The merriest of Christmas wishes to everyone!! xox

PS: It’s only five more days ’til my birthday!

When I was growing up, my mum made my brothers and I handmade Christmas stockings (we still use them at my parents’ house to this day). Mine is a lovely needlepoint design, and my brothers have cross-stitched and felt applique ones.

Last year, Himself and I decided against stockings, and then he proceeded to fill mine with treats which made me feel bad for not doing his (we promised!!!). Anyways, the ones we had last year were cheap, plain ones that function well but leave much to be desired design-wise. And of course, I love pretty things.

This year I was inspired by many crafty projects I’ve seen online, and I decided to remedy the sad stocking situation. I don’t have (or know how to use) a sewing machine, but I can stitch things together by hand. So I didn’t start from scratch; I bought two $1 felt stockings from Dollarama (woo, I love saving money!) which already had some appliqued designs sewn on.

I was thinking of getting plain felt ones and sewing my own designs on, but of course this year Dollarama was all about the already-decorated stockings and the only plain ones had furry trim and other frightening details. So yeah, I bought two stockings, making sure they had blank spots up at the opening so I could embroider our names on them.

Oh my goodness, I forgot how much fun embroidery thread is! I used to make friendship bracelets, and worry dolls, and even do some cross-stitch when I was a kid, but I haven’t bought embroidery thread in ages! Wal-Mart was selling a package of 36 skeins (with a few doubles of certain colours) for around $5, so I got the package yesterday and here’s what’s happened today:

I worked freehand, and used what I think is called back-stitch, which allows you to keep your stitches pretty well in line. For anyone interested, the back of the stitches look like this:

I’m absurdly pleased with them so far, but I do plan on adding more embroidery around the felt design areas, like maybe some stars or other little things. Just to make them more personal.

PS: You’ll notice that this year, I won’t be fooled– his stocking already has goodies inside! Ha!

Having worked retail more recently than I care to remember, I’ve never been one to put up decorations and start listening to Christmas carols in November or (horrors) even October. I got enough of that force-fed to me at the mall. Even now, retail-job-free, I cringe when I hear carols playing November 1st.

Nevertheless, today I have begun to slowly accept the holidays into our apartment.

I wrote and addressed all my Christmas cards…

… and received my first couple in the mail!

I put out a few holiday things:

(incidentally the second one isn’t meant to be an ad for Smarties, haha… it’s just they were the only treat left from a huge box of halloween candy given to us.)

I even started wrapping some gifts, and I’m in love with my polka-dot themed wrapping paper!

I love polka-dots, and they don’t seem too overly Christmassy, so I can use any leftover paper for other gifts too.

We haven’t put up a tree yet, for fear of what the kitten might do to it. She wasn’t around last Christmas, and I’ve got a feeling she’ll make things interesting this year.

It hasn’t snowed enough yet for the snow to stay on the ground, but I’m sure it’s on its way. This evening Himself and I are off to the mall (not the teensy local one, an actual regular-sized mall) to see if we can get some gift-shopping done. I know a lot of people have trouble shopping during the holidays due to the crowds, but I actually kind of like seeing a bustling crowd, as long as I’m not getting shoved by some crazy person who’s bee-lining right at me.

I do love all the hot holiday drinks that places are serving now, like gingerbread and peppermint flavoured lattes… mmm. One perk of Christmas shopping is treating yourself and your love to a nice piping hot drink, as a reward for doing so well. Shh– don’t tell him, though.

PS: The Prisoner ended badly. So badly. Apparently there was a 5th unpredicted way to disappoint me with the final episode, which they did. After it was over, I actually said: “I guess I wouldn’t have minded the gorilla.”

December should be all about:

• piping hot mugs of coffee or tea (current favourites being caramel flavoured coffee & irish breakfast, green, or green & black teas)
• curling up in bed or on the couch with cosy magazines and dense novels (awaiting the December issue of Country Living UK, and re-reading Wives & Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell)
• snuggling with a kitty cat (or a boy… or both)
• lots and lots of knitting and crochet

My Rowan blanket is done: the perfect start to December!

It is super-snuggly, really. The yarn is so springy and warm. The kitten seems to especially love it; can cats tell natural fiber from synthetic?

My favourite square is this one:

And I managed to squeeze out six rows of edging…

There’s a teensy bit of yarn left over for something small… not sure what, yet.

Tonight we’re finishing up the last episode of the (new, remake/reinterpretation of) The Prisoner. I love the original series, and even forgive it for its inconclusive, random ending (hey- randomness can be good). Patrick McGoohan IS The Prisoner, and Portmeiron IS the Village (*blush*… I know geeky amounts of Prisoner facts). So anyways, Himself and I decided it would be worth watching this new one, if only to compare it to the original.

Well, it’s turned out to be pretty bad (despite Ian McKellen (!!) being Number 2), and I can’t stop saying “That’s Not Supposed To Look Like/Sound Like/Be Like That!”… and yet, I have to see the end. Because the original series never told me (or anyone), straight up, what the hell the point was of the whole thing, I have this tiny tiny hope that the new miniseries might answer it.

I’m at least hoping I won’t be totally confused at the end of it. I would be the most disappointed if it ended either

1. with a cliff-hanger (can’t stand loose ends!)
2. with it all being a dream (… “and then he woke up… ‘What a strange dream!’ he thought,” and so ends millions of crappy stories that six year olds could have written)
3. with a gorilla mask (because that’s how the first one ended  and, really, don’t we fans deserve more?), or
4. with aliens somehow involved. Please please keep the aliens out of this one, thanks.

I can’t actually conceptualize what would be a satisfactory ending, but I keep my hopes up…

PS: Oh, and I just remembered. They even changed the font in the Village. I mean, really.

My Rowan blanket is progressing.

I decided that 5 x 5 squares makes a nice lap-blanket size (if that’s what you call a blanket that will never be full-sized due to lack of yarn finances!) and I’m going to granny around some border rows to sort of edge the whole thing.

I’m on the second edge row now, which is grey. I can’t wait to snuggle under this when it’s all finished. I’ve said it before, but those blankets (cover your ears, dear blankets) weren’t Rowan. This one’s freaking amazing for softness.

Tomorrow’s the first day of December, which means: 29 days until my birthday! Oh, and a little something called Christmas might be coming soon as well. Serious excitement and anticipation starts in December for me, because whereas most people with non-Decemberish birthdays have had their celebration fix throughout the year, all of my celebrating sort of comes at once, in a big burst of cake and family and friends. Ah, cake.

We haven’t had any snow yet, not that stayed on the ground anyways. I wouldn’t mind a mild winter, as long as it doesn’t mean winter lasts until May or anything. Because, really.

At work I’ve been proofreading Christmas card orders like no tomorrow… they’re not nearly as entertaining as wedding invitations (“Sorry, we are ‘knot’ able to make it! We’re all tied up!”), as they’ve usually only got one line of type (Season’s Greetings! From Your Dentist!) and a standard (read: boring) verse. They’ve also put up the Work Christmas Tree in the lunchroom, which is still completely bare and has shed plastic needles all over the table I eat at.

Hoping December will live up to the anticipation!

Thanks for the get-well wishes– it took several days to get rid of whatever was bothering me, but I am feeling my best once again. (Helping greatly is the upcoming weekend off- yay!)

To make myself get better more quickly, I bought some lovely yarn. That logic works, right? Well, I’ve been drooling over photos of wonderfully cosy crochet blankets (see this one over at {Peppermints & Poppies} and this one from {Little Tin Bird}… both using Rowan wool) for some time now. And, having used Rowan yarn before (kidsilk haze & little big wool), I knew it was worth the splurge. You know, to make sure I got better.

I bought five balls, in five different colours… just to get started. It is Rowan Pure Wool 4ply, and the colours weren’t my favourite to begin with– frankly the yarn store had a very small selection– but when I played around with some combinations, this one fell into place. And made its way to the counter, where I subsequently purchased it.

The colours sort of reminded me of the inside of a shell, pearlescent pastel-y mother-of-pearl-ish colours.

I’m working slowly, as I don’t want to run out of yarn too soon and have to buy more… it was on the expensive side, and while nice for a treat, not the most practical of purchases.

Here’s where I am so far– nine squares complete. I’ve been joining-as-I-go, and was highly inspired (when am I not?) by the latest blanket at Attic 24.

Today I’m taking a sick day and spending an entire Saturday enjoying the comforts of home. Especially lovely is the sunny November light pouring through the windows this morning. If  I have to be sick, I’d prefer there to be sun– gloomy days make me feel even more ill.

No worries, it’s not the FLU. It is in fact a rather stubborn cold which is doing bad things to my sinuses & throat. I shall sip many cups of tea and enjoy some more of The Office (season 5), and hopefully I will be all better in time for my 3-10 shift tomorrow afternoon (a girl needs some cash flow, people).

Sometimes I enjoy wandering around the apartment, sort of taking in all of the little things I sometimes miss in my usual rushing around before work. Weekends, particularly sick days, are an especially good time to do so.

This ceramic deer is something I rescued from our apartment building’s laundry room. People drop off various commemorative mugs and things they don’t want/need anymore, and if no one takes them I’m pretty sure they’re all trashed. I felt that I couldn’t let that happen to this particular deer. So I brought it home.

I put these glass hearts in a bowl for Valentine’s day like four years ago, and then I liked how it looked. So I kept them.

And this is my new Work Mug, which cheers me up and allows me to drink tea at breaktime. I’ve been hooked on this kind called “green & black”, which is a mixture of the two. Sometimes I find green tea to be a bit bland, and adding black tea was a nice solution.

Anyways, excuse me now while I do some general tidying-up around the place. If that sounds crazy for a sick day, blame it on the illness. My head isn’t quite right. I find that sometimes when I’m not feeling well, I just want everything around me to be clean, shiny, and tidy. It’s not like I’ll be dragging around a vaccuum cleaner or anything. Enjoy the weekend- I hope everyone is having such lovely weather! (In NoVEMber!)

PS: Does anyone know what to do with a crazybones kitten who jumps on everything and knocks objects off of shelves, tables, countertops, and all surfaces of the house? Seriously, she is trouble.

I love getting mail– other than my credit card statement and various money grabs from the government (i.e. income tax notification of money owing… yuck). And I was ever so happy to open the mailbox today! Because in the midst of a Quizno’s flyer (they now deliver! for a charge of $3 not including driver’s tip!), an ad for our provincial MP, and a pamphlet giving me advice on preventing swine flu (wash your hands! don’t sneeze on other people!) I found this!

A wonderful packet of lovely surprises from Jenny, over at  Stitcher and Scribbler. Now, she had asked a little while ago for any volunteers to send some stamps to fill her journal, and in exchange was offering the most adorable handmade stamp badges. And despite the fact that the post office man had nothing more exciting than a Vancouver 2010 Olympics stamp for overseas delivery, she sent back a whole bunch of papery goodness!

Some of my favourite little things were:

• a postage stamp from Poland (I’m part Polish! And I’m sure I never mentioned that before!)
• a little button sewn on some ribbon
• some adorable bunny paper

And, of course:

My heart stamp!! Yaaaay– thank you super-much, Jenny!! This type of hand-sewn sweetness, along with the sneak peek into Cath Kidston’s new book (in Country Living this month), really really makes me want to learn how to sew. I mean, more than just sewing a button back on, or sewing up a spot under the sleeve of a sweater that ripped when I tried to take it off. You know. Good sewing.

This letter was really quite a nice surprise at the end of a rather tiring work day (someone off sick and the rest of us had to scramble to do both our job and hers). I do so love papery things… note paper, stickers, cards. Apologies for the lack of photos of every adorable thing, but WordPress was being cranky and kept taking forever to upload pictures, and giving me “IO errors” in angry red letters. (Which, let’s be honest, is a bit unfair, seeing as it’s me who should be talking in angry red letters when I am unable to upload photos). Rest assured that my paper-love is being satisfied.

I heart mail!

Phew; it’s been a little while since I’ve posted! (*blush*) I haven’t even truthfully been that busy or anything, so what the heck?

As you’ve probably noticed, it is October already (!!) … and I am actually enjoying the cooler weather for the most part. Usually I find fall a bit depressing, at least when it rains tons and the leaves all turn brownish. Just not really my thing. However– I love love love wearing rain boots, so… it kind of evens out. Mine are blue, with birds on them. But I sort of fell for these:

… as well as numerous ones I saw in the Cath Kidston catalogue (which miraculously got delivered to me, even though I don’t live in the UK! Woo!)

And then there’s jackets– I do love jackets. So I’ve also recently become obsessed with the idea of a yellow coat. Maybe it was this-

And I definitely spent some time examining one in the Sears Wish Catalogue last night. Not sure if it has something to do with the fact that I highlighted my hair, but I’m loving yellow for fall.

I’ve been regularly feeding my British magazine obsession, mostly with Country Living UK (where the above two photos were from), but also House Beautiful UK, and Coast.

We’re a bit behind on UK issues in Canada, but I managed to score the October House Beautiful the other day in the Coles in our teeny mall!

Also I’ve been working on a new crochet project– another (yes!) Ripple Blanket!

I realize I only just completed the previous ripple, but my hands were aching for the soothing repetition of rippling, and I found myself wanting a nice woolly fall project that I didn’t have to think too much about. This time I’m trying out Lucy’s Neat Ripple pattern, and I like how the ripples are a bit softer than in my last blanket. The grey yarns are from my stash; I was meaning to make a boy sweater with it, because of the amount I had, but I couldn’t face sweater knitting just now, and I decided to use the yarn up on something I’d enjoy. It’s subtle, but I do like it.

I have a new favourite tv show- well, it hasn’t taken the place of 30 Rock (which premieres tonight! Yaaaay!!), but it’s come close. It’s The Office (US version). But no spoilers please! I’m only on Season 4 (they’re  currently airing Season 6), because I borrowed the dvds and am watching every episode in order so I don’t get spoiled by watching the new episodes. Hello? Awesome show. Just amazingly funny. I love it.

I have my heart set on a “The Office wall calendar” that we’ve seen at the mall bookstore. I saw the (unrelated) movie Office Space months ago, and it has a gift set you can buy that comes with an actual replica of the red Swingline stapler from the movie. I also want that, haha. Imagine using it at work.

Thank goodness for non-work weekends, because I was beginning to go a little nutty. Last Friday was the last of the half-Fridays at work, and we went to the beach!! It was the only time I’ve been this year, and I didn’t take a single picture as I forgot my camera at home. But it was perfect… the rock-hunting, the careful selection of oddly-shaped pieces of driftwood which we will try to put in the fish tank after cleaning them… the swimming (the water was awesome! So blue!)… the picnic (sandwiches, chips, lemonade)… and the lying in the sun with a book, and half dozing off. Loved it.

We brought home some neat rocks and driftwood-

I haven’t really had the chance to go through them yet, but just think of the vignettes that can be made!

Speaking of going through, I recently took the time to sort through my Jar of Random Buttons…

When I was a kid, we used to sort them by colour, size, use them as currency… etc. And I still enjoy doing that– although not many places would accept buttons as currency I imagine.

And in crochet news, I stumbled across Sarah London’s wonderful day-by-day mystery motif tutorial, and I made a doily! I found the tutorial after all six rounds had been published and I saw the end result before starting, but still, I had fun.

It is currently living in the bathroom, jazzing up the toothpaste holder:

Yay for brightening up random surfaces in the house. I love sneaking in teeny knit or crocheted things in every room and waiting to see when Himself notices. It’s lots of fun!

I also started knitting some socks, just simple ones from Interweave’s Favourite Socks book. They’re supposed to be a birthday gift for Himself, but I’m not sure they’ll be done by then, then being the end of this month. Haha, I’ve had the yarn since spring, I think, but sock-knitting feels so much more a fall activity.

Anyways, off to do some quick grocery shopping I think. Enjoy the weekend!