Crafty Christmas Countdown: 20

 Today's addition to the Christmas market is a jewelry stand, a mainstay of craft fairs and markets. I really struggled with an addition to this stand. I have plenty of ideas for jewelry but one of the goals with this year's countdown was to reduce clutter. I already have a fair amount of jewelry and a job where I can't wear it. It would be wasteful to make something I'm never going to wear. Instead, I went through my existing jewelry and found some earrings that I don't wear. I bent the posts into loops so they can be repurposed as pendants or maybe charms for a charm bracelet.

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 21

 Today in the Christmas market we have a stand selling nuts. Whether it's roasted chestnuts (which I've never actually seen - are they good?) or candied cinnamon nuts there's something festive about them and they feel like they belong in our little market. I suppose I could have made a batch of candied nuts but we have a collection of walnut shells floating around so I thought I'd made a decoration out of one. I decided to use some little scraps of yarn to make this mini knitting basket.

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 22

 Today's addition to the Christmas market is a snow globe stand. Making a little snow globe to put inside the tube was an appealing but ultimately impractical idea. So I settled for adding a couple of glittery snow globe stickers that I found in my stash.

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 23

 Today's market stall is the music stand. I had considered making a little drum or something to go with this one but when I got out my peg dolls I spotted Emmet Otter and I knew he was perfect. I suspect he's looking for a guitar.

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 24

 I'm doing something a little different for my crafty countdown this year. Between work demands and the desire to reduce clutter and waste, 24 distinct crafts seemed a bit much. So I've decided to go a little simpler and do variations on the same thing for each day. I'm making a little Christmas market. Each stall is made from half a cardboard tube with details drawn on. I'll probably be adding some extra little surprises along the way. 

Today's stall is knitwear. If you've been to a holiday craft sale you've seen a couple of booths selling hats and mittens and things. There's nothing quite so cozy as a hand knit stocking cap. For extra fun I've made a little ball of some of my rabbit fur yarn that tucks inside.

Are everyone's chickens this weird?

 In addition to my rabbits I have 18 (currently) chickens. The most recent set I purchased were six Wyandottes. Since I had some experience with chickens already I figured I knew what to expect from these ladies, all of whom I named after hobbits. 

They let me know pretty early on that I shouldn't underestimate them.

When I attempted to move them between pens, one got out and managed to lodge herself in a cement block.

After I got them moved, I had a pair that escaped the pen regularly. Merry and Pippin were determined to wander, though they've always been happy to return to the hutch at night. It's been over a year and Pippin, in particular, regularly takes herself for walks.

Merry and Pippin, chilling near the bee hive

Pippin found a roost on this tree branch

Now, their hutch has a fairly nice egg box set up that they refuse to use. They never roost or lay eggs in the box. These girls prefer to nest under it. I've looked in the hutch and not seen any hens, just the lone rooster strutting around. All six hens crowd together under the boxes.

It's a little blurry but you can just about see a hen on the right

Non-fiction book review - Defeated

 

Defeated by Martin Gitlin

Let's be real - politics aren't a huge selling point for young readers. Most of us don't have a great deal of interest in modern politics, much less historical. And candidates who lost aren't especially compelling reading. For the average person this is going to be a brief curiosity. While the text is quite readable the interest level is low so it's best absorbed in short bursts - read a single profile and put it down for a while. If you have a particular interest in the political system and how it has changed this makes for a solid resource as we explore shifts in political parties and the particulars of how our voting system has shifted.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley