Christmas Preparations
Gosh it's chilly this morning. Last night the cloud cover cleared so whatever warmth there had been, and it was decidedly cool yesterday, just moved on up and out. Today the sun is shining, w00t! I'll just fling on some more woollies. I'll take cold-and-sunny over thick-cloud-cover-and-(slightly)-warmer any day.
Should you be feeling warm(ish), Dear Reader, and looking for some ideas for creating original Christmas cards, you could do worse than looking here. Lucy at Attic24 has designed her own this year. It's a real hoot! Though I'm not too sure quite how Christmassy it actually is. Still, it's a Good Card idea.
Ooooh look! My fingers mistyped, as is their wont, and I found a 'soft c', to wit 'ç'. I shall have to remember that for the next time I want to type 'garçon'. As I rarely type in French it could be a long, long, time and I'll have probably forgotten. I did a quick experiment and also found '≈', '√', '∫' and 'æ'. Hey, now I can type Mediæval and Encyclopædia, or perhaps not!
Thinking a little more, H was wondering about Christmas presents for me the other day. So I suggested a few places he could look, after all we've only been married for thirty-three years and known each other for longer. Then I thought that you, Dear Reader, might have knitters in your life and you might be wondering what on earth to get them. So have a few ideas:-
Julie at Knitted Bliss has a little list which might be of assistance to you, bearing in mind that Julie is American (or is she Canadian?) so you'll have to order earlier and add extra postage. I think the project bag with gromets for colour working or two socks at once is a very nifty idea! When I've been knitting with two colours I always put one one side of my lap and the other the other side. Simples! You have to untangle the yarns occasionally, but I suspect you'd have to do that with the project bag anyway.
Then Stephanie, aka The Yarn Harlot, will have little lists of suggestions on her blog for the next couple of weeks. She's well worth a visit most days anyhow.
Of course, there is always yarn. Preferably All Wool, or Very High Wool Content, maybe Alpaca, or cashmere, or mohair, or silk, or mixtures of the previous. The Yarn Goddess hand dyes yarns from sock yarn to chunky and in various fibre combos, all in the UK, from UK yarn. The colours are amazing. The sock yarn is soft and gorgeous, I'm currently wearing a pair I knit from her sock yarn, a lovely semi-solid blue. Cosy toes! Yay! Other yarn suppliers are available, from artisan spinners and dyers, to somewhat bigger producers eg: New Lanark Wool and Textiles (organic wool, spun by water-powered equipment, Really Green Wool!) to Really Big Businesses. You takes your choice and you pays your money! Wool Warehouse, a favourite supplier of mine, now send out their yarn in draw-string organza project bags, which is wonderful, and sooo much better than the plastic carrier bags I'd been using formerly!
Of course, should you not be feeling up to selecting something knit related you could always go for something 'kind'. Knitters are kind people, believe me. Why otherwise would they spend hours producing something for someone which is not only the right colour but fits exactly? Try the Present Aid website - gifts for other people. For the recipient who has everything, and possibly nowhere to put anything else! Come to think of it, these gifts are ideal for anyone.
There now, Dear Reader, go surf and see if you can't find the exact something(s). Hmmm, maybe I'd better go surf a bit too. Y'all have a good, and productive, day now!
PS Still on things woollen, though not yarn. A new Harris Tweed fabric has been created which will permanently smell of whisky - which has got to be better than what Harris Tweed usually smells of. For those who don't know, urine (particularly men's urine, stinkier) has traditionally been used as a mordant, to help the cloth hold dyes, and as a preservative.
Should you be feeling warm(ish), Dear Reader, and looking for some ideas for creating original Christmas cards, you could do worse than looking here. Lucy at Attic24 has designed her own this year. It's a real hoot! Though I'm not too sure quite how Christmassy it actually is. Still, it's a Good Card idea.
Ooooh look! My fingers mistyped, as is their wont, and I found a 'soft c', to wit 'ç'. I shall have to remember that for the next time I want to type 'garçon'. As I rarely type in French it could be a long, long, time and I'll have probably forgotten. I did a quick experiment and also found '≈', '√', '∫' and 'æ'. Hey, now I can type Mediæval and Encyclopædia, or perhaps not!
Thinking a little more, H was wondering about Christmas presents for me the other day. So I suggested a few places he could look, after all we've only been married for thirty-three years and known each other for longer. Then I thought that you, Dear Reader, might have knitters in your life and you might be wondering what on earth to get them. So have a few ideas:-
Julie at Knitted Bliss has a little list which might be of assistance to you, bearing in mind that Julie is American (or is she Canadian?) so you'll have to order earlier and add extra postage. I think the project bag with gromets for colour working or two socks at once is a very nifty idea! When I've been knitting with two colours I always put one one side of my lap and the other the other side. Simples! You have to untangle the yarns occasionally, but I suspect you'd have to do that with the project bag anyway.
Then Stephanie, aka The Yarn Harlot, will have little lists of suggestions on her blog for the next couple of weeks. She's well worth a visit most days anyhow.
Of course, there is always yarn. Preferably All Wool, or Very High Wool Content, maybe Alpaca, or cashmere, or mohair, or silk, or mixtures of the previous. The Yarn Goddess hand dyes yarns from sock yarn to chunky and in various fibre combos, all in the UK, from UK yarn. The colours are amazing. The sock yarn is soft and gorgeous, I'm currently wearing a pair I knit from her sock yarn, a lovely semi-solid blue. Cosy toes! Yay! Other yarn suppliers are available, from artisan spinners and dyers, to somewhat bigger producers eg: New Lanark Wool and Textiles (organic wool, spun by water-powered equipment, Really Green Wool!) to Really Big Businesses. You takes your choice and you pays your money! Wool Warehouse, a favourite supplier of mine, now send out their yarn in draw-string organza project bags, which is wonderful, and sooo much better than the plastic carrier bags I'd been using formerly!
Of course, should you not be feeling up to selecting something knit related you could always go for something 'kind'. Knitters are kind people, believe me. Why otherwise would they spend hours producing something for someone which is not only the right colour but fits exactly? Try the Present Aid website - gifts for other people. For the recipient who has everything, and possibly nowhere to put anything else! Come to think of it, these gifts are ideal for anyone.
There now, Dear Reader, go surf and see if you can't find the exact something(s). Hmmm, maybe I'd better go surf a bit too. Y'all have a good, and productive, day now!
PS Still on things woollen, though not yarn. A new Harris Tweed fabric has been created which will permanently smell of whisky - which has got to be better than what Harris Tweed usually smells of. For those who don't know, urine (particularly men's urine, stinkier) has traditionally been used as a mordant, to help the cloth hold dyes, and as a preservative.