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!