Spoiler alert – Carlene don’t read this if you still want a total surprise via the post!

For everyone else – please read on….

Regular readers will know that a group of us have an international card exchange each year and, as you have rightly guessed (too easy, so no prizes!), I was paired with Carlene.

I started off well – obtaining the postal address and checking what colours Carlene liked, which I should have remembered….it is known among other friends that should you want blue/purple coloured fibres that are for sale at various wool fests, then you need to get there before Carlene 😜

My major problem was – what to create? Should I stick with a Christmas theme and if so, should it be traditional or contemporary. But blue/purple was, for me, at odds with a traditional theme. So, contemporary, and if so then maybe something suitable for all year round….mmmm food for thought!

And that was precisely as far as my thinking went.

Life leapt in and totally dominated everything, like the sheer face of a cliff. Then prepping for a much-needed break by visiting family in Europe (all in a bid to escape this cliff-edged mountain), a little email plopped into my inbox….Card exchange….

OH NO!…HORROR!!!! Just to expand the graphic picture, imagine….startled, rabbit in headlight eyes; hands over gaping mouth and totally speechless! Some might say the latter is unheard of 🤣, but it was fact.

With no time, before imminent travel departure, to make my creation, all I could make were heartfelt apologies to Carlene. She totally understood my situation and was very supportive even to the extent of releasing me from my commitment. However, ‘giving up’ is not in my vocabulary.

Whilst away, I finally had my ‘Ta-da’ epiphany (quite an appropriate word for the time of year, so I feel I can use it here!) – a colourful contemporary wreath. I could incorporate Carlene’s colours and, as a wreath, it doesn’t have to relate solely to Christmas.

With the ‘What’, follows the ‘How’ – more thinking required….

On returning home (11 days before Christmas) I raided my huge wool/yarn stash, selecting a range of colours I felt would work together. I then set about crocheting a mix of differently sized semi-spheres to represent the baubles. As Carlene is into knitting, I thought she would appreciate the crochet work.

03 Quite a few crocheted semi-spheres of different sizes and colours.

04

05 Some being the size of my small fingernail.

Next it was creating the 3D wreath base, for which I used ironing board padding (I often use this in projects, as it is more substantial than polyester wadding).

07 With the ring cut out, I reinforced the 3D-ness by blanket stitching the edges to be flat and adding cotton piping to the centre.

08

07-08   With the ring cut out, I reinforced the 3D-ness by blanket stitching the edges to be flat and adding cotton piping to the centre.

With the base prepped it was time to add the crocheted baubles, playing with the colour combination along the way. What I hadn’t bargained for was that the wreath ‘gobbled’ all the semi-spheres. So, it was back to my stack of boxes (it is always the one at the bottom in the second pile behind!) to pull out more yarn to create yet more semi-spheres.

An aside….with extremely limited space, I had unstacked my large boxes (60x40cm 24x16ins) of yarn stacking them into the doorway…Yep…..a Laurel and Hardy situation….until I restacked all 9 boxes I could not get out 🤣

My New Year’s resolution – sort out my ‘stuff’.

Ready to be sent I thought my story was complete, but there is another part to this saga.

Episode 2 – At home, I did not have a suitably sized Jiffy padded envelope. So, with completed addressee and sender labels it was a trip to the post office the second they were open, only to find they had very limited supplies, due to something called ‘Christmas’. One option was an origami type box which required two thinking minds (one being the postal assistant herself), and many dexterous fingers, to put together. Finally completed….it was….4mm too short!

The only other option was a humungous bag, so with no alternatives, the bag was duly labelled and handed over….

OHHHH!…This is going to Canada!…They have a postal strike….We (British Postal Services) can’t accept any more mail, due to the massive backlog, until 30 Dec at the earliest. Whilst I was fully aware of the Canadian Postal strike, I had not bargained on our postal service refusing to take packages, due to the backlog.

In hindsight, I’m so glad I ventured into the contemporary theme and chose to make it an all-season creation because poor Carlene will have to wait until well into the New Year.

Skidding in moments before this post is scheduled, I have received my Exchange Card from Carlene. It is amazing and is already with my collection of precious cards I display each year. Also included in the package were four knitted cloths in my happy colours….Thank you Carlene….Xx

I hope my endeavours at the end of this year have brought a wee smile. I did try Carlene….I will ‘keep you posted’ – so to speak 😜

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and creative 2025 to come….🎈🍹