Old Year's Night

Oh what a gloomy day it is here on the coast. Damp, foggy and cold! I'm having a 'stay-at-home-and-get-sorted-out' kind of day today. I like to have the house all clean and tidy for New Year, so have been busying myself with cleaning, washing and generally having a good tidy. Not that our house is particularly messy, but there just seems to have been a general accumulation of 'things' over the holidays. This afternoon, I'll be going up to my craft room with the same intentions! It's become a bit of a dumping ground recently, and there is rather a lot of new yarn to pack away into boxes!

I had a lovely day on Wednesday, meeting up with Erin in London. We visited Loop, a really fabulous yarn shop, in Islington. They have moved premises this year, and have more space to display their wonderful selection of yarns. I could have spent a fortune there, but was quite restrained (for me!), and went with a couple of projects in mind. More of that a little later, but first, I'm sure that you'd like to have a look around Loop yourself, wouldn't you?

We were there a couple of minutes before it opened, so were able to get our woolly fix by looking in the window! There's a washing line with red and green knitted stockings hanging up, with felt letters spelling out 'Happy Christmas', and lots of knitting inspiration. The yarn is arranged by thickness, with 4ply and laceweight downstairs, and double knit and thicker upstairs. There's a good selection of knitting books too, and plenty of places to sit down and browse. Perfect! Go on - have a good squish and a rummage round!

I bought some Casade 220 to knit myself a Central Park Hoodie next year, a skein of Malabrigo Worsted to knit the Brambles beret from Knitty and some Jamieson's Shetland wool to make Caller Herrin. The skein of Shilasdair is to line the brim, so it should make a lovely warm and soft edging. The Regia Design Line that you can see in the photo below was bought later in the day, when we went to Liberty. There seems to be a bit of a colour theme going on, doesn't there! I very nearly went for bright red to knit my CPH, but changed my mind at the till, and went back for the purple!

We spent the rest of the day in Oxford Street and Regent Street, looking for bargains! We did find time to have afternoon tea at Liberty, and ate dainty finger sandwiches, warm scones with clotted cream and jam, and cakes, and drank endless cups of tea. It was just perfect!

However you're celebrating tonight, I wish you a very happy, healthy and peaceful 2011. I'll be back tomorrow with a look back at 2010, and a look forward to 2011. See you next year! xxx

Simply having a wonderful Christmas time!

Hello there! Thanks for calling in! Did you have a good Christmas? We've had a very relaxing few days here in the josiekitten household. Mr JK has been off work for five days, and we've been enjoying not having to do anything at a particular time. That's not to say that we've been idle - far from it, but no pressures! That will all change tomorrow when Mr JK returns to work, and I have to be up early too, as I'm going to London! I'm meeting up with Erin, a Canadian Ravelry friend, who is spending Christmas over here in the UK. We are planning a trip to Loop amongst other things. I have been super-organised, and am going with a (small) shopping list, but am certain that I can be persuaded to buy more!! I'm sooooooooo weak-willed when it comes to yarn!

Was Santa good to you this year? I had some lovely presents. Mr JK gave me a beautiful Sunflower Swift, and I have been in total awe at the superb craftsmanship involved in its manufacture. I'm looking forward to winding some yarn and making some of those scrummy yarn cakes!

I had a lovely present from Snoopydog too - a book of Crochet Borders (I already have another book by the same author and it's excellent!), and a skein of laceweight yarn from The Thylacine. It's really soft and in my favourite colour - purple!

I must just show you my little 'gift' to myself! You know that when I buy something for Snoopydog, then I have to buy one for me too! When we were at KnitNation last summer, we were both smitten with Anne Hanson's collection of project bags. She very kindly gave me a card for Three Bags Full, and it seemed just perfect for a present for Snoops - a bag full of lovely yarny KnitNation memories.

The most difficult part was choosing the fabric! The bags are all lined and have lovely details such as co-ordinating ribbon and beads. I chose a Russian doll print for mine, and Snoopydog got a floral one! They are just perfect for little sock projects.

I'm off to get my bag packed for tomorrow's trip to London. I'll be back on Thursday to tell you all about it! Bye for now! xx

Happy Christmas!

Happy Christmas to you! I hope that you've had a wonderful day close to your nearest and dearest! I have!

I found these 20 Christmas Questions on Little Tin Bird's blog, and thought that it would be fun to play along!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper for me. I love choosing rolls of pretty paper, and buying co-ordinating ribbon and gift tags. I only use gift bags for bottles!

2. Real tree or artificial? Well, both actually! We had a real tree three Christmases ago, and it's still alive in the garden. It has blue lights twinkling away on it. We also have an artificial tree in the living room which we've had for a few years. And up in the loft I've still got my Mum's tree that she had when she was a girl, back in the 1930's. It needs a bit of TLC and I didn't get around to fixing it this year, but we'll have it up next year, for sure! It brings back so many memories!

3. When do you put up the tree? Always on Advent Sunday! I love seeing it through the whole of December!

4. When do you take the tree down? You'll probably think I'm a bit of a party pooper, but we take it down on New Year's Eve! I like to start the New Year all tidy!

5. Favourite gift received as a child? That's quite tricky as it was a long time ago! I can remember getting a wooden sewing box with layers that opened out when I was about 9, and one of my aunties gave me some sewing threads and a bag of bits of fabric and ribbons to go with it! I still use the box today!

6. Hardest person to buy for? My brother! He's so hard to buy for that now I don't!

7. Easiest person to buy for? That's easy! My best knitting pal Snoopydog! I know that if I like it, it's highly likely that she will too!

8. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail! I like to receive cards and to send them too!

9. Favourite Christmas movie? No contest - it has to be White Christmas! Guaranteed to make me cry, every time!

10. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Early! I start making a list in October, and try to get it all done before the shops get too hectic! Next year, I'm going to try to make more gifts (but only for those people who I know will appreciate them!)

11. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I don't think so, but if I get given something that I know I'll never use, I pass it on to a charity shop.

12. Favourite thing to eat at Christmas? Christmas pudding and custard! We always make our own pudding using this recipe and it's delicious!

13. Lights on the Christmas tree coloured or clear? Both!

14. Favourite Christmas song? I love Winter's Tale by David Essex, and Chris Rea's Driving Home for Christmas. Favourite carols are John Rutter's Angels' carol, and Oh Little Town of Bethlehem.

15. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Home, home home! Nothing better!

16. Angel, star or ribbon at the top of the tree? An angel. Always have done!

17. Open the presents on Christmas Eve or morning? Always on Christmas morning, after breakfast!

18. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? People buying huge (and I really do mean huge) quantities of food at the supermarket. Who on earth can actually eat all that? It's like they're stocking up for a siege!

19. What do you want for Christmas this year? Well, I have got what I wanted from Mr JK - a swift! And we have our Christmas jigsaw too - it's become a bit of a tradition!

20. Traditional colours (red and green) or other colours? I don't have a colour theme. Some people seem to change each year, but I like to keep the decorations and add to them with little bits and pieces over the years! That way, they're full of wonderful memories! Decorations are pretty much limited to the tree and mantlepiece.

If you fancy playing along with the 20 Christmas questions, please feel free! Enjoy the rest of your Christmas Day, and go steady on those mince pies! xxx

1 sleep 'til Santa

Hello again! Are you all ready for tomorrow? Mr JK and I are having a pretty low key affair - we have invited an elderly neighbour to join us for lunch, but apart from that, we'll be enjoying each other's company. The weather forecast is for a sunny but cold day, so fingers crossed we will be able to get out for a walk along by the sea at some point.

We celebrated our wedding anniversary today, and went into Cromer for a stroll around. The wind coming off the North Sea was bitter - in a couple of days time, lots of brave (mad?) souls will actually be going into the sea here for the Boxing Day Dip!

I've made some mince pies - the more eagle eyed among you will notice that there's an empty space! Mr JK couldn't keep his paws off them! Needless to say, they went down to 10 pretty soon afterwards!! Yummy!

Still no finished knits to show you, I'm afraid! I'm hanging my head in shame here. But there's nothing that had to be finished for Christmas Day. They were just ridiculously ambitious targets that I set for myself! Never mind, the world won't end! I shall (hopefully) finish them at my leisure over the next few days.

I hope that you have a very merry Christmas with those that you love. And don't forget to leave out a mince pie and a wee dram for Santa! Happy Christmas, one and all! xxx

2 sleeps 'til Santa

The good news! The sofas arrived, and the delivery men managed to get them into the house (I was a bit worried about that!!)

We've gone for a three seater and a two seater. I'd have loved a corner suite, but we don't have a spare corner! Never mind!

Our old cushions look rather tired against the plumpness of the new sofas. Aha! I thought! Knitted cushion covers! So I spent a goodly part of the day (also known as that most mysterious unit of time, the Ravelry hour!) searching for all sorts of woolly squishiness and comfort!

The bad news! I spent so long searching for patterns that I didn't get any knitting finished! I'm not panicking! (Well, not much anyway!) Now I'm off to go sit and knit on my new sofa! See you tomorrow! xx

3 sleeps 'til Santa

Oh, it's so good to sit down with a cuppa and have a chat! I've been busy all day today. I drove into Norwich (in a mini-blizzard!) to call in on my good knitting pal Snoopydog and we exchanged Christmas presents. She also gave me my birthday presents, and I have to tell you that I have been thoroughly spoilt! We tend to give each other 'yarny' gifts, as we know each other's taste pretty well. When yarn-shopping, the general rule is 'one for me and one for Snoops' (or vice versa!) as you will see when Christmas presents are opened in a couple of days time! I shan't say anymore for the moment!!

There was a tower of beautifully wrapped parcels sitting waiting for me. First I unwrapped a skein of yarn from Juno Fibre Arts. We discovered Asti's gorgeous yarns at KnitNation this summer, and have quickly become Big Fans! This is a skein of Myrtle, 50% merino and 50% tencel, so it has a lovely sheen. It's almost too pretty to be a pair of socks - time will tell!

A tiny weeny parcel intrigued me - inside were some little metal tags to be sewn into knits, saying 'MADE WITH LOVE'. I've not seen anything like these before, and just love them! See what you think .........

Two vibrant braids of fibre followed suit, from one of my favourite fibre artists, Alchemy Fibre Arts. Go and visit her Etsy shop - but be warned, you'll need to wear sunglasses! The colours are just scrummy! I'm going to save these to spin up after I've been away on my spinning weekend in February.

I can't decide which one I prefer. I just hope that I can do them justice with my spinning!

You may remember that I got into a bit of a pickle back in the summer when I spent the afternoon chez Snoops, winding some yarn. Well, I now have my very own wool winder, so I'll be able to make my own yarn cakes, hopefully perfectly formed, with no knots!

Lastly, a book - Brave New Knits by Julie Turjoman.

I first saw this book when Anne Hanson reviewed it a couple of months ago, and thought that it looked like an interesting read. It is! There are some fabulous patterns in there, plus a little background information on all the designers. There are several patterns that I'd like to knit already. THANK YOU so much for all my presents Snoopydog! You are very kind!

I don't have anything knitted to show you today, but I'm hoping for a day of concentrated knitting tomorrow. Mr JK and I have treated ourselves to new sofas, and they are being delivered some time tomorrow. So I have to stay in all day waiting (and knitting!) Can't be bad! I need to finish a pair of socks by Christmas Eve. I'm still optimistic that I'll make it! You can be sure that I'll let you know! See you tomorrow! xxx

4 sleeps 'til Santa

Hello there - thanks for stopping by in my snowy corner of the world. Mr JK and I were glued to the windows this morning watching the lunar eclipse. Luckily, there was no cloud, so we had a pretty good view. Did you manage to see it too?

It's still looking rather wintery here today. Last night we went to the Christmas Spectacular at Thursford, and clocked a low of minus 10 Celsius on the way home. It's become a bit of a tradition for Mr JK and I to go and see the show. It's a really wonderful start to the Christmas festivities. It's very popular, and we always book our seats for the following December in January! If you don't, the chances are that you won't get a seat! We were in good company, as apparently Prince William and Kate Middleton were in the audience a couple of nights ago!

I have managed to finish one Christmas knit. I saw this pattern on the Yarn Harlot's blog a few days ago and fell in love with it. I decided to knit one for my friend Rachel, and I might make one for myself too in the New Year. Mine hasn't turned out as long as the Harlot's, but it's in a different yarn. It still makes a lovely snuggly cowl/hood.

It's designed to be reversible, and is made up of four repeated pattern blocks. The pattern is called 'Encompass', and that sums it up perfectly!

I really like the texture of the pattern blocks, don't you? I had to take this photo after I'd picked it up off the snow. Kind of fun!

As Mr JK is at work, there was no-one around to take any modelled photos, so you'll just have to use your imagination when looking at these two. Firstly, as a cowl .......

and secondly as a hood ......

It should keep Rachel snug as a bug in a rug during the cold weather! I think it's the perfect 'football match watching' accessory too! Seeing as how Mr JK has booked for us to go and watch Norwich play on New Year's Day, I'd better see about making one for me sooner rather than later! I'm off to make some sausage rolls now. See you tomorrow! xxx