Jingle all the way

As I sit and watch the flurries of snow come down outside in the garden I worry about whether Toby will get home this evening, whether we will be able to leave the village before Chripmus (thank you to young Ben for my new favourite word for this time of year). But at least if Mr Chripmus Tree Man cannot drop off our dainty, cottage friendly, 4 foot tree on Sunday I have my own minimal version. I had to fight Rufus for the twigs.


I then thought about bringing in a little greenery. I always get asked about what "we" do for Christmas as Jewish couple and I suppose people are more curious because I converted. Where ever you stand on the birth of Jesus there is no getting away from the fact that there have always been winter festivals. And what with Toby being a classical scholar you can always bamboozle people with references to the Greek Saturnalia and the Pagans, and good old wikipedia has a whole load more too. But I like to deck the halls with boughs of whatever I can get my hands on and this year I went for ivy as there seems to be loads climbing over bits of the garden. And good thing I went out there before the snow started in earnest.


So now I think that it is time to snuggle down on the sofa, dog either side and finish this scarf that I started the other day. I am hoping that I might have enough yarn left to make a little hat too. When it is allegedly -1degreeC outside I think that it might be necessary.

Shameful behaviour

I cannot believe that I have not posted anything since September, that is absolutely terrible.

I think that the slump first came about because I didn't think that I had been making much, badly or otherwise. Which is part true, but also I am very good at thinking some of the everyday is not worthy of a wannabe domestic goddess.

(Call it tiffin, call it fridge cake, call it rocky road - whatever it is, it is fantastic, lifts the spirits and gets eaten inside 48 hours!)

I went on a one day knitting workshop at Liberty called "Learn to Knit" and I did. It was great, the tutor was kind and had the patience of a saint and I came away thinking I could probably get my head round this knitting marlarky. So I embarked with warp speed on a cardigan (yes, I know, talk about setting my bar high), and two scarves. I thought that I had hidden my knitting bag well out of the way of the pesky puppy, but no. We came home from a cheeky evening curry to find this scene of destruction in the sitting room.


He had managed to tangle four or five balls of yarn, thank goodness my Dad was on hand to help my unravel it all. It helped him to indulge in a spot of nostalgia which was nice to listen to and certainly took my mind of a suitable punishment for the puppy. But to be honest he has such a painfully cute face I am only ever angry for about two seconds.


I did also manage to sew enough bunting to jazz up the garden at the end of the summer for my birthday. I turned my back on fanciful notions of have perfectly seamed edges and opted in the end for cutting out as many 'bunts' as I could and then just stitching them together with a zig zag stitch along the edges. I like to think of it as shabby chic!