARDIGANS!!!!!!!!
*attempted making god's eyes with FHB. Not successful.
*finished my Christmas shopping.
*made a depressingly long list of things I need to get done before Christmas Eve.
*enjoyed secretly watching Custard dancing. He is still young enough to dance like a baby, arms outstretched, bum out, bobbing up and down.
*made marrons glace.
*been a little startled by the sheer amount of yarn I have.
*noticed that Somebody (small, blonde, female, not Miss T) has written all over my bookshelves. Must point out to vandal that writing one's own name when doing graffiti is not the most sensible idea.
*spent Some Time retracing our steps in order to find Custard's new hat. That he has had for a week.
*lost my temper with three bears who Will Not tread carefully on the icy pavements, near the icy roads.

And there goes another busy week...x

In which the biggest bear discovers irony

Hello!

I was going to do a post full of photos of what we have been up to, but the pics are all horrible- no decent light due to constant snow. I'll do a photo heavy post at another date- lots of stuff has been made...

Yesterday school closed early, and today it did not even open, so I have a house full of bored bears. In the last 24 hours we have:

*made brandy butter (Miss T really enjoyed that)
*stuck gold and silver stars all over the house
*made spangly bunting
*made Christmas booklets (FHB, with an illicit stapler)
*made some sort of Christmas dangling thing (Mouse, with illicit glue)
*made snowflakes
*made paper chain angels
*finished the body of one cardi, the back of another and almost all of another (have now had to give up because I cannot see. Truly, energy saving saving lightbulbs are not great for crochet)
*finished an embroidery
*drawn all over an armchair (Mouse, with an illicit purple pen. She then enjoyed a hour in her room)
*made soup
*made Toot's Bucket and Chuck it cake
*done some Christmas present cooking
*done some secret Santa crafting
*had a snowball fight
*covered the living room in shells
*done seven loads of laundry
*chopped up some T-shirts to add to my rug
*watched 4 films.

I hope school is open tomorrow!

Meanwhile, FHB seems to be having anger management issues once more. I think he is tired and cold and needs to sleep for a week- but he won't. Instead he waits until the most inopportune moment, makes an outrageous demand then harrumphs when he is refused:

FHB: Can I play DS?

Me: No it's bed time.

FHB (on the verge of tears): Well thanks, you're the best Mummy ever. Humph! (Stomps off).

Or:

FHB: Can I go in the garden?

Me: No, it's five minutes until tea time. You should have gone earlier with everyone else. It's too cold now.

FHB (on the verge of tears): Well you're just the greatest Mummy. Thanks. (Strops off and slams door).

Or (my favourite):

FHB: Can I read The Beano?

W: No, it's bedtime.

FHB (on the verge of tears [see the pattern here?]): Well aren't you just the best Daddy ever? Thank you sooooo much. Cos I really wanted to go to bed now. (Slams door).

W's face was a complete picture and I shall cherish it. Sometimes, when you are having just the most frustrating time with your children, the funniest moments happen!

x

Update:: We have also:

*had one baby/door interface (resulting in one very tiny swollen wonky nose and a split lip, plus a disproportionate blood spatter)
*one Mouse refusing to eat her dinner (resulting in me being the most hated person in the house and Mouse having a very early bed time. Not her best day)
*one 'let's raucously flood the bathroom and spray water everywhere while Mummy is with the baby' incident (resulting in two small boys having a very early bedtime and me being the triple most hated person in the house)
*one quiet cry in the kitchen while everyone upstairs told each other how much they hated Mummy
*one tired, miserable parent collapsing on the sofa waiting for her husband to get home so that she won't feel guilty about having (quite a large) glass of wine (or two).

And there's no school tomorrow. Boo.