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.

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:

Ding Dong Merrily On High

Christmas is coming, I can feel it!

Ever since the first Christmas Coca Cola advert came on TV a couple of weeks ago, I knew it was on its way (this is the benchmark I use each year). Yesterday we decorated the tree:

Though it has fallen over three times since then! This year we've topped it with a ribbon instead of the silver snowflake that we always use. I quite like it; what do you think? If I was at my parents' house, there wouldn't be any question: it's always the white dove with the little blue sequined eye.

You would be forgiven for thinking we had three children from this photo. In fact, we have none, and are just big kids ourselves. DH has two advent calendars this year; one from me, and one from my Mum. I have one from my Mum too! Yes, at the age of 29-rapidly-approaching-30, I still get an advent calendar and a stocking, and I'm very proud of it!

We also have an advent candle, a tradition my siblings and I always had as children, though this is an unusual one:

Do you find yourself reverting to your childhood self at this time of year? I certainly do. Many of our decorations are from my first ever little tree, one which I, like my siblings, had in my own room each year.

The sari girl was a new addition two years ago.

This is probably my favourite one, and comes from a tiny little village in the north of Scotland. My Mum had a tradition of letting us build up a collection from wherever we visited, so there are some from all over the world. Originally I had an angel-only tree, though this has now changed.

Peg-doll Liberty angel.

There are Russian Dolls,

finds from Istanbul this summer (note the all-seeing third eye motif),

and a fun camel,

always apples and ribbons,

home made stockings from a few years ago (I've done 6 in total),

hand-made christmas trees (also from a couple of years ago),

and all sorts of other goodies.

This year I haven't made a single knitted present (I may have gone overboard last year). It's been such a relief not having a deadline to work to, though there are two (commissioned)requests that I have yet to deliver. I like to have the tree up on 1st December but this year that was knit-night, so it had to wait til Saturday (the 5th, not too bad). I also have to have all presents bought before 1st December each year. Check.

By the way, someone on Ravelry has made a scarf from one of my patterns! I can't tell you how impressed and amazed I am!!! It looks really good, too.

Have you got your tree yet?

An early Happy Christmas to you all.

White Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (almost) from cold and frosty Scotland! No snow, but lots of frost that looks very like snow, has landed and covered everything in sight...

the rosehips...

and Angelica.

Luckily, there is respite from the cold - look, my Mum's LYS! It's fantastic; Three Bags of Wool is run by Sarah, and stocks loads of unusual yarns and patterns. Imagine, in the middle of the North East of Scotland, a little village called Aberlour has the best yarn store ever!

Here's a glimpse of what I purchased: two balls of the first Colinette, two balls of the second Noro Silk Garden Light (not to mention a great Noro pattern book) and several balls of the third Eskimo yarn (I hadn't heard of it, but it's really soft and felts really well). I also stocked up on some needle-felting needles and a sweet button in raspberry ripple.

Here are a couple of my Mum's scarves using the Colinette thick-and-thin; they look fantastic in moss stitch:

Below is a shawl (obviously unblocked) that I started over Christmas using Noro Sock; this isn't even a ball's worth so far and I'm planning on using two. The wool's scratchy, but according to Sarah it softens when washed - I've seen evidence.

I've already started working with the Noro Silk Garden that I bought - elbow-length gloves (the yarn has a really luxurious feel).

That's all for now folks but I'll be back soon.