Surprise Baby Shower

At Knit Night on Tuesday, everyone surprised me with a Baby Shower! I don't know how they kept it secret, but I really had no idea, and I was so touched.

It was lovely; everyone had made their own knitted presents for the baby. Above is Sian's brilliant dinosaur.

These are Lizzie's adorable green mittens, perfect for this weather.

This is Heather's bunny, which doubles as a blankie: how clever.

Don't you love Jayne's teddy? He came in a little box all of his own, and is quite small so perfect for little hands to grasp.

Toad made this beautiful, soft-as-a-feather alpaca hat. Toad is our expert resident spinner and (forgive me Toad for using the wrong terminology) blended two natural alpaca wools in brown and cream/white, then spun them to create a dreamy graduated effect when she knitted it up.

How clever, and it looks and feels so wonderful!

This is a very sweet little Zebra from Icy.

Really everyone, I was so happy to receive these beautiful and thoughtful gifts, and I know the
baby will be too when it arrives.

It's snowing in London! How exciting; this means Christmas is really on its way.

The tree's up and decorated and when I've taken some photos I'll post them.

Whatever Became of That Mysterious Purple Yarn?

Well, this is it. It was a slouchy snowboarding hat as a Christmas present for DH's cousin, David, a free-form loose beanie that I made up as I went along. No, that's not David in the photo; it's his Canadian cousin (David wouldn't let anyone take a photo of him!). Apparently he's happy with it, and I know his Mum was, so that's one happy customer!

I always mean to bring my camera to knit night, but never remember, so this week I took full advantage of it temporarily being in my handbag:

Some of our loyal members above and below, or at least the ones who agreed to be photographed. Jane (above, middle, made an entire hat in practically one evening!).

Toad's wearing her faithful and much-loved-by-the-group Noro scarf.

Last night my friend Julia came for dinner, and although I forgot to photograph the yummy roasted lemony-chicken we had, here's the thyme that later went ino it, beautifully ensconced in our Christmas pressie from DH's Aunt Terry, this lovely Chinese plant pot. Don't you love the smell of thyme? It's my all-time favourite herb.

It snowed again this week. Most of you probably think I'm a bit obsessed with snow, but please believe that we hardly ever get any snow in this city at all, so I'm embracing it.

Deep And Crisp And Even

Well, amazingly I've made it back to London, considering we were snowed in at my parents' in Scotland for a week (we had 24.5 inches of snow to be exact - my Mum measures it and the temperature every day. -14 degrees was the coldest it got). Take a look at Christmas in the snow: walking in a winter wonderland:

Aeoilan Shawl

With the sun shining this morning I took the opportunity to get outside and photograph the shawl.

It took a little while to find a good backdrop, until I found this wall. Wrapping it round a tree this time just wasn't cutting it.

I love the shadow of the branches against the shawl.

Half-way through, I realised the shawl was creating a delicate shadow onto the wall behind.

Here are some indoor shots, which show the true colour of the yarn.

It snowed here this week! Just in time for Christmas. I know this will look pretty pathetic for those of you who have proper snow, but it really is unusual to see snow in London.

As we walked home late on Thursday night, the snow was falling in large flakes and we expected to wake up to a winter wonderland, but there was only ice, so I don't have any good photos of our brief flurry.