♥ 'Twas the night....

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse....'
~ ♥ ~
Our little 'Christmas Visitor' arrived a couple of days ago..
wearing snowballs on her boots and decorations of red winter berries
...bringing good wishes for the festive season...
(She's really quite magical and can sit prettily anywhere she is placed
...something I shall be investigating further in the New Year!)

Cards have been posted and presents are wrapped..
Candles and fairy lights twinkle merrily, trees have been decorated...
(the one above is in my workroom....
I painted some wooden decorations in cranberry, duck egg
and ivory and now I''d just like to keep it there forever..it's so pretty!)
~ ♥ ~

Peace now reigns over the tearoom...

with good food and the best company being the order of the day
~ ♥ ~ 

My lovely girls are home from uni

which is the best present I could wish for...

~ ♥ ~ 

  As the clock quietly ticks towards the magic hour this
Christmas Eve
I'd like to add a link to a wonderful charity that I became aware of
through the fundraising work of a lovely customer
(who has her own rescued greyhounds
...the very beautiful Millie and Tom!)
The Retired Greyhound Trust
which you can visit through the link here

(My surprise Xmas card which arrived in the post yesterday!)

...and my lovely friend's local branch

can be found here

A wonderful charity doing amazing work

~ ♥ ~

Wishing all dear friends both old and new...
Merry Christmas
and 
Happy New Year
~ ♥ ~

P.S Do you remember the exquisite Lady Peahen?
After no visits for quite a few weeks now...
yesterday morning when I went into my workroom...
there she was, standing by the doors....it made my day!

I'm sure she was calling to wish us a Merry Christmas
....waiting there so patiently..
and yes, she's looking very fine indeed..xx

~ ♥ ~ 

♥ Romeo...

Can I introduce you to 

♥ Romeo ?

He is my little alpaca brown baby bear

in vintage style

and he's unbelievably soft, warm and huggable,,.

He has a little 'button' heart in his ear....

wears a 'Hearts and Kisses' jumper ...

and has wooden heart buttons on his braces and boots...
(I do love him in just his breeches and braces!)

I love the soft, shabby quality of the alpaca too

and have used one of the most reasonably priced alpaca yarns.
(all details in the pattern)

There are lots of suppliers out there

and these natural shades are readily available..

so lots of choice...

(and any leftovers can be used for Tearoom Mice!)

I always do a quick little sketch to work from before I begin

.....it definitely helps me to see things clearly 

(Sorry about the colours here...my Caran d'Ache pencils

just don't like my camera...but it gives you an idea of how I like to work!

His breeches are a very easy knit...

just one piece and they will also fit Candy and the Tearoom rabbits

with a centre back seam to accommodate a bunny tail!

Ah yes....there he is in the background

checking out his Walking Boots...forgot he was there
until I was about to take this pic and now it's a favourite...

..and the

♥ Romeo Bear'

knitting pattern

is now available in my ETSY shop

(celebrating a new milestone of over 5000 sales!)

on RAVELRY and here in the TEAROOM Shop

(downloads from the TEAROOM shop 
can also be saved to your Ravelry library)

♥

I've had so much fun designing Romeo...

Lots of things have been considered along the way...

To knit him in just his breeches

it will only take 3 x 50gm balls..

Lots of choices within the pattern
as to time and cost ...

and lots more pics

♥

Thank you

to

chipper nelly

(click to visit)
for my beautiful

♥Romeo Blocks

which made taking the pics so much fun!
You can visit Fee's gorgeous 
chipper nelly shop 
here

(I had a great time doing our swap Fee
and being part of the crafty sisterhood is a great thing indeed!)

♥

Well, I've been completely absorbed in my knitting recently...

so much so that I have almost forgotten the time!

I've tried to keep up with everyone's
blog posts whenever possible but promise to do
lots more catch up over the next few days...

I do love to visit you
and never fail to learn something new along the way!

♥

More news....

Ashley has been home from beautiful Madrid for the weekend

which was a wonderful treat!

I have to say my lovely Leah makes regular trips home

from uni to keep me company in between times
Fortunately, she's not very far away

and is home now for a few days
...so no need for me to complain!

♥

And finally...

A couple of weeks ago I was invited by Kathleen of

Save the Children

to an afternoon with

Debbie Bliss

to help launch the first ever 

'Christmas Jumper Day'

On December 14^th, over 250,000 people

(and still counting!)

from celebrities to children, 

will wear a winter woolly and make a £1 donation to life-saving work 

More information can be found here.

♥

Unfortunately, I was unable to be there on this occasion..

but here is the link to some fun 'knitty' projects

if you would like to take part in your own way

and raise some money for this very worthy cause...
(checkout the little egg cosy jumpers!)

♥

Thank you Kathleen for the invitation...

and yes, it will be lovely

to be kept in the loop for future events!

♥

This seems the perfect time too

to also say thank you for the wonderful invitations

to submit my patterns/ become an attached designer

to knitting and craft magazines both here and abroad

and other very unexpected offers
(It's true...life is full of surprises!)

I feel I'm on a magic carpet here....

♥ ♥ ♥

Thank you as always for calling by

I always love to read your comments

♥

Hope you have a great week
everyone
(I've just realised Xmas is just around the corner!)