Christmas Pressies - I love books!

I hope everyone had a good Christmas. We had a lovely Christmas with family and friends. My daughter loves watching Wallace and Gromit which is always on the television during the Christmas holidays. While she watching 'A Close Shave' she pointed out that Gromit knits just like Mummy, which made everyone laugh. Hee! Hee! Hee!

Ahhh...my friends and family know we so well. I love books especially knitting, sewing, crafting and baking. So I'm so grateful to have received these wonderful books for Christmas. I love you guys/gals....thanks!

Pretty Knits: A beautiful knitting book by the owner of Loop:

One Day Summer Clothes: I might attempt to sew some summer clothes next year

Nigella Christmas: Arr the Goddess...I enjoyed the programme and now I have the book...yay!

Cakes and Desserts: This is from Santa at work (secret Santa)

My husband got these pressies for Christmas:

Chinese Cooking made Easy: He has been watching and learning...now he has the book

Teapot and tea cup plus cozy:

Have a Great New Year everyone!

The Sales are on!

Just to let everyone, who lives in the UK, know that John Lewis is having their post Christmas Sales (starts 27 December 2008 and ends 18 January 2009). There is a good range of Rowan and Debbie Bliss yarns for sale at up to 50% off their original prices. I have never knitted with Debbie Bliss yarns and wanted to buy some, but they kept on disappering. I only had half an hour to choose my yarn and a budget of £10 which I went over by £1. So this is what I bought for £11; Rowan Pure Wool, Rowan Little Big Wool and Rowan Cashsoft. Not bad eh...I'm thinking about using these yarn to make some accessories for the rascal and her friends, but lets see.

I didn't get a chance to see the fabric section, but I'm wondering whether they have any Amy Butler fabric in the Sale? I doubt it, but I might check next time I go there.

Times flies when you are having fun...Merry Christmas Everyone!

Gosh, I can not believe that it will be Christmas this week (in fact in 2.5 days)!! What a year it has been! I've met some wonderful fellow bloggers and learnt so much (personally and craftwise). I'm so glad that I have started knitting and sewing again. The baking has been fun too.

I'm so glad that my rascal has recovered from her flu, now we can have a nice, relaxing and stress free Christmas break. I'm still at work at the moment, I finish for the year on the 23. This is what I have planned for the Christmas break:

1. Christmas Eve will be spent at my Inlaws as it is my Father In Law's birthday
2. Christmas Day will be at my Mums for a Christmas Roast
3. My hubby wants to spend Boxing Day at the 'Sales' ...I wonder whether John Lewis will start their yarn sale early this year?
4. The other days will be spent relaxing with friends and family. I need to do my Tax Return, but it depends on whehter I have the time (or whether I feel like it.....I could also do it in January?). If I get a quiet moment, I'd like to work on my knitting projects (mainly hubby's never ending scarf and the rascal's cardigan)..but lets see.

I hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year. I'm planning a short series of blog post on how to save money whilst crafting in the new year. So I will see you then...Happy Holidays!

Back to My Knitting and Something Old

Out of all the crafts I have say that knitting is one of my favourite, its so relaxing and you can easily knit and/or purl all your stress away stitch by stitch. As the weather is getting colder and Christmas is coming, things at home has become a bit stressful, so I'm glad I have my knitting to keep me sane.

I have also started using a tissue cozy I knitted last year and which I have forgot to blog about...oh gosh how did that happen?? The pattern can be found here, the every talented lady behind Zakka Life. I made some small adjustments to the length and added a pink gingham lining. It has been lying in my craft draw for while, but I now use it to protect my mobile phone. At a recent craft fair (it was a private corporate one, so I can't give the name of the company) a stall holder saw the cozy and wanted a bright pink one, so I gave her the pattern.

My daughter's cardigan is going well so far....touch wood. Here is a photo of the progress (she has dark hair, her head is there....Hee! Hee!):

I'm Back from my Baking & Chocolate Adventures

Wow....what an adventure! We had such a great day and we are so glad that our cakes and chocolates were so well received. To read more, refer to the my other blog. After the fair, I just slept and slept....I was completely knacked. The Wemake Fair was great, there were so many crafty gifts to buy, but I was so busy with the cake stand that I didn't have time to buy anything. Luckily my lovely husband got me a free goodie bag with lots of business cards to check out and few handmade goodies. I really like the crochet face cloth, it is so nice to feel.

After the fair, I had to tend to my 'To Do' list which was getting a bit out of hand, and this explains why it has taken me so long to start blogging again. Most of them includes things that I promised my daughter such as getting the Christmas decorations, finding a T shirt for her school play, getting her Advent Calender (I think I will make one next year which is re-useable), sorting out her school trip to London Zoo, writing letters to Santa (and members of the family), writing cards to her friends...etc...

I'm going to slowly ease myself back into my work in progress, mainly my daugther's cardigan which I have finished the back and pockets. Hopefully my husband's scarf will be finished by next winter...Hee! Hee!

Now I'm going to catch up with all the lovely blogs which I have missed over the past few weeks....