Snowflakes in the Sun

I hope everybody had a wonderful holiday.
I spent a lot of time motoring around the Western Australian countryside visiting family and eating scrumptious food. I received some truly beautiful hand crafted presents (which I'll save for another post) and gave some crochet snowflakes that I made myself:



The top snowflake is made out of 4 ply metallic thread and the following two are crocheted out of 4 ply cotton:






I sprinkled lots of glitter over them too:



Of course, in a hot, summery Australian Christmas, real snow is no where to be seen but we love our northern traditions and my snowflakes were a bit of a hit. I had lots of requests from family who wanted one of their own. Luckily, the pattern for the first snowflake is really quick and easy so I managed to crochet four after lunch on Boxing Day, in between drinking white wine, eating chocolate fondue and catching up with my cousins!
(See, easy.)
For those of you who might be interested for next Christmas, I bought the patterns, called the Miniature Snowflake Set, from Crochet Memories.

I also crocheted a snowflake dishcloth as part of a Ravelry swap:

This was also a quick, easy pattern.
The recipient, my partner mooska, said lots of lovely things about the package I sent her. Thank you!

As part of the swap, I received a gorgeous collection of goodies from the talented Joeyn. She sent me a festive, knitted Santa dishcloth, some fragrant, hand~made soap (which smells like it’s been scented with cloves…mmmmmmm…), a super~cute pudding tree ornament, some delicious home~made Christmas cake and stitch markers which she made herself (with her daughter’s assistance) out of beautiful glass beads.

Here’s a close~up of the pudding and the stitch~markers. Aren’t they pretty?

I love participating in swaps! I've received some delightful work in them, felt that my handiwork has been truly appreciated and I've made some great, creative friends.

Since Christmas, and its flurry of activity, I've given myself permission to go easy.

I've been reading, reading, reading... I'm currently enjoying Alain de Botton's excellent Status Anxiety, Pema Chodron's The Places That Scare You and Emily Rodda's Deltora Quest. Drusilla Modjeska's The Orchard, Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life Of Bees are waiting, stacked invitingly, on my bedside table.

I've been spending early mornings in my garden. The gardenias and honeysuckle are in blossom right now. I have little nosegays of them, along with daisies and the last of the nasturtiums, throughout my home. I adore their scent.

After months of neglect, I've picked up my Easy Daisy blanket again:

and I've been napping a lot with the cat:

who's loved the company.

I hope you all have a wonderful, restful New Year
or,
as my mother would say,
a guid new year to ane an' a'
an' mony may ye see!

Blessings.
x