WOYWW - Wednesday Again Already!!!

Hello! Not a lot of crafting has been attempted over the last few days ...mainly because my craft table is in fact the dining table, so needed to be cleared for Christmas dinner!!! So here's a photo of Santa arriving at our village instead ...

  ... and here he is when we went to a special 'Breakfast with Santa' on Christmas Eve ... we all had a lovely cooked breakfast whilst Santa went from table to table and spoke to all the children. We then sang a few Christmas songs before Santa read a couple of stories ... It was a lovely morning, and my children (age 10, 9 and 7) really enjoyed it!

And finally here are the cards I made in a hurry just before we went to Santa's breakfast - they're still not quite finished at this stage ...! And these were the last things I made before today, except I've just remembered I started knitting another scarf last night and haven't taken any photos of it yet though ...

Christmas Day was absolutely wonderful, but I sort of covered that in my previous posts ... The time is going sooooo fast, and its hard to believe next Wednesday all will be back to the normal routine with Christmas just a pleasant memory ...

Now I'm off to have a nose at desks around the world ... care to join me? The best place to start is WOYWW Creator Julia's blog here ! Go on, race you there ...!

All Dolled Up at the Dolly Spa

*Warning* loads of photos - you have been warned!!

Today was spent giving the Pippa dolls I recieved yesterday a bit of a spruce up. The hair was a little tangled, especially on the Princess one, and the dolls had a vague aroma of eau de loft ...

Soft toothbrushes and baby shampoo are good for gentle cleaning. The dolls are about 40 years old so are in pretty good condition for their age ..

The hair on the Princess doll is very good, just in need of a gentle wash and brush .. Many dolls had their hair chopped by children playing hairdressers ... This Princess is a Dancing Princess because when you move her left arm, her head and waist turn as if she's dancing the twist! How clever!

 Having a hair treatment ... fabric conditioner works best.

 Fruit Shoot tops are perfect for holding the hair in place whilst drying ...

The clothes the Pippas came in were lovely clothes, but not what they would have originally been sold in ... and there's no way of telling which issue the dolls were either, so I've made a guess ... From left to right we have 2nd edition Marie, 3rd edition Pippa and I believe Dancing Princess Pippa was only ever sold in the green sparkly dress ...

That's all for today ... I'll bore you with more Pippa-related stuff another time!

Merry Christmas!!!

Its here!!! Todays the day!!!!! Its Christmas!!!!!!!!!! Oh gosh I'm so excited I just HAD to share - so excuse me while I gush - some of you may not know that I collect Pippa dolls (little dolls from the 1970's) so I was totally thrilled to find these lovely ladies from Mother-In-Law under the tree this morning!! *squeal*

From left to right there's Dancing Princess Pippa, Pippa and Marie. And I'm really chuffed 'cos its so incredibly rare that I have these bought for me (actually this is the first time!) as they're getting harder to find now ... Sorry for gushing but I really am utterly totally thrilled!! Thank you MIL!!! xxx

Merry Christmas!! xx

Update ...

I got bored so just made this cheeky little alien ...

Not brilliant but the kids like him ... now I really must make that robin ...!

WOYWW Knitting with Nancy...!

Here is this weeks humble offering for the global phenominum that is Whats On Your Workdesk Wednesday where bloggers around the world unite to share - it says it all in the title really - what is on their workdesks! If you haven't stumbled across WOYWW before then please visit Julia's blog here ! Julia is the creator of WOYWW and there are literally hundreds of bloggers taking part in this weekly nose around the globe ...

This week I have been playing with yarn and fibers ...

I am a member of a yahoo spool knitters group and someone posted a link to a rather fabby mug cozy idea, so of course I had to have a go at one of those! The knitting is done on a Knitting Nancy (also known as a spool knitter, dolly bobbin or a corker). I call these little knitters 'knitting nancys', however the actual one I used is a 'Knifty Knitter Spool Knitter'. First I knitted a very long cord, then stitched it around the mug to create the cozy ... it just unbuttons for easy washing ... Please note: it is best to use a mug with a small high handle like the ones from Ikea, as it fits the button loop better than a mug with a low handle and keeps the cozy in place ... if you see what I mean. I also had a go at needle felting. This is my first attempt (its supposed to be an owl ...) Yes more practice is needed but it was fun to make ... I'd like to have a go at something Christmas related next, maybe a robin! And on that note I'd like to wish everyone who visits here a wonderful Christmas and hope to see you again in the new year ...!

Spool is Cool!

Just a quick post as I want to show you a lovely spool knitter I won made by the talented Janet Sorel - look, there it is, the purple one in the middle! (Thank you Janet!) Janet makes these and sells them in her Etsy shop here , and is featured in Vogue Knitting Holiday 2011. I think this magazine is only available across the pond, which is a shame as I wouldn't have minded having a read ...!