Time

We all had a great Christmas: my parents came over on Christmas Day for lunch and my Mum brought home made crackers

and the children had the usual present-fest that started ridiculously early - even Tristan said he didn't know why he'd woken up (he got an iPod for his birthday so I hadn't budgeted for anything extra!) but I think they all had fun. I was rather stricken by a migraine in the evening which was gonna happen given all the sorting out I did the previous day :-/ my housework allergy again. Anyway I felt a bit better quite quickly so was able to recover sufficiently to knit my socks during the Downton Abbey Christmas Special. These socks are from a pattern Nicky gave me rather than the gumboot ones and I'm using a beautiful 4 ply wool, again from the Natural Dye Studio, called Sweet Pea:

It's such a doddle after all the stranded things I've been knitting recently although I've fudged the reductions a bit so they'll probably be wonky when I stitch them together. I'm ploughing on with the Encompass circular scarf and I seem to be getting the hang of it, luckily - I'm now on to pale yarn and it's easier to hide mistakes in black!

I had some lovely presents too, including a new Moleskine diary and a Passions Garden journal which is brilliant - I can't wait to start filling in all the sections. Fab pair of leather boots too which are completely waterproof, as it pays to be practical where I live.

Charles and I made a quick trip to Arundel WWT yesterday as my parents kindly offered to have the children for a couple of hours. We saw snipe, teal, a kingfisher and had a cracking view of 2 male bullfinches on a bramble bush only a few feet away from the hide. Unfortunately the peregrine didn't make an appearance, although the teal and all the other ducks probably appreciated that fact.

Nicky put me on to a good website, Devon Fine Fibres, who also have a good blog so will add it to my list. I am looking forward to getting on with things in January now as I find it difficult to focus during this week-in-the-middle. I feel I should be tidying up and planning things for next year but I don't have the sightest motivation for either :-D