Christmas madness is upon us!

I love Christmas, I really do! I can't wait to put the tree and the decorations up, nothing would cheer me up more on these cold dark days.

But at this time of the year, being crafty is both a blessing and a curse. Yes, I love that I can make Christmas presents rather than settle for the shop bought stuff. But now that people have gotten used to getting handmade presents, I crumble a little under the weight of their expectations.

Like each year, I start the making process at the end of the summer. And like each year, I reach the end of November and have to admit defeat, I have yet again given myself too much to do and something's gotta give.

Things are particularly stressful this year because I've arranged for a small selection of my cocktail rings to be on sale in the Sugarlesque boutique in Kingly court from 1 December (there's a hint in there!) so I need to make sure I have the stock ready. And in a moment of temporary insanity, I've agreed to (wo)man a stall at the Redfest Christmas fair in Bristol on 18 December. It's a great opportunity for me to meet local people but it's a small community project and the products I will be selling will have to be at a much lower price point than my rings. That means having to create a whole new stock between now and then! What was I thinking?

This is not to say that I haven't accomplished quite a bit already. I've managed to finish all my Christmas baking last weekend, the puddings have been steamed for 8 hours and I have plenty of mincemeat waiting to be turned into pies.

I have six nephews and Santa is bringing them all a pair of felted slippers to keep their little footsies warm. I've almost finished knitting them, next I'll have to stitch them together, throw them in the washing machine to felt and then stretch on the lasts and leave to dry.

Miss Marple finds the pile of slippers very comfy indeed!

Oh, and I've managed to knit this lovely chunky snood in Patons Fab Big and learnt a new stitch in the process!

But with December now looming, I have to resign myself to the fact that that's probably as much as I'll manage this year and I'd better start hitting the shops to find the presents I still miss...