Friday 20 December

Earlier this year I got invited to join a local knitting group. There are several active knitting groups in Bury St. Edmunds, but most of them are held on days/evenings I can't make it, or they are well established and sometimes a little hard to get into. A friend who I've known for years through Freecycle (I think we've had most of her children's school uniform, as they're a little older than my two but have gone to the same schools!) turned out to be a knitter and asked me this summer if I fancied joining their little group. And I'm so glad she did - they're such a great group of women and we all get on so well, and not just because we all like knitting. That's actually the best bit about the group, that we get on with each other for lots of reasons.

Anyway, we meet up once a month at someone's house, taking turns in hosting, and we all bring something to eat. With a mixture of nationalities (Danish, Dutch, Scottish and English) there are usually several international dishes. After invariably eating too much we then move on to knitting or crochet, although there are also lots of exclamations of ohhh and aaahh over soft yarn, pretty needles and interesting patterns. In other words, if you want to do some mileage knitting, our get-together is not the place to be!

Our last meeting for this year was last night. I'd not had a great day and didn't really feel much like socialising, but as the meeting was just down the road from me and we were exchanging Secret Santa presents, I drove down and popped in for an hour or so. Of course they (and the very gorgeous dog Lupin) managed to take my mind off things and I was glad I did go. Plus, I came home with this....

Boozy chocolate truffles, I think they even have some marzipan in them - they're gorgeous! (yes that one missing is the one that's been sampled ;-)
I'm already looking forward to our January meeting!

I'm so behind on blogging. Life's just too busy at the moment. I started teaching a course of sewing classes but after one evening, I just found it was one activity too many. I wasn't going to let the participants down so we ran the whole course and I'm very proud of what they achieved, but I'm also glad the classes have finished and I have a bit of breathing space again. As it is, I don't know how everything is going to get done before Christmas, what with working right up until Christmas Eve!

But despite being behind and not likely to catch up again, I didn't want to not post this photo.

 

B. went to Austria back in November and imagine my surprise when he rang one evening and said he'd bought me wool. He's always liked it when I knit with self-striping yarn and always wonders how they dye it so you end up with the pretty patterns. He found a ball of self-striping yarn in the local supermarket and bought it for me. It was Regia and a colour combination I'd probably not have chosen myself, but now that I've knitted them up, they're actually my favourite pair. The funny thing is that because it makes these pretty patterns, many people think you're really clever. To me, they're a little bit like cheating - pretending you've done FairIsle when all you've done is knit stocking stitch! But they're pretty and they're comfortable, and they're from yarn that B. bought for me - well, can't get better than that can you.

 

And finishing those socks prompted me to take a photo of my current collection of knitted socks. They're all mine, apart from the ones at the front, which I knitted for 14yo a while back. I'm quite pleased to have a pair for every day now :-)

We're slowly getting into the Christmas spirit. We decorated the house on Tuesday evening 

(photo by 14yo and decorations by me) and I'm madly writing Christmas cards on days when I realise I'm not going to see someone again before Christmas. The kids both finish school today, although 11yo managed to finish a day early by coming down with a rotten cold and having to stay home today. (He had several nightmares last night - I'd forgotten what it was like to have your sleep interrupted... yawn!) We have a house full on Christmas Day but I'm very much looking forward to having a bit of time off after that. Plus, possibly a quick trip to Holland :-)