Ringing in the New Year

I have fought off my Dayquil induced haze for a few minutes to come here and wish you all a very Happy New Year and a wonderful 2012.

I have also taken a few minutes to look back on my 2011 projects, and I have to say that I
was pleasantly surprised to see that I managed 21 of them, I think that's not too bad.

And now, I will crawl back under my blankets and hope that my voice returns in the next few days.

Deck the Halls

I finally mananged to take a few photos of our own Christmas decorations to share with you guys. Aidan has really enjoyed helping me.

We started with his room. I especially like these little wooden ornaments.

Every year we've added a few special pieces like this star.

The Christmas Pyramid and Advent Calendar belonged to my grandmother and I count them among my most treasured possessions.

I had quite a number of crafts I wanted to make, but only managed these snow globes. Aidan loves it. It's a really fun and easy thing to make. For anyone interested, I kind of followed this tutorial.

And last, but not least, our own Christmas tree.

The only thing missing now, are the gifts, and I really hope I will finish all of my hand-knits in time.

Four Years ago today....

Four years ago today, I experienced the happiest moment of my life when i was able to hold this in my arms:

It seems that I just blinked and he has transformed into this:

He has taught me so much, about myself, life and especially love.

Happy Birthday, Schatzi!

Montreal Christmas market

In keeping with my newly established Christmas traditions, we ventured to a Christmas-market this weekend. Last year’s was a great experience and even though we were not fortunate enough to have much snow this time around, it was still great.

With Michael Bublé’s new Christmas CD playing, we headed to the Marche de Noël de L'Assomption. At the market, we were greeted by a wonderful smell of vanilla and cinnamon roasted almonds. We strolled by the different vendors and admired the offerings, even ran into a familiar name. 

People were milling about buying Christmas trees and warming up by the fire pits that were strewn about the market. A little train was blasting carols and taking excited kids on a ride around the neighbourhood to admire the Christmas decorations. The kids enjoyed watching people eating maple taffy, and posed dutifully with a giant nutcracker. 

Until….a familiar sound caught their attention. Surely it could not be? Did someone really say “HO, HO, HO”?

To everyone’s delight Santa made an appearance at the market. Of course, we also had to greet him and tell him about our own wish list, which by the way includes a garbage truck (don’t ask).

It was a wonderful outing and I can say that this is definitely a tradition I will hold on to.

This weekend I will go around the house and photograph some of our decorations to share with my readers.

Advent Calendar

There is something magical about the time before Christmas. In my family the season was always kicked off by December first, the advent time, the count-down to Christmas morning.

I've been working hard at starting my own family traditions, and it is a continually evolving list, but so far we have hot chocolate to welcome the first snowfall, a visit to the Christmas market, weekly cookie baking and this year, I am adding crafting to the list.

It's so easy to feel inspired by the multitude of ideas out there, and I am always amazed at the talent and incredible ideas my fellow crafters display. Last year, I made A. an advent calendar (see details here), and he really liked it, so of course I had to make one for this year. He's a big Lego and Playmobil fan, and they have great ready made Advent calendars.

That was my starting point, but the presentation I wanted to personalize. So, using this tutorial I made 24 boxes (took forever),wrapped them, made tags, and finished at 11:30 on the 30th November.I can't begin to describe how his face lit up in the morning at the sight of it. It made the papercuts all worth it. Next, we're making our own snow-globes, and on the weekend we're checking out this Christmas market. And soon I'll be updating you on my Christmas knitting as well.

Happy Advent everyone!

Siblings

Let me give you a short summary of the conversation between my sister and I that lead to my knitting her a hat for her birthday, and one for Christmas.

Our email-conversation went something like this:

Me: Hey, I was thinking that for your upcoming birthday I'll make you a hat, what do you think?

Her: Sure, sounds great!

Me: What about these? (I sent her photos of Rosebud, Star-Crossed Slouchy and Norie).

Her: Well, Rosebud seems to small, Slouchy too big, and I am not sure Norie is my style.

Me: I should have known, OK, let's make this easier, go to Ravelry and do a  search, pick what you like, and let me know.

about an hour and a half later

Her: What about these? (Attached are no less then 11 different hats)
nice try, right?

Me: I did not offer a life-time supply of hats, I said, one. You are making me second-guess the idea! Can you please narrow it down for me?

a couple of days later

Her: So I've been looking at the hats I selected and I am not sure I still like them. I can't decide, maybe you should pick?

Me (rolling my eyes): All right, what about deciding on a shape? Do you want a beanie type hat or more of a slouchy one? You must know which you prefer!

Her: Well I'd like to try a slouchy, never had one of those, but in case that does not suit me, a shorter style, like a beanie? How about you make two?

(See how she managed to negotiate that one?)

Me (insert exasperated sigh here): Two it is, one of each, I think you need to try something new. What about colors? Can you pick a color for me?

Her (picture a devilish giggle here): Whitish-pinkish-green?

I never answered this last email. My sister is notorious for having a hard time making a decision! Picture this exact conversation whenever we discuss what to do over the weekend or where to go eat.I think she loves torturing me like this, she knows it drives me nuts!

Ah, siblings....but honestly, I could not ask for a more wonderful sister. She's great, and she's my biggest supporter, especially when it comes to my knitting. It's a couple of weeks early, but "Happy Birthday" sis, and you know what? You do get a life-time supply of hats after all!

Ravelry details here: Sorana's Star-Crossed Beret

Snowflake toddler hat

I've kept my word and started concentrating on Christmas gifts. First, I tackled a new hat for my little man. It's been a while since he's been outfitted with some hand-knits, so he was first on my list.

I've been meaning to try a color-work project ever since, in the spring, I took a course at my local yarn shop "Espace Tricot" (see more about that adventure here). I came across the Snowflake pattern on Ravelry and it immediately caught my attention. It's just the right combination of cute and traditional. I find there's not an abundance of cute patterns for little boys out there, so I was very excited to find something I liked.

I used leftover yarn from my Levenwick project, and thought a nice, contrasting orange would look nice for the color-work. Mirasol had the perfect shade of burnt orange. I've never worked with this yarn before, and can I just say it's.....oh sooooo soft! Holding two strands of yarn proved to be somewhat challenging, I still haven't found my own way of doing it, but I only had 15 rows of the snowflake pattern, so it was manageable.

I should not have blocked it lying flat, because now the earflaps are creased, but I could not find a bowl or a ball of the right size....and because I chose to make it bigger, it sort of needs a chinstrap to stay put, but all in all I'm pretty happy with how it looks.

I ended up bribing my already hyper 4-year old with chocolate to model the hat for me, but it worked. Does that make me a horrible parent? 

I really like this picture of him, he's got the most devilish grin, does he not?

I've already moved on to my next Christmas gift, it's another hat, this one, for my sis.