:: The Collie and what I hope will be Mr GT’s latest dog walking hat ::

:: No one (human) was willing to sit still long enough for me to take a snap of it on their heads, and it wasn’t a very flattering fit for the dogs! ::

:: The Tallest inspired embroidery is also finished, but I hope to share that with you tomorrow if I can snatch some time and some daylight, today has been taken up with being one of the employed, and whilst the day was a relatively calm one, I don’t think I would have gotten away with it! ::

:: It’s ridiculously late (well it is when you are the mother to two small children!) and I’ve just finished a marathon session in the kitchen to make sure that we have mince pies and tree biscuits aplenty, as I was duly informed upon my arrival home that I would be out delivering wood tomorrow, so fat chance of achieving any of the goals I had set myself (didn’t anyone tell him it’s Christmas in 3 days?!) So whilst I am thinking that I’m going to regret this late one tomorrow – at least I know that I can get the wrapping finished tomorrow and the next day without too many interruptions ::

:: So to finish here’s a gratuitous photograph of the hounds behaving exactly in the manner that I feel like right now……..

time to vegetate me thinks…..goodnight all….GT xxxxx ::

:: Unlike so very many of my Easterly compardres these past two days have seen very little snow on it’s Eastern edge, and life here at GT Towers has continued on its merry path ::

:: You will be pleased to hear that I have finished my beloved’s Cairn hat and when I can convince one of the Smalls to keep it on long enough for me to snap it then I will manage to share it with you all at long last ::

:: The Tallest finished Nursery for the Christmas break today and came home clutching a budging bag of Nursery Crafted goodies, a calendar, her own nativity scene, a special card for Mummy and Daddy no less, but we also appear to be sporting an extra Angel (made by a wee girl that shares the Tallest’s name no less) and also someone else’s Nativity Star – are there many other mothers like me who are now worrying that these things get given to their respective owners, or am I just one of those people who place ‘trivial’ importance on the things that my offspring produce? That I can ‘tell’ that something was not made by my four year olds hands? We will see ::

:: I must confess to feeling a bit below par just of the moment, so I’m going to love you and leave you for the now, and hopefully after an early night (read film on the laptop and embroidery in bed!) I’ll feel well rested and ready to face the weekend, if all things go according to plan I should have plenty of  bits to share with you on Monday (even if I am off to work !) ::

:: A peaceful evening to you all GT :: xxxxx

:: Due to an unexpected day off from my usual work, I’m nursing a poorly Smallest whilst the Tallest has fun and frolics with her Nursery chums, I ended up getting a batch of tree biscuits baked without the usual distractions of a 4 year old to deal with :: And not wanting these to be entirely ‘mama-made’ they were used as the basis for our before bed ‘activity’ ::

:: As you can see from the tray we started off with six biscuits to decorate, but one unexpectedly got ‘broken’ and had to be eaten! :: Accidentally on purpose is my favourite sort – they always taste SO much nicer don’t you think? :: The recipe I used is my Basic Gluten Free Biscuit Recipe which make a really nice crunchy biscuit, but to keep things seasonal I added some ground ginger and mixed spice mmmmm Christmassy ::

:: Here are three of the beauties in close up :: We kept things simple, as offering too much choice just before bedtime usually results in disaster! :: She’s so happy with them that she’d like to give some to her Nursery teachers :: Enter Mummy for a bit of late night appropriate packaging retrieval ::

:: Work tomorrow so unless I am feeling particularly perky I’ll drop you folks a line on Friday, when hopefully I should have finished that danged hat :: Too many distractions (read work and children!) and not enough time (read FAR too easily distracted!) ::

:: By the by, Thanks Friends for a lovely evening, good company; good conversation and a warm fire to do it besides….we really should do it far more often than we do! ::

:: Night All xxxxx ::

:: Just a terrible photo of the latest Work in Progress. Mr GT’s Christmas hat :: This is the  Cairn by the lovely Ysolda. :: and while I am the first to admit I’ve made a few mistakes, its a lovely pattern to knit, and is well worth the £3 the pattern cost to download :: When I get some of these circular needles (not the big expensive sets mind!) I think that the hats will be a staple gift for friends and family in my household ::

:: I think that I need to ask Father Christmas for a new camera :: things for mine are going from bad to worse, even the outer casing is cracked! So ever diligent family members who read this blog start leaving your hints, for the man who doesn’t! ::

:: Tallest has been doing some fabulous drawing of late, all based around that fat jolly man and his seasonal helpers, I’m hoping to use her drawings as inspiration for some gifts for her and her wee sister :: I’ll keep you posted :: Although I’m sure that once again I’m leaving blinding flashes of inspiration a little too late in the day for Christmas presents ::

:: And last but not least Christmas Cards ::

:: Which are undergoing a bit of flattening before being sent, these were quick to do, but I think that next year I’ll opt for something a little simpler (like a lino print!) ::

:: So there you go, a little peek into the sunshine (of which there has been very little weather wise of late) that makes me so glad that I’m here and sharing it all with my wonderful family, here’s hoping that your preparations for Christmas / Yule / Solstice are going well, and are a bit more forward in the construction stage :: My New Years Resolution will be some early nights I think ::

:: That last thought about late nights reminds me of one little conversation I had with a Nanny picking her daughter up from Nursery at the same time as me it goes – ::

(Walking out of the doors)

Her :: (To the Tallest) Are all those lovely bright hats you keep wearing made by your Mummy?

Me :: (After the Tallest’s only response was a nod of the head) I’m afraid so…

Her :: Well, they’re lovely, I’ve got the needles, and the patterns, and the wool, but I just don’t have the time…

Me :: Strictly speaking I don’t either but I keep finding myself sitting up finishing things until God knows what time…you know how it is?!

Her :: OH NO! I don’t think I need to make anything that badly, I like my sleep too much!

Me :: (thinking so do I!)

:: And it set me on a trail of thought that that’s the difference between those who make and those who don’t, there’s a need there, a compulsion to make, which means that you DO do things like sit up to unGodly hours trying to get things completed for those that surround you :: Silly really but OH so true ::

GT xxxxx

:: After a couple of interesting days at work, it’s time to return to the rest of the weekend routine, so while MrGT is snoozing away on the sofa, I thought I would share some images of the last couple of days with you :: Firstly the ‘undressing’ of the Christmas Tree, from a local church, which was adorned with fabulously spangly things produced by the artists that I work with ::

:: And also the paper chains that criss cross the studio (just slightly) above everybody’s heads, made from the yearly accumulation of unfinished or unwanted work ::

:: And lastly the beautiful Christmas Cards that my eldest daughter has made to give out to her friends :: I am constantly amazed by her ability to create things : A little silly I know given my career path! But all the same : A four year old with sponge shapes, glitter and glue just before bedtime and after a long day could have spelled abject disaster ::

:: With a little direction, and a sprinkling of encouragement, she managed to maintain attention long enough to make sixteen of these little beauties, and then she dully fell asleep with glitter still in her hair  - ahhhhh ::

:: Having just talked the little girl up, I just found her bedraggled form on the stairs landing :: Utterly distraught! :: So there am I thinking stomach upset, virus, cold, nightmares and Lord knows what it turns out that she just needed the loo, and as a girl who is still yet to be dry at night, she was dumbfounded that something as trivial as needing a wee has roused her from her slumber! Incidentally not roused her that much as she fell off the toilet after falling asleep! :: Is this the face of things to come – can I finally kiss the bedtime weepants goodbye? Okay not kiss, but you know what I mean! ::

:: I will take her timely awakening as a cue to leave the world of blog behind, and make my own way up the wooden hill to Bedfordshire :: maybe I might get a few rounds of MrGT’s Christmas hat knitted… So goodnight all, sweet dreams, and make sure that you go to the loo before you fall asleep or you too might take a tumble off the porcelain *hee hee* :: xxxxx

:: As previously mentioned time has been rather on the scarce side of late, so I have been erring on the side of short and sweet projects, and in my mind you can’t get shorter or sweeter than this ::

:: The pattern is taken from this delectable book, which I have mentioned before now ::

:: I’ve also been indulging in some flower making, and when enough have been made then, they will inevitably be backed onto some felt and turned into brooches for friends presents :: They are lovely as embellishments, but I always find that if I go to add them onto my work they are always snipped off as I just find it all a bit too much for my tastes :: but as objects in themselves they are just divine ::

I’ve finally embarked on the making of this years Christmas Cards, and if any of them are ever to make their way across the other side of the globe, I had better buck my ideas up and get them finished…there’ll be more on that glittery festive little beauty later….I’ll share them with you when I’m good and ready thANKyou! The sheer simplicity of our cards this year almost makes me want to laugh out loud, and for those of you who know me – they’re not Christmas Trees or Stars either, which are two festive motifs that I have gotten rather a reputation for – hee hee ::

: The Tallest has arrived home from Nursery with a list of names, and the decision has been made that if she wants to send them she can make them in true Growing Things tradition, she’s got an eye for creating things, but when something is as repetitive as making cards can be we are after something that is simple but effective and can be done in a jiffy so that she doesn’t get bored :: Time for the potato printing to be outed me thinks! :: A weekend project for her so that she can give them out at the beginning of her last week of the term ::

:: It’s been a beautiful day today, the air has been crisp and dry, the sun low and dazzling, and in amongst all those things that have been troubling our little family of late today saw my much lax of late thankfulness of all the beauty around me return :: The winter sun has managed to rejuvenate and restore my enjoyment of my (formerly!) simple life and all the incidental things that make it my own ::

:: So on that strangely philosophical note, adieu, see you anon, and here’s hoping that the next two days (*work*) are as interesting and inspiring as the last two have been ::

GT xxxxx

Following a brief interlude, transmission should return as usual, several trips to several hospital of late has put my spare time at a premium and the blog has had to take a back seat….

::So before it all gets torn apart I thought that I would share our very very simple advent with you this year::

:: So suddenly I’ve become acutely aware that the contents of my bookshelves is available for all and sundry to peruse, I don’t think that there’s anything that I’m too worried about in there! ::

Very simply, just manilla envelopes, with star tissue paper glued on :: and self adhesive stars to brighten it up a bit :: and some stamped numbers ::

:: Just peg them onto some ribbon et Voila! :: As you can see there is a larger envelope behind them all containing Christmas Eve’s surprise :: A DVD of Raymond Briggs The Snowman, of which the Tallest has the vinyl story which she love love loves :: but she’s never seen the film :: I’m so excited! :: oh and there’s a packet of buttons and a fudge for the Tallest and Smallest in that order to enjoy whilst we all watch it ::  YUM ::

Hope your evening is as peaceful as mine is turning out to be…xxxxx

That’s just the way it goes I suppose! :: You get some half decent weather a bit of late Autumn sunshine, and then they both go down with rotten stinking colds and the day is spent indoors:: Too ill to be playing outside but not quite poorly to not want to do something:: but there you go thats their prerogative and the Tallest is just old enough to know how to feel sorry for herself ::

So for her benefit as well as yours *grin*, her is a little picture of a couple of her lovely creations with the wonderful girl herself too. definitely time for a new camera I think, as I just can’t get it to focus on what I want:: What do they say about a bad workmen blaming their tools?

I hope your day is not as ‘runny’ as mine is :: yuck ::

::Need I say more!??::

I thought that I ought to offer up something by way of an explanation what I have been doing with my spare time of late:: The allotment has been rather neglected, as with the amount of rain that has fallen – the ground is saturated and anything more than going to pull some leeks and parsnips creates a mudslide. When things dry out a little it will be all hands to get as much of the ground tidy before the really cold weather sets in and makes the earth unworkable::

So in the mean time in between all the usual stuff that a parent to two small children fills their day with I have also been busy with the crochet hook. Which is currently my favourite over my usual knitting as I find it a bit more gratifying as things seem to work up so much quicker::

My very tiny local library has a fantastic selection of books, of which 5 out of the craft section are blessing my desk area, and rather than the usual::  look at them – find them inspiring – then realise they’re overdue and go back to the library before there’s any hideous fines to pay! I have actually making something from (one of!) them. Okay so they work up in two minutes, but I have got to make twenty eight of them:: and I’m beginning to think that the orange was a mistake: so that’s another six to remake, although on the plus side they do make rather good play money so the Tallest informs me!

They have a very tactile quality about them: almost stuffed. They are from the book Beautiful hand – stitched jewellery by Emi Iwakiri not everything in there is to my tastes, but there are a few things that really take my fancy.

Also I am no exception to a current trend in blog world to the phenomena that is the crocheted granny star, and I am in the process of using up my less desirable yarns in a garland to hang on the high shelf in my bedroom, as when they are way up there the synthetic mix is not too noticeable!

I’m using allsorts to make these up, wool, synthetic yarns and cottons, so they’re not working up in a uniform size:: but that’s not too much of a worry for me: I’m just glad to have found a project perfectly designed for all those yarn pieces that just aren’t big enough for anything else::

A satisfying stack indeed! Several more are to be made before they can be attached onto a long chain, but I’ve made eight so far, and looking at where I want to hang them I’ll only need 2-4 more::

I’m also working on a tweedy looking granny cushion cover, but because the colours are less vibrant than the other pieces I couldn’t get a decent picture so that’ll have to wait::

Enjoy your day, and if like the GrowingThings Gang, you’ll be braving the elements in mac and wellies have some fabulous fun splashing in the puddles! xxxx