What a Merry Christmas!

it's 26/12/11 here, and Christmas was lovely despite the fact that we weren't all together.

The girls, their husbands/partners/child came with Gordon and I to see my parents and grandparents for the great pressie swap - which went well for all involved, I was given some beautiful blue glass circs and 2 sets of needles from The turn of the century store, which are just lovely.

I'm going to be quick, basically because Holly is here and I just want to hang out with her and Nick before they go back to Christchurch...the reason I didn't post on friday was that Chch was hit with more earthquakes and the airport closed...luckily their flight was booked for 8.20 pm, and the airport reopened in time for their flight to come and and get them, the got to Auckland around midnight thankfully.
So, on friday I was not in any fit state to blog or think, I just wanted my girl safe.

Free friday will be back in a couple of weeks, we have visitors and holidays so I'm trying to take the pressure off myself.

And as for the winners? all of you my dears, all of you lovely people who said 'Hi" and brightened my day will get a copy of Katie Snowflake via Ravelry.

Merry christmas and Happy New Year!

Free Friday - 9 more sleeps!

As someone said on Twitter "are children torturing insomniacs when they how many more sleeps until Christmas?"

I'm not an insomniac thankfully, so I'm happy to count sleeps, and I'm sleeping well because I am doing so much at present, today I started work at 7.30, was home and 5 and made 4 jars of strawberry jam (homegrown organic strawberries) and 3 jars of salsa (not homegrown anything...yet) and dinner.

This week the contest was won by jennyR - looks like you could do with it too...with a new baby! I'll send it via Rav.

This weeks giveaway is my brand new pattern, Katie Snowflake! I love this one and I hope you will too.
Once again, just say "Hi" in the comments, I'm all thought out at the moment!

Housekeeping:

- please include your Ravelry name or your email address (can space it out to avoid spambots)- I will gift the pattern via Ravelry, if you do not belong to Rav I will email the .pdf to you- winner (s) are drawn sometime on Friday, this means "Friday afternoon/evening New Zealand time"- the winner (s) are chosen by random number generator (I use this one)- you may enter even if you have won before

New design tuesday - tuesday again so soon??

My new work/life is going well, I am enjoying my job again and feeling like I can actually make a difference to people's lives. The weekends are spent relaxing and doing weekend stuff instead of fretting about the JustJussi work that needs to be done, and then on monday/tuesday I get to do what I love.

This weekend we bought some wooden trays from one of our favourite cafes - these trays are currently being used as partitions in the cafe, which is in an old warehouse but were previously used to dry wine gums, jelly snakes and other lollies at the Cadbury factory nearby. They are awesome - no nails, screws or glue are used to make them as they are food grade, they just needed a scrub to get rid of the candy drips and they are good as new for using as serving trays.

I used one to make a driving course for Cody to play with, loaded it with different textures, roads, water, fields and forest. I'm really happy with it and he ran straight to it and played with it all evening, so we are all happy!

Here he is locked into his seat - when a small person eats strawberries in this manner they have to be restrained, lest carnage be wrought upon the soft furnishings!

I released my Katie Snowflake pattern yesterday, go and have a look at this gorgeous version by Sbub on Ravelry, the colour is just amazing and her daughter is the sweetest thing!

Aria, Evie and Cosset are all coming along well - we will have a entire wardrobe of knits for bigger kids before too long!

Free Friday - relaxing

Tonight I have a glass of Prosseco and am relaxing, not like last week.

I love the ideas you came back with, the one from Knitrageous already has my daughter busy making these cookies for the family!

I've made baubles and candy cane ponies, and I may make some button trees too, so cute!

Henry was won by #2 thats McKnittey  - I'll send the pattern via Rav.

Back to the relaxing, work was crazy (good crazy) and I'm tired, so we will go out to dinner and curl up with a movie.

Have a great weekend everybody, and this week you can win The baby basics set just by saying "Hi" in the comments!

Housekeeping:

- please include your Ravelry name or your email address (can space it out to avoid spambots)- I will gift the pattern via Ravelry, if you do not belong to Rav I will email the .pdf to you- winner (s) are drawn sometime on Friday, this means "Friday afternoon/evening New Zealand time"- the winner (s) are chosen by random number generator (I use this one)- you may enter even if you have won before

New design tuesday - a little love

I'm rushing to get this post done - our internet is dodgy again, so I'm going to have to contact the ISP, go through all of their silly steps (because no matter how often this happens, they blame our equipment first!) and then wait for them to fix it, so i'm using my iPhone as a wireless hotspot, however the 3G is dodgy too so I'm not sure how long I will have!

Cosset is finished, and I love her. I used the Skeinz chunky single, which is an absolute dream to knit, and am now knitting another in Lambs pride bulky, it would look great in Cascade Magnum, Debbie Bliss Como, or Blue Sky Alpacas bulky. 

The pattern is simple, a child who can knit in the round can knit her own sweater in a day or two. The sweater has a straight neckline, which sits nicely on the collarbones, short sleeves which are big enough to fit a long sleeved t shirt under, but not gapey and a sweet ribbon tie.

The pattern has been written, I'll probably put it up for testing on the weekend - when I am sure my internet is working.

My yarn order from Janette's arrived within a week of ordering, they have great service, and great prices on the yarns that I can't get locally.

These are for samples for a trunk show, I wanted antique-y colours which would work together as a collection, and I'm very happy with these.

That's my christmas holiday plan, sit outside on the deck under the sunshade and knit teeny baby samples!

Free Friday - rushing

I'm making this quick because I am totally knackered and will probably be asleep by 9pm!

Thanks for all your comments, noodles are slightly more divisive than I thought they would be :-) 

 Last weeks winner  is Rachel (xmasangels) I'll send the .pdf through to you on Rav.

This has been my first week at work with the changes to my hours. I enjoyed having a "proper" weekend, then 2 days of JustJussi work, and 3 days of paid work. I feel like everyone is getting more from me, which is great, I'm happy at work and happy at home.

I do feel like I am rushing a lot more though, but I think that is more indicative of the season rather than anything else, the garden needs me in the evenings, friends and family are more social than usual and then there are the presents and food prep required for Christmas, this year we have all the girls for Christmas dinner (which is so exciting) and then Gordon's brother and niece will be with us for a few days too!

I am still knitting balls, a shawl and socks, but I just saw these on Ravelry Candy Cane ponies they are awesome! 

This weeks questions is : Tell us about a quick, cute Christmas (Holiday) idea you have found online - any craft is fine, I just love making little things for my kids to put on their Christmas trees, making memories for their families in the future.

This weeks prize is Henry  - a chunky, ribbed and cabled sweater which is easy and quick to knit.

Housekeeping:

- please include your Ravelry name or your email address (can space it out to avoid spambots)- I will gift the pattern via Ravelry, if you do not belong to Rav I will email the .pdf to you- winner (s) are drawn sometime on Friday, this means "Friday afternoon/evening New Zealand time"- the winner (s) are chosen by random number generator (I use this one)- you may enter even if you have won before