frayed at the edge

Just because I'm practical .......

......... doesn't mean I can't be beautiful!  No, no, I'm not talking about me, but the latest additon to my collection of reusable shopping bags.  (click on the photo to enlarge it if you can't read the words)

 

 

Yesterday morning we went to the Garden Centre for a very tasty bacon roll for breakfast ...... and to stock up on bird food.  On the way home, I took some photos from the car

 

enjoying the snow-free roads

 

 

a sad little house, falling into ruin

 

 

a last little patch of snow

 

 

this was a very big horse!

 

The weather was much better today, and we went out for a walk after lunch.  We walked up the hill to the church, then turned up the bridle path.  It was very muddy and a hard slog up the first steep stretch, but it was worth it

 

this cat just ignored us

 

 

but this dog had a good loud bark at us!

 

 

it won't be long until these ewes have their lambs

 

Back home, I laid out the various socks, to check on progress

 

The pair on the left are almost finished - they are for Julie (or rather, for her daughter, who is tall with long feet).  In the middle, the first sock of the pair for Rachel (who is small, with small feet).  The just-started sock is for Vee, the winner of the giveaway - she is in between the other two in foot size! 

I mentioned that we stocked up on bird food yesterday - this is why!

 

 

 

 

 

I think this pigeon has been tucking in just a little too much, it is so plump!

 

Twice the fun!

When we go up to Falkirk to visit Stuart, I always pop into the newsagents, as they have an excellent selection of sewing and knitting magazines.  This visit, I got 'Fabric Trends' ...... an excellent buy, as you get not one

 

but two magazines

 

so twice the fun from one purchase!

 

I had looked at this Debbie Bliss book .........

 

....... several times, then when I finally decided to buy it, the bookshop I went to no longer had a copy!  So when I saw it on Wednesday, of course I bought it!  As you can see, it has 52 projects, all of which can be done in a week (in some cases considerably less than a week!).  I am considering working my way through the book, just as a little challenge to myself.  Of course Debbie recommends that you use her yarns, but I think I will use it as a stash-busting opportunity!

 

Of course it's Friday and that means cake - today was the wonderful apple and sultana one

 

 

Ok, I won't keep you waiting any longer!!  Malcolm has randomly generated numbers for me, and I am delighted to announce that the winner is ........ Vee.  Second is Sue (who doesn't have a blog - yet!) and third is Caroline.  So Vee will either get socks or a wallhanging (although I think she may just choose the socks!) and Sue and Caroline will receive a little surprise.  I will be in touch with you to get your addresses.

 

This week has just flown by, and it's time to say .... have a wonderful weekend, love Anne

It's never to early ......

....... to get ready for Christmas!!  Or, if I'm telling the truth - I am finishing the things that didn't get done last month!  I finished the blanket stitching on the angel wallhanging, and put it up on the design wall with some ideas for how to finish it

 

 

Happy with the look, I added the two inner borders .......

 

 

....... then the side borders

 

 

......... and the top and bottom borders

 

 

Then I pencilled the word 'angel' on the white border, which I will embroider

 

 

I also plan to make things with these fabrics, rather than put them away until next Christmas!

 

 

 

 

Sometimes, you have to make sacrifices for friends, and so it was yesterday when I had to buy these ......

 

 

....... just for Thimbleanna, who loves all things sheepie!  And an even bigger sacrifice had to be made, when obviously I had to unwrap one for the next photo, and having unwrapped it, of course I had to eat it ...... oh dear, all those extra calories!)  (Malcolm ate the other one)

 

 

I've started knitting a sock with one of the yummy yarns I got last week - I have actually done more than this, but I forgot to take another photo!

 

 

 

 

Almost there!

I'm getting quite excited about my big day tomorrow.  I can't believe that I've been doing this for two years and have done so many posts!  I am sure when I started Malcolm thought it would be a nine-day wonder and that either no-one would read it, or that I would get fed up with it and give up.  I think that's why he wasn't bothered about having a pseudonym ...... he never thought he would become famous all round the world!  Over the two years, I have made so many friends, mostly online, but some I have met in 'real' life, including the furthest flung one Lee, whom I met in September 2009 when we were on holiday in Sydney!

There was great excitement this morning when the post arrived - well, who wouldn't get excited about receiving a parcel in a purple envelope!

 

 

And it only got better when I opened the parcel - three gorgeous balls of sock yarn (oh dear, do I need to get out more if the highlight of my day is sock wool?!)

 

 

I had to buy the wool online, as my local shop doesn't stock Opal wool - I got it here.  I don't know why the labels are in French, but I think it adds to the name of each colourway

 

arlequin

 

 

dompteur

 

 

trapeziste

 

There was a little extra something in the parcel as well - a cotton bag to keep my knitting in

 

 

If you look at the ball bands on the wool, you will see the pattern that each one knits up in, so if you win the giveaway and choose socks, you now have an idea what they will look like - you can pick which yarn you want.  Remember you still have another week to leave lots of comments to give you lots of chances in the draw!!

 

It's the first Friday of the New Year, which meant we had the first cake of the year at patch'n'chat this afternoon.  It was one of Annette's wonderfully light sponges, this time filled with apricot jam

 

 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend - it looks like we will be having another cold one!

Love Anne

Strange time

I woke up through the night and looked over at the alarm clock (it's on top of the chest of drawers on the other side of the room).  Four eighty seven, I thought, as I turned over to go back to sleep.  Then my brain obviously woke up a bit more than my eyes and I thought, that's a strange time.  This started a rather weird train of thought ...... recently we watched the film Local Hero, which has a wonderful scene, where two elderly gents are standing at the side of the village hall, each clutching a dram, during a ceilidh.  They are discussing how much money they will get when the oil company purchases the village.  One says to the other 'Strange times, strange times', as they shuffle in time to the music.  Thinking of the film then lead to a little lusting after one of the actors Denis Lawson ( he may not be very tall, but as we say 'guid things come in sma bulk').  Now for two things you may not know about Denis - first he was in Star Wars, and second, his nephew is Ewan McGregor, who was in later Star Wars films.  Then, as I frequently do when I wake up and the time is some time after four, I sang (to myself) a quick chorus of It's Four in the Morning.  (The time, of course, was four thirty seven!)

 

Right, that's enough blethering, time for a photo!  Every year when I pack up the Christmas things, I always find something that I've missed.  This year I was determined that wouldn't happen.  I double checked, and when Malcolm came home I got him to have a look round - everything was packed away.  Then when we were having breakfast this morning, Malcolm pointed to the bowl in the centre of the table ......

 

Yes, I had forgotten the pine cones and (plastic) mistletoe!  The autumn squash actually stay in the bowl all year round, as I love the colours.  The paler one at the front has been in the bowl since 2009!

 

Although we had some snow yesterday, it didn't stop us from heading out this morning ...... I was desperate for a change of scene.  Since the end of of November the furthest I have been is Kelso - which is only a thirty minute drive away!  We took a run over to Duns, and after a quick stop to buy the newspapers, we headed for .....

 

 

........ where we had a cuppa, and shared the most wonderful cheese scone - possibly the best one we've ever had (and we've had a few!)

 

 

We had a browse round our favourite gift shop, although we managed to be good and not buy anything - although I was very tempted by some angels made with wire and ribbon

 

 

Duns had a lot more snow in December than we did, and there are still great piles of it.  This one is about six feet high!

 

 

On the way home, for once there was a lay-by to stop in when there was a photo opportunity!  It was a bit of a grey day, but in the far, far distance, the sun was shining on the snow on the Cheviots

 

 

When I was getting ready to go to knit'n'natter yesterday, there was just a slight problem - I didn't have anything on the needles!  So I looked out some plain sock wool, and while nattering the afternoon away, I made a start on one of my standard socks - I've knitted these so often, I only need the pattern when I get to the heel

 

 

Of course if you win the giveaway and choose the socks, they won't be plain, boring ones like this one, but jazzy ones in a colourway of your choice.  All you have to do is leave a comment by Friday the 14th, and you will be in the draw.

Supermarket madness

We popped in to the new Sainsbury's for a bit of shopping this morning - I didn't do my usual big shop on Monday, so we keep having to buy bits and pieces.  Amongst other things, we bought these sauces ........

 

....... not just because they looked good and could be popped in the freezer ........ but also because they were priced at 1p each!!  (We have no idea why!)

 

As it was busy, we used one of the self service checkouts, which was fine until Malcolm scanned this dvd

 

An assistant (oops, sorry, they are called colleagues - which isn't really correct, as they aren't our colleagues!) ....... anyway, she had to verify that we were over 12 years old before we could buy it!  Then we had a voucher to use, and in dealing with that she made a mistake so we didn't get our Nectar points, which meant we had to go to Customer Services to have them added.  By this time the people who had been in the queue we would have been in had long since been served and left the shop (they were probably at home eating lunch).

 

I have been making progress with the cross stitch kit

 

The heart on the left is for the scissors keeper, the heart with the squares round it is for the pin cushion, and the heart on the right is for the needlecase, and will also have squares round it.

I had popped out to the studio this afternoon to put some things away, when another UFO caught my eye

 

 

I started this quite some time ago - lots of squares knitted with wool I bought in a charity shop

 

 

I got bored sewing them together, and put them away in a basket, so this afternoon I got stuck in and sewed quite a few more

 

Once they are all sewn together, the plan is to crochet flowers to sew on the squares, and then to back it with fleece to make a very cosy throw.

 

This afternoon. I finally cut the Christmas cake, so that we could have a piece with our afternoon cuppa

 

 

Malcolm, of course, had a marzipan fruit with his piece

 

 

Inspired by all the bird feeders at the garden centre yesterday, I bought two new ones today - one for fatballs and one for peanuts.  As soon as they were hung on the bird table, we had visitors!

 

 

 

It's wonderful to see colour in the photos, after all those weeks of unremitting white!

Turning the tables

This morning we hit the sales ....... but not for me to buy 'bargain' clothes that would look wonderful once I shed two stones/grew six inches.  I was on a mission to find a small table to sit beside my couch, one large enough to accommodate all the bits and pieces I keep on my table, with room underneath to store my knitting basket.  The table I had was a little round wine table, that Malcolm's dad gave me for Christmas years ago - a lovely little table, but as politicians love to say ' not fit for purpose'.  I would have shown you a photo of it, but while I was making lunch, Malcolm installed the new table and put the little one away!  So here it is ...... my lovely new table

 

 

On it I have ......

 

....... my current reading.  I think there is a niche in the market for books 'for people who find dummies books bafflingly difficult' (ie me)!  I love Marian Keyes books - I was hooked from the moment I started reading 'Watermelon' many years ago.

 

 

........ the tidy bag that I made last year - it is very handy for all the odds and ends of thread and wool I generate.

 

 

........ my coaster - needs no explanation!

 

 

....... the owl notebook which was one of last year's pressies - as it has a magnetic catch, it is a good place to keep the scissors safe.

 

 

....... my reading specs - I wear them in the mornings when I read after breakfast (for the rest of the day I wear varifocals), pencils for doing crosswords, keeping track of knitting patterns etc, and handcream ...... I have tubes and bottles of handcream all over the house, as my hands get very dry in the winter.

 

 

....... I thought I should tidy out my knitting basket - these socks have been languishing at the bottom for months waiting for ......

 

 

....... the holes in the toes to be darned.  I knitted this pair four years ago.  They have been washed so often they are almost felted!

 

 

All tidied up!  I've added my current magazines under the books, and tucked in next to the knitting basket is my big camera, ready to snap visitors to the bird tables .....

 

 

A deep depression over Hawick

No, I'm not talking about the weather, but the gloom in the Donald household when it started to snow again!  We are completely fed up with this weather - it hasn't been above freezing for days.  Ah well, never mind, it will soon be Christmas!

I took the big camera out to the studio this afternoon, put two chairs in front of the doors so that hopefully the birds wouldn't be so aware of the movement when I went to take photos and fly away, then ....... it started to snow yet again! 

 

 

However, eventually, the snow stopped and I saw a little flash of colour

 

 

Which turned out to be a great tit

 

 

It obligingly hopped down to have a peck in the snow for food

 

 

It was joined by a male blackbird

 

 

Then, much to my delight, some redwings appeared ....... but they were so well camouflaged by the leaf litter, it was hard to get a clear photo!

 

 

 

I have mentioned before that I like to light a scented candle in the kitchen.  Usually I buy supermarket own-brand ones, but my treat at Christmas is to buy one of these

 

Other than the Christmas cake and some mince pies, I don't bake at Christmas, but this candle is filling the house with the most wonderful aroma of vanilla - if only I could blog the smell!!

 

We finally had some of our purple potatoes!!  Malcolm cooked wonderful salmon for dinner (the 'fish man' calls at the house every Wednesday morning with fresh fish).  He made some purple mashed potato to go with it  - the potatoes stayed purple and looked a bit weird, but they tasted like ...... ordinary potatoes!

 

 

I had already started to write this post, when I remembered that I hadn't taken this last photo - and in my rush to take it I think I must have moved the camera, so it is slightly blurred!  I wanted to show you my wonderful crochet snowflake from Lynne, which I have added to the centre of the mitten bunting

 

I think I will have to work on my crochet skills, as snowflake bunting would look lovely for next Christmas!

The dark side of the moon

This morning we had a lunar eclipse ...... I think this may be the first one I have seen, as usually these momentous events are obscured by clouds!  This first photo shows the lights of Hawick to the left, and the shadow part way over the moon

 

 

Then this photo shows the shadow further over the moon

 

 

But I can't show you any more photos because ...... it suddenly got cloudy!!  Later, when the post arrived, I was delighted to see this envelope ......

 

 

....... as I knew it would be fron my lovely bloggy friend Lynne.  Enclosed with her Christmas card was this gorgeous crocheted snowflake

 

 

I think I might put it in the middle of my mittens bunting (don't worry, the flames are fake!!)

 

 

After having starlings in the front garden for the first time yesterday, there were two new birds outside the back doors of the studio today.  I had to consult the bird book for both birds.  I knew this first one was a finch, and the bird book confirmed that it is a bullfinch.  The colours are stunning ..... finally a bird to rival the fantastic birds that Karen has on her blog!

 

 

 

 

Then later in the day, there was even more excitement when three of them appeared, although I only managed to capture two of them (and one of them is hard to spot at the top of the photo!!)

 

 

But the biggest thrill was this bird - although it took me a long time to get  photos of it!  There was actually a small flock of them in the tree, but they kept flying off whenever I crept up to the door to try to snap them.    After a long consultation with the bird book, I decided that they are redwings ..... birds that neither Malcolm nor I have seen before

 

 

Once this one had finally sat still long enough to have its photo taken, it then hopped round and faced the other way, for this final photo

 

It's back!

We got up this morning to find a dusting of snow, then after breakfast it started snowing with big fat flakes and we thought we would soon be snowed in again when the road looked like this

 

 

Fortunately, however, the snow stopped soon afterwards, and there has been enough traffic on the road to clear it (although we now have the problem of ice, as it is freezing hard!).  The birds were busy tucking into their breakfast, but this one was determined to keep its back to me!

 

 

However this one posed in the hawthorn tree, standing out nicely against the snow on the branches

 

 

I finished my toe up socks last night (apart from darning in the ends).  I found the method quite straightforward - although I think it would be difficult for someone who hadn't knitted socks from the top down

 

 

I found the heel simple to do, and it looks the same as doing it the traditional way

 

 

Apart from a short break for lunch, I was out in the studio sewing from half past ten until half past four!  I can't tell you what I was doing, but I'll give you two little sneak peeks!  First, the right side ......

 

 

...... and then the reverse (which is actually a much deeper blue than in the photo)

 

 

My fingers are firmly crossed that the weather doesn't get any worse and that the roads remain clear, as I have a busy three days ahead - and if I don't get to go out, I will have to stay in and do the ironing!  Every year I ask Santa for an Ironing Fairy for Christmas ....... maybe this year I'll find one in my stocking!!