What a busy Christmas!

Here I am, finally, after the busy week we have had celebrating Christmas and seeing our families.

We all had a lovely time even though everyone at some point has been struck down with a cold ( I am the latest victim to fall foul of the virus!) after waking up yesterday with a bunged up nose :oS



Leah had a lovely time and loved all her presents - well to be more precise all the mess she can make with her presents - and she didn't get too spoilt which is a good thing. Mum and Dad bought her the cutest little slippers, but she still won't put them on her feet, she just doesn't want to!

We tried her with Boxing Day Dinner of roast beef (see above) and the traditional roast turkey Christmas Day Dinner, and she ate a little, although she preferred the stuffing and sausages to anything else.....oh well......

She also loved spending time with little William (who is also suffering with a cold, bless him) and she couldn't keep her hands off...

....poor little fella, he doesn't quite know what has hit him!! (or should that be kissed him??!!??)

So here they are on Christmas day, looking as good as gold - all three of them!

Finished the raspberry socks....

I finally got round to finishing the raspberry socks for my sister in law, but as I was in such a hurry to get them wrapped and under the tree I forgot to take a photo.

Here is the photo of them as WIP and to be honest the finished article isn't too different. The yarn isn't the softest, but does the job nicely. I just have to get the embossed leaves socks finished for my friend now :o)

My work Christmas party!

Each year our bosses at work kindly throw us a Christmas party. This year we went to a Chinese Restaurant and it was held last Friday. I was a very good girl and didn't drink much but still managed to get a few funny photos.


I managed to take a photo of me and my friend not bad for the last one of the evening. I even got most of our heads in as usually I miss them off!

Poor Sam got a glass of wine tipped over him so he was frantically phoning round all his mates to see if anyone could drop him a shirt down to the restaurant before hitting the nightclubs. I'll have to find out if he managed that one!

And finally my two friends having a bit of a daft moment with the chopsticks - I think they were a little worse for wear before we even arrived! it was a good evening and the food was yummy!¬

Been shopping today..

Leah and I went food shopping this morning and her treat for being good is a ride at the end!


Today, as always she went on the Noddy ride and really enjoyed herself. When she first went on it she wasn't quite sure, but now she's a real old hand at it! I did run out of change, so she could only sit on the Bob The Builder ride.

I don't think she minded too much! She even posed for the photos today :o)

Not much has been happening around here......

This week seems to have flown by without much happening, or so it seems. I haven't finished any knitting projects and haven't done much else. One plus, I did get all my Christmas cards written and sent out, so one less thing to worry about.

When we put our tree up, we were a little concerned that Leah was going to pull everything off and end up with the tree on top of her! As you can see, she was more interested in examining everything and just taking it all in.



She loves the baubles and little stockings, but luckily has left them all on the tree. One thing she has learnt this week is how to push herself along on her little truck. It was a present for her birthday, but has been in the loft ever since as she didn't want to go anywhere near it. When we got the Christmas decorations down, we saw it up there and she has been stuck to it ever since. Her favourite thing is to be pushed along on the wooden floor whilst lifting her feet up to go faster!

I am hoping to finish my two sock projects soon, but whether they will be done in time for Christmas is a different story. Neither was supposed to be a present, so if I finish them in time it will be a bonus. Once they are done I have a pair on mind for a friend who I know will love them!

That's all for my unevenful week, hopefully something more exciting will happen this weekend - hopefully it won;t involve, me, a horse and the ground!

Finally put up our Christmas tree!!

We bought our Christmas tree this morning and what a nightmare we had putting it up. The price of trees really seems to have gone up this year, so rather than buy the type we really like, we opted for a different type, which saved us about £15.

When we got it home we tried to put it in our Christmas tree stand but the darn thing had a two narrow trunk :oS We tried all sorts of things to pack it out but to no avail, we even tried tying an old mouse mat round the trunk. Whatever we did it still wouldn't stand on its own.

Eventually we managed to borrow a smaller stand from Richard's parents, but for some reason the tree still looks drunk. Richard doesn't like it, so that's put a bit of a downer on the whole thing - I tried to decorate it the best I could!!



I don't think it looks too bad?




We also went to the Frost Fayre held by the Church in Mum and Dad's road this afternoon. There wasn't really much to do, and the stalls were all too spread out, so it was a little disappointing.

I did manage to slip in a glass of mulled wine so that was a bonus, and the lights in the street all looked very pretty. Leah liked all the trees and the reindeer!!

The leafy socks......

My friend wanted a pair of knitted socks, so I said I would make her a pair with pleasure :o) I wasn't sure what type of pattern to do - so thought I would do the embossed leaves socks by Mona Schmidt as it was a pattern I wanted to do anyway and I love all the socks in that pattern I have seen.

I am halfway through the first sock and wish she didn't want grey socks. I don't think the yarn is quite suited to the pattern, as a smoother yarn would make the leaves more outlined.

You can still see them, just not as much as I had hoped unfortunately. I am also finding the pattern a bit of a strange one!



All the sock patterns I have followed so far pick up stitches from the heel flap by continuing after the last heel row, then across the instep and up the other side, ending in the centre of the heel for the round. This one requires breaking off the yarn and joining down the opposite heel edge first, so that the end of the round is just before the heel (although the pattern says the centre of the heel is the beginning of the round, the way the needles are numbered doesn't tie up to this) so very odd! here is also a random M1 that doesn't tie in with the pattern (??) anyone else found this weird?? Other than the strange way it is written I haven't had any problems with the pattern itself - it is quite easy to remember! I think if I make these for myself I might change the way the heel is picked up and knit it in my 'normal- way.....

hmmm, how annoying!

Since her obsession with 'In the Night Garden...' Leah had realised what the remote control is for (thank goodness for Sky+) and it is sooooo annoying! If she doesn't want to watch what's on she grabs the remote and make a real moany noise until we change it!!

Quite frustrating really, especially when she then turns the TV off.....

On another note I finished the Christmas shopping today and still can't believe the lack of space between Christmas displays, it is almost impossible to get a pushchair though :o( I was soooo annoyed by the end!! At least its all done for another year, just the wrapping to do - urghh!

My first pair of fingerless mitts....

Although I have been knitting since I was a child, it's only over the last year or so that I've been knitting again frequently and enthusiastically!

I am always looking for smaller projects to do, as having a toddler keeps me on my toes and I have to fit in my knitting during nap times and once she's gone to bed. (For the record I have tried knitting whilst she's awake and it ends up with Leah running off with the ball of yarn and me trying to catch her!)

I came across these fingerless mitts on Ravelry and thought I'd give them a go. I am always losing gloves in one way or another and can never find a woolly pair when I need them. These will do just the trick when I take leah for our winter walks, as my fingers are still 'free' to do whatever I need to do to look after a toddler :o)

I have just used some yarn I had in my stash and to be quite honest I think it has done the job - and the fact the yarn is acrylic means they will be able to be washed frequently.

The pattern was too big for me at first - I ended up frogging the first mitt last night and casting on again with 40 stitches instead, which is just the right fit for my small(ish) hands. I didn't think that the cables were coming out that well, but thankfully they look better in the photo. The mitt (I've only made one so far) tookme about 2 hours to knit, so if anyone is looking for some last minute Christmas gifts, I would recommend them. I'm thinking of making Mum a pair for the cold lunchtimes in the playground ;o)

Had a great ride on my favourite pony!

I just wanted to show you a picture of the lovely pony I rode yesterday - I love him! He's about 14hh and is getting on a bit now, but I had such a good time.

The stables have quite a few new horses and ponies at the moment which they are still learning about, so I was the sensible one, following up the rear and helping to keep an eye on everyone.

The ground is so muddy we weren't able to do much, but we were able to have a few good canters on one of the dryer tracks. We held back a bit to give us some space and Dandini was raring to go. Bless him, he was jumping on the spot getting all impatient!

I haven't ridden him for about a year, but you wouldn't have guessed that as I easily fit back into the riding rhythm with him. He's such a good boy but you have to be firm from the start otherwise he'll take the mickey out of you big time!!