Gnomitis?

After weeks (and weeks and weeks) without the wool for the Gnome beards, it finally arrived just before Christmas.
Obviously that meant that I wouldn't touch it before January, since there were enough Christmas gifts to knit.

G. finished her Gnome a couple of days ago and mine is complete with beard and beanbag bum since yesterday. I had to take all the pictures twice; the first time there was no card in the camera....
Well, here they are, our Gnomes.

Merry Christmas!

Just a couple of more hours (we get our present on Christmas eve - HA!) and only one hour before we go to church (eek still need to get dressed and get all the glue off my hands from wrapping presents). Merry Christmas to all of you!

Coffee Swap Three (the first one)

For St Nicolaus Day I got two packages of goodies. Every now and then it seems to be my day - I remember, I passed my driving test with a pretty nasty instructor on that day (ages ago) as second and last one out of ten. My Mom always sends my sister and me something on St. Nicolaus Day - I got a book and some homemade cookies. Thanks Mom! Later this morning the postman found our house to deliver the first of our Coffee Swap Three packages. G's still waiting for hers from Munich and so I conclude that, in postal service terms, South Carolina actually is closer to us than Germany... strangely enough.
Anyway, back to my Christmas-comes-early-package content (sorry the camera is not working, these are the only pictures I managed to take) Two skeins of Ultra Alpaca (the red one is called Chianti, the darker one Lobster Mix - very promising names!) Can't wait to start knitting with it! The Holydaze Sampler from Caribou Coffee which I only heard of - I'll wait until Saturday morning to try it out. I need time to enjoy it. I also got a new mug to try out the coffee with. Some yummy Coconut and Kiwi scented body butter (how did she know that I love Coconut?) A pretty snowman and a scented candle to brighten my loooong dark evenings trying to finish my Christmas knitting. :-) Thank you Cheryl! A report of tasting the coffees will follow shortly....

Happy 1st of Advent!

The first of Advent (Advent Sundays = 4 Sundays before Christmas) has come around, and with it the real count down to Christmas. This weekend, apart from both J. and M. having a lot of pain in their necks (no, I am NOT their pain in the neck.... at least not this time), we welcomed the season by making some glitter stars and listening to Keith Jarrett. M. and I had to chase through London on the search for the right kind of glitter, glue, cardboard, paper cutter with self-healing mat, etc., but once we got going in the late afternoon on Saturday it was great fun. I managed to ram the butt of the knife so firmly into my thumb for such a prolonged period of time, that the tip of my thumb is still a little numb today, but have a look at the stars! The instructions can be found on the Martha Stewart website.

On Sunday, my friend H. and her son D. were visiting us for a session of Christmas cookie baking. Oh, the fascination of being allowed to sample the chocolate, cookie dough and cookies, as well as J's famous Brazilian cheese bread - I'm not sure whether D. had more fun or I did! Since neither M. nor I can have sugar in any quantities, we revised all the recipes and used some no-sugar-added-jam and made up the volume with some ground almonds and/or oatmeal. Also, we used lovely sugar free Rococo Chocolates. Here are a few (visual) samples of our achievements.

Chocolate Chip Ginger Bread Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Almond & Pecan Sandwiches (German Recipe)

Classic Mürbeteig Biscuits (German Recipe)

To round off this Advent weekend, M. and I finally started knitting our Christmas Gnomes (Alan Dart). I have to say, the initial verdict is that they both still look a bit like Barbabelle at the moment... Barbabelle with one giant foot.... But I'm sure we'll get there in the end ;-)

Stash and Christmas Knitting

Wasn't it just yesterday that we set off for the fabled Get Knitted in Bristol? One Stitch'nBitch Day and several visits to Stash and i knit london (including a fun knitting meeting last Thursday) later, and my stash has grown unconscionably.
However, I'm doing my best to knit my way through it (like the mouse eating the elephant: one bite at a time ;-) I have yet to make pictures of the Smooshy Sock Yarn I bought at the Socktopus stand and some RYC Cashsoft.... And I can't wait to see how the Sirdar Foxy will turn out (as beard for the Christmas Gnomes)!

From now on until Christmas - once the second lace scarf is finished (the one in moss green Handmaiden Sea Silk) - you will probably be finding me knitting Christmas Gnomes (Alan Dart) or baby kits (my friend AS is expecting her second child).... if you will find me at all among my stash....

Happy knitting and may Christmas take a long time to arrive!