Advent Calendar

Seeing as next Saturday is the 1st of December, I finally got around to making an advent calendar. 

Last year we didn't have one at all, and in years before we've just had a bowl of sweets on the dining room table. 

But this year, I came across Angry Chicken and her envelope advent calendar.

I used the same website for the digital collage sheets, http://www.digitalcollagesheets.com. There are lots of great things on here, and it doesn't seem that expensive seeing as you can print them as many times as you like.

We are 23 and 26 so not so much into stickers and toys, but we'll go for a chocolate coin any day.

Because I've put 2 coins in each envelope, they are a little full, but I'm not sure how to get around this as bigger envelopes wouldn't work. I used some pretty ribbon and some large copper paperclips to fix the envelopes on with. 

They look really cute though and they've started the festive theme in our house. 

I may or may not adapt these to include a little message to open every day, but thought it might be a bit too twee. 

Has anyone else started any festive making? I'd love to see!!

xxx

Rachel Khoo and My Little Kitchen

I made some things from Rachel Khoo's Little Paris Kitchen book. I made the mushroom terrine.

Here's Rachel's...

And Here's mine...

I think it turned out pretty well, except she suggests eating at room temperature, I think it's a darn sight more delicious hot from the oven, but who am I to argue with a woman who has such impeccable fashion sense?

Later on I'm going to attempt the little sugar-puff pastries. Yum. 

I went on a little walk today, everything is flooded.

Now I'm going to knit and eat bonbons in the armchair. Ahhhh Saturday. 

xxx

Lovely Free Printable Banners

What else is there to do on a Sunday morning other than design a couple of printable banners? Here they are for you to download and use as you wish (other than selling them obviously, that would just be cheeky).

They are circular motifs with capital letters on them, cut them out, hole punch the holes in the top and thread some ribbon through. I'm going to make a Happy Birthday one. And maybe a 'Honey you're home' to hang in the hallway. They'd be really cute for baby showers etc as well.

The Blue, Yellow and Grey banner is at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/112071067/Banner

The Pink, Green and Grey banner is at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/112071058/Banner-Pink

xxx

Knitting Books

The photos in this post are shoddy. I had candles lit, I took the photos, they looked fine on the camera, they were not fine. By the time I saw how bad they were I’d uploaded them and couldn’t be bothered to start again.

Obviously the photos in the books that I was taking photos of were beautiful so that was a good start. 

As mentioned, I had a little splurge on knitting books...

The first book, Tricots intemporels pour bebes by Astrid Le Provost, is full of classic, beautiful, chic designs. However, it is in French, so some translation required before I can knit anything from it.

These super-cute designs are from the book.

The second book, Vintage Baby Knits by Kristen Rengren, is full of vintage patterns from the 1920’s to the late 1950’s, and also contains a lot of interesting information on the history of knitting during this period. A lot of the negative reviews on Amazon said that there weren’t many/any patterns in the book they would knit for a modern baby. Personally, I found just as many in this book, if not more, than I have in books of modern patterns. I love the palette of greys, blues and mustard yellow.

A snippet of information I thought was really interesting was on the use of blue and pink for baby boys and girls. Obviously nowadays most people associate blue with boys and pink with girls but up until around 1920 it was the other way around. This was because pink was seen as close to red and being a ‘stronger’ colour, and blue was associated with the Virgin Mary and gentleness. Once blue began to be used in military uniforms it gradually switched around.

I didn’t put in a picture of it because the one in the book doesn’t do it justice, but Alicia Paulson knitted one of the cardigans in this book and modified it a little. It’s here on her ravelry page. 

I'm going to have to get knitting. 

xxx