Mittens for my kitten

…with compulsory string for threading through coatsleeves. Yeaaaaah.

And braved the arctic temperatures of our living room to model my refashioned bleach-cord-skirt:

HOW SHORT AM I? I look like a friggin’ hobbit!

Anyhow, it was easy enough after the initial inspiration and guidelines from Andreae as seen on Wardrobe Refashion and HERE on her blog, With the Crickets. So thanks hugely for that – I never would have dared to have a go without reading your post.

 

Promises & Plans

Uh oh, I took the plunge.

I figure I’m getting some boots and some jeans for xmas (I know, the excitement of surprise!) which is all I really need. And 4 months is nearly up til my birthday in May when I can beg for anything I haven’t been able to make!

Still haven’t taken pics of that skirt, but here is the Moomin’s buttonhole scarf and matching hats for the boyzies:

(note: they are very stretchy so please don’t make assumptions about either my smallheaded husband or largeheaded baby… though I think the Moomin’s might be one of those things he can “grow into”…)

So. One mitten done, other on the needles… Xmas is a’comin’ swiftly!

I made 1lb of gingerbread yesterday. Stars, christmas trees, holly leaves and jingle bells. Then iced them so they looked like some remedial monkey had done it. I expect many a sweet look and “ahh, did Moomin do them?” and I’m going to nod vigorously and say “Yes, isn’t he advanced for his age, he can hold an icing pen and everything!” and people will think he got his genius from me. What a plan.

Working tomorrow. Boooo.

But I get to make truffles in the evening. Woooo.

But I have to wait overnight to actually make them. Boooo.

But I get to ‘taste’ them the next day. Wooooo.

But I’m also working that day. Boooo.

But I can make chocolate alphabets too. Woooo.

Ah I could go on…

Oh yeah, one more thing. We’re perfecting our xmas day menu – totally untraditional as we’re not hosting for anyone but ourselves and frankly I can’t be arsed to do a roast. So…

Breakfast: Pancakes and chocolate brioche (which I’ve hidden from Husby as a surprise in the freezer, haha)

Lunch: Crispy duck with hoisin sauce and pancakes (yes, there is a slight pancake theme here) followed by apple crumble and custard

Dinner: Whatever leftover scroungings we can get from Husby’s aunt who is hosting the rest of the family. Also gonna rock out on their wii rockband mwahahaha!

T’will be a good ‘un. Only 5 days to goooooooo!

 

Snow

Meet Jeff and Delores:

Either Jeff is a total runt of an elephant, or Delores is a little overweight…

I hope Jeff isn’t claustrophobic because he’s all wrapped up and waiting to be discovered by the Moomin’s little buddy Fitz in a week’s time. And Delores has a few more days of freedom before she too gets bundled up in shiny silver paper and stacked under the Moomin tree…

I seriously can’t stop making things for that boy. Must. Stop. Now. He has more than enough presents coming already.

In a rather festive twist, we had about 8 inches of snow today!

The Moomin thought it was “wow!” and “rain!” and “white!”

He was not much amused at actually being out in it, but kept running to the back door just to check it was still there…

The house is unsurprisingly like an icebox and our *borrowed* mahoosive oil filled radiator has just packed up. Ho hum, stoic face on, thermals pulled up to ears, extra blankets on bed, kettle permanently boiling, christmas biscuits cooking, snow a snowing, one and a quarter days left of workin’ and relax………………….

Yay and nay and making hay

Lovely Stuff:

-How the Moomin has really started imaginary play. Eg: brushing Mama’s hair and teeth with a tube of handcream while shoutng “buhsh!”

-The prospect of SNOOOOOOW this weekend!

-Yarn in the post.

-Fudge on the cooking list.

-4.25 days of work left before the holidays.

-Seeing my baby smile after 5 days of misery.

 

Crappy Shite:

-The aforementioned 5 days of pain, whinging and lack of sleep (for all of us) due to a bastard cold/flu/cough/ear + throat infection that the Moomin has been suffering since last Thursday. Crap on a stick. Our little junkie was sitting on the floor of our room last night, an hour away from his next dose, wailing tragically and clutching the calpol bottle. Babies shouldn’t be allowed to be in pain. It’s just not fair.

-The sly PMT that has been disguised as tiredness/fraughtness that I thought was due to the Moomin being ill and the fuck-all sleep we’ve been getting, but was finally recognised as the ugly bitch it really is when Husby daintily pointed out that it might be why I am being crazy-lady over nothing.

-The RAT that has decided our house is as good as any for spending Christmas in. Um, no little fella, you have been evicted. Please leave the Skippedydoodah house immediately. Or we will have to take steps.

 

Makin’ Malarkies:

Matching (or mismatching) hats for my boys for xmas. I started one for Husby (in secret – he moaned about being the only one not getting a homemade present – oops!) but failed to pay any kind of attention to the pattern and made the small size, which actually would now fit the Moomin quite nicely. So the Moomin’s it is. I started a matching scarf (one with a big kind of buttonhole in the middle for passing the end of the scarf through so you don’t have to garotte your small child) but ran out of yarn so hence the joy at yarn in the post… Ooh, ooh, also want to do some little mittens on a string to go through his coat, just to be old-skool. Anywho, Husby is going to get a man-size hat and I will orchestrate them to open their little knitted goodies at the same time on xmas day. Phew. What a lot of effort for some warm heads.

Also refashioned some bleach-stained lovely soft and stretchy brown corduroys (You know when you decide to do a quick bathroom clean, then proceed to splash bleach down yourself and your week-old new trousers and are so incensed that you can barely find the breath to swear? It was one of those moments.) into a short-ish skirt. No pics as it was already dark when I finished (at bloody 3pm!) but will try to strike a pose tomorrow. Mainly made it as a Christmas present to myself, as I happen to know I am getting some lush, lush boots from the Husby and have been wanting a skirt to wear with them ever since I found out. Ok, so it’s way too cold for a skirt, even with leggings, but I’ve been blazing a fashion trail by wearing it with…. THERMAL UNDERWEAR. Hells yeah.

Fanfare please!

I may eat these shiny, happy words in a day or two, but as far as I can see, I’ve FINISHED all the sewing and crafting for my homemade christmas presents… Just baking and chocolates to do, and they can wait til a few days before the big day. I even made 4 batches of biscotti too - made early so all the flavours will mature, apparently, though it was damn good straight from the oven…

FINALLY – BIL’s GF gets a present:

 

A lined wristlet from this wonderful tutorial from Javajem Knits. Very quick and easy (even if you do break a needle half way through by abusing your machine…) and will definitely be a future staple pattern to return to for presents. I put a few bangles inside as an extra bonus.

And this, for dear old zombie-killer Jack:

 

Husby had a big hand in making it (well, actually, a HUGE hand. I basically spray painted the frame and guns, and duct-taped some red jersey to the backing – he did all the sanding, sticking, lettering, positioning, perfecting jiggery pokery etc and gave himself a hunchback from crafting too long… heh heh, we’ll turn him to the dark side yet!) and is so proud – he was upset I had to wrap it. Jack’s going to go apeshit when he sees it.

And… a little buddy/sister(?) for the moomin’s monkey. Though she has also been wrapped and is taking a little trip through the royal mail channels to a little lady for christmas (shhhhhhhh)…

Tallulah (left) and Frederique (right) talking shit about me…

The girls in their final pose after a spectacular tapdance – really, you should have seen it – I’m so pissed off I didn’t catch it on video, but at least I managed to snap this still at the end…

 

Proof

Here we are, photographic evidence of my non-laziness…

Matching wallet to go with afore-made MIL’s bag (pattern here from Sew Christine):

Refashioned canvas tote into pretty bag for Husby’s aunt:

Knitted goodies: BIL’s scarf and fingerless mittens for SIL:

Spotty slippers for a friend (Note: Graaaaaaghhhhhhhh! Ahem. These were meant to be for BIL’s girlfriend but the pattern miraculously shrank the supposed size 6/7s to a measly 5 or smaller. Bah. Bollocks, to be more precise. Therefore they are now going to a daintier-footed mate instead.):

So for SIL’s girlf (why are my SILs and SILs-to-be  so ill-fated in the gift department?!) I am now thinking of making a little wristlet in either the spots or the yellow flower fabric (I am cotton-poor at the moment. Jersey in abundance but no decent cotton prints dagnammit! At least everyone will be matching….) and then popping in a few pretty bangles or something.

Gotta go – Husby is in need of a Gears of War 2 wingman… duty calls.

Get workin’, woman!

Please do not assume by my procrastinating posts below that I have been doing naff-all the last week or two…

I have, in fact, been rather productive.

What I did forget to do, however, is to charge the camera battery, which died half way through documentation so am currently unable to prove all of this, but you’ll just have to believe me. Pics will follow soon, promise.

Here’s how the homemade Christmas is coming along:

1 fabric dollhouse for the moomin (OMG what a botch job – frickin’ hilarious. I stupidly made it out of random scraps of jersey which of course didn’t stay true to their measurements due to their stretchy nature – duh – so it ain’t as perfect as it could be. But I’m pleased with its shabby little details – windows with curtains, a duck pond with tin foil underneath to make it shimmer, a stuffed tree and mismatching buttons. Ah, my son, you will learn to appreciate your mother’s botch-ability one day and be proud.)

1 pair of fingerless mittens for SIL. (FINALLY managed to make her something. It was starting to look bleak. Brilliant pattern from Tiny Happy – knit a rectangle, sew up the side, leaving a hole for the ol’ thumb. My kind of knitting. I did botch – yes, you heard it, botch – a thumb by knitting a triangle and it worked pretty well, but they looked better without so out it came. You didn’t really need to know that but it does show that I’ve been trying hard, eh?)

1 scarf for BIL. (A new one. Not the blue one. Husby stole that. Well, it was wonky. BIL’s is chunky brown and green stripes and soooooo soft.)

20 37 mini origami stars to decorate the tree with. (From this tutorial - v easy, v quick, v cute – when asked if he liked them, Husby told me he was quite tempted to eat one!?)

10 jars of chutney decorated, ribboned and labeled.

1 christmas tree, up and decorated. Baubles chased around living room by Moomin, Moomin chased around living room by Skip. Pain of death warning that tree/lights are “HOT!” and “gentle touching” utterly ignored.

1 whingey, teething child dealt with for several whingarifc days.

And still to do:

1 pair of slippers for BIL’s GF. (Cut and ready to sew, just lacking the will to live.)

 1 zombie emergency frame to spray paint and decorate for zombiaholic friend Jack. Quite looking forward to this one, though Husby is in charge of painting on the “In Case Of Zombies, Break Glass” as he has one of those steady, artist’s hands (just one – the other one is a shaky mess…).

1 more sock monkey… or maybe a sock octopus?

1 batch of marzipan balls for dear old mother. (Make a little ball of marzipan around one roasted almond, then dip in melted chocolate. Hell yeah.)

4 batches of biscotti for various recipients.

6 batches of chocolate alphabet letters. (Undecided on what to spell out: “Happy Xmas”? Each person’s name? “Eat Me”? Or, in Jack’s case, “Wanker”?)

6 batches of ginger cookies. (In xmassy star shapes and with piped white icing on top. Festive yum.)

3 batches of white chocolate circles. (Melt white chocolate, make small circular discs on some greaseproof paper, sprinkle with chopped pistachios and cranberries and whack in fridge to set. Done. Awesome.)

WRAP EVERYTHING. No, first, FIND EVERYTHING in the pit of despair that the spare room has become. If I’m not back in an hour, send for Mountain Rescue. And maybe some of those shaggy dogs who carry whiskey barrels around their necks, I could definitely go for some of Grandpa’s old cough medicine right now….

Photos tomorrow soon, promise.

Stuff and stuff

Stuff I’ve pondered recently:

Will my son develop a penchant for bestiality because I sang “Old MacDonald” to him in the bath while he played with himself?

 

Important stuff (information) I’ve developed recently:

Having no heating during winter makes you less affected by fashion. Not even necessarily in a practical sense, but out of sheer fear of your flesh being exposed to the freezing air for more than a few nanoseconds. Husby and I have developed an intricate dressing procedure in the morning which involves leaning one arm out of bed and grabbing the nearest item of clothing (be it men’s, women’s or Moomin-sized), shoving it on while still under the duvet while your partner complains about the through-draught. Repeat until you have at least 2 items of clothing on your feet, legs, torso and arms. A hat gets bonus points, but as our house is hativorous it is a slim chance you will find one so easily. I have worn the same pair of socks for 2 days because it is too cold to change them. Ergo – the cold makes you a skank.

 

Stuff you probably don’t need to know:

I had a bath yesterday. I only mention this as a blogworthy subject because of the above mentioned lack of heating/hot water. It is the 2nd bath I’ve had in 4 weeks. (I may be a skank but I have also showered during this time, just in case you were wondering.) I almost passed out because of the heat of my MIL’s bathroom coupled with the shock of hot water. It was damn frickin’ good. That is all.

Things that make me smile

           

The Moomin’s loud “hello mama!” which greeted me this morning.

           

The dream I had last night where my best friend was impressed with something I’d done, and said, “But you used to be so weak…” to which I replied, “Husby made me strong.” What a cool subconscious.

           

The satisfaction of finally sealing and painting the midlewy bathroom ceiling so I no longer feel the need to hold my breath and shield my head when I take a shower.

           

Reading Dr Seuss to the Moomin and getting fish lips when he sees a fish in a car.

           

Watching The Empire Strikes Back with Husby and the Moomin and explaining that Yoda is not a turtle, but a master jedi, and watching him get insanely excited while Luke and Vader fight at the end, and joining me in a twisted faced “Noooooooooooooo! That’s impooooossssible!”

           

Hope next weekend is just as smiley.

The good, the bad and the plain ugly

My first scarf. Husby has stolen it. It is mucho warm. It seemed inexplicably to gain a few stitches here and there so is not exactly straight, but it was a learning scarf. I will do better next time. In fact I’ve already ordered not one but 6 new skeins of wool……. oops.

Also - a few more xmas presents down:

Ffor my eldest nephew – melted up broken crayons made spanky new. Cool huh? Not a new idea by any stretch, but a good ‘un. Going to do the same with chocolate for the grown ups

Also made a bag – well, refashioned the moomin’s bookstart canvas bag by turning it inside out and sewing on what is technically a lining to the outside to make a pretty new one for Husby’s aunt.

And… a few disasters.

#1 – some neck lushes for SIL – went horribly wrong somehow and don’t lie properly and just look like rags. Husby had this tortured look on his face when I asked him if they were ok. Bad.

#2 – some ‘glittens’ (mittens with an optional finger-cover) which would have been very cool – made from an old jumper, but went awry. No pictures. I still have some pride. I’m going to try to salvage them and keep them for myself, as yes, they were also meant for the ill-fated SIL. At this rate she’s getting something shop-bought. It’s not good.

Ok, time for a success:

Blueberry volcanoes Muffins. There are no words.