You mentioning Tomtes. I have one sitting on my kitchen shelf looking down on us while we eat.
As children we had a book by Astrid Lindgren called Tomte Tummetot about a Tomte that lived on a farm and went around on winter nights making sure all the animals and people were safe and cozy.
If you want to see pictures look for it on Amazon. The German volumes on there come with more examples of the illustrations.
As a non-Christian (not secular, I am actively observant but in my tradition), I find the commercial flurry, particularly in fibre arts, around Advent, to be a lot to contend with. I am all for Christians observing their traditions, I think religious traditions are meaningful and important, but the new commercial expectation that everyone wants one of these, just to observe someone else’s holiday? It’s kind of othering and a bit much.
As a Christmas present to each other, my OH and I share a cheese Advent Calendar from The Cheese Shop in Settle. The first box arrived today, the next in a fortnight. Each day has a 200g or so piece of cheese (mostly British Isles but some others too) with tasting notes. It's a fabulous treat, but we regard it as a Christmas present in itself, not something separate. I do like the anticipation of Advent more than Christmas itself though, I tend to think of the Solstice as the most important day (night) and Christmas day itself can be a let down and a disappointment, especially as I'll be working on it.
Ohhhh a cheese advent calendar sounds fabulous, I'm making a note to look for a local one next year!
I also see the calendar as part of the celebrations and presents. It's nice to have an "excuse" to dive into the season's festive mood and do a little celebrating each day. 😊
Congratulations Freyalyn. You are the winner of the prize draw for a month's membership to Gather & Grow. Please could you DM me with the best email to use to set you up.🧡
Cookston Crafts in Aberdeenshire is my regular “go to” for hand dyed yarn and Claire produces beautiful advent calendars. Got my first one last year and have succumbed again. Looking forward to Sunday! Last time I made a sweater using all the mini skeins, haven’t decided what I’ll do this time. I have chosen an alpaca silk/ cashmere yarn this year, which is going to be just yummy, so I need to make sure I choose wisely!
I wonder if you have enough yarn to make yourself an advent calendar – Wrap up 24 little parcels of yarn, mix them up and number them, then every day you open them up and get a surprise of which of your own yarn (which you may have forgotten you have) you're getting to knit with! A few years ago my friend and I made each other an advent calendar. Through the year we bought, made or repurposed little items before wrapping up and swapping in November. It was such a joy to unwrap every day.
I want to do this so so much. I'm going to have to rope a friend into doing it with me, sounds like so much fun for the entire year. And I bet you made some lovely memories along the way 💙
It took a fair amount of time but spread over the year meant it wasn’t too pressured and it was so fun to open a gift each day and message each other about it.
I'm not buying Advent calendars, but I am participating in two Advent practices. One is for writing is from Anna Brones on Substack. The other is for my origami tessellation art. It's a daily practice called the 25 Days of Advent Tessellation from @gatheringfolds. It's geared to less experienced participants and the goal is to establish a short daily practice. It's @gatheringfolds third year of doing it and this year the momentum increased by a lot. I love doing it and it's helped my regular practice considerably.
I saw an Advent on etsy that was left over yarn. I like that idea someone is done with a skein and wants to send it along to some one else. It was also very reasonably priced, less than $40 US. I was tempted but I need to get through some of what I have before buying more and I know I have a holiday box coming from a small fiber mill later in the month that is going to be from my husband as my Christmas gift.
I have two advent things. A Diamine ink advent calendar because it is a black one this year and also filled with lots of colours of ink; and a Bonne maman calendar as I love that brand and have been tempted for far too many years. I figure an edibles one will be good as it can be shared with my husband and also leave us with not too much left over things.
Oh I just love love love that you sent advent calendar treats to your boys, that's so sweet! 🥲 ❤️
I've bought one this year - it's a mystery game that gives you a riddle and clues every day. You have to solve the riddle to get to the next door. It sounds like a lot of fun, since my husband and I love games. I ordered it too late, and it's going to arrive December 3, so we'll be starting with a bang 😂
I also have a simpler one that's just some cardboard boxes to assemble and fill with chocolates or small treats (I found some mini jars of Nutella that are so so cute 😍), but I'm yet to assemble it. I usually like to do holidays prep well in advance, but this year has taken me for a ride, so I'm being patient and going with the flow 😅😊❤️✨
I made myself a yarn advent calendar this year and used it...in August. I guess it was an Olympic advent because I started the project while watching sports. I used it to make a blanket for my 16-year-old and she uses it all the time. First yarn advent experience was a win! I have a sack of remnants that were smaller than 20 grams, so I probably have another one ready for when I want to work on something like that again. I have a blanket started using your mitered square recipe...I should finish that!
I LOVE the idea of advent stitch markers! I've never done a yarn advent, mostly because I want to choose what comes into my "stash" not have it foisted upon me, but I'd be into getting surprise stitch markers.
You mentioning Tomtes. I have one sitting on my kitchen shelf looking down on us while we eat.
As children we had a book by Astrid Lindgren called Tomte Tummetot about a Tomte that lived on a farm and went around on winter nights making sure all the animals and people were safe and cozy.
If you want to see pictures look for it on Amazon. The German volumes on there come with more examples of the illustrations.
Oh thank you. I'll check that out. I've become quite enchanted with these little folk and have been reading all sorts of folk tales about them.
Have you read about the Icelandic christmas lads? They are Nisse who visit over the christmas period and can be quite mischievous.
Oh, I missed the Icelandic ones. Thank you, I'll have a read
As a non-Christian (not secular, I am actively observant but in my tradition), I find the commercial flurry, particularly in fibre arts, around Advent, to be a lot to contend with. I am all for Christians observing their traditions, I think religious traditions are meaningful and important, but the new commercial expectation that everyone wants one of these, just to observe someone else’s holiday? It’s kind of othering and a bit much.
As a Christmas present to each other, my OH and I share a cheese Advent Calendar from The Cheese Shop in Settle. The first box arrived today, the next in a fortnight. Each day has a 200g or so piece of cheese (mostly British Isles but some others too) with tasting notes. It's a fabulous treat, but we regard it as a Christmas present in itself, not something separate. I do like the anticipation of Advent more than Christmas itself though, I tend to think of the Solstice as the most important day (night) and Christmas day itself can be a let down and a disappointment, especially as I'll be working on it.
Ohhhh a cheese advent calendar sounds fabulous, I'm making a note to look for a local one next year!
I also see the calendar as part of the celebrations and presents. It's nice to have an "excuse" to dive into the season's festive mood and do a little celebrating each day. 😊
Congratulations Freyalyn. You are the winner of the prize draw for a month's membership to Gather & Grow. Please could you DM me with the best email to use to set you up.🧡
We have a Sostrene and grene in our town and I haven’t been in for ages. I think Christmas is the perfect time for a new visit!
They have some fabulous things and v reasonably priced as well. I bought some winter tea from them as well and it's delicious
Cookston Crafts in Aberdeenshire is my regular “go to” for hand dyed yarn and Claire produces beautiful advent calendars. Got my first one last year and have succumbed again. Looking forward to Sunday! Last time I made a sweater using all the mini skeins, haven’t decided what I’ll do this time. I have chosen an alpaca silk/ cashmere yarn this year, which is going to be just yummy, so I need to make sure I choose wisely!
https://www.cookstoncrafts.com/
Oh wow, thank you for the link. They have some beautiful things there 🩷
I wonder if you have enough yarn to make yourself an advent calendar – Wrap up 24 little parcels of yarn, mix them up and number them, then every day you open them up and get a surprise of which of your own yarn (which you may have forgotten you have) you're getting to knit with! A few years ago my friend and I made each other an advent calendar. Through the year we bought, made or repurposed little items before wrapping up and swapping in November. It was such a joy to unwrap every day.
Oh, that's such a good idea. Thank you. I might rope my husband in to help so it's a proper surprise on each day
Yay! I’d love to see pics if you go ahead with it and fancy sharing 🧶
I want to do this so so much. I'm going to have to rope a friend into doing it with me, sounds like so much fun for the entire year. And I bet you made some lovely memories along the way 💙
It took a fair amount of time but spread over the year meant it wasn’t too pressured and it was so fun to open a gift each day and message each other about it.
I'm not buying Advent calendars, but I am participating in two Advent practices. One is for writing is from Anna Brones on Substack. The other is for my origami tessellation art. It's a daily practice called the 25 Days of Advent Tessellation from @gatheringfolds. It's geared to less experienced participants and the goal is to establish a short daily practice. It's @gatheringfolds third year of doing it and this year the momentum increased by a lot. I love doing it and it's helped my regular practice considerably.
Oh wow. The tesselation one in particular sounds fascinating
I saw an Advent on etsy that was left over yarn. I like that idea someone is done with a skein and wants to send it along to some one else. It was also very reasonably priced, less than $40 US. I was tempted but I need to get through some of what I have before buying more and I know I have a holiday box coming from a small fiber mill later in the month that is going to be from my husband as my Christmas gift.
I have two advent things. A Diamine ink advent calendar because it is a black one this year and also filled with lots of colours of ink; and a Bonne maman calendar as I love that brand and have been tempted for far too many years. I figure an edibles one will be good as it can be shared with my husband and also leave us with not too much left over things.
I'm a big Bonne Maman fan too - although I think I enjoy the jars as much as I enjoy eating the contents 🤣
Oh I just love love love that you sent advent calendar treats to your boys, that's so sweet! 🥲 ❤️
I've bought one this year - it's a mystery game that gives you a riddle and clues every day. You have to solve the riddle to get to the next door. It sounds like a lot of fun, since my husband and I love games. I ordered it too late, and it's going to arrive December 3, so we'll be starting with a bang 😂
I also have a simpler one that's just some cardboard boxes to assemble and fill with chocolates or small treats (I found some mini jars of Nutella that are so so cute 😍), but I'm yet to assemble it. I usually like to do holidays prep well in advance, but this year has taken me for a ride, so I'm being patient and going with the flow 😅😊❤️✨
I made myself a yarn advent calendar this year and used it...in August. I guess it was an Olympic advent because I started the project while watching sports. I used it to make a blanket for my 16-year-old and she uses it all the time. First yarn advent experience was a win! I have a sack of remnants that were smaller than 20 grams, so I probably have another one ready for when I want to work on something like that again. I have a blanket started using your mitered square recipe...I should finish that!
I LOVE the idea of advent stitch markers! I've never done a yarn advent, mostly because I want to choose what comes into my "stash" not have it foisted upon me, but I'd be into getting surprise stitch markers.