Christmas Crafting for EVERYONE

A few weeks ago I noticed the Playful One was no longer impressed by certain textures and will do her best to avoid any contact with some. A plastic dinosaur toy that she was gifted for her birthday produces the most deepest of shudders and when we attended a messy play session recently she skirted suspiciously round all the wet and mess and sat playing happily with the Duplo, casting a wary eye in the direction of the cornflour from time to time. A well meaning play supporter tried to coax her over and she instantly burst into tears. 

This was somewhat disappointing as getting good and messy is often half the fun of play and learning but I remembered working in various settings around this time of year where some children just did not want to play. At all. Either the glitter freaked them out (seriously, it just sticks, I totally understand this reaction) or the noise and expectation is all a bit much. I invariably was the one who volunteered to sit in the dark with the little ones who just wept when we went to the panto or to see Santa. I kinda got it. It's all this huge pressure to DO and ENJOY, right?

So I thought quite a bit about how to present some of the activities I had come up with for little one to start the tradition of holiday making. I wanted to make some gift tags and maybe some ornaments for our closest loved ones and a little souvenir for future years to come. However, the last thing I wanted was for her to scream in horror at the touch of glitter paint or just lose it mid hand print. 

We started slow and I let her explore the tools I thought she might enjoy working with in the paint. Some were more of a success than others but with no mess and paint in the way, she was quite content to at least try and touch everything in front of her. The scrubby was her least favourite and the green top to the sponge was also only brushed gingerly. 

Next we tried a little mark making, just to get the idea with some chubby crayons. I had no expectation for her to hold or grasp anything and we took it in turns to hold them and watch the colours as I brushed them onto the paper. This caused much whooping and chatter as she spotted the colours on the page forming and instantly, we were creating!

Then I stuck down some paper, added a little paint, a few tools and waited. It was all up to her. No pressure and no expectation. As she pointed inquisitively, I demonstrated a few moves that made some paint smear which, after much deliberating, she joined in with. Slowly but surely we produced a few pieces of art and no tears or shudders were produced. 

Supplies! (note the bowl and cloth ready for wiping!)

I had clean up stuff and everything we needed ready to go so when she started to look like she'd had enough I quickly wiped down and handed back the crayons to play with one more time while I finished cleaning up and hung the paintings up to dry. We sat chattering and looking at our masterpieces and it gave me lots of opportunity to practice some signs with her which she's also highly motivated by right now. The whole social aspect of the session was a big positive as far as she was concerned. I'm really hoping this leaks into other areas and next time the play supporter tries to lure her over to the paints, she doesn't cry but is a little curious. 

A success!

The Day Christmas Finally Came...

Well Christmas festivities finally began to get underway today and I was so relieved. It felt like I should be doing ALL the Christmas fun and frolic now that we have a little one and the pressure to just BE THAT MUM is enormous. My blog reader, Facebook timelines, Twitter feed and Instagram feed have just been filling up with images of babies meeting Father Christmas, making salt dough ornaments and all kinds of Christmas merriment. Us? We'd not even located the Christmas baubles let alone worked out if they're shatterproof when savaged by a small pudgy playful hand.

I stoppped looking at my phone midweek and just felt so much better for it. Do I need to make her a kitsch Christmas sweater, a stocking, a garland, an ornament, a scrap book of images that is perfectly annotated or rush around to every Santa's grotto in a ten mile radius? The thing is, she's 13 months and at the moment, it's all just wonderment and baffling to her so any small gesture is enormous to her and a mummy who can stand upright at the end of the day seems far more healthy to me. I want things to be nice and special but seeing as her current favourite thing to do is career round the kitchen with a mixing bowl on her head, I figure I've got a few years yet before I need to start the whirlwind with full gusto. I can just aim to get the mood and the magic will come, right?

So with deadlineageddon finally past I announced 'We are getting festive this weekend, dammit'. Such a perfect holiday sentiment no?

I made baby friendly mince pies using this recipe from River Cottage and store bought pastry because you know what? I don't have time in my life for pastry. I will. Just not now. I have limits.

We mulled wine and decorated with Ella swinging us through Christmas in the background.

We made a roast dinner for ultimate comfort afterwards.

Then we sank back and basked in the glory of Christmas finally arriving and I resolved that I would try hard not to succumb to the idea that the holiday season is about what I did to make it perfect rather than a holiday season that was full of love and warmth (and plenty of mulled wine- hurrah!). I felt amazingly snuggly and festive suddenly and I was surrounded by my loved ones and they all looked pretty chipper too.

Tomorrow we're going to the farmer's market to get some festive treats and let Playful Baby pet a sheep dressed as a reindeer. Yup. That's my version of queueing for hours in a shopping mall to see Father Christmas. I'm hoping little one never realises the difference...!!

Happy Holidays!

Experiments in Sugar

I was pootling round the supermarket the other day which is a very rare activity for me and because of this I got distracted. I tend to shop local, buy local and use markets and farms etc wherever possible so a trip to the supermarket usual ends in me returning with something weird and completely non essential. 

I found a non essential that looked fun. 

As a child I loved Angel Delight. It's kind of like mousse for those of you who have never had it and comes in Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry and Butterscotch flavours. There are others but those are the ones that stick in my mind. I haven't had any in years so the packaging caught my eye as I pootled along humming to myself in that way that packaging is designed to do when I'm not willfully ignoring it. 

This time, there was something different: ice cream versions? I remember making Freezy Pops from Angel Delight as a child which were something like Mini Milks. If you've never had a Mini Milk I am sad for you and offer you this virtual hug (((((hug)))))

So I brought it home with plans to add almonds and bananas for a grown up version. I had neither so I added more sugary goodness. So to recap, that's powdered dessert into milk, whipped, with biscuits and Nutella. 

Results? Well I went nuts on sugar then had the most horrific of sugar crashes. I was so excitable I clean forgot to take a picture of how the Angel Delight looked after 4 hours of freezing. 

Verdict? If you like your kids or adults twitchy and on the ceiling, give in to this guilty pleasure. If not, probably best to leave it in the realm of nostalgia and possibly get the low sugar version if you want to just see what I'm talking about.

In the interests of full disclosure I may have still been slightly buzzing when I wrote this post.

Starting Somethin'

Ok that title was meant to be about an obsession I've started but now I have the song in my head and I love it. I love the old Michael Jackson stuff, it's my favourite stuff to dance round the kitchen and sing into wooden spoons to while I'm cooking.

Yeah yeah! 

Anyway. I talked in the last podcast about my current love of simple gift knitting, stashing down and productivity. Well, it's becoming out of control. As I packed up my stash ready to move house (there were tears, I won't lie), I decided to keep a basket full of knitting so see me through the next month. I pulled out odd skeins, remnants, scraps and a few treats. 

Here's what it all looked like when I'm done. All are destined for gift knitting of some description, I just don't know what yet.

Let's delve in

A bag full of sock/ 4ply remnants. I have no idea what these want to be but they will be something of this I can be certain.

A small selection of sportweight that I'm hoping to combine into a design of... something....

A clutch of DK and Worsted weights destined to grow up into hats/ mitts etc for holiday knits. Actually, there's already some missing from that bag as I wound it so it's looking quite sparse here. Honestly, I can't keep my hands of yarn for two seconds....

A skein of awesome from Candy Skein that will be MY gift: dancing socks. 

4 skeins of an aran weight that will be my first hand knit gift for playful baby. I'm looking forward to this moment. 

Oh and let's not forget an old friend who is beginning for another arm. 

I have no idea how long this will last or whether I will stashdown everything but for now I'm pretty committed to some productivity and getting ahead for the holidays. You might be too after Ravellenics or just because. If you are, we decided to have a join in along over on the Ravelry group and there's prizes! Come play!

Tweet Tweet

I don't think I've hidden my disdain for oversharing particularly well. I often throw my hands up in the air in frustration at 140 characters summarising a person's entire feelings, character or political opinion. I avoid facebook photo sharing of children and I don't particularly like airing my laundry in public. I just feel there's something to be said for more thought and physical interaction.

However, last summer I took part in efforts to clean up a city after a troubled summer thanks to Twitter. 

Last Christmas, thanks to social media, I collected a car full of goodies for the local Women's Aid Centre and they were able to have a pamper day that made them feel that somewhere out there, people cared how they felt and what had happened to them. 

And the last week, I realised I have some pretty great people that I've met and become friends with purely based on an internet personna. Yes, I could have met an axe murderer or whatever our fears tell us is on the other side of a computer screen. But then, it's not like I'm not replying to offers to reinstall my lost millions on a spam email, I'm chatting to other knitters. 

We share information, new ideas and inspiration and if I'm honest? They've saved this week.

Between the anxiety that comes with being a first time mum, a house sale (and ALL the pitfalls and legal wranglings we've had to deal with this week), health issues and endless, endless health check ups, I've felt terribly scared. I've not been wanting to engage with friends in case they ask 'How are things going?' or 'Are you ok?' These questions would have floored me because the answer would have have been 

not. so. great. (and much wailing)

But at 4am at the start of the week, insomnia kicked my butt and I found smiles in twitter friends who also couldn't sleep. We've giggled over so many more things this week from crocheted cocoons to yarn porn. They made me SMILE and lifted me out of the walled defence I put up when I'm gritting my teeth just to get through. I can honestly say, I know some great knitters out there.

Social media makes news spread so fast that sometimes we can barely keep up. This week, it brought back smiles. I must remember that when I'm having a 'shut it down' moment over my twitter or facebook accounts. Sometimes they can just be there to share a smile and a new article you enjoyed. 

Here's one I liked this week:

Nora Ephron's Commencement Speech via HoxtonHandmade

Of Mice and Men

It's friday?

Wait.... it's Friday AFTERNOON?!?!? Well aside from the alarming fact I've not had lunch yet, I also appear to have lost the entire week. I had plans. I really did. 

I was going to write a detailed post about how I dyed this lovely.....

 .... talk about some fibre....

 ... that I accidentially bought.....

And then talk about how terrifying I found this cake. I have no idea which made it sink first- the amount of fat and dairy IN the cake or the amount on top. For the record it's Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Guiness cake and it scares the hell out of a slightly dairy intolerant girl like me. Yow.

But it's Friday? Oh nut monkies I need to go record the podcast!

Have a favourite video of mine instead.'I am a secret agent!'

Play!

I am big on play, you may have noticed. Providing the tools for play for children and adults can lead to amazing things and I watched a video last night that made me grin from start to finish. If ever a video was made to confirm the amazing potential that can be unlocked through play, this has to be it. 

It's a ten minute video so please find the time today to sit and learn about Caine and his arcade. I promise you, you'll be left smiling for the rest of the day. 

Wishing you all a playful day!

I shall call him Arty!

I meant to blog about Knitnation today, I did, I promise. However, I found this little fellow in the house that I am looking after in London and couldn't stop giggling. I mean, house sitting is all about sneak peeks behind the scene but this has to be my favourite moment- opening the kitchen cupboard to rummage for the right sized salad bowl and finding this little chap nodding at me.

I had to share!