the twisted yarn

Knitting, crochet, running, and silliness.

Christmassing Inexpertly

by 30 Comments

It’s a tricky time here at Twisted Towers. Christmas has completely unexpectedly lumbered into view. I know that some of the wiser amongst you might argue that the fact it’s on the same date every single year does lend it a certain predictability, but I’m telling you, we’ve been caught totally off-guard.

home-made Christmas bauble decoration
Once upon a time (pre-children), I had time to design and paint silly decorations.

Also, we’re not very good at remembering to water the Christmas tree, so the poor thing is shedding needles so fast that we face gathering round a be-baubled Christmas stick on the big day to open our gifts. The twinnage are happy, though. (Don’t worry, we do remember to water/feed them.) They’ve sneaked off with some of the needles, plus the tiny wreathes that I knitted, and some baubles, to make tiny dinosaur egg nests, which I keep finding in obscure corners of the house. Full marks for creativity, boys.

Let’s hope that the catering arrangements are going rather better. The Stoic Spouse largely bans me from the cooker/oven on Christmas Day because – in his words – “If I left it to you, we’d be having cumin-roast turkey with spiced lentils for Christmas dinner. Probably at 10pm.” He does have a point. I do cook a huge tagine on Christmas Eve, though.

Some of my home-made decorations were a mischievous.

Today, I am finishing writing my Christmas cards, and feeling smug because I’m a day ahead of the last posting date. It’s ever-so-slightly tempting to write “Happy Christmas 2017” in them, thus skipping a year and instantly moving from last in the Great Christmas Card Race to FIRST PLACE (by about eleven months).

So I’m dealing with the chaos of Christmas in the same way that I deal with everything remotely challenging, by interspersing frenzied last-minute activity with picking up my knitting for “just one more row” and writing a blog post. That explains all this progress on the jumper, anyway. Here’s a sleeve:-

And on that note, I must go and finish the cards. Merry Christmas, my fine fibrous friends!

 

 

Comments

  1. I have made 14 of your knitted Christmas trees for friends and family. I’d like to send you a picture. How to do that? So enjoy your blog and want to try knitted candles soon. Ah, but Christmas creeps closer! I suppose it will be for next year!

    Reply

    • My goodness, wow! I would love to see them. 🙂 You could email them to thetwistedyarn [at] outlook [dot] com. Am I allowed to show them off (with credit to you, obviously) here or on the blog’s Facebook page?

      Reply

  2. Oh I know this sentence “just one more row”. 🙂 But I couldn’t finish anything at the speed you seem to be able to.The jumper looks gorgeous! And the Twin’s dinosaur egg nests are wonderful. Creativity takes many shapes and forms and clearly runs in the family. Merry Christmas when the day finally arrives!

    Reply

    • Yes it’s funny how easy it is to believe that it’ll be only ‘one more row’, when experience would suggest it’s more likely to be 20 more rows…

      I’m not a fast knitter, I’m really not. But some projects lend themselves to relative speed (round-and-round stockinette jumper, I’m looking at you…) and I can knit whilst walking/reading-to-children/bathing/eating/cooking…

      Merry Christmas, and thank you for all your kind comments in 2016.

      Reply

    • Tee hee, thank you, even if I don’t really deserve your kind words.

      I hope your Christmas was colourful and peaceful.

      Reply

    • True, I hadn’t thought of the postal strike. Obviously it would be VERY wrong to blame my late-arriving cards on the strike… Very, very wrong indeed…

      Meanwhile, I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.

      Reply

  5. I’m still frantically knitting the last two Christmas gifts. One is almost to the halfway point, the other is more challenging than I expected it to be, so assuming I don’t have to rip any more of it out, it should be finished in time. Thankfully, it’s not for one of my kids, so I can work on it in front of them. The race is on!

    Reply

    • Yikes! I hope you finished them both in time? I am hereby formally telling you off for reading my blog when you should be knitting! 😉

      I hope your Christmas was blissful and that your hand-knitted gifts were much appreciated.

      Reply

  6. Right back atcha Ms T. I have to say, I think Christmas has done some kind of transmogrification this year and maneuvered itself closer to the middle of the year than last year. I also can’t believe I just spelled “transmogrification” AND “maneuvered” correctly! I think I might have to go and have a lay down now as spelling was never one of my high points in life and I think I must have accidentally used up one of my magic wishes on something so trite as “being able to spell!” Bollocks! Story of my life. Have a blast Ms T and remember, when the twinage are up at 4am, that’s what dinosaur videos were invented for…

    Reply

    • As always, your lovely comment made me giggle. Thank you. I hadn’t thought of that – that Christmas might actually be subtly sneaking around the calendar, just to confuse us…

      As we’re now well past the big day itself, I’ll just have to wish you a happy, peaceful, productive, creative new year. 🙂

      Reply

  7. I haven’t yet started to write Christmas card and will almost certainly leave it until 2017…. it is a bit sneaky, Christmas is. One moment it seems months away and then, before you can blink twice, it is here. Ah well. x

    Reply

    • YES! You’re so right – it lurks in the shadows, and then suddenly pounces out on you! I do wish it wouldn’t be quite so sneaky.

      I hope that your Christmas was blissful and that you got at least some of your cards written in time.

      Reply

    • Thank you! I’m always touched and honoured by the kindness of my regular readers.

      Meanwhile, I hope that your Christmas was joyful and peaceful, and that your 2017 is filled with colour and yarn.

      Reply

    • I think I might have to follow your lead on that.

      Meanwhile, I hope that you and yours had a beautiful Christmas.

      Reply

    • Ha ha, I’m not sure my family would be too impressed with that… But I guess that friends who knit would understand.

      A belated merry Christmas too you, anyway.

      Reply

  12. Hi Phil, superhugs for Christmas! My daughter and beau is coming over for Christmas Eve – our main celebration day in Norway – and as last Christmas, after our delicious roasted duck meal( with secret dessert made my daughter) we will decorate more trees. ( he is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Norw. Defense, by the way 🙂 So – I would love to send images too – could yu link me up to your Facebook-place, please?

    Reply

    • Hello! Sorry for slow response – I got very distracted by Christmas, there. I hope your Christmas was as blissful as it sounds. I get the impression (mostly from my Norwegian friend) that Norwegians really know how to celebrate Christmas with style and creativity.

      And I’d love to see photos! Facebook is here: https://www.facebook.com/thetwistedyarn/
      …or you could email thetwistedyarn [@] outlook [dot] com.

      Thank you for all the kind words you’ve scattered on this blog in 2016, and I wish you and yours a blissfully happy new year.

      Reply

  13. Gorgeous knitting blog. I love your Christmas trees. I have a list of knitting projects a mile long and a lot of them are Christmas related. Now where did I put my needles? Merry Christmas!

    Reply

    • Thank you so much!
      And I hope you found your needles and managed to get some of your festive knitting done. 🙂

      Reply

  14. Love your great wit — um, you ARE trying to be humorous, right? Sure you are… 😉 Thank you for writing. You are an inspiration in both writing and knitting. Now, which shall I pick up again?

    Reply

    • Thank you! I do like being silly, so I’m always honoured when someone makes such a kind comment.

      As for which to pick up, BOTH! You definitely need both in your life. And knitting leaves your mind free-ish to think about writing.

      May your 2017 be filled with yarn and words.

      Reply

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