Preparing

 Advent is defined as the season of preparing. I find my days have been filled with preparing lately.

In our tradition, the Advent candles, lit on the four Sundays before Christmas, are green, blue, yellow and red. This year, I found some cat proof candles, since setting fire to the cat is generally a bad idea.

I have LED candles that I can set to the colours. For Christmas, I will set out real candles, but these are much safer when I don't have anyone to guard them.

Many gifts have been sent. I can show you a few.

Two pairs of little socks were commissioned by a friend for her great-granddaughters. They are now on their way in Great Grandma's suitcase.

 The dog bandanas for this Christmas are in some silly fabric I found in my stash. My Christmas stash has been greatly depleted in the last few years, since I haven't been doing in person shopping.

I made this lace scarf back in the summer, and finally got it blocked. It is on the way to its new home.

This is a closeup of the lace border. The yarn is alpaca and silk in a lace weight, that was in my stash.

I was asked for a red hat, so this week, I made a red hat.

It is my favourite hat pattern, Bankhead. The yarn is Knit Picks Brava.

I did lots of baking to send to family that don't bake. For my baking I go for taste over appearance, so the shortbread is just rolled into balls and squashed with a fork. Add sprinkles and they look sort of Christmas-y.

We put up the tree, and Emme helped.

She really gets into her work!

I had a birthday and a creative friend made me this card.

It is very fancy, and very non-Christmas-y. I have gotten a lot of Christmas cards with Happy Birthday written in them, over the years. The colours in this card are more my style.

i hope to get some knitting and sewing done this week, The sewing has been lost lately.