Tis' the season

I can now share the pictures of the quilt I made for Alexander and Kristin,

I think they liked it very much.....

Christmas has been wonderful, and now this is my favourite week of the year...the week between Christmas and New Year.

Everyone is on holiday, relaxed and happy. Books are being read, children are being read to, there is a lot of lazing about and laughing, and there seems to be a great deal of chocolate to consume........ well, in our house anyway.

I hope you are all enjoying the season and making merry.

Gifts for Christmas

These precious red flowers on the minty green foliage turn into beautiful green gems of feijoa fruit in May next year. I wandered along our trees this afternoon admiring their Christmassy splendour. They remind me so much of our traditional native Christmas tree, the Pohutakawa.

Santa visited a little early for Eve this year...a tiny motorcycle to match her Mum and Dad's cycles. Her granddad can barely keep up with her, and notice the dogs are keeping a safe distance !

I think of Leo as an early Christmas present too. His smiles are little gifts, each one.

Loved ones coming home for Christmas. Here are Alexander and Kristin newly arrived from the North Island becoming acquainted with their nephew.

A big thank you to all of you out there who read this blog. This year has gone by so fast that it is hard to believe that once again we are on the brink of another year.

My wish is for you all to have a very blessed Christmas sharing lots of joy and love around with family and friends, and I hope you all have a wonderful restful time filled with being and doing everything you enjoy the most. !

Handspun Patchwork

Sorting out the spare bedroom the other day...trying to get ready for family staying, and I found this blanket that only needed another night or two of work spent on it.

So I finished knitting one of the sides and then crocheted a border on it's opposite edge.

I am really happy with the way it finished up. I started knitting scraps of my hand dyed and handspun wool several years ago and then it was put away for a day when I could decide on the finished size.

If you are a person who loves spinning and knitting, or even if you just enjoy the look and feel of handspun wool then here is a site that you must visit. Spin Off magazine is a mag. that I have enjoyed now for a decade or more arriving in my letterbox, or at my local bookshop. Just this month the editors are creating a new digital emag. called Spinknit and it is worth a look.

Interweave Press are putting out several knitting EBooks and they are great, especially when you want to print out a pattern. No squashing down of my favorite book's pages as I try to cram it under the lid of my scanner.

I still love having the physical book to hold in my hands, but the kindle version is a lot of fun too, and some of the EBooks are free !

Finishing off and starting something new

I finished knitting a cardigan this week.

I can't remember when I first cast on, but it was probably earlier in the year some time. It's strange I didn't blog about it .

It is a Jo Sharp pattern...fitted cardigan from Issue 3, and using her alpaca kid lustre which is a combination of alpaca, mohair and merino.......soft and super cosy.

I then had no guilt when I cast on for the Tea Leaves Cardigan...a madelinetosh design and knitted on a circular from the top down.

Yeah, I know I probably have 'too many to count' other projects lying around on knitting needles in different bags on many different doorhandles...BUT

I just needed to right there and then ...OK !!

Anyway it IS getting a little stressy now we are into December and Christmas plans and family arrangements and lots of dates where I am to be involved with my flute and violin and Christmas carols are happening, whether I am ready or not. So I definitely needed to start something new with some gorgeous hand dyed yarn...hmmmm...bliss.

Almost

Another evening of sewing should do it.

I have almost finished sewing the binding on to this quilt. I have used Japanese cottons and silks and quilted long, uneven parallel lines using a long stitch length and Gutermanns quilting thread.

When I previously posted about this quilt, I had just started to quilt using a crochet cotton in my machine, well after a few lines of stitching, I wasn't happy with the tension and ripped it out to start again.

I will show a photo of the whole quilt after Christmas !