A Weather Report + #Crafting + #AmWriting + #Music + Day To Day Life

No sign of any more snow here.  Some rain, some sun, some chilly temperatures, but no snow.

 

Never mind, there's plenty of time for more yet, and it's not unusual for us to get our best snow in March, so I'm not giving up hope.

 

~

 

Anyway, it's been a busy week, so let's take a look at what's been going on in my world during the past week, shall we?

*~*

Friday was mostly taken up with Zoom calls.  I try to make it to the ACB Presents call every day at 9:00am Eastern, and like to pop in to the ACB Crafters call for a while before the Free To Be Me call I co-facilitate on Fridays.  But I also decided to go to another call, which I don't always attend, but is fun when I do.  Between that and the usual day to day chores, petkid care, etc - which you can just assume I did every day, and I won't bother mentioning every time - there wasn't much of Friday left.

*~*

Saturday was a day mostly filled with crafting.  I attended a Zoom call on ways to add crochet to other forms of crafts (cards, fabric, etc) which was fun and interesting.  I also finished up the crochet mug hug I'd been making, which I mentioned in last week's post, and which Kelly has claimed for his mug.  LOL!

Here's a photo of the green crochet mug hug (essentially a mug cosy) on Kelly's mug:

Oh, and here's a photo of the blue needle knitted round dishcloth/doily thing I made too:

~

 

I also wrote the first draft of an article on audio book production I've been meaning to get to.  I've been promising someone I'd work on it since about November, so it was long since over-due in my opinion, even if I didn't officially have a deadline for when I was meant to submit it by.

~

The other thing I did Saturday - well, I'm calling it Saturday, but it was technically Sunday, since it was actually early hours of Sunday morning for me - was to go to ACB's Saturday night kareoke, which I've started doing on a regular basis now.  And, yes, I sing each time I'm there.

I attend the ACB's open mic night when they do that too, but that doesn't happen every week like kareoke does, because the person who facilitates that can't do it every week.  But I read some of my poems for that instead of singing.  I mention it though because it's another one that happens late (when it's on it's a Wednesday night/Thursday morning thing) and I wanted to tell you about what happened after the last one ended, since you won't have seen about it if you're not on Facebook, and might find it as amusing as I do.

So, when open mic night ended it was about 3:00am for me.  And - seeing me remove my headset - Lilie and Logan got up and ran off in to the bedroom, knowing I go in there afterwards, even if I end up reading rather than sleeping.  I didn't pay much attention, but the next thing I know there's a whole lot of noise going on in there, so I went in to see what they were up to.

They were jumping on the bed.  Literally just bouncing up and down on the bed.

I asked them if they realized it was 3:00am, and they stopped bouncing for a moment, looked at me as if to ask if I had a point, and - deciding I clearly didn't - promptly started bouncing on the bed again.

I guess they didn't care if it was 3:00am, or see why that meant they shouldn't bounce on the bed.  LOL!

*~*

Sunday I finally got a chance to play with my potters' wheel.  I made two pots of slightly different sizes and shapes (one a sort of vase shape, and the other a little round pot) which you can see in the photos below.

 

 

 

 

I also made the pen part of a pig sty I'm making as part of the scenery I'm making for my Dad for gaming.  I told my Dad with how much crafting I'm doing he'd likely end up with handmade items for his birthday and Christmas the way I'm going, and he said the thing he needs most is more scenery for his figure gaming, and mentioned an interest in things you'd find in farms or rural settings, like a pig sty, a pond, etc, so I'm taking him at his word and making him a pig sty, and will later make him a pond or two as well.  He gets what he wants/needs for gaming without having to pay ridiculously high prices for scenery, or find time to make it himself,and I get to play with my clay.  Everybody wins.  But, anyhow, I only got as far as making the pen part of the pig sty on Sunday, since I wanted that to dry before I started working on doing the shelter for the pigs to go in it.  Plus ran out of time to do more than that anyhow.

~

I also went to a cooking themed ACB Zoom call on Sunday, where they sometimes do cooking demonstrations, and other times discuss things on the general theme of cooking.  This week they were talking about meal planning and prepping, which is something I'm trying to get back in the habit of doing.  It was an interesting call, which I'm glad I went to.

*~*

Monday afternoon I had a papercrafting Zoom meeting scheduled with someone I won it from in the ACB Crafters holiday party I attended a week before Christmas, which for various reasons has taken us this long to be able to arrange.  So I tried to make sure to have everything ready for it before the ACB Presents call, since with my time difference I was scheduled to literally come out of one meeting and in to the other.  I forgot a few things though, so had to go run and get them during the call.  Despite not being quite as prepared as I thought I was, I still managed to make two cards during it though, trying out a couple of new techniques for me; I'd never done cards with extra folds like these before.

One of the cards I made was a star-themed one.  The bulk of the card is white.  The inside has green stars stamped across the top of what would be the back of the card front, and blue presents stamped across the bottom of that same side, with a strip of blue running down the other side.  When the card is closed you can see that strip of blue, and the rest of the front has a strip of green on it, more stamped green stars and blue presents, and three slightly overlapping stars (two blue stars, and a bigger silver glittery star with a small red star in the center of it).  Here are photos of both the inside and outside of that card:

 

The other card is a more feminine card.  The inside has purple butterflies stamped on a white background on what would be the back of the front of the card, and the other side is a yellow background with a pink balloon up near the top of one corner, and a pink heart almost centered at the bottom.  When you close the card the balloon and that area of the yellow background is visible.  The other side of the top of the front has an orange background with a silvery glittery heart on it, and the bottom of the front is left white with purple butterflies stamped on it, and a pink ribbon in the shape of a bow. Here are photos of the inside and outside of that card:

 

 

~

 

I have roleplaying some Mondays, but this wasn't one of them.  Just as well, since we ended up having Mam's dog, Izabel, over for a sleepover Monday night, because Mam was unwell.

 

Lilie loved it; Izi and Lilie had a great time playing together.  Logan wasn't so pleased about the idea; Logan thinks Izabel and Lilie are much too energetic, and spends most of the time when Izi is here just trying to stay out of the way of the girls' games, while also trying to keep them in sight so he doesn't miss anything he might decide he'd like to be involved in after all.

 

*~*

 

To Logan's relief and Lilie's disappointment, Izabel went home Tuesday early evening, during the time when we often have had Dad over for roleplaying and dinner, but as it happened this week I only saw Dad for him to act as mine and Izi's transport, since he and Wayne had their Covid boosters Tuesday afternoon, so we had planned on us not seeing him until it turned out I needed transport to first pick Izabel up on Monday, and then take her home Tuesday.

~

Shortly before Izabel went home on Tuesday I went to a different ACB cooking Zoom call where they were making ginger brownies, and offered some substitution tips for those who might want to reduce the amount of sugar they use (or use a different kind of sugar) or avoid using eggs for whatever reason.

~

I also went to an online clay workshop on Tuesday, which was for the visually impaired, but not run by the ACB.  It was run by Future In Sight.  Officially it was a beginner workshop, but to me it was just an excuse to play with my clay again.  LOL!

Anyway, I made a sort of oval shaped shallow pinch pot.  And here it is:

I also made the walls for the shelter part of the pig pen.  Since some games are better with no roof put on buildings you make for scenery to use with them, while for others a roof is a good idea, and I'm not sure which kind Dad wants this for, I decided to let Dad do the roof if he wants his pig pen to have one, so here's a photo of the finished pig pen, which is essentially a round pen with the walls for a square-ish structure inside it, and a gate like you'd find on a farm in one area of the pen's wall.

*~*

Wednesday was one of those days when I needed a lot of resting time.  But I also had my keyboard lesson, and there's a fun chatty call I like to go to about an hour after the music lesson ends, so I did make sure to be up for those, as well as for the ACB Presents call.

~

The only other thing - besides essential petkid and personal care tasks - I stayed up to do on Wednesday was to take the time to use the bit of clay I hadn't used up from the open packet Tuesday to make the foundation and walls for another building I'll be giving to Dad.  Again, he can either add a roof or not, depending on what he wants to do with it.  But here it is:

*~*

Thursday I finished working on that article, and finally sent it to the person.

I also got caught up on laundry - in case you're interested in hearing about that.

~

The only other thing of note about Thursdays is that I have a knitting Zoom call I go to late evening my time on Thursdays.  This week's was needle knitting.  It's needle knitting on the first and third Thursdays of the month, and loom knitting on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month.

*~*

Since I'm putting this together Thursday ready for it to publish Friday morning while I'm on the way to the hospital for my Haematologist appointment, that's you all caught up with everything that's happened between now and my last post.  I hope you enjoyed having a day by day glimpse in to my week.  Not all my weeks are as full as this one was... I had a lot going on this week, that's for sure!

Mam's Birthday + The #WinterSolstice & #Christmas 2021 + Wishing You A Happy #NewYear

It was my Mam's birthday on December 19th.  She wanted a birthday cake I could have some of, so I made her a vegan one. It's a two layer ginger cake with vanilla buttercream icing between the layers, and pink icing in various shades on the top and sides, some of which spells out the words, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAM" with a couple of little hearts below the writing.  Here's a photo:

*~*

I forgot to have Kelly take a photo of the fake mistletoe hanging above our living room doorway when he did our holiday decoration photos, so here's a photo of that:

Also, we got a pine reef for the door, so here's a photo of that too:

*~*

As you may or may not know, Kelly and I celebrate the Winter Solstice, so for us the holidays kick off a couple of days early.  But the rest of the family celebrates Christmas, so most years we end up doing both.  This year was one of those years.  We had our own celebration on the 21st of December, exchanged gifts with my Mam Christmas Eve, and exchanged gifts with my Dad and Wayne (one of my brothers) on Boxing Day.  In between those things I was involved in various festive calls with the ACB, including a virtual tree lighting on Christmas Eve, which was great fun.

~

Lilie was really excited when she realized Santa Paws had been, and eager to get hold of whatever treats he'd left for her.  Logan was rather confused by the whole thing, but eager to accept any treats and toys on offer.  Logan's always happy to be involved if there's something in it for him, even if he's not sure what's going on - especially if that something involves treats.

Anyway, here are our stockings and gift bags all set out on the chair and sofa ready for us to open.  There's a gift bag and stocking each for me and Kelly, and a gift bag and two stockings between the petkids (one stocking is for Lilie and Logan, one is for Mollie and Artemis, and the bag is for all of them).

 

 

 

And here's a clip we took when Lilie realized Santa Paws had been:

The dogs also got some tennis balls, and some squeaky snowballs...

As well as a toy goose each that's a cross between a cuddly toy with a squeaker in it and a rope tuggy toy, which I'm giving to them in this next photo:

Plus a honking pig toy each, which I didn't get photos of them with, and a load of treats, including the rawhide candy canes I'm giving them in the first of these next photos, which they're each enjoying in the two following it (at least, that's how it will be if these post in the order I'm uploading them).

Mollie and Artemis got some raisins and some dried rosepetals to share.  Mollie also got a willow reef to gnaw on.  I didn't end up getting photos of Mollie and Artemis though.

~

As for me...

I got a potter's wheel and some clay to use with it, bath/shower stuff, plenty of vegan friendly treats, a whole load of Burrows & Badgers figures to add to my collection, a snuggly blanket, a bird sounds CD, two pairs of Disney socks (Dumbo and Eeyore) and some money.

I also got this Discworld themed bookmark and cuddly toy of "The Luggage" (a character from the series that's basically a magical trunk with loads of legs on its underside that gets in to mischief)...

A black "Witches Brew" teapot...

A wooden ornamental Hogwarts Express...

An oil/wax melts burner with oils and wax melts to use with it.  Plus the dragon shaped incense holder in this next photo, with some incense cones and sticks to use with it.

And some cards from a few of my family and friends...

Speaking of cards: if you didn't get one from me, that's because I only ended up doing them for immediate family, because I left it too late and didn't have the time or energy to even get them made before the holidays in the end.  I'll try to do better next year.

*~*

Whatever you did to celebrate them, how were your holidays? Did you get anything nice?

 

Also, since it's New Year's Eve, I'd like to wish you a happy New Year! Stay safe while doing whatever you might be doing to ring in the new year - if you are doing anything, I mean.  See you in 2022!

A-Z with me, part 1: A-G (FD)

Jeanie did a post on her blog a couple of weeks ago that listed the A-Z of things she likes, are important to her for some reason, or are happening in her life right now. It looked like fun, so I thought I'd do it too. Only, I'm going to do it as a series of four shorter posts instead of one really long one, since the posts will be long enough as it is.

***

A is for audiobooks.

A decent chunk of the books I own are on audio, and I listen to part of an audiobook before I go to sleep every night (or day, if I'm on day sleeps). At one point almost all my books were audiobooks... Before I got my Kindle. Now it's just a lot of them, since audiobooks are, unfortunately, often expensive.

I don't always have an audiobook I haven't yet listened to for my sleep time listening, so I end up re-listening to my favourites over and over again. I don't mind too much though. Oh, and, no... I don't count the audiobooks I've already listened to in the past when figuring out how many books I've read in a year; I never count re-reads of any format.

My most recent audiobook purchase was the final Discworld novel, which was released in August, and which I brought at the end of last month. I have all the other books in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series on audiobook, so wanted this one on audio too.

***

B is for braille.

I learned braille while still at school, and used it exclusively in school at one point. I don't use it all that often these days, but I do still have my old red brailler on my desk beside my computer. I also do have a few braille books, but braille books are bulky, so they aren't my favourite book format. On the other hand, braille books are handy to read when there's no electric to run the stereo or computer, and the Kindle has a dead battery.

Braille is also useful for putting labels on things, which helps me to know what they are. Many of my audiobooks have labels on their cases, for example. It should be all of them that do, but I got behind on my label-making... I plan to label the others at some point though.

***

C is for clay.

I love working with clay, though I haven't done so in a while.

I have little interest in pottery, but I like to make clay models of things; animals especially. These days I use proper modeling clay, but I was perfectly content to use anything you can easily make in to shapes in the past. Even gluetack... Which is a favourite clay substitute of my brother, Carl, as it happens.

Now I've made myself want to play with my clay again... I'll have to make some time for that some time soon, I think.

***

D is for degus.

As in, our four J boys, Jacob, Jasper, Jenks, and Joshua.

Degus are the kinds of animals that are a lot of work to keep happy, but I love our boys... Even though they fight a lot, seem to delight in throwing things out of their cage for us to pick up, and delight in confusing me so as to get extra nibbles. Mostly they're sweet little guys though, as long as we remember to keep something on for them to listen to constantly, and make sure we're aware of sunrise and sunset times to be sure they don't find themselves in the dark. Unless a storm comes, then they get upset no matter what we do; especially Jasper.

***

E is for eBooks.

Since I got my first Kindle, most of my book collection has been made up of eBooks. In some ways I prefer audiobooks, but eBooks are much cheaper, and many books are available as eBooks but not as audiobooks or braille books, which gives me more chance of getting copies of the books I'm desperate to read. Also, as I mentioned, they're a lot cheaper, which helps when feeding my couple of hundred books a year reading habit.

Judging by this post about the 10 reasons why people who read books are more successful, that expensive reading habit of mine is a good thing to have. Not that it would stop me from wanting to keep reading a lot if it wasn't, if I'm honest.

I usually get at least a couple of new eBooks each month. Some I get for free (either during promotions, or in exchange for writing reviews) and others I buy. Some come from Amazon, others come from Smashwords, and others - usually the ones I get in exchange for reviews - are sent to me directly by the author.

My most recently aquired eBook is the second in Katrina Cope's Afterlife series, which she gave me in exchange for a review.

***

F is for fruit.

My favourite fruits - in no particular order - are berries of any type, cherries, rhubarb, and grapes, though those aren't the only fruits I enjoy. For example, I'm quite fond of kiwis and plums, can often be found eating apples and oranges, and also like other fruits such as grapefruit and bananas.

Mostly I eat my fruit as is, though sometimes I'll put it in a crumble, or some other kind of desert. Rhubarb crumble is my absolute favourite fruity desert; served on its own, or with custard or ice-cream.

***

G is for gerbils.

As in, our little gerbil boys, Bilbo and Baggins.

The gerbils are actually supposed to be Kelly's gerbils, but we share them.

Anyway... They can be quick with their teeth, but our gerbils are cute little guys, and I love them... Especially when they do something cute or amusing. Like when Bilbo hangs from the cage bars like a gerbil acrobat, or when Baggins sits there carefully nibbling the edge of a Cheerio - turning it when required - like doing this slowly and carefully is the most important task of his day.

They're a lot more low maintenance than the degus, let me tell you!

***

Come back next week for part 2, where I tell you about H-N.

Runic Ramblings

This week's "Pagan Blog Prompt" is the following:

Runes

Do you use them?
Which set of runes do you use (if something other than the Elder Futhark)?
How do you use them (divination, magic, as an alphabet for writing, etc)?

If you do not know/use the runes, are you interested in it?
What is keeping you from exploring them?

My thoughts:

I'd never given much thought to the runes; I'd think from time to time that it might be nice to learn to read them, but that's about it. Then AstraeaSapphire had a blog renaming contest, and I won. I had a choice of a set of runes or a tarot set as my prize. Well, I already have a set of tarot cards that I love, and have no desire to have another set, so I decided to go with the runes. I can't remember what set it is (and as they haven't arrived yet, I can't check), but I'm quite enthusiastic about the prospect of learning to read them.

Of course, then I ran in to the issue of how to identify which symbol is which. Runes are carved most of the time (and if the ones I won aren't, then my hubby - who also wants to learn to read them - will buy me a set that is, and have the set I won). But how was I going to figure out what the symbol was?

Rita reads the runes, and when I realized this - or, rather, was reminded of it - shortly after winning the rune set, I contacted her to ask for her help in making tactile symbols to become part of a chart I planned to make to solve the problem. The little clay tiles with symbols on them that Rita, her daughter-in-law, Leah, and (I think) her son, Dagan, made for me arrived just a couple of days ago. I will post photos when I can. Although, if you read Rita's blog then you'll have seen them already (and if you don't, you could go and look; the photos were posted a couple of weeks ago, though I don't remember exactly when).

Now I just need for Kelly (my hubby) to help me make the chart, and for my rune set to arrive, and then I'll be all ready to start learning to read the runes!

Project list as it stands at the start of 2012

OK, I said yesterday I'd post my list of projects I'd like to get done this year, so... * Make a handmade gift for each family member (and a select couple of friends) for Christmas. * Make a matching hat, scarf and mittens set for myself in blue and gold. * Make a cardigan/jacket for myself. * Stitch a few items of clothing for myself. * Knit a couple of blankets/throws for us. * Make a clay Dalek. * Make birthday and holiday cards for everyone I send to. * Have a go at candle making. Of course, things may be added throughout the year (in fact, I'd be surprised if they weren't). But those are the things I would like to get done at the moment.

Celebrating Lammas 2011 (FD)

So, for those who have been looking forward to reading it, here is my post about how Lammas went for us this year. The lion kit didn't work out that well. First the glue with it was all dried up, so we had to use some of the PVA glue I have among the craft stuff I brought recently (good thing I brought that). PVA glue often takes some time to dry though, so we did a bit of it Monday, then continued Tuesday. Things went from bad to worse with the kit though. We followed the instructions to the letter, but when we put one piece in it jammed the mechanism in it, and when we went to pull it back out a vital piece of the mechanism snapped. We aren't 100% certain if it was our fault or not, but with the kit reduced to a pile of scrap timber pieces we were forced to admit defeat when it came to the craft kit. *Sigh* Our feast and the bread and juice blessing I mentioned we would be doing were much more successful. We had our sandwiches made with fresh bread, and this yummy apple pie: And we made sure to set aside a piece of each of our sandwiches, a bit of apple pie, and some of the blueberry tea we had as a drink as an offering to Lugh, and any other Gods or Goddesses who may have been in attendance during our feast: After the feast and the bread and juice blessing we put our offering outside, and I had just started setting up for doing the ritual for honoring Lugh, which I'd decided to do as a solitary ritual, when my Dad and Carl (my brother) showed up. They stayed for long enough to have a drink with us, have a bit of a chat, and for Dad and Carl to come with me to walk Kero, then they left. While they were here though Dad reported seeing birds helping themselves to our offering already. I told him to grab a photo, but by the time he actually mentioned it to me they'd noticed activity near the back door and flown off. Shame, because my camera was still on the kitchen counter... Maybe a foot away from where Dad was stood watching the birds. Anyway, Dad also noticed the beginnings of my altar setup for the ritual I was going to be doing, so got curious. I had Kelly take a photo when I was done setting up, so perhaps when you see it you'll understand why he was so confused: When Dad saw it the brailler (red typewriter type machine), knitting stuff, candle and altar tile were all that were on it (well, other than the cloth itself). He said he could understand the brailler, since that would be what I'd use to write stuff down if I didn't want to use the laptop, and the candle and altar tile... He definately understood those. But the knitting stuff really threw him. He was convinced it was going to be a long ritual and I was going to knit during slow parts or something. LOL! So I explained to him that: 1. It's not a long ritual, and 2. Even if it was, I wouldn't be knitting while doing it. I then went on to explain why I had knitting stuff on my altar. I will do the same for anyone still reading this: The ritual is all about honoring skills and crafts, and asking for blessings where needed in aspects of them, so I needed items on there to represent my various skills and the crafts that I do. The brailler is my writing tool - as I already mentioned - since, being blind, I can't just use a pen, and the brailler - for those who are interested and don't know - is basically a form of typewriter for the blind, which writes in braille. The knitting (which, if you're interested, is part of the rocket I was knitting for Emma's little brother) is there to, obviously, represent knitting. I later added a reel of cotton and the little plastic needle container that has a needle threader in it for sewing, the scissors I recently brought for use with paper crafts, and the little tub with seporate sections in it for seporating sequins in to, which was there as a representation of card making, but could be another sewing representation too, I guess. I then obviously had the candle, and my altar tile. Plus, there's the plate with an offering just for Lugh in return for him listening to me, etc. And the lot is on a purple cloth, because it's the only altar cloth I have. I would have also added some representation of harvest time or something, but felt the altar was full enough of items. I mean, the brailler is so bulky that it ttook up a huge chunk of the altar (which is why the candle isn't in the centre properly as it should have been), so I think to add anything more would have made it way too crowded. As it was both the brailled out version of the ritual and the candle snuffer ended up being on the kitchen counter behind me since there was no room for them on the altar. I also totally forgot to put something on the altar to represent the things I make out of clay. I'd already done the ritual before I thought about it though, so it was a bit late by then. Funny thing is, I expanded the ritual a bit by also saying the poem I'd written early that morning, and clay creations were mentioned in that. Yet I still forgot to put a representation of clay creations on there. Well, the altar was probably full enough already. :) So, that was our Lammas/Lughnasadh/First Harvest celebration for 2011. Next year I'm hoping we're in a position to be making our own fresh bread, and also that we have a more successful attempt at doing some kind of craft kit or project together!

crafty update

I don't know if you remember me mentioning before Christmas about making a clay item for someone, but not wanting to mention it because the person would see? Well... After it arrived with the person I meant to say something, but never got around to it. Then it was mentioned on the blog of the person in question, and I meant to link to the post to say about it (especially since the post contains a photo, and I forgot to get one). Anyway, to get to the point... The item was the clay SpongeBob figure I made for Iggy, which he mentioned in this post. You've probably all seen it by now, but I did say at the time I'd let you know once I could... I just kept forgetting. I usually have loads of things I want to post about, so I do forget to mention - or update you on - things sometimes. In more recent craft news... I'm still working on the scarf for Louise. I had hoped to have it done by now; I'd hoped to give it to her for her birthday (her birthday is in two days time). I'm not even quite half way through it though. Thing is, I couldn't work on it when I wasn't well, because I couldn't concentrate properly. Plus, I kept coughing and almost ending up dropping stitches, so gave up as I didn't want to have to start over. Also, Emma-Jane got a little dolls' pram for her birthday, and I've been asked to make a little blanket for her dolls. Now that I'm feeling a lot better, I'm hoping to do some serious work on the scarf, then make the blanket for Emma-Jane's dolls. As a warning, this may mean I miss days on the blogs; so, sorry in advance for that.

November 2010 craft update: scarves and snowmen

OK, it's time for this month's craft update. Can you believe it's the end of November already? So, what have I achieved this month? Well... I finished knitting the scarf I mentioned in last month's post. I also made a snowman ornament out of clay, because my Mam seems to like my clay ornaments, and I never made a snowman one last year, so thought she'd like to have a snowman one to add to the holly, santa, bell and Christmas tree ones I made her last year. And, Kero wanted to help make something, so I tried to get his pawprint in a bit of clay. It didn't work fantastically, but it just about worked. He wasn't so eager to help afterwards... Not once he realised there was wet stuff involved in what I was doing. LOL! I did manage to make one other clay item. But since it's a Christmas present for someone who is often reading my blog, and since that person will know it's for them as soon as I say what it is - or, at least, suspect it is - I'd rather not say what it is. I'll tell you after Christmas... Once the person has the item and knows what it is already. I'm now working on another blanket. Although, this blanket is for me. I just decided I should actually knit something for myself, and with how warm and snuggly the blankets I made before have felt, I decided I wanted one for myself. So, I'm making me one. I've knitted a decent chunk of it, despite there being a couple of hundred stitches per row. OK, well... That's it for November's craft update. Mind you, I had more to mention in this month's post than I thought I would, since I only expected to have finished the scarf, and didn't expect to have had time for anything else. So, that's good... Right?

December 2009 craft update: birds, boats and more (LBE)

It's time for December 2009's craft update.

Here are the items that never made it in to November's craft update...

Two little angels.



The same angels, painted by Mam.



Two sailing boats.



The boats after Mam painted them.



Two little cats.



The cats, painted by Mam.



A cockerel.



The cockerel after Mam painted him.



A little fairy.



The fairy after Mam painted her.



A litttle Robin.



The Robin in a nest.



The Robin in his nest, this time fully painted by Mam.



A tractor.



The tractor, painted by Mam.



All the above items, after they were painted by my Mam.



A single cone.



The cone after being painted by Kelly.



Well, I had to make an orange cone, didn't I? ;)

Anyway...

Two turtles.



Another photo of the turtles.



The turtles - painted (paintwork started by Kelly, and finished off by Mam).




A cat and a Westie.



The cat and Westie after being painted (paint work was a joint effort between Mam and Kelly).




The skull candle holder I showed you in a previous craft update (I think October?) only now Kelly and Mam have painted it (Kelly did the basic painting, Mam added the detail).





And - at long last - the dragon candle holder is painted and ready to be shown! Again, the paint work was a joint effort, only this time I did the actual base coat (well, of the body anyway), because I wanted to help paint this one. Then Kelly did the next stage, and Mam added the finishing touches (like the details on the wings, and the name).



Here's a better picture:



That's it for the items that didn't make it in to last month's craft update post. Sorry for the quality of many of the photos, but getting good shots was quite difficult.

Some - well, actually, most - of the items in this post, and - in fact - most of the craft items I've made this year, were made as Christmas presents. So, I can now tell you that they have been recieved, and the people appear pleased with their gifts. :)

Right, I think that will do for this month's craft update... I have basically finished my next project, but I'll leave details until next time. There's enough in this post already, I think! ;)

Tori