Sunday 29 December 2019

Twixmas and more


I'm not entirely sure what day it is! I missed putting out my bin last week, even though I knew the refuse collection had been put back a day until Friday. The trouble was, my brain hadn't registered that it actually was Friday! Not to worry, the world won't come to an end! I hope you've had a good time over Christmas, however you've chosen to spend it. I had a very relaxing day with my friend Julia. She was the perfect host and kept me well fed and watered! Since then, I've spent a huge amount of time sleeping. I think it's due to the side effects of my Christmas Eve infusion. One way to get out of all the vegetable prep! Between us, the nurse and I worked out the best place to put the cannula so I could still knit, so I actually felt that my 6 hours was quite productive. My consultant also came to catch up with me so I was able to give her the socks I'd knitted. She seemed pleased so I hope she likes them!




Julia and I enjoyed a crafty weekend away in December too. We'd given each other gifts of a silver jewellery day and a soap making afternoon for our birthdays. The soap is organic and vegan and doesn't contain any nasty things. It's currently curing in the spare bedroom, making the room smell just heavenly. I love handmade soap so it was such a treat to be able to make my own bars. My soap is fragranced with bergamot and sweet orange, and I added some oats too. Julia's soap has poppy seeds and coffee grounds added to it, and is scented with sweet orange and lime. If you're interested in making soaps, I can thoroughly recommend Rosie at Organik Orangutan, she is a great teacher. 





The silver jewellery course was on a narrowboat which made it even more special. We spent the morning learning different techniques using copper wire and planning what we wanted to make in the afternoon. I wanted to make a silver ring and I put mine and Mr JK's initials on the inside and the year of our marriage, while Julia made an absolutely stunning fiddle ring. Again, if you're looking for something a little different, take a look at the Silver Jewellery Boat. We had a wonderful day. 





I thoroughly enjoyed opening my Advent swap each day in the countdown to Christmas. I now have a bowl full of woolly treasures, and I'm waiting a while to see what they want to become.




I sent one of my Twitter friends a yarn Advent calendar too. I helped her to learn to crochet earlier this year when she was injured and unable to run, but she told me that she was a 'one pattern' crocheter! So I set her the challenge of learning how to hook a Granny square, and with lots of WhatsApp videos, she did it! I'm so proud of her achievements. Take a look! Michele says she wants to crochet more and then join them all together with a final round of crochet, so I suspect that some more videos will be coming!




I've been rather spoilt as Sophie from Pixie Yarns gifted me a 12 days of Christmas yarn calendar. I love Sophie's dyeing and am savouring my morning skein each day. I'll share them with you when my collection is complete.




Flo liked the arrival of the occasional parcel, even better when there was tissue paper involved too! She spent time trying out each box for size before pouncing on the paper! She does make me smile. And then of course, she is totally exhausted by the activity and needs a long sleep, preferably on my lap!





There has been lots of tea drinking and treat eating going on too, I love those little spiced German biscuits. Mr JK was a big fan too so we always had loads in the house, normally still eating them well into the New Year. I hope whatever you're doing, you're warm and cosy and enjoying life. xxx




PS My latest yarn raffle is now live so if you'd like to enter to win the lovely prizes shown in the previous post, click here

Friday 27 December 2019

Fibre 4 Fibres giveaway preview 4


Time to share this week's gorgeous prize that you could win if you buy a virtual raffle ticket or two in this Sunday's Fibre 4 Fibres giveaway in aid of Myositis UK

The prize includes a special edition tote bag and pin badge from The Love of Yarn, the most beautiful skein of Handmaiden Casbah yarn which was very kindly donated by my Blogstar friend Lucia and a set of Fripperies & Bibelots stitch markers inspired by Frozen, called 'Build a Snowman'. 











Are you tempted to enter? Here's what you need to know. This giveaway will run this coming Sunday 29th December, closing at 23:55. To enter, go to my Just Giving page here and buy your virtual raffle tickets by donating £2 or more. £2 gets you 2 tickets, £3 gets you 3 tickets, £5 gets you 5 tickets and so on. You will need to leave your Instagram or Ravelry name, or tick the box that shares your details with me so that I can contact you if you're the winner and also put 'Colour' in the comments so I know which raffle you've entered. This lovely prize would be perfect to give you a colourful start to 2020 so I hope you'll enter! Good luck and thanks for your support. xxx


Friday 20 December 2019

Fibre 4 Fibres giveaway preview 3


Time to share this week's gorgeous prize that you could win if you buy a virtual raffle ticket or two in this Sunday's Fibre 4 Fibres giveaway in aid of Myositis UK.

The prize includes a beautiful cowl which has been crocheted by my friend and fellow Blogstar Heather, The Patchwork Heart. There are also two cakes of Stylecraft Batik Swirl yarn, 5 balls of Stylecraft Bellissima and Bambino yarn, a Stylecraft tote bag, key ring and gift tags, a special 30th anniversary edition booklet of some of Stylecraft's most popular crochet patterns and a £5 voucher which can be exchanged for Stylecraft yarn in any bricks and mortar Stylecraft stockist. Wowzers! That's a lot of lovely goodies. Thank you so much Heather and Stylecraft for your generous prizes.









Are you tempted to enter? Here's what you need to know. This giveaway will run this coming Sunday 22nd December, closing at 23:55. To enter, go to my Just Giving page here and buy your virtual raffle ticket by donating £1 or more. £1 gets you 1 ticket, £2 gets you 2 tickets, £5 gets you 5 tickets and so on. You will need to leave your Instagram or Ravelry name, or tick the box that shares your details with me so that I can contact you if you're the winner and also put 'Cowl' in the comments so I know which raffle you've entered. This lovely prize would be the perfect treat for you over the festive season so I hope you enter! Good luck and thanks for your support. xxx

Friday 13 December 2019

Fibre 4 Fibres giveaway preview 2


Time to share this week's gorgeous prize that you could win if you buy a virtual raffle ticket or two in this Sunday's Fibre 4 Fibres giveaway in aid of Myositis UK.

The prize includes two balls of West Yorkshire Spinner Signature 4ply yarn in their special Christmas colourway, Robin, and a complementary shade Cayenne Pepper. There will be plenty of yarn to knit at least two pairs of socks here, or you could make some accessories like a hat or mittens. To go with the yarn there is a pattern for a pair of socks designed by Winwick Mum. I've sewn another 3 metre length of Nordic style bunting that you can hang in your home. There's a very cute notions case sewn by my friend Michele from ThreeBagsFull, some stitch markers from Fripperies and Bibelots and a DIY holly decorations kit. It all looks so Christmassy in the photo, I'd quite like to keep it for myself! 







Are you tempted to enter? Here's what you need to know. This giveaway will run this coming Sunday 15th December, closing at 23:55. To enter, go to my Just Giving page here and buy your virtual raffle ticket by donating £1 or more. £1 gets you 1 ticket, £2 gets you 2 tickets, £5 gets you 5 tickets and so on. You will need to leave your Instagram or Ravelry name, or tick the box that shares your details with me so that I can contact you if you're the winner and also put 'Robin' in the comments so I know which raffle you've entered. This lovely prize would be the perfect treat for you over the festive season so I hope you enter! Good luck and thanks for your support. xxx


Thursday 12 December 2019

December days


December seems to be whizzing past at an alarming rate. My December has been taken over by hospital appointments and treatment which I really hope is going to start to get things under control. Fingers and toes crossed! Here's a snapshot of my month so far. I hope the coming days will be merry and bright for you! xxx


*** Helping a Twitter friend to crochet a Granny Square via WhatsApp photos and videos! ***



*** Flo snuggling into her furry donut! ***



*** Enjoying my yarn Advent calendar swap organised by Lay Family yarn on Instagram ***



*** A day in hospital getting a new immunosuppressant infusion ***



*** Enjoying candlelight in the late afternoon and evenings ***



*** Celebrating my birthday with a mince pie! ***






Friday 6 December 2019

Fibre 4 Fibres giveaway preview


A few people have been in touch with me to say that they don't use Instagram or Facebook but would still like the opportunity to be able to take part in my weekly fundraising raffles for Myositis UK. So I've decided to share each prize before the raffle opens so you're able to decide if you'd like to enter. 

This week, I have a real treat for you as Sophie from Pixie Yarns has very generously donated a special 12 Days of Christmas micro Advent calendar, with each skein of yarn being a popular Pixie Yarns colourway. I treated myself to one of Sophie's calendars last year and made a gorgeous linen stitch scarf with the yarn. As well as the calendar, there's a 3 metre length of Nordic-style festive bunting to bring some Christmas cheer to your home and a couple of Christmassy stitch markers.







Are you tempted to enter? Here's what you need to know. This giveaway will run this coming Sunday 8th December, closing at 23:55. To enter, go to my Just Giving page here and buy your virtual raffle ticket by donating £1 or more. £1 gets you 1 ticket, £2 gets you 2 tickets, £5 gets you 5 tickets and so on. You will need to leave your Instagram or Ravelry name, or tick the box that shares your details with me so that I can contact you if you're the winner and also put '12 Days' in the comments so I know which raffle you've entered. This 12 Days calendar is the perfect treat for you over the festive season so I hope you enter! Good luck and thanks for your support. xxx

Thursday 5 December 2019

Gifting


I love to receive homemade gifts don't you? They are made with love and care and someone has spent time creating something especially for you. When I'm making gifts for people, I try to think of what they would really like as I want it to be just right. As I've got quite a lot of time on my hands at the moment, time wasn't an issue in getting things done in time. I can still remember knitting a sock for Mr JK right up to Christmas Eve one year! Actually, thinking about it, I'm not even sure if I got it finished in time! 

I've made a couple of scarves for friends. The first has been crocheted using a pattern by Lucy over at Attic24. This pattern was created for a special Comic Relief edition of Mollie Makes some years ago but the pattern is very similar to a free one on the Stylecraft website for a Dr Who scarf if you'd like to make your own. I used oddments of Stylecraft Special DK yarn, mostly leftover from my Sweet Pea blanket. I love the texture that the pattern creates. I added lots of fringe and it's very tactile. I just want to keep pulling my fingers through it! And it gave me great satisfaction to sew on a 'josiekitten' label!







As well as crocheting a scarf, I've been busy at the sewing maching. I made a fleecy leopard print scarf for a leopard-loving friend and I backed it with some leftover minky fabric, so it's as soft as you like! I think she will love it! Excuse the colours in the last photo, taken in artificial light. It's a bit shorter than I would have liked, but I was limited by the amount of fleece I had. 






The sewing machine has been kept busy making bunting too. There's something a little bit nostalgic about bunting, I think and I love to see it hanging up. The great thing about bunting is that it can be brought out year after year too, so it's a wonderful reminder of great friendships.


  



Speaking of bunting, I helped a friend to sew some bunting for another friend's dog cage! We've made it reversible with Christmas fabric on one side and bright patterns on the other so it can be up all year round. The next project is to make bunting for some guinea pigs! Seriously! I promise to share photos when it's done!  I'll be back tomorrow to share this Sunday's raffle prize for my Fibres 4 Fibres fundraiser. xxx