culture vultures

Dulcie loves nothing better than a walk these days.  She's constantly trying to get her jacket and wellies on, saying, "No like it cool pram," which is her way of saying she wants to travel by foot.  I've given up trying to avoid the wet weather (it is pretty much a constant these days) and, besides, Dulcie really cheers people up in the rain.  She even had random people filming her great joy in the manky Glasgow puddles the other day.  No doubt she's appeared on the internet somewhere!  The crocheted monkey hat in the picture was not made by me (shocker!) but was found in a bush by my mum and dad.  They left it there for a week, but when nobody came to claim it, they took it home, washed it and passed it onto Dulcie.  She's suddenly become quite the little hat wearer as she also got a hat she's loving in amongst her Christmas pressies.

Magnus the mouse, now that he has a jumper, comes out with us now and again.  Dulcie would take him everywhere given half a chance, but it is quite stressful to be out with him as I know she'd be heartbroken if he got lost.  Here he is getting up to no good with a monkey in the Botanic Gardens.  We actually met a real boy called Magnus that day, all thanks to Magnus the mouse, social animal that he is.

Today Dulcie and I walked to the local library, hung out and read some books (and almost got in a fight with a baby when he tried to steal Dulcie's new umbrella) before going to a nearby cafe for a hot chocolate.  Dulcie LOVES hot chocolate.

Isn't this cardigan awesome?  My mum knitted it for Dulcie recently using a 1970s pattern.  She even used the leftover wool to make a wee matching Fair Isle mouse to put in the pocket.  Aw!

It's really nice to be able to wander to nice places with Dulcie and I'm glad we live in an area where we have such a lot to see right on our doorsteps.  The only major downside is that her legs quite often can't carry her all the way home again and she wants to be carried.  I do carry her for short bursts, all the while worrying I'll keel over and get an electric shock in the middle of the street.

Well, I haven't even mentioned the fact that 2013 is nearly over and 2014 is about to begin.  I'm valiantly trying to avoid a repeat of last year's negative New Year blogging, but I guess this is a hard time of year for anyone whose life is not all peachy.  So I'll just say I'm looking forward to a night of fizzy wine and far too many snacks (Dulcie allowing) and look no further ahead than that for now.  Hope you're having fun, whatever you're up to.

christmas day 2013

 Santa sneakily rearranged the whole room while we slept so that he could fit in this circus tent, which contained Dulcie's presents.  I don't think Dulcie could believe her eyes and raced around faster than the human eye could register, checking everything out.  Rudolph had even eaten the carrot she left out!  Wowsers!

 Here she is, happily investigating presents in the tent...

 ...and charging in and out with a chocolate Santa in her hand, tinsel round her neck and a swanky new hair clip on her head.

 Santa was not perturbed by the size of Dulcie's new stocking and filled it to the brim with all sorts of goodies - pyjamas, hankies, socks, hair clips, chocolate, bubble mix...

 Each item was carefully explored and considered before moving onto the next.

 Chocolate was all Dulcie claimed she wanted for Christmas, so she was happy to find that.

 And the obligatory tooter, of course.

 Perhaps Dulcie's favourite gift of all was this umbrella.

 She has wanted one for ages.

 I was immediately instructed to put on my jacket and boots so that we could take it out for a test-drive.

 All the way round the block, Dulcie exclaimed, "Mummy got her jammies on!" in a very loud voice.

 We broke off from opening presents to have Christmas lunch.  Dulcie enjoyed parts of it but was less keen to stay sitting at the table than she was last year.  We had to distract her with crayons and Peppa Pig on my mobile phone.  Don't tell Supernanny!

 After lunch there were yet more presents to open.  Because Dulcie played with each one thoroughly before moving on, the day became something of a marathon of unwrapping.  We were still going right up to bedtime.  "Come on, Dulcie!  Just one more parcel to go!  You can do it!" etc...

 Eventually the rest of us got to open our presents.  I got some lovely things that I might try to blog about soon.  You can see one of them in this picture, provided you can look past the general scene of chaos and carnage.

 And on Boxing Day there was yet more food and more presents when Dulcie's Granma and Grampa came to visit, in fine festive form, as you can see!

It was another easy Christmas for me since, as last year, my parents came and basically did everything for us.  Dulcie helped to peel some sprouts and make the trifle.  I sat on my arse and crocheted a stocking while stuffing my face.  One of these years I'll make Christmas dinner for more than two people... maybe.

some secret crochet revealed

Here's some more of the crochet I was working on in the run-up tp Christmas.  I made this fox for Dulcie (my mum knitted his scarf) using a pattern from this book, although I got my pattern free with Making magazine.  Actually, this pattern was the only reason I bought the magazine.  I'm so pleased I actually got round to making him.  He turned out to be so lovely and...

...you can see he was a hit with his recipient.  So far he's quite uniaginatively being called Foxy and has been cuddled a lot.

Another piece of pre-Christmas crochet was a commission from the big man himself!  Dulcie's favourite and most constant companion, Magnus the mouse, had asked Santa for a jumper.  Santa's crocheting elves were very busy so the job was outsourced to little old me.  I didn't have a pattern for this, just made it up as I went along, but Dulcie was beyond delighted to see that Magnus's Christmas wish had come true.  It was really good fun to design and make this little garment.  I think I might make more clothes for toys in the future.  Nothing like an utterly pointless hobby to fill those precious spare minutes and seconds, huh?

Our Christmas was lovely and Dulcie had a grand old time.  I'm hoping to be back to share some pictures tomorrow before December is over.  I also have even more Christmas crochet yet to share!  I'm crocheting so much these days that my blog can't keep up with it!

what I swapped

Happy Christmas!  I'm writing this post in the past (ooh, spooky!) but scheduled it for Christmas Day in the hope that everyone in the swap would have received their decorations by now and knowing that I probably wouldn't be stopping by to blog about anything else today.  I'll be too busy opening presents and generally stuffing my face, I hope.  (I'm resisting the urge to type something morbid here...)

The Christmas swap ended up having enough people for two groups of six or so.  Being mad keen on the whole idea, I decided to put myself into both groups, meaning I had to make 11 decorations in total, but also meaning I would receive 11 decorations in return.  Since my sister was in one group and her daughter was in the other, I decided to make a different design for each group, but crocheted them both.

For one group, I made the crocheted circles in the top picture.  Why do I always use wool so bright that it ruins every photo?  Aargh!  But the ones with bright pink probably ended up being my favourites.  The pattern I used for these was the first few rounds of Attic 24's crocheted hexagons.  They were quick and easy but I loved the way they turned out.  I sprayed them with a little bit of starch once they were finished, so hopefully they won't curl up when they are hanging on people's trees.

For the second group, I turned to Attic 24 again (if you crochet, you NEED to visit her blog - she was also responsibe for the ripple blanket pattern) and used this pattern to make litle snowflakes, again super easy and really sweet.  I'm not sure you can see it in this picture, but I used sparkly wool so they are subtly twinkly, just like real snowflakes.

I got loads of lovely decorations in return and my tree is looking even more spiffing than usual.  I'm already looking foward to opening the Christmas decoration box next year and rediscovering them all.  

I did find the responsibility of having set up the swap a little bit stressful (it was super easy to organise but I felt personally responsible when participants starting getting short of time and stressing out) but that's not to say I wouldn't do it again.  So much fun!  Thank you to everyone who made the time and effort to take part.  I hope you all enjoyed it too.

Anyway, enough rabbiting on.  Merry Christmas! :)

christmas eve... live update!

 I finished the stocking!  I've even finished it in time for Dulcie to hang it up once she comes out of the bath.  It's wonky and humongous (we'd better hope Dulcie is a very good girl every year!) but it is handmade and personalised and done!  I'm suffering from serious crochet overload and am looking forward to taking a week off from my hook before making a start on some more new baby gifts.  I'll show the other things I've been crocheting once Christmas Day is over.

 Dulcie is very pleased with her stocking, as you can see from this ravaging cuddle she was giving it.  She's been wandering around with it draped over her, wearing nothing but a nappy underneath.  Hopefully Santa will fill it with gifts tonight so she'll be able to appreciate it even more in the morning :)

And in other Christmas Eve news... Dulcie has been peeling sprouts, making trifle and decorating the Christmas cake.

Have a lovely day tomorrow, whatever you're doing.

christmas eve... live!

Christmas Eve so far has involved hanging these cardboard decorations on the chimney breast.  I got my parents to bring these with them as they had stopped using them once my sister and I got beyond a certain age and my mum wanted a more "classy" Christmas look.  I'm very happy to have them out on display in our house (I don't really do classy!) and Dulcie loves them, so I think we'll be hanging onto them.

 My mum, who even brought Christmas dinner with her, was out with the hoover, slaving away while I fannied about with the camera.  Please ignore the cat-ravaged furniture and focus on the semi-festive atmosphere...

Dulcie stole some tinsel from the tree and demonstrated a multitude of ways to wear it, which kind of undid all my mum's hoovering in an instant.  This is why I don't tend to bother.

And I am still crocheting like a woman possessed, as I probably will be for most of the day.  Can you tell what it is yet?  Yes, it's Dulcie's Christmas stocking.  The plan is that it will say "Dulcie" up the side, but at this rate she might have to make do with "Dul".  The colours are much deeper in real life - a dark violet and kind of a fluorescent coral.  I didn't have a pattern for this, which explains why it looks like a misshapen lump, but I'm hoping it turns out OK in the end.  I spent a small fortune on the wool to make it, but I hope Dulcie will use it forever more.  I'll try to post again later on to let you know whether I've managed to finish it.  I know you will be on tenterhooks, right?

OK, no time to hang, I'm getting back to my hook!

the pressure is on (for father christmas)

Here are my sister and I (I'm the short one on the left) with our Christmas stockings, I'd guess around 1984 or so?  Dropstitch superfans may remember that I used this picture before when I shared my sister's school diary entry from Christmas 1986. 

Stockings have always been my favourite thing about Christmas Day, with dinner coming a close second.   My sister and I managed to wangle stockings from Santa for much longer than seems fair or appropriate by using a cunning argument - if the thought of stopping them was ever mooted, I would object that Kerry had had stockings for more years than me and then Kerry would object that it wasn't fair for me to get one and her not to get one.  It was a watertight argument that Santa just could not wriggle out of... until my pesky sister left the country!  Now that Santa (finally) doesn't visit me any more, I have Dulcie's stocking to look forward to instead... if I manage to get it crocheted in time to hang up on Christmas Eve.  Pressure!

The following examination of the "humble" (ha!) Christmas stocking is taken from an article by Keith Waterhouse that was published in Reader's Digest, probably in the late 1970s, I would think.  My dad sent my sister and I a scanned copy of it a wee while back.  As children, our stockings did follow this line of thinking, especially the strict guidelines re the "heel-and-toe department"...  I thought it was worth sharing.  Enjoy!

"What the true Christmas stocking is, we will now go into detail.  We are dealing with magic here, and must be meticulous about our specifications.

"The true Christmas stocking is not a short sock, or a pair of tights, or a dumping ground for ballpoint pens.  Nor, for that matter, is it a shop-bought plastic mesh containing nothing but munch bars.  It must be knee-length, constructed of wool, and filled to the brim with good things.  It has got to be nothing less than a cornucopia of the five senses.

"First, it must satisfy the sense of touch by having many bumps and knobbly bits that may be felt in the dark by small fingers.  Then it must satisfy the sense of sight by containing shiny things in bright colours that will dance and glitter by torchlight.

"It must satisfy the sense of hearing by emitting a squeaking noise when squeezed and a rattling noise when shaken.  It must satisfy the sense of taste by containing, in the heel-and-toe department, a red apple, an orange wrapped in silver paper, a small quantity of nuts and a bag of chocolate pennies.  These items are essential.  Without them you have not got an authentic Christmas stocking, only a cylindrical parcel.

"Near the top of the stocking there should be other rations which the junior treasure-hunter may nibble while the exploration gets under way.  They may consist of sugar mice, gingerbread men or marzipan pigs, but they may not consist of munch bars.

"Now we will deal with the sense of smell.  This is very important, for the ideal stocking must have the smell of Christmas.  This, as I’m sure you remember from your own childhood, is a heady bouquet compounded of the scent of orange peel, marzipan and chocolate mingling with the pungent odour of painted tin.

"There are still plenty of corner shops that sell tin toys – clockwork cats that scurry across the lino, tin Catherine wheels that give out a rainbow of sparks, tin frogs that make a loud clicking noise when pressed between the fingers.  If you cannot get tin, get wood; there is still nothing wrong with an old-fashioned yo-yo.  But plastic toys, which have no aroma to speak of, have no business in a Christmas stocking.  To earn its place in that woolly cave of delights a toy must be a chunky, solid object that feels satisfactorily heavy when handled, and which smells new and exciting when sniffed at.

"A boy, of course, should have a toy trumpet or a mouth organ, a girl should have a small painted doll, and both must have a new torch by which to examine their booty.  There will still be plenty of room for completely useless fripperies such as paper fans, Chinese lanterns and cardboard snowmen.

"You may think that your children are too old or too sophisticated for such simple joys.  I promise you that they are not.  There is nothing on Earth to compare with the taste of a sugar mouse eaten at dawn on Christmas morning, and no electric train set or new bicycle will quite match the pleasure of a Christmas stocking that has been filled with thought and care.

"What you are giving, you see, is love.  And it is the taste, the sight, the feel, the smell and the sounds of love that will always be found in the perfect Christmas stocking."