Christmas is Coming...

I've had an eventful few weeks saying goodbye to my Mum and Dad, spending time with friends and getting ready for Christmas.

I saw M&D both last weekend and the weekend before, in Walkern at my sister's place and then at their home in Gloucester. It was very precious to have time with them before they set off on their awfully big adventure, and I still can't quite get my head around the idea that I won't see them until June next year! They flew out to Hyderabad on Wednesday, and so far I've had a secondhand text that came in via Amanda. They've lost one of their bags on the way over, and unfortunately that was the one with the laptop power cable in, so all of our MSN practice hasn't actually come into use yet!

Work has been busy, and I've sold nearly twenty of my button bracelets to various colleagues. This has been an absolute godsend as it's meant I've had much more money to spend on Christmas presents than I would've had otherwise! I've been pretty busy with my knitting for various gifts. Angie's mittens are very nearly finished, Amanda's shrug is only six inches away from being ready to finish off and last night I cast on yet another Odessa hat for Tamsin. I've also spent today making some little gifts for the lovely people in my department at work. They're very, very handmade looking- but I hope they'll like them anyway! Last, but certainly not least, I was lucky enough to get my dear friend Libby in a Secret Santa of all the girls that I used to work with at Ottakar's and I have got just the most perfect present for her... (I'm not saying anymore in case she reads this before I see her!)

Other news, is that Feefer and Rob had their baby this week, so her baby blanket will hopefully be in use right now! Oscar was born on Thursday after a very long labour, weighing in at 6lbs 1oz and is absolutely perfect! I've seen a picture of him and I can't wait to meet him in the flesh...

Anyway, I must dash as I really do need to write some Christmas cards now. Have a great week all- hope that you're really feeling festive!

Christmas Presents

This week has been quite a good week for knitting as I've managed to finish my first present for Christmas, a baby blue Tammy beret for Corinne and I'm cracking on with a second. (I'm halfway through the second of a pair of mittens for Angie.) It's also been quite an interesting week on the IT front, as I've switched from Safari to Firefox so that I could run MSN Messenger on my lovely old Mac.

The need to update has come from the wonderful event of my Mum and Dad heading off for a grand adventure in Southern India for the next six months. The plan is that Mum, Dad, my sister and I will all keep in touch through a weekly webchat. I'm quite tempted to set up a blog for them, so that everyone back here will be able to follow their travels. In fact I think that could make an interesting Christmas present for them as I know that they won't be taking much with them and that's a present that wouldn't weigh anything at all!

I've also set up a group on Ravelry called Kids Lit Knits for knitters working in children's publishing. It's mostly made up of the lovely knit-chicks from work, but we have had a couple more people join already.

We're holding our charity craft fair at work this week, and I've just finished my last button bracelets. I've made four with larger buttons and twelve with smaller ones. Everyone who's seen them so far has been really flattering about it, so here's hoping that I can sell some of them and make a little bit of pocket money to buy Christmas gifts with.

I ♥ Buttons

Here's a photo of my button box:


I've got a bit button-crazy over the last few weeks. We're holding a Christmas Craft Fair at work on the 2nd of December, so I've been beavering away at making some button bracelets to sell. I can make a couple of bracelets on each train journey into work and so far people really seem to like them, so here's hoping that I'll sell a few on the day...


It's been great fun going through my button box and sorting them all out into colours that compliment each other:

On the knitting front, the Walker Knitting Club have finished the baby blanket for Fi's baby. She came in this week and we presented it to her. She was absolutely delighted, which was just brilliant! I'd spent most of last weekend sewing all of the different pieces together (which was quite challenging as they were all in very different tensions!) and adding a cream border to bring it all together and finish it off properly. I'm afraid that I didn't manage to take a photograph of it, but here's very poor quality photo from my phone that gives you an idea of what it looked like!
(Back row from from left to right: Sarah, Cheryl, Jenny, Gemma
Front row: Me, Fiona, Angela, Stephanie
Missing from the photo: Judy, Caroline and Jenny J)

New York, New York

And what an amazing city it is!

From the taxi journey in from JFK to the top of the Rockerfeller Centre, David and I had amazing few days in New York. There is something quite wonderful about seeing the New York skyline for the first time. It's really breathtaking, and yet at the same time there's something incrediblt familiar about it. I managed to keep our destination a secret right up to check-in (which quite frankly amazed me) and I'd give anything to see the expression on David's face all over again!

Our hotel, The Gershwin Hotel was brilliantly located in midtown, two blocks up from the Flat Iron building and just a short walk from Greenwich village, where we ate most nights in some really wonderful restaurants.

We crammed a lot into our four days in the city, visting Central Park, the Guggenheim, Battery Park, Greenwich Village, Macy's and Bloomingdale's. We saw Times Square, travelled on the Staten Island Ferry, went ice skating in Bryant Park, watched a Little League game and took the lift all the way to the 'Top of the Rock'.

Top moments for me were, the ice skating, listening to Bach's Mass in B Minor at St Paul's Chapel (near Wall Street), seeing raccoons in Central Park, eating pizza by the slice and drinking the most fabulously extravagant Apple Martini in Tavern on the Green in Central Park.

Here are a couple more pictures; one of me in Times Square, the iconic telescopes that are on top of the highest buildings and a long exposure shot of the ice skating, with the Empire State Building in all her glory in the background...

Gone to the Dogs!

Well, what a lovely weekend! I’ve been staying at my sister’s house in the middle of nowhere looking after her two fabulous lurchers; Max and Tiggy. We went for four walks (two long and two short) and had a number of adventures including catching a rabbit (bleurgh!) and a scientific experiment to see if you really can get two human adults, two very large dogs and a small but fluffy cat into a standard double bed. (And the answer is yes, but it gets a bit cosy!) Unfortunately, I was far too busy with the dogs to make anything with my buttons, which have arrived already.

On the knitting front, I have started off quite a large project at work. My dear friend (and fellow founder member of the Walker Book Knitting Club) Feefer is due to have a baby just before Christmas and I’ve adapted this log cabin blanket pattern so that everyone can knit their own piece then I can sew them together and knit a border to finish it off. So far I’ve got three pieces in, so nine more are due. We’re keeping it a surprise and I can’t wait to see the look on her face when we present her with the finished article!
Speaking of surprises, David’s birthday trip is this weekend. I’ve managed to keep where we’re going a secret since May, but just keeping the destination under my hat for this last week is proving most challenging!

It's Been a While...

Autumn is really setting in now, and I'm slowly getting used to the change in season. It's hard leaving the house in the dark and getting home in the dark, but I'm sure that once it's properly dark and I'm used to it, I'll be back to my normal cheerful self...

I have been out and about since my last post; picnicing with my old Ottakar's friends, visting Claire, Nig and Oliver in Devon, back to Stourhead with Martin and his new wife Melanie, and down to Christchurch to meet up with my parents for dinner in their campervan.

I've also been a bit crafty; making my first Christmas present for this year, continuing with Flicca, starting a new project called Glister and trying to organise a special baby blanket for Fi at work, that will have a square knit by ever member of the knitting club at work! The Social Committee at work are organising a Christmas Craft Fair, so I've ordered lots and lots of buttons from The Button Company to make some bracelets to sell for Christmas presents.

Today I've been making a birthday present for my sister Amanda. Here are some pictures of how it looks:

Back to School

Well, September really is here, which means that I really need to get a move on with my Flicca cardigan. The scale of Flicca is ambitious and I've been making progress, but to date, I still have one sleeve and the collar to do and I really, really want to start wearing it as soon as it gets cold.

David and I went to Stourhead for the first time in a while yesterday, where we saw these beautiful hydrangeas. We had a lovely walk around the lake and saw five cygnets and our first autumnal leafdrop. Stourhead is one of may favourite places to go and I can't wait to see the place in all it's autumnal beauty.

I do love autumn. I love going for walks in the afternoon. I love it when it's cold, but the sun is shining. I love the colours out there in the world. And I love being safe and warm at home on those cold dark evenings.