Christmas rush

It's a long time since I posted. I have been very busy spinning, knitting and soap making. I am making 80 Kg of soap before Christmas. This is going down to Devon and then to Shanghai to be sold in a chain of beauty product stores. Only 3 days of soap making left and then I hand it over to my Son-in-Law.

I don't really want to spend all my time making soap. I want to spend more time spinning and experimenting with different fibres and blends. I have started making a chunky jacket in Jacob's Fleece. I have finished the back and just started the front. I will take a picture and post it soon.

This week I have been renovating a vintage dolls house for my Granddaughter Rowan. It is quite cute, but was a bit dated, and a la 'Homes under the Hammer', it is being totally refurbed. I have taken off the front so it can open up that way as well as the roof and top storey coming off. I also ripped out the wall between kitchen and dining room and am turning round the kitchen units to make more room. New carpets, new paint, including the outside which is now white and will have black trim. Most of the painting is done now, so tomorrow I will start to put it back together again.

I have also been knitting a blue teddy for Rowan in eyelash yarn and a hat in Big Wool for Casie. I finished Sarah's present last week.

We now have 3 guinea pigs. Mr Quiggles we bought in October and he is quite big now. His fur is mostly white and stands out sideways. The 2 new boys came from our local animal feed depot, they are brothers and the owner's wife didn't want to separate them so we had both for the price of one. They are smooth coated apart form a rosette on their heads. Frodo is mostly dark brown, Bilbo is white and ginger. They are cute little boys.

The chickens are well, we still have 8 babies, now all grown up. The rest we will sell in the Spring as laying pairs. The garden is a mud heap now, so we are looking for some wood chips to cover everything to soak up the wet.

I have lost several bunnies, I am down to 9 now. Truffle died very unexpectedly as I was brushing her. One moment she was alive, the next she went limp. Her son Citrine did much the same thing, although he was still alive until I took him out into the kitchen. I wonder if it is something hereditary. Emerald also died suddenly, I just found her dead when I went to feed them one morning. It is very strange.

I have just bought a parlour cabinet from a ladly who phoned me to ask if I still rehomed sewing machines, I said I did, but didn't pay very much for treadles as I had too many already. I paid her £10, but told her I would pay her another £20 when I sold a machine after Christmas. It is a Singer 28 cabinet, but the Victorian decals are very worn, and so is the rest of the machine. I decided to keep this and sell the Singer 28 open treadle I have. I have put my Ottoman Carnation Singer 28 in it and it looks lovely. It needs a bit of tlc, a section of veneer needs replacing, another section along the back needs glueing down and the top needs stripping and refinishing.

I just got some needles for the Singer 206, they came from America, and it was still cheaper than buying them here. 20 needles for £7 from USA and 4 for £6.60 here. I don't think I will have time to try it out before  Christmas.

I am so looking forward to relaxing after Christmas, just putting a few sewing machines and some knitting machine parts on eBay, spinning, knitting myself a load of new sweaters and cardigans (most of mine need dumping), knitting some sweaters and a cardigan for Rowie.