Counting down to Christmas.....

While our American cousins are enjoying Thanksgiving this weekend I'm on my countdown to Christmas (and me holiday!) Made a start on the packing but still have a few bits and pieces to get and then I’ll need to “spring” clean the house ready for my friends who are staying here while we are away!

I finally finished putting up the decorations yesterday, although I'm skipping the big tree this year. Good old Santa has now taken pride of place on my dining room wall! He is made from a needlepoint kit I bought some years ago when the kids were small, I took me hours to complete it but well worth the effort!

I’m in a knitting void at the moment, after finishing my throw I’m not sure what to do next! A colleague has asked me to knit her a scarf so I am on with that and another colleague gave me a pattern for a beanie hat which I think I’ll do next. I think I’ll have to get myself on Ravelry and look through the patterns to see what I can do with my ever growing stash! Since I found the wool shops in the town where I work the stash grows at an alarming rate!

Finally the epic is finished!!

It's been freezing here today with plenty of snow on the ground. I thought I would make good use of the cold weather and finish my epic throw - and here it is! The original pattern has 20 roses that you knit up and attach to the throw but I liked the pattern without the embellishments (well that's my excuse or I'd still be knitting it in 2010!)

This leaves me with the dilemma - what do I knit next? I have seen a pattern for another throw which is knit up in smaller squares rather than long panels. I like the idea of that as I can pick it up and put it down – saying that it will probably take me several months, if not years, to complete!!

In the meantime I’m going to knit baldy a hat to keep his head warm in the cold weather! He could have done with one today! I have managed to download a video I took of my son and hubby playing in the snow! Hollie was inside well away from the frozen stuff – mind you with her foot in the state it’s in she is better off indoors! She has an appointment at the Fracture Clinic tomorrow so we will know just how bad the break is. Fingers crossed she will be OK to fly as we are due to go on holiday in about three weeks time! Oh well here’s hoping…….

Brrrr its cold outside.....

Woke up this morning to a totally white floor, it had snowed overnight! It looks great, but it's really cold out there.

As we've had a bit of a white out thought I'd start putting my Christmas decorations up! OK so I know its a bit early but thought it might cheer Hollie up who is currently hobbling around with a broken foot!

I spent yesterday in a minor injury unit then was sent on to accident and emergency who confirmed it was broken! She has no idea how she managed to do it either! Bless, mind you with us flying off on holiday soon, it might just scuper things. Will have to see what the othopaedic surgeon has to say on Monday. Fingers crossed she should be OK to fly!

I haven't had much time to devote to my knitting this weekend so the epic is still not over! Still at least I have enough wool to finish it now!

The epic is almost over - but then..........

After taking a short break from my epic throw and dabbling in the art of crochet, I decided to get on and have a final push at completing the throw. All very well and good, but as I get to 10" of the boarder to complete, I ran out of yarn! Bugger!

So it seems that the epic will take a little longer to finish then expected! Still I am determined to get it done by Christmas, yarn is on order just waiting for it to drop through the door!

In the meantime my latest copy of Knit Today arrived and it has a fab tartan scarf, hat and bag set. I think that will have to go onto my list of things to knit, if I ever get me throw finished!

Crochet attempt...

For some strange reason I decided to master the art of crochet! Well I thought to myself "how hard can it be?"

Well for me, I have decided its impossible - I just don't get it! I think for now I'll stick with two pins, although the very nice throw I want to knit requires a double crochet boarder! Oh well, try and try again (not usually my moto!)

Knitting desert...

Gosh can't belive its been nearly a week since I last waffled on here! Its been a busy one at work with office moves, who'd have thought that an office move could be so much chaos! We moved on Monday and its still not finished - no IT or phones lines in some departments and to top it all the other knitters in the office have all moved to the other site so no more knitting gossips over a cup of coffee and a rich tea biscuit!

Not only that but this week has been a desert in knitting terms, not much time to do any! I did though manage a trip into town the other lunchtime and bought some more wool for my mini Christmas stockings, I wanted cream and metalic gold to make stockings to match my decorations. I did get some wool and have managed to make one, but that is about it! I am off into town again tomorrow lunchtime to see if I can find the wool shop that I know is there but I haven't managed to find it yet!

It is a busy week for Birthdays too! Its my Mum's today and when I rang her to wish her Happy Birthday I was greeted with a song that goes something like this:

"Happy Birthday to me, I am 23!"

Mmmm that would mean I haven't been born yet! Its also my husband's 40th on Sunday - he is already having his mid-life crisis so goodness knows what he'll be like when he actually gets to 40! There are some really funny cards out there for 40 year olds, but alas he wants a "soppy" one from me - well that's just tough cos the funny ones are much more fun! It was hard to choose which one!

As for the epic throw........ well it's still an epic! I will get it finished though soon, just have the edging to do!

Christmas knitting commences...

Well thought it was about time I started on my Christmas knitting now halloween is over and there is only 6 weeks left till we leave the country!

I found Jean Greenhowe's mini Christmas Stocking pattern on Ravelry and thought they would be a good place to start! I've knit 4 up today and they look great, I am going to use them as toppers for the Christmas cards I make this year - they are perfect!

My copy of Simply Knitting magazine arrived today and this month they have mini christmas ornament patterns in this month so will look at knitting some of them up. The plan is to make a garland with knitted ornaments on, not sure though whether I'll get that done as I am still dermined to finish my epic throw before Christmas and although I only have the edging left to do it still seems to be a slow process! Watch this space!