Christmassy Fun

As I mentioned last week, I put my tree up.

I've also been to 3 different Christmas markets, 2 Christmas meals, and bought a lovely Christmas jumper...

So I'm feeling pretty excited about Christmas now!

Christmas is coming!

It's 4 weeks to Christmas today - hasn't it come around quickly!

Rob surprised me by coming to visit me for the weekend last weekend which was such a lovely surprise.  We went to the Christmas market in Sheffield which was very nice and festive and we ate roasted chestnuts and drank mulled wine.

At work we have been discussing when we are putting up our Christmas Trees - most of us agreed that this Sunday is the correct time but one of my friends wanted to put up his tree last weekend and had to be persuaded not to by his housemates.

I'm putting my tree up on Sunday and I can't wait.  My Christmas shopping is going ok so far - mostly at the planning stage but looking manageable.

The swap group I am in on Ravelry has been having a Christmas swap too - we got randomly paired with a swap partner and given a list of items we should make/ buy for them.  I've posted my parcel now and already received mine from my partner (but not yet opened it).  It's lovely to make new friends in the swap group and send each other Christmas gifts!

Did you have a lovely Christmas?

I did!  Christmas seemed to come around so quickly that we didn't feel quite prepared.  On Christmas Eve, we had our family roast dinner which Eve and I helped Mum to cook.  We don’t normally do a roast as is more time-consuming so it was fun to have a change.  On Christmas, we got up early to open our presents and later went to visit family.

It has been good to see our relatives over the last few days and catch up together.  I got many lovely presents – CDs, DVDs, pretty things.  I got a sewing pattern for a skirt to replace the one that broke so I can’t wait to get sewing that now.

In the days leading up to Christmas, the number of tiny gnomes in my house seemed to increase.  I mentioned in my last post that the gnome was hoping for a Christmas party and it seems like he managed to throw the party after all.  

Where did all of the gnomes come from?

Now that Christmas is out of the way I have to get back to revision  for my January exams so will not be able to do as much crafting - roll on January 18th when they are over!

It's December again!!!

I have been looking forward to the start of December for ages now but unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to put up my decorations until Monday due to a combination of tonnes of uni work, looking after The Boy's little brother, and repair work going on at our house.

I guess it is a good thing in a way, as I haven't finished the crochet stocking advent calendar yet so at least I am not just missing the one decoration.

I'm more than half way and I'm attaching each one as I make it so it won't take much longer to complete.

It has got cold so quickly - I need to dig out my warm clothes so I don't freeze on my way to uni next week!

Christmas Preparations

I can't believe how close Christmas is now.  In ASDA they have a giant tree with a sign saying how many sleeps until Christmas and the Christmas market is back in the centre of Liverpool. 

I'm hoping to get a chance to put up my little Christmas tree on Saturday but we have The Boy's little brother coming to stay so I don't know when I will find time - Friday is just too early isn't it?

This year I've decided to crochet an advent calendar made of little stockings using this pattern (I just added the pattern to Ravelry here).  I'm doing each day a different colour and sewing the numbers on.

I haven't got very far as I have so much uni work at the moment but I'm hoping to get lots of work done this afternoon to allow myself some crochet time later.

The Boy doesn't know that I'm making it so hopefully it'll be a nice surprise when he sees it.  I also need to buy sweets and write some notes to put into the calendar - so much planning needed!

I Went to Venice!!!

My Birthday present this year from The Boy was a trip to Venice.  I know my birthday was aaages ago but we decided to go over New Year.

I've always wanted to go to Venice so I couldn't believe I was actually there at first.

Venice is so beautiful!!!

We did so much walking and sight-seeing in the 7 days we were there and managed to fit in a gondola ride which, although overpriced, is just something you have to do in Venice!

The B&B (B&B San Marco) was on the third floor of a building and the family who ran it were so friendly and we often all sat around to breakfast together with the other guests.  This was the view from our balcony:

There was a little pizza restaurant nearby which did amazing pizzas at great prices - we had a pizza each and drinks for around €20. When we got back we both agreed that we won't be eating pizza for a while - at first you love how fresh and tasty they are but after 4 or 5 days you are like "I NEED BACON!!!"

I was glad that everyone in the restaurants and shops spoke English - I know it sounds arrogant but I didn't know any Italian (also they all seem to speak at least 4 languages).  On my first attempt to speak Italian to a local it was a ticket inspector on the waterbus and he said 'buongiorno' so I replied the same and he says "so are you going to the airport?"  I was gutted that I was called out as being English so easily!

It was an amazing holiday and great to be able to see the place I have spent years fantasising about visiting.

Here is an assortment of pictures from our holiday:

Me by the Ponte di Rialto

The Bridge of Sighs

A close-up of the Bridge of Sighs

The Boy by a canal

View of the Grand Canal from the Accademia Bridge

The Boy with St Mark's square in the background

One of the lions of St Mark on the Doge's Palace

St Mark's Bell Tower

St Mark's Basilica (left) and the Doge's Palace (right)

Me with a view across the Grand Canal

Taking the gondola under the Rialto Bridge (supposed to be lucky)

Gondolas only sign by side of canal

Our Gondola (the red one in the middle)

Me and The  Boy

Merry Christmas Everyone

I can’t believe how close Christmas is now!  I spent all of yesterday reminding people that it was Christmas Grace (it didn’t seem fair that Eve had a day and I didn’t so the 23^rd of December is officially Christmas Grace).

I wasn’t well for a couple of days so I couldn’t go and visit my best friend so he posted me my present which was so nice of him – THANK YOU!

So here is what I got:

Ok the little graduate minifig I bought myself but the rest was all off my best friend - the Christmas tree, the mini R2D2 and the racing car.

Also, my friend sent me a picture of the R2D2 that I made, sitting in his Christmas Tree:

Have a great Christmas everyone!

Christmassy-ness!

I haven't blogged in so long due to courseworks and project work but I have still been crocheting!

I've also been away this weekend with The Boy's family having a Christmas together.  As everyone lives scattered over the country, it was great to have everyone in one place to celebrate an early Christmas.  I also got some presents which was lovely including a wind-up pair of mini spacehoppers off The Boy's little brother which Eve and I were racing today.

They are so much fun!

I decided to make one if my Mum's patterns - Patchwork Ball in Celtic colours as a present for The Boy's brother as he is a huge Celtic fan (I blame his Dad for corrupting him).

You can't really see the colours in the picture though - it's white and dark green.

Oh also, thank you to everyone who has made my Christmas Tree Angel or who plans to.  It has kindly been translated into French for me by Particules so there is now a French pdf pattern on ravelry or available from her blog here.

December!!!

As it's the first of December today I am finally allowed to put my Christmas Tree up - and guess who is on top of it:

I got a 5ft tree as it's just the cheapest I could find (students!) and just got some simple baubles for it.  I need to crochet some decorations but I've been so busy with my uni project presentation that I haven't got much done.

As you can see my teddy bear is supervising me while I decorate the tree.

Also when I met up with my Mum in town last week-ish she gave me a lovely owl decoration for the tree:

It's so cute and it has a bell in it so when she gave it to me in a plastic bag I was so confused by the jangling.

Christmas Tree Angel

I've finished my lovely little Christmas Tree Angel and typed up the pattern.  She turned out exactly how I wanted her to.

Let me know if there's any problems with the pattern.

It's also available to download as a PDF here 

The finished size is about 4 inches (10 cm) tall
Notes: inc = dc 2 in same stitch, dec = dc 2 together (dc2tog)

 
Need:

• 3.0 mm or 3.5mm crochet hook.
• Double Knitting or Worsted wool in the following colours:
• White
• Skin Tone
• Hair Coloured
• Black (for eyes – or you can use toy eyes)
• Stitch Markers.
• Tapestry needle
• Stuffing.
• Black cotton for the mouth.

Pattern: (English terms used)
Head
Skin Tone WoolRow 1: 6 dc in a magic ring                               (6 stitches)
Row 2: inc around                                             (12 stitches)
Row 3: (inc, dc 1) around                                  (18 stitches)
Rows 4-6: dc around                                          (18 stitches)
Row 7: (dec, dc 1) around and stuff head.         (12 stitches)
Row 8: (dec) around until hole is closed. Slip stitch and finish off leaving long tail to sew.

Body
White Wool
Row 1: chain 6 and slip stitch into first to create a loop.
Row 2: dc 8 into the ring (8 stitches)
Row 3: (inc, dc 1) around (12 stitches)
Row 4: Dc in every stitch around (12 stitches)
Row 5: Dc 1 in every stitch around (12 stitches)
Row 6: (inc, dc 2) around (16 stitches)
Row 7: Ch 1, tr in every stitch around (16 stitches)
Row 8: (dc 2 in the same stitch, dc 3) around (20 stitches)
Row 9: Ch 1, tr in every stitch around (20 stitches)
Row 10: (dc 2 in the same stitch, dc 4) around (24 stitches)
Row 11: Ch 1, tr in every stitch around (24 stitches)
Row 12: tr 1, (ch 2, miss 1 tr, tr in next stitch) around (24 stitches)
Row 13: (tr 2 in ch space, ch 1) around slip stitch into first stitch (24 stitches)
Row 14: ch 4, ss into ch space. Finish off and sew in tail.

Arms (make 2)
Skin Colour and White wool (start with skin colour)
Row 1: 6 dc in a magic ring. (6 stitches)
Row 2-3: dc around. change to white (6 stitches)
Row 4-5: dc around. (6 stitches)
Row 6: (inc, dc 2) around. (8 stitches)
Row 7-8: dc around. (8 stitches)
Fasten off leaving tail to sew to body.


Wings (make 2)
White wool
Row 1: chain 6 and slip stitch into first to create a loop.
Row 2: dc 8 in ring (8 stitches)
Row 3: inc around. (16 stitches)
Row 4: ch 1, tr in same stitch, (ch 2, miss 1 dc, tr) twice, double treble.
Fasten off leaving tail to sew to body

Halo
White wool
Chain 20, ss into first stitch to create a loop.
 
Hair
Hair Coloured wool
Cut several pieces of wool of the same length (I cut them about 8 cm long)
Tie together and sew onto the top of the head in the centre
 
Making Up
Stuff the arms – I didn’t stuff them firmly.
Sew the halo onto the head (over the hair).
Sew the head, wings, and arms onto the body.
Sew the facial features onto the face
To make the cheeks pinkish I coloured them in with a red coloured pencil.

  

A New Project

I realised that I don't have an angel for my tree and it's not worth buying one as they're either cheap and nasty or horrendously expensive so I decided to see what Ravelry had to offer.

The angels don't have hair or a proper face so I'm making my own one.  So far I've only made the head (with hair) and started on the body but it looks pretty good.  Only got: arms, wings, and halo to do after that!  I'm writing up a pattern as I go along so hopefully it'ss be done so I can post it soon.

Also it means I get to debut my 'WIP' logo on Ravelry!