Christmas Gifts and special purchases

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas... was Santa Claus good to you ?

Well Santa Claus did visit our house - and left some very good presents for the little people who live here (and some for the bigger people too!) . He also managed a minor miracle , in that up to 6.30am on Christmas morning two wee souls were not very well! We had flu and sickness bugs before the big day. But a combination of Santa Claus and Grandma and Grandad visiting seemed to pull them round .

Do you recognise these .... its Dr Who toys ! and yes we watched Dr Who featuring Kylie on Christmas evening (when I took unwell , and no , it wasn't the mulled wine! ) .

Here are little Thomas the Tank Engine and his friend Percy - a BIG favourite , along with Dr Who .

I even received a Knitty gift - my mum knitted me a little short sleeve cardi in Wendy Chic - it went perfectly with my Christmas Day dress. Nice and sparkly ! Unfortunately - I can't get a decent picture - will need to wait until March when the light here gets better !

And here is the sweater for DH - got it finished on time , hurray , and I put a bottle of Jo Malone Pomegranate Noir cologne in with it (gave it a wee spray about before hand - gorgeous spicy , fruity scent!)

My other Knitty gift was a pattern a day calendar - of course I couldn't wait until January the first to look at it , so I've had a wee peek . And guess who submitted the pattern thats on January 1st 2008 - none other than our own Katharine from K1 yarns . Its the felted bucket bag , and only needs 3 balls of Jamiesons Shetland marl , mmmmm , may need to do some substitution as I'm on a yarn diet as of January . Its my first New Year resolution , lets see how long it lasts !

Anyway , its a wee while to New Year (at least 3 days!!) , so I paid a visit to John Lewis,who had a Clearance event (note , not a sale , but a Clearance Event!) , and oh what an event it was , Noro Iroha - Half Price! , Rowan Big Wool - Half Price! , DB Cashmere - Half Price! *Sigh* , I'm beginning to sound like one of those awful television voice-overs for Sofa sale adverts !!

So , I treated myself to some gorgeous Rowan Country , in reds, and the pattern book too .

It was the pattern by Antoni and Allison that caught my eye - take a wee look , the Antoni and Allison pattern is on the right , that beret is gorgeous too . And the other patterns are just as beautiful .

Here are some of the other designs !

Our local church minister was in Cafe Flava on flavaknits night - and admitted to being tempted to take up the needles , a scarf was suggested as a first project , something chunky and plain , but using a beautiful variegated yarn . So she was off to John Lewis the next day to the Clearance Event, to get a Rowan Scarf kit - we'll see if she kept to her word on Sunday!

Jill , our minister , is a Scottish version of the Vicar Of Dibley , petite, plump and vivacious , and a bundle of fun! - the knitting will apparently be some sort of dieting aid , to help stop the night-time nibbles - mmmm , a new slant on knitting! Knit ,n Slim !!