Christmas round-up

Firstly, going back to yesterday's post, I feel a bit bad that I posted a pattern that is so hard to get hold of now - there is only one copy of the book "Thrown Together" on Ebay at the moment and it is really expensive. (Amazon Marketplace has it at a better price).

Kim Hargreaves does have a tendency to repeat design features in later books and I knew I had seen a similar design elsewhere. Unfortunately that pattern - called Bloom, which featured in a book called "Amber", also appears to be out of print (I did find it on Ebay at a more reasonable price than Thrown Together). Bloom has the same neckline as my purple sweater and it also knit in DK yarn, it has a different rib stitch and a slight texture to the body that could easily be changed for plain stocking stitch.

So I looked again and found Petal from a more recent book called "Misty" (my LYS definitely has this one so I'm guessing it is still available elsewhere). Petal has a similar neckline with a little more curve, it is written for 4 ply yarn with short sleeves. The stocking stitch body is heavily beaded - but again, you could easily miss that out. So I hope that helps anyone who likes this particular design.

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And now moving on to my Christmas round-up! I'll confess, I opened my swap gifts on Christmas Eve because I wanted to enjoy it before the madness of Christmas morning. And I have to say I was really thrilled with my gift in the Sewist's Secret Santa. I got a vintage sewing pattern brooch! It even matched my Christmas Day outfit so was worn with pride all day.

I had been looking at these before Christmas and only didn't buy for one myself because I couldn't choose a design. So thank you Secret Santa, whoever you are. My gift is perfect and you are awesome.

I also took part in the Fabric Godmothers Christmas swap. I sent off a parcel of goodies, including this handknit laceweight scarf.

It was a pretty easy pattern with only a 4 row pattern repeat. It is free on Ravelry and I used 50g of Knitting Goddess Sparklynne laceweight. I got a bit bored towards the end but luckily it really opened up when I blocked it so it was a decent size in the end! In return, I received this lovely parcel all the way from Russia.

My favourite part of it were two of these soap ornaments for the Christmas tree. They are imprinted with snowflakes and glitter, and smell gorgeous.

I had hoped to do a 2012 round-up post but I guess I'll be writing that in 2013 now. Maybe my resolution for next year should be to get better organised! I hope everyone has a fabulous time, whatever you are doing to celebrate the New Year. It will be quite a quiet one around these parts but I am secretly pleased about that. I have projects to plan and wine to drink so all is good. Happy New Year!