Okay, so was disappointed at John Lewis yarn sale, all the good Rowan stuff gone, so decided to finish off a WIP!
Yarn is Artesano Hummingbird, think the colourway was Love Bird, will need to check (probably discontinued!). Bought this yarn about ...ahem.... years ago at K1yarns in Glasgow, started various sock patterns before settling for this one.
Pattern is from One Skein Wonders book, by Judith Durant - marvelous book have knitted quite a lot from it. Still have a good amount left after finishing these socks, may make a corsage from the remains.
Don't like showing off my (spam coloured) legs, so jeans cover the top a little . Its a broken garter stitch, which makes it nice and sqishy, knitted from cuff down, and after heel is knitted, yarn is broken off , and then gusset knitted from "top" needle - I changed that so technically was knitting it inside out, still worked out .
Would definitely do this pattern again , love it, a winner !
Well not us exactly, but our friends had a wee boy, Cameron David John on Saturday 20th December , welcome baby Cameron.
And even better news, his big sister Ellie has had her MRI scan , and has been given the all clear for this year, well done Ellie.
Christmas has been lovely this year, the boys got lots of toys, we got lots of lie - ins , and I nodded off in front of the TV on Christmas evening, eating my cheese and crackers , accompanied by a nice glass of Burgundy red (Bourgogne)
We watched Dr Who (how exciting) and Wallace and Gromit (how exciting again!)
Well the steak pie is in, the Cava is chilling and soon it is Hogmanay .
Happy 2009 everyone!
I'm not sure what these Shepherds are watching - the teacher directing them! Well this little Shepherd is unwell today, a touch of the dreaded Winter tummy bug, yeuch! Hope it wasn't the beard that caused it!
Perhaps the stars will quicken his recovery, here are his two wee pals, don't they look gorgeous in gold.
Apart from sleepless nights and tummy bugs, there has been some fun too.
Tramwayknits Christmas special was at the Park Inn Hotel, formerly Langs, and a jolly afternoon was had by all. There was a Santa Lucky Dip, a fun fibre quiz, and lots of eating and drinking. Ooh, and I won the Fibre Quiz! The prize was the book Diva's don't Knit, can't wait to get some time to sit down and read at leisure.
Oooops, almost forgot, the winner from last weeks quiz was...... Kathleen , she won the lovely sock yarn. Although I think due to the small number of commenters , there may be some runner up prizes too!
Still haven't blogged fully on my fab weekend last weekend , at the Girls night out with Craig Hill and Abba's Angels, but I will leave you with some snapshots that seem to sum it up!
My good friend being ritually humiliated on stage by Craig Hill - he was gentle!
Mr Hill swinging his...ahem....stuff.
And a rather strange lady in an Abba blonde wig - who could it be??
The really embarrassing things always happen at busy times when there are LOTS and LOTS of people about. I was struggling to get up the stairs at Glasgow Central Station, carrying a small suitcase, handbag and large shopping bag when I tripped! Of course, according to Sods Law , there were trillions of people about (well....,perhaps ten!), I managed to put my hands down on the steps to stop my face being re-arranged, and dropped the bags, and a very kind young gentleman picked them up and inquired "are you alright?"
Normally people walk over or around you - it is the Christmas Shopping season of course, so I was very surprised and cheered by this incident.
Really embarrassing incident number two !
Driving the kids to school (running late, of course) I turn up this awful wee Victorian road with passing places (passing places in 21st century roads, I ask you!), when I have to stop short to let oncoming traffic pass. I hit the kerb and hear this awful noise. Now there is nowhere to stop - not to change a tyre anyway - until I get to the road near the school - everyone stares at disbelief at this mad woman crawling along with a flat tyre, UP roads , because of course Gourock is full of hills! And I have a 3 inch tear in my tyre.
I manage to stop somewhere near the school, and a very kind Dad, stops his car at mine to ask if I have a spare tyre, and would I like if he changed it for me.
Then , just as I am about to roll the car down the hill to a more appropriate place for changing a tyre - another kind Dad asks if I'd like a hand to change it!
This is MONDAY MORNING! These people are dropping of kids at school and then hurrying to work. I am quite simply stunned! I decline saying I already have help, but thank you very much indeed .
So kind Dad number one changes the tyre, in his suit, and I'm praying that it won't get dirty, and why do I have stupid alloy wheel covers that are a b*gger to get off, and do I have wet wipes for hands......
Drinking my LARGE coffee later, after one new tyre at a cost of £60, I realise that the world is actually a very good place to be , even when horrible things happen.
My very kind fellow Raveller, tattie-bogle, sent me her duplicate copy of the Simply Knitting Diary , and in the package was some lovely little Burt Bees products. So in the spirit of Paying Forward, I thought I'd give away some lovely sock yarn.
The person who has the closest answer wins........
DS1 Advent Calendar has the Christmas story over 24 days - what part do you think is shown on the 12th December ?
If you need help - go look on Wikipedia - and try and work out how they spread the telling of this over 24 days (very short bursts each day!)
Give your answer on the comments - if you can't comment (blogger acts up sometimes), email me at mhairidotgilchristatbtinternetdotcom , I'll contact the winner on the 13th December, and mail the yarn .
There is so much doom and gloom just now , and if you are of a nervous/anxious disposition its best not to read the papers or watch the news on TV! People being trampled to death in the sales , companies and lives going bust all over , misery at every turn.
The story about the co-joined twins, Faith and Hope, did bring a little .... faith and hope to these depressing times. These little souls made it into this world against the odds, to loving and caring parents . Sadly , Hope did not survive the separation operation, but her sister is fighting on , hanging on to her precious life. I hope she makes it . My heart goes out to the parents , what brave people they are .
On the Knitting Front
Aaagghhh , its the headless woman - nice cardi though!
At a bit of a standstill just now - have finished the cropped Noro Cardi, just love it to pieces. Am trying to get inspiration for my secret Santa gift , and some other knitted items I wanted to do for Christmas presents.
Started a scarf using the gorgeous handspun from Oldmaidenaunt, but sadly there was not enough for the pattern I was using, double moss stitch takes up a bit more yarn than I bargained for!
And I have lots of lovely yarns I want to use, ...mmmmmm, and I also have lots of lovely projects to finish.
Maybe pay Knitty a visit to get some inspiration .
Well the macaroni cheese is cooling down just now, the kids are complaining every two minutes they are hungry, so fingers crossed they will actually EAT their dinner!
The rest of the house looks like a disaster area, and at present so does my face - big red nose, sore lips, red watery eyes.... lovely, the first cold of the season! And guess what, it really is cold outside...look!
Even the sky looks frosty!
I am on the sewing up of my cropped Noro cardi - hurray, although I don't really enjoy sewing, I just love this yarn so much that I don't mind just now .
Will need to start the small knitted Christmas gifts for the Knitting groups secret Santa's soon. The Calendar is filling up with Nativity practices and plays, School Christmas services, Church services, parties, Carol Concerts and to add to the excitement the first doors on these were opened today .
DS1 has the Nativity Advent Calendar on the left , DS2 has the Charlie and Lola Advent Calendar on the right . The Nativity Advent Calendar is quite clever, each door , once opened, is a speech bubble telling the Christmas story - DS2 wanted to swap his Charlie and Lola Advent Calendar for his brothers, he was so impressed!
And tonight DS1 will start Jostein Gaarders' " A Christmas Mystery" for his bedtime story. There is a chapter for each day of Advent, and the story ? You'd better read it for yourself , its a wonderful start for the Christmas season!
