December 24th

I'm old school when it comes to advent calendars, they end on December 24th, after all we get plenty of excitement n the 25th.
I'm also traditional when it comes to my advent calendar blogposts. I always finish the posts with a bit of a request.
In this most commercial time of year, take a look at the world around us, appreciate how wonderful it is.



We live in a beautiful planet, do your bit to help. Walk instead of drive, buy less stuff in packaging that can't be re-used or recycled, volunteer your time to help others less fortunate than yourself.

If you can't do any of that, and feel like Christmas has been generous to you and yours maybe spare a bit of cash for your favourite charity. You may have your charity of choice you donate to, and that's fab, but if you've enjoyed the last month of posts then I'd love it if you donated something to the p/hop project, there's a little widget over on the sidebar to the right, and all the money goes to MSF, a charity who I trust to spend my cash wisely, to help as many people as possible.

December 23rd

Right about now I'm settling back with the cooking, my favourite drinks, and some Christmas TV.
I'm probably also thinking what I might get for myself for Christmas (lets face it, sometimes some lovely relatives choose to give much welcome cash rather than a gift, it only seems right to spend it on something nice!)
I make no secret of the fact that I love my Knit picks/Pro interchangeable needles, I bought them when I first started knitting, and I think they're one of the wisest investments I ever made.

However the case supplied is a but "meh" it does the job, but it's not pretty.

The wonderful picperfic makes beautiful needle cases, so much detail and thought has been put in to these, they'd be something to bring you pleasure for years to come.

December 22nd

Today I'm going to share a couple of my photos, Meg is your classically beautiful border collie, and she loves the snow.
This is her and Gwen last December, when they had a whale of a time in the foot of snow we got.

We had some of these pictures made in to cards to sell on our market stall in Machynlleth, Meg goes with us, and people get a bit of a shock when they realise the dog peeking out from under the stall is the same as the one in the cards!

Meg and Gwen love playing in the snow and while this year isn't looking like being a white Christmas, here's hoping we get some snow, because I can't wait to watch them playing.

December 21st

What's not to like about these pretty flowers, done in red they'd look like Poinsettia flowers, done in white they look sort of like snowflakes.

You can find the link to the blog for instructions here.

The last fresh fibre for this year went up on Etsy last night, I shall be posting parcels on the 22nd December, and hopefully on the 27th (though I'm not 100% certain my post office will be open). I'll also send them on the 29th, things will get back to normal on the 3rd January.
First thing on my list will be the fibre for the first Fibre Club parcels.
Merry Christmas everyone, and thank you for helping to make HilltopCloud such a success this year.

December 19th

These look delicous, though I think I might leave out the bacon part.... however I'm a sucker for marshmallow goo, chuck in some whisky, and I'm happy!
You can find the recipe here

December 18th

I mentioned Paper snowflakes a few days ago, but I've long since lost my link for the site where I found the print outs you can use to make them. However I've managed to track down some different tutorials. Making the snowflakes this way is super easy, it tels you how to fold the paper, and you just cut along the lines.

You can find one set of printouts here, and some more here

December 17th

If you're the sort of person who makes their christmas cake then around now you're probably thinking about icing it.
This cake just ticks all my boxes, super simple, elegant, and rather unusual.

You can find the original photo here

December 16th

Today brings an idea for a decoration. Some very sweet snowmen, you could make the scarves out of colours to match your Christmas colour scheme, which in our house just so happens to be, anything goes....

You can find the full pattern here

December 15th

If you're in to handmade gifts and know people who like to create and make things this blog has a great collection of things to gift in jars, not so great if you need to post your presents, but a really sweet gifting idea.



This would be a really useful, yet pretty way to gift someone a sewing kit, usable amounts of thread rather than the tiny amounts you get in some kits, some proper size safety pins, buttons that you wouldn't mind sewing on to something, and scissors that will actually cut!



This idea I could see being transformed for some friends I have that are in to biking, a few energy gels, some nice flapjack, and a bit of investigation to find out the size and make of inner tube they use and you have a present that is actually useful, and nicely presented. If you wanted you could throw in a subscription to a good magazine, I've bought Singletrack subscriptions for a few people and they've all been really pleased with it.

December 14th

I love good hot chocolate, I love it even more topped with marshmallows, so this is my idea of heaven!



You can find full details of how to make (though I'm sure you could work it out anyway) by looking here

December 13th

It never quite gets cold enough here for this to happen, though last year was pretty chilly!
This beautiful photo is of Frozen bubbles in the Canadian Rockies. Photo by Emmanuel Coupe, and originally came from here

December 12th

Another recipe today, how about some homemade fudge as a Christmas present, much better than yet another box of commercial chocolates.



You can fine 3 different recipes (including a fool proof one) here

December 11th

Another Make for today, these look really quick and easy, and should store well for future years.



You can find the pdf pattern, and instructions here

December 9th

This might not quite make it in time for Christmas, but this is a perfect gift for a knitter!
It's a decent size, and a reminder, that with a bit of faith, anything is possible.

You can buy it from School House Press, jus scroll down the page a little.

December 7th

Aren't these Christmassy?
They're traditional German biscuits, sort of a cross between a macaroon and a meringue, the original recipe has cinnamon in it, we can't stand cinnamon here, so I'm thinking with nutmeg they might be nice.

You can find the recipe here

December 6th

I like my food, in fact I more than like my food, I love really good food!
I also like my sweets, but I'm quite fussy about them, I'd rather not eat chocolate than eat rubbish ones!!

And these happen to look like very good ones.



You can buy them from this Edinburgh based Etsy shop- ZukrBoutique

December 5th

It was around this time last year that I ended up snowed in for nearly a week...

The snow combined with a chest infection meant that I went a little stir crazy stuck inside. Every year I make paper snowflakes to stick on the window, but this year maybe I'll change it up a little and make some paper chains.

December 4th

Both an idea for a make if you're crafty, or a place to buy it if you're short on time.

Rice filled fleece pockets, you put them in the microwave for 25 seconds, and you have re-usable handwarmers, perfect for keeping your hands warm in chilly weather. If you're handy with a sewing machine these would be dead quick to make, if not you can buy them for a really reasonable sum here

December 3rd

Making an entire large scale Christmas Stocking on this short notice might be pushing it a little, however, stockings on this scale would be very do-able.

You can find the pattern, by the lovely coopknits (Rachel Coopey) here.

December 2nd

This will be the view from my workshop next year, it's looking across our valley on to the hillside opposite. It's a pretty typical winter view, with that half light you get when the sun never really rises very high in the sky.
I am so very lucky to be surrounded by beautiful scenery, some of it will be inspiring my fibre club in the New Year, it might be a few more months before I'll be prepping the fibre in my new workspace though.