One Month to Get Back to Normal- Ha!

I was so optimistic. Just over a month and things were getting back to normal- suuure they were.
It took longer than a month, that's for certain. It wasn't until after Christmas and the holidays, the trip to Cuba for my brother's wedding and the week off from work that I really started feeling back to normal. The chores that were exhausting after the wedding are starting to get done again, the apartment is... well, it's not clean, but it's better, and I'm actually able to start taking on other responsibilities again. I'm even doing things like joining a ball hockey team.

So apologies for the long delay. Hopefully now I will be properly back. Here's a few of the things I did while I was absent from the blog.

I am so proud of the veil, and excited about the photos I got of it- mostly the ones from our pro photographer.
Here it is just after finishing.

Here is the blocking process- it looked so cool while I was blocking it!

Check out the detail of the row of beads I added- I also beaded the picot edging.

And here it is being shown off at my wedding with some of my stitching friends looking on. They admired it suitably. 

And some Christmas gifts! This was for my sister in law- it's a squishy washable wool. The pattern was really fun to do, and I hope she'll get use out of it.

 

This rather boring but soft and warm hat is for my big brother. Hopefully he likes it- Andrew liked it enough to request one for himself, and I know my other brother wears his a lot.

 

I made this hat for my best friend with some yarn I'd been drooling over. I was seriously tempted to keep it myself, though. I love how it turned out, and I love the colours. I really want to make myself something from this yarn (it's a new colour of Sirdar Folksong Chunky, striped with white in Patons Shetland Chunky if you're curious).

But the presents I am most proud of are the ones I made for my amazing little nephews. They were visiting from China for both my wedding and my brother's wedding, and I had so much fun with them. This little sweater and the blanket are from Beastly Crochet, and they were a lot of fun.

I especially loved making this blanket. Even though I had very little time and had to really push myself to finish it, it was so cool watching all the robots take shape.

It was also neat to learn a bit of embroidery as I added all the details on to it.

As predicted, the 1 year old and the almost-3 year old didn't care a bit about their presents, but everyone else was suitably impressed. Really, I made them for me. I knew the kids wouldn't care, but I'm so happy to have made them something special.

I had such a wonderful time with my nephews- during the time they were around, I got to know them a lot better and by the end of our time together, even the little one would grin and point to me if you asked who Auntie Lynn was. 

Possibly the best thing I got this year was the last day with the older one- he wanted to ride the bus with Auntie Lynn to the airport, and we got to snuggle up and talk about what lives in the ocean, and who lived in the houses, and tell stories. Then he came wandering back over to my seat on the plane and wanted to climb onto my lap and hear more stories, which I was all to happy to provide.

It was a great New Year's for me, I only hope the rest of the year continues to be this great!