The Eye of the Storm

Today I'm enjoying the brief lull between Christmas and New Year. Our guests have left and we're here on our own for the day. I really enjoyed Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. It was quite relaxing and we went for a walk all three days instead of just sitting in the house. All in all a good Christmas.

The birds had a very good year. They got this lovely bird table, from my brother and his fiance, along with mountains of food (mmm meal worms). They're already using it although they fly off every time I get out my camera.

One of my favourite presents is this necklace from Graeme.

I managed to do some knitting. I finished my gloves.

I started a pair of Slippery Socks from Knitty in Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Merino (Quarry Hill), that I bought at Windsor Button in Boston, MA.

I also spun some alpaca and started plying it.

I wanted to see how the yarn felt like to knit with so I started a thin, moss stitch scarf with it.

I'm still having a problem with overwinding the yarn when I am plying it, though my singles are coming out more evenly. I'm in serious need of some instruction from someone more experienced who spins with double drive. Because of the overwinding the scarf doesn't feel as soft as I would like. I'll keep experimenting until I get it right. Though I'm sure the new term will slow down my progress.

I hope you're all enjoying your Christmases out there. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Christmas Treats

What have I been doing with my week off, I hear you ask. Well the answer is pretty dull. I've been doing a bit of sewing (which is secret) and some present buying/wrapping (also secret). I've also spent some time in the kitchen making Christmas treats since both our set of parents are staying with us for Christmas. I iced the Christmas cake. I had to put icing stars all the way round because my icing covering was so uneven. I'm also annoyed with myself for placing the large star off centre. I was momentarily distracted while doing it and then it was too late. I think it looks OK. I can't quite decide whether to add some silver balls to the stars or not.

I'm also quite proud of myself for making my own chocolate log, filling it with homemade cranberry sauce and icing it too. I'm still a little worried about how it will taste but I'll find out soon enough.

People in glass houses...

...should keep an eye on their husbands.

This is our new greenhouse which arrived on Tuesday. It was a wedding present bought jointly with contributions from lots of different people. If you're one of them, thank you very much!

I have wanted a greenhouse for a long time so this is exciting for me. I've already started planning what I'll be growing in it, so I was more than a little upset when this happened.

This is what happens when your husband gets back from his work Christmass doo at 11.30 pm and goes out to do a full inspection of the new greenhouse. Fortunately we have two spare panes of glass and he wasn't hurt. In retaliation I plan to break all his presents as he opens them on Christmas morning.

I love Wingham Wool Work

I had a vague memory of buying the yarn for the Dickenson Pullover (see last Tuesday's post) from the Wingham stall. I sent them a sample and a letter and the lovely people called me yesterday and said they'd found a few more hanks of the same in their stock and would I like to buy some. I can't tell you how happy I am. I had a nighmarish vision of knitting some kind of Frankenstein jumper with a different yarn or having to frog the whole thing. I am saved from the horror. I don't imagine the yarn will make it here for Christmas, but I don't care, because it's still a good Christmas present to get.

Hooray! I made it to the end of term. I feel totally exhausted but it's so good to be sitting here on a Sunday night knowing that I don't have to go to work tomorrow.

Friday was a half day in school and pretty pointless. I did recieve a few gifts of wine and chocolate from the children in my form class. One girl gave me this huge hamper of bubbly, truffles, a champagne flute and a small Christmas cake. I feel like I deserve it. They've been hard work.

When I got home I decided to get in the Christmas spirit by getting out all the decorations and lights. I couldn't manage to lift the trees into the house myself so I ended up having to wait till Saturday to do the decorating. They're not large trees but they were already in the garden when we moved in so they were free. One is in good shape and the other is a bit out of proportion. I like having a living Christmas tree. So far there has been minimum shedding of needles too. Graeme was feeling left out when I was taking photos and wanted to be included.

I also spray painted some pine cones that we picked up last week while out walking.

I finally finished these rather dull plain socks, from the hand dyed (by Lucy and I) blue faced leicester yarn I got from WoolFest. I started them in September. I should have finished them weeks ago but I was found them very boring to knit. I wasn't feeling up to anything more complicated at the time. Knitting them on 2 mm needles didn't help.

I usually only allow myself one sock-weight project at a time, so finishing the socks left me free to start making myself a pair of gloves. I'm using the Hooray For Me pattern by Marnie MacLean. I decided to make the fingers full length for warmth. The yarn I am using is Lana Grossa Mega Boots Stretch. I like the way they're turning out. Hopefully it'll be relatively easy to match the colour sequence for the second one.

It occurred to me this morning that I've been quite selfish with my knitting this Christmas. I think I've only made one thing for someone else. Usually I make something for most people. This term has been so tiring I just couldn't face a string of deadlines in my knitting. I wanted to keep it relaxing. Maybe I'll start some projects for other people with next Christmas in mind and keep them till then.

Running Out

I don't have enough yarn to complete my Dickenson pullover. I don't know how. I had about twice the suggested weight of yarn. I know it's not the suggested brand but it's a similar weight and knits to tension. I only have enough for just over one sleeve. You'd think I'd know better by now.

Please take your seats

Yey! It's now December. There's only two weeks left till we break up for Christmas (God bless private education). That's 10 more times I have to get up at 6am and drive into school in the dark this year. Woo hoo!

Last week's trip to Harrogate completely wiped me out, so yesterday we had a relaxing day at home. I had a good clean round, so I no longer feel like everything is filthy. Our new sofas arrived. We've only been waiting 5 weeks, which in sofa ordering terms is pretty good. I can't tell you how many years I've spent wanting a comfortable sofa to sit on. During that time I've been the temporary owner of various pieces of revolting student furniture (one containing fleas and some very hard places where you could nearly knock yourself out if you sat down too quickly), part owner of a very short, cheap sofa and latterly of my DH's rock hard, low backed sofa. During the last few months in this house we've also been enjoying a variety of garden furniture. So you can imagine my excitement at receiving this little lot yesterday morning.

You'll notice that despite now having a variety of places to sit Graeme still chooses to sit on the floor. If you look closely you'll also notice that he's watching Strictly Come Dancing even though I've only just come into the room.

We also did a bit of gardening yesterday afternoon. I finally consigned the sweet peas to the brown bin. Amazingly they have still been producing flowers, despite a couple of frosts. I decided they weren't going to make it much longer and I don't get much chance to be home in the light to do this kind of thing. I cut off the last ones and stuck them in a vase.

After a trip to the new Sainsburys (oh the excitement), I had a go at felting using some of the roving I had bought from the workshop to make some felt balls. I didn't quite get the hang of it at the workshop but they're looking quite good now. I think having hotter water probably helped.

Last but not least, I finished the back from the Dickinson Pullover (Interweave Knits, Fall 2007). I'm using some chunky spun wool I bought from Wingham Wool Work at WoolFest 2006. It came in 2 big 500g hanks. I've never been quite sure what the yarn wanted to be. I've been feeling really cabley at the moment and this pattern was ideal for the yarn. It's taken just a week to do the back, which isn't much bearing in mind how little time I have. I hope the rest is just as quick.