Karen

A water colour painting of what could be two koi carp or two goldfish.

This was a fun tutorial to follow. #Painting

A pair of multi motif colourwork Noridc style handknit socks in dsrk green, pink, red, gold and white. Motifs include holly, snowflakes, reindeer, presents, trees, Ho ho ho and bells.

New socks. #knitting

Generally I think that this year I need to spread my time more evenly about my hobbies and not spend so much time knitting!

Have started 2025 by trying to do as much of the Guardian Cryptic Crossword as I can each day.
This is currently taking hours, so not sure I'll have time to continue this once I get back to work...

Today has not gone according to plan. The weekly trip upstairs to do my neighbours online shop turned into a pharmacy trip because she had run out of medication but hadn't done anything about it.
Karma means I'll have a neighbour like me when I'm 91, right?

A collage of my handknits from 2024 including socks, gnomes, tops - but mainly socks and gnomes!

Photos of some of my 2024 projects.
Yearly total was (I didn't take photos of all of them!):
Adult tops: 2
Baby cardigans: 2
Gnomes: 6
Cacti: 2
Trainer socks: 4 pairs
Long socks pairs: 9.5 pairs (ask my sister about the lost sock!)
Hats: 1
Gloves: 1 pair
Birds: 5

#knitting
🧶

All three shots show a gonk style santa. He has a droopy hat and long flat legs. In this picture he is sat down with his legs straight in front.

All three shots show a gonk style santa. He has a droopy hat and long flat legs. In this picture he is perched on the back of an armchair with his legs dangling straight.

All three shots show a gonk style santa. He has a droopy hat and long flat legs. In this picture he is perched on the back of an armchair with his legs crossed.

Last knit of 2024 complete. #knitting 🧶

A pair of feet wearing handknit self striping Christmas socks with a pair of half knit colourwork Christmas socks on sock blockers in the background.

Merry Christmas. Wishing you and yours a peaceful day.
(Christmas socks not quite finished in time this year!)

A large fabric drawstring bag which has been made with Christmas fabric (poinsettias and other foliage) There is a present in the bag but you can't see what it is. There is a spinning wheel in the background, the present is almost as tall as the spinning wheel.

And making new larger fabric bags (or in this case almost a sack) for my nephew's present. (It's been ages since I've got my sewing machine out. Only French seams and a drawstring channel, but good fun make nonetheless. #HandmadeChristmas

Four handlettered cards in a blue theme. The fronts say: Dear Autocorrect, it's never a duck. I speak fluent sarcasm. Oops, did I just roll my eyes out loud? Relax we're all crazy, it's not a competition.

Final handmade gift making. #handmadecards #HandmadeChristmas

A cup of coffee is on a pub table. I'm holding the book Can Reindeer Fly? The Science of Christmas.

Now I'm prepared to start thinking about Christmas.

Four watercolour card fronts. One snowman, one gonk, and two with hanging spherical ornaments.

A morning of painting for family Christmas cards. #handmadecards

A stack of red envelopes with second class stamps on them. What can't be seen is they all contain handmade cards.

Starting the holidays with a trip to the postbox.

A box of red (and a few green) envelopes. It's not obvious but each envelope contains a handmade card.

They are done. 40 handmade cards. Minus the one I posted to Australia.
#HandmadeChristmas #HandmadeCards

A colourwork sock in progress. Motifs are holly leaves, snowflakes and reindeer.

It's growing #knitting

Handknit sock with green cuff, candy cane pattern block and then holly leaf pattern block with red berries.

[Mystery Sock Along spoiler.]

Advent mystery sock along is progressing nicely. #knitting

I'm certainly losing the will to make Christmas cards this year...
Decorations with gift tags attached works just as well, right? #HandmadeChristmas

Anyone else over committed on "advent" activities?
Trying decide the level of importance of the ones I want to do.

A hand knitted gnome dressed as a Christmas tree, with a green hat and dress. Tinsel around the hat and a star on the top. She has bright pink braids.

My niece asked for a female gnome in Christmas tree fancy dress. Did I hit the brief?😂
#knitting

A small handknit bird made out of Christmas self striping yarn.

Christmas knitting continues. On to decorations now. #knitting

The book On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder is held in the leather gloves hand against a pavement background

If you have an hour to spare. This is a good read.

The right hand glove. Hand knitted in Christmas self striping yarn. There is a patch of metal thread duplicate stitched on the index finger and thumb.

The left hand glove. Hand knitted in Christmas self striping yarn.

Christmas gloves complete. Conductive thread added to the finger and thumb on the right hand to help with phone usage in the colder weather. #knitting

Christmas card making us going slow this year. I'm upto 23, I usually make 40.
I might be crochet snowflakes with gift tags attached this year for the majority. 😂

@venite I know - with no yarn management either... Hoping I can be as lucky with the other hand!

One handknit glove - slightly out of focus. Knitted in a Christmas self striping yarn of dark green with candy stripe patterns in between (red and white, yellow and white, rust and white).

One glove done - I'm still not much of a fan of knitting fingers... #knitting

A task on sketching factorised quadratic. The final coln was blank but now has hand written quadratic inequalities that the sketches can be used to solve.

In #MathsToday we explored quadratic inequalities by first sketching graphs and then looking at the inequalities and the regions that satisfied them.
With apologies for the inconsistent highlighting.
#mtbos

In other news (mainly I just need to vent).
My elderly neighbour who I've been visiting weekly to do an online shop for, for 7 years, has finally ceased to be able to write me a list. So now I have to peer in the larder, fridge, freezer to decide what food I think she needs for the next 7 days.

A pair of handknit colourwork socks. Purple ghosts with a pink self striping background. This view is of the leg and top of the feet.

A pair of handknit colourwork socks. Purple ghosts with a pink self striping background. This view is a side view. You can see a purple shirt row heel and a criss cross pattern on the sole.

A pair of handknit colourwork socks. Purple ghosts with a pink self striping background. This view is of the sole of a single sock. It has a criss cross pattern a small ghost motif in the centre of the sole.

They are finished. #handknitsocks #knitting

3 inches of twisted rib knitted in Christmas themed self striping yarn for the cuff of a glove.

Christmas gloves underway. #knitting

@icecolbeveridge I forgotten you were around on Friday when I was casting the gloves on, so until about 5 minutes ago (when I remembered) I've been silently amazed at your 72 stitches statement earlier today! 🤣