I'll miss you Grandma

You know I said I was going to craft all throughout advent? My Grandma died on the 30th November, exactly two years to the day my cousin Emmanuel died. So I made the pair of earrings above (on the 1st Dec - not the clearest pic, I know... I'll get myself a new camera in the new year) and then set off for Nigeria (on the morning of the 3rd) with my Mum and my sister. Just got back today. It's been a long week and a bit, but I did get to catch up with my family which was nice as I haven't seen them in 3 and a half years. A lot of them are planning to come over for the wedding which will be brilliant, but I still wish my Grandma could be there too. My Mum suggested holding a minute silence for her which I think is a brilliant idea... so, I'm going to take a little bit of a break to sort my head and my life out, which I've been meaning to do for a long time now, I guess this was the push I needed... No one knows what tomorrow brings.

I learnt a lot about my Grandma which I didn't know before... I'm probably post my own mini eulogy for her in a few days time... but until then, (and beyond), may her soul rest in perfect peace.

Christmas is coming...

OK... so here's the deal... Steph's left for Japan on Friday... I made her a chunky knit beret before she left! I'm going to miss her :( ... but on a positive note, I've got the wedding planning and advent crafting bug again, so I've have been stocking up on supplies... (like I really needed any more anyway) ... I'm real cool for the moment.

Last year, I planned to make something for every day of advent and I only tool the time to make a hat, just the one. So this year I'll determined to do it properly this year... and to motivate me I'm going to try and blog daily to record what I've done. So if you read this, (in other words Kelli and Chloé) please e-mail me if I miss a day. ;)

I have to admit, some of my projects are two part projects... you'll see what I mean when I do them. So far, my advent craft list consists of edibles, wearables and packaging...

I saw these tags on Kelli's blog and I am so going to do those on one of my craft days! Back soon... need to find where I put my little circle hole sticker thingies :)

Unauthorised absence

Last time you heard from me I was a little down. Stuff happened and I'm ok now. I know I kinda disappeared off the radar for a couple of months. I've been up to my ears in work and not had time to chill or make anything... much. Well, in the last two months I've made Gazelle a scarf, tweaked a old notebook cover into a reading book cover (hooray for hair bands and pretty buttons)...

... baked petit fours with Chloe...


... and made 3 birthday cakes - all chocolate (only remembered to take a picture of one but according to Gazelle I'm perfecting my chocolate cake... YAY!!!)


OK, and that's it.

As I said before, I've had a few clients from the freelance web side of things, so recreational activities have had to take a bit of a back seat. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for the work I'm just tired... lol. So just for the record, here's a list of stuff I've planned to make that I haven't quite got around to or finished just yet...

1. Lily's cardigan
2. Kelli's hat - no pattern, chunky knit beenie
   
3. Janet's scarf - bronze coloured cabled chunky knit
   
4. Gabby's hat - Green fair isle tam
   
5. Gazelle's neckwarmer and ribbed knit beenie
6. Jade's scarf
   
7. A hat for myself (don't you just love Knitty)
   

I've bought all the wool, just waiting for my circular needles to arrive. :D The only problem with the above list is that Christmas is coming and I've promised myself that this year everyone's getting hand made presents, which means I better get a move on.

Off topic, the wedding planning took a bit of a break too... I spoke to Marsha (the wedding planner) today and we're meeting up next week, which means I've got 7 days to sort out that wedding wiki I set up. My best mate's moving to Japan in a few weeks time, but is coming back to be my bridesmaid next year, so I need to try and sort her outfit out before she leaves, or at least get some meaurements. The phrase "biting off more than you can chew comes to mind". Hmmm.

Back soon - I hope

Inside

Looks like I've started writing again. It'll probably get edited over the next few days.

Finké

---

Inside

Yet again I'm on leave of absence
Too tired to stay and play
And as my weariness unfurls
I'm scared to face another's face
And so I sit to dip below my consciousness
Yearning for her...

She who once led, who I once sought,
Who is now out of reach
Just past my fingertips
She teases me with song in sleep
In which we soar and laugh and fall
I feel her breath upon my face
But when I wake she's gone again,
It would seem, to taunt him...

He who manoeuvres deep within
Speaks frowns and almost words.
He understands yet knows me not
But to his words I cling
As we both have particulars
We can not discuss...

So we sit in silence
Just the one of us

Sorry Chloe!

I've been a naughty girl... I stood Chloe up.

First of all I'd like to apologise to Chloe who I was meant to be making cake with today. Chloe, I'm sorry. The thing is I got carried away. I was searching online for facial cleansing recipes and found a few. So far so good. I then started looking through my old browser bookmarks and came across a recipe for making basic whipped body butter. I'd been meaning to make some for ages and just never got round to it.

So today I did. I did and it came out a lot nicer than I thought it would... have a look see.


I made it using coconut oil, olive oil and vanilla essence. It smells quite plain. Not too coconutty, not too olive-ey, doesn't even smell oily which is great. (Sorry about the picture quality. I'm currently using my phone to take pictures until I get a new digital camera... and the dip you can see in the cream was made by me checking to see whether the cream had set yet. Should have taken a picture first. Haha!) I accidentally spilt half of it on Mum and I put the rest in an old hair cream container. Perfect fit don't you think? Unfortunately, I don't have any more empty containers I can use. I'll probably make some more in a couple of weeks time when this one is empty and add some nice smelly stuff to it. I'm quite excited about using this! I'll let you know how it feels on my skin. :)

Apologies aside, I've had a good week. I started back at work after a week's annual leave. Started on a 10-week work experience placement. Did a bit more knitting, knotted a scarf for Steph as a birthday present and did a bit of baking with Chloe.

This week I'm planning to blog a little more, work a little more and bake some banana cupcakes (Yum!), sign up for an exercise class of some sort... and finally write my blog profile... LOL! I'm a tad ambitious I know.

I also need to start driving soon... everyone keeps reminding me about it, and everyone around me already drives, but that's another story. I'm off to eat. Mummy made pounded yam, okra and stew for dinner!!! Woohoo!

Finké :)

On your marks...

OK, so I saw Lily today! She is growing up so fast and is so gorgeous... (Bubba Gazelle thinks I'm biased but Chloe agrees).

Chloe and I spent a good half hour today just planning stuff that we want to make for Lily. I'm getting so excited but wondering where I'll find the time to do it all. We talked about sewing, knitting, felting, hand dying wool and lino printing. We even decided to create a little Lily logo to go with it all that we'll try and incorporate into all the stuff we'll make her. It'll probably be based on this type of Lily which is perfect because the colours we've decided to work around are yellow, beige and green.



We're also thinking of tying it in with our nickname for her, 'Lily Jam'... I'll post that as soon as we've designed that too... So exciting! I can't wait for us to get started on this kit but I mustn't get too carried away. Besides, I've still got to finish that cardigan first! Not even half way through the back yet. Back to the pins... think I'll do a few more rows before bed tonight. I think it's coming along quite nicely. Contented sighs all around if you please.

- Finké :)

My first post!!!

Ok, so I've been meaning to do this for ages.

Blog about stuff I make I mean.

I love making stuff and once I've given it away that's about it. Then I start on something new. I been watching loads of craft blogs (my favourites at the moment are AfricanKelli and Cut Out and Keep - although I guess Cut Out and Keep is a forum) and being really inspired and getting great ideas for stuff, but not actually keeping track of my own development.

For instance about 3 years ago, I could just about knit scarves without dropping too many stitches. and that was about it. Yesterday I started making this cute little cardigan (pattern taken from The second little sublime hand knit book).



The pattern is called Lily and I'm making it for a friend's daughter... and the lovely little girl's name is... wait for it... Lily! How perfect is that!?! I'm making the stripy version in pastel green, blue and yellow and can't wait to finish it. I'll post a picture of the back once I finish it so you can see how the pattern is coming out.

- Finké :)