I only made two Christmas presents this year. The pink Wee Chickadee by Ysolda, for my great-niece Kelsie (in her Baby Claus outfit below), and a blue snowflake Wee Chickadee for my great-nephew Curtis. I finished sewing the buttons on Kelsie's cardigan on Christmas Eve, and only managed to knit half of one sleeve on Curtis's cardigan. It turned out I wouldn't be seeing him on Christmas Day so I decided to put it aside and finish it for the next time I'll be down visiting and give it to him then. I think the whole of Kelsie's cardigan works really well. I love the colour combination and the dark pink sparkly buttons.
I decided, three weeks before Christmas, to join Slimming World. I did Weightwatchers successfully a few years ago and lost two and a half stones in five months. I kept it off for a good couple of years, then with life changes put a stone and a half back on again. I did briefly return to Weightwatchers a couple of years ago, in which time their programme had changed, but somehow never really took to the new Propoints system.
Every year I get to December and feel sick of the glut and over-indulgence that is happening in the run up to Christmas. And when I noticed a colleague had lost weight I asked her what she was doing, and she explained Slimming World to me. It caught my imagination and I joined a couple of weeks later.
Having done both now, I would say Weightwatchers is easier if you need to grab ready meals (most supermarkets do a range and it's easy to work out how many points there are in a product) but I actually much prefer Slimming World now. It is making me cook for the first time ever! (And actually the results are delicious!) It means planning ahead a bit more, but essentially there is no weighing and counting on lots of food I already really like and eat. The only thing I have to count is a few treats a day. There are 5-15 syns available each day, and, of course, I spend all of mine on chocolate and sugar-related items. The mince pie is home-made and only three and a half syns each, and the Mikado chocolate stick is half a syn. The violet cream is three syns (and totally worth it).
This is Kelsie in her Baby Claus outfit on Christmas Day. She is nine months old now and is turning out to be a sweet girl.
She loved the Chocolate Yule Log when dessert was brought out.
Today is the first day in a long time that I don't have to go anywhere or do anything (except clean out the chickens!). I'm fighting off a cold (sore throat, heavy head) and have a twitch in my eye that I only get when I am extremely tired. I don't intend achieving anything today except for sprawling on the couch, maybe reading a book, or listening to the vintage Christmas murder mystery I downloaded from Audible, drinking hot tea and letting everything go. (Like Elsa in Frozen, which I watched for the first time today.)
**Update - Kelsie wearing her Wee Chickadee cardigan and looking gorgeous in it.
This scarf took only a few evenings to complete. It's knitted in Rowan Cocoon. Really soft and luxurious.
I forgot I'd knitted 2x2 rib at the first end and duly knitted 1x1 rib at the second end.I unknitted rather than ripping back, so all the stitches would remain turned the right way when it came to reknitting.
I love the colours.
