Xmas goodies, slouching clouds etc...

Before I get embarassingly out of step with real time (and before I forget, again) here are the crafting goodies that came from under the tree for me...(all but one from my lovely sister)

plus, some very pretty stitch markers, one of which you can see in this little WIP I started up last night...(solo knitting in a pub while waiting for a friend - wasn't I brave though?!)


want to look closer?


I got a red one too. And a blue one. Believe it or not there was a yellow in there as well. Very pleased I am with those.

The WIP is a Le Slouch which I am trying in Rowan Pure Wool Aran in a pretty grey they call cloud. I'm calling it "cloud slouching"...

Recent Project365's


the two of the tree are kind of cheating as I took them on the same day, just before I went and bought the cloud yarn, looking at them now it's pretty obvious that tree totally influenced my choice of colour...

Happy 2008.......

December 24th, La Saleve, France

we drove up through the dense clouds to do some sledding in glorious sunshine at the top

December 25th, Geneva, Switzerland

Ms. Reva got stuck into the crafting gift while still in her pyjamas...

















I was amazed by the beautiful peacock she drew...



Meanwhile, the grown ups concentrated on fresh oysters

















and prawn cocktail, noughties style...









My sister loved the Hot Rice and Lavender Bag I made for her... (I could try to do a tutorial on this if anyone is interested, I found a great way of sorting out a washable outer)

December 26th, Lac Divonne, France

Look what we found when we went for a restorative walk on Boxing Day...


The Reva Girl and I tend to count the nests we can see walking through the park from school, they are always high in the trees so imagine our delight when we spotted one we could get close enough to inspect properly. I love the colours in this photo...

I don't have photos of us falling about in the alpine snow over New Year, as I knew enough about my lack of skiing ability to refuse to take my good camera up the slopes, suffice it to say we had a lot of fun and sustained a respectable number of bruises but no broken bones...Ms. Reva earned herself the nickname "Snow-Bot" as she zoomed about...

now, some long overdue thank yous...

to Shirley for the beautiful crocheted brooch - don't know quite how she knew it would go so perfectly with my festive cardi...


and to Katy for the lovely collection of linens. Unfortunately due to delays with Royal Mail just before Christmas they arrived too late for the project I had in mind, but will be put to good use soon I hope...


Hope you all had lovely holidays and are ready to face into 2008 with spirits renewed...

critters of the tree and a winning streak...

more tree critters

Eva Reva designed the heart one herself and chose all the fixings, cool huh? The birdie was a joint effort with me indulging my rampant love of gingham (which really should be contained before I turn into Doris Day) and her indulging her overwhelming love of the colour yellow, looks more like a spring chick than an Xmas decoration thanks to our combined passions but there ya go...

meanwhile, I hear from my yarn junkie friend Shirley that the name I suggested for her etsy shop has been chosen and I am in line to receive a prize. Woo Hoo! Glad to be of assistance Shirley, and good luck with the shop when it opens! (not sure this is public news as I don't see it on her blog yet so I'm not revealing the name here)

I am obviously on a winning streak having come 19th (19th?!) in Eva's school raffle ...better go and find an online poker game to capitalise on this, pronto...

some kind of lonely... a xmas tree...

well, as predicted, on Monday night I did sew my fingers together...but I also managed this little tree...


which is in fact a bag...


I had been planning to do lots of them for a little "craft'n'movie" shindig Ms. E Reva is having with some schoolfriends on Saturday (I thought it would be nice for each child to take their crafty bits'n'pieces home in one) but I am rapidly running out of time so I guess it'll have to stay lonely. I'll have to think of someone who might appreciate such a thing in the singular...

for completeness I feel I must show a rough of the forest it was once a part of...



this was the most fun I've had on a Monday night in a loooooong time!

Just a shame I started with my least favourite fabric combo as it was a bit of a trial run and I didn't want to waste one of my favs, you know how that is...

Maybe I will have to do another after all...