A wonderful Christmas

We've had some amazing few days. Christmas Eve we went to my sisters to celebrate. In Norway Father Christmas comes to the house if you have young children and seeing my nephews reaction to Father Christmas' visit was fun. This is my youngest nephew, Storm, who kept looking at Father Christmas and touching his face.

There were a huge number of presents under the tree.

We stayed overnight at my sister's and on Christmas Day, after a huge breakfast, we all (all 10 of us) went out for a walk in the woods. The boys were on their 'snow racer' sledges and the girls joined in too.

This is Emily coming down one hill:

We stopped for a break and home made buns next to a beautiful farm.

It was about -15 celsius and Vanessa's hair went a bit frosty:

Yesterday and today we went out for walks in the woods and enjoyed the snow too. The girls went sledging just up the road from my parents' house while Simon and I went for a walk in the woods.

In Norway we have these things called 'Spark' which are great fun on snow. Simon and I took one into the woods with us and had a lot of fun going down hills. here's me coming down a hill:

 When we got back the girls decided to have a go with varying degrees of success. Here's Emily with Vanessa sitting down.

 I don't have my photo editing software otherwise I would have cropped these photos but this is Vanessa with Emily sitting down. Vanessa was struggling wiht steering and was heading straight for a snow drift.

 This is what happened next. The spark came to a sudden stop and Emily fell off and Vanessa went over the handles and landed on top of Emily. Once we'd ascertained that the girls were okay I got my camera out and got this photo with Simon running to help them.

Today we went out with the spark again and had a lot of fun going through the woods and down a long hill. We videoed each other with Vanessa's new video camera and if I can work out how to show it on my blog I will do another day. There was a lot of screaming and laughing. Its a bit warmer today, only -5 but no sunshine so it felt just as cold.

We all had some lovely Christmas presents. Among the things I got was a Norwegian book on 'Christmas Bauble' which has taken Norway by storm this year.

I think I will be knitting some of these for next Chrismas. I also got a book on natural dyeing which I'm looking forward to studying in more detail.

I've done some knitting too. I finished Emily's flip top gloves yesterday and she loves them. I could do with doing some moderations to perfect the flip top next time but she's worn them since I finished them yesterday. I  think she even wore them to bed last night.

I finished Vanessa's rather colourful socks

and my Mum finished a pair of Zauberball socks for Emily (the colour is all wrong here, they're pink and purple)

I've recommenced work on lace stole which has been hibernating for months. Will do a progress pic another day. I've also done a few rounds on my Fantasy sock (I'm just past the gusset on sock 2 and thought I was furhter down the foot) which I want to finish soon. Today I've cast on for a pair of plain Zauberball socks for me in black and red as I need some easy cinema knitting tonight. And doing the leg on a sock should be fine.

We made it!

Yes, this time we made it to Norway. We left Cornwall at 8pm on Tuesday evening to allow ourselves plenty of time to get to Stansted just in case the traffic was as bad as it was on Saturday. we had to be in the carpark by 6am. We got to Stansted by 2am! There was almost no cars on the roads at all and the roads were completely clear. We sat in the services at Bishops Stortford for an hour but it was rather chilly there so we went on to the airport.

We were so relieved when we boarded the plane and even more relieved and pleased when we landed! It was cold though. I thought we'd gotten used to cold weather with temperatures hovering around and just below 0 for weeks now but it was -15 when we landed.

We didn'd do much yesterday. We were exhausted after travelling over night. I slept and did lots of knitting and then had an early night. We've had a quiet day today too. The girls decorated the tree (and I forgot to take  a photo) but I'm sure I'll take one in the next few days. Then they made marsipan which I love. Luckily I'd gone to bed for an hour or I would have eaten it all.

Lots of knitting progress. I finished the fingers on Em's first flip top glove:

Sorry it's been photogrpahed inside out.

Look at all those ends to weave in. I've got to try and work out how to do the flip top now. Vanessa has requested a pair too but I'm not sure if I've got the right colours of sock yarn for her. I told her we'd go through my Mum's leftover sock yarn and the ones I've brought and see if she likes any of them. I'm not buying anything new. I'd also like to do some Selbu inspired mittens for myself too which I'd like to start asap. I'm hoping i may be able to finish Em's first gove tonight and perhaps get to the fingers on the second.

I also finished Vanessa's first sock last night:

Cast on for the second one.

Haven't done much knitting so far today so will need to crack on tonight. Vanessa needs these socks to keep her feet warm. The girls want me to knit them balaclavas. They realised on their walk earlier that when I said it would be COLD I meant it!

My last minute Christmas present to all my blog readers is a Ravelry pattern offer. Buy one pattern from my Ravelry shop and get one free. Why not buy one of your knitting friend a last minute pattern for Christmas and get one for yourself. Or treat yourself to a pattern or more to knit as a reward for all the Christmas knitting (or if you're like me and haven't done any Christmas knitting, as a reward for all the Christmas preparations) you've done. Go on treat yourself. Valid until 30 December midnight London time.  Use code: jul.

We celebrate on Christmas eve in Norway and this year we're going to my sister. Have a wonderful Christmas everyone.

GOD JUL!

Attempt No 2!

This was the scene outside our house yesterday morning. It's taken from our doorstep looking down the road. Noone has drive up our road since Friday. We're on a steep hill (steeper than it looks in pic) and there is another steep hill before we get out on the main road. We have been parking our car on the estate next to ours which is linked to our road by a foot path. This afternoon when I came walking down that path it was very icy and despite holding on to the handrail there I fell and hurt my right shoulder and knee.

it was milder yesterday and it got very slushy and wet. Perfect snow for snowballs! Today it's colder and as the slush has frozen it's become very icy.

We're about to leave for Stansted again for a 8.30 am flight tomorrow morning. We're allowing twice as much time as normal for our drive and will be driving overnight.

I've spent the time at home doing a lot of knitting.

 Emily asked me a few weeks ago if I could knit 'half-finger' gloves with flip top mittens. I finally cast on yesterday evening and got all this done while watching a couple of TV programmes:

The yarns are a mix of different ones. The light blue sparkly one is Louisa Harding and is actually DK and a little bit too thick but it works okay for the cuff. The other blue is one of my Super Merino Sock yarns. The purple and lilac is Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino left over from the fair isle sweater for Simply Knitting. Emily chose the colours. I've not done flip top mittens before so that'll be interesting. I started the cuff on the second one and was hoping to finish the cuff before we left so I can leave the blue colours at home but I think I will have to try to finish it in the car and leave the yarns in the car.

Vanessa wanted some sock. She choose some merino/bamboo/nylon yarn from Dragon Fibers which has been in my stash for a while, it's a bright multi-coloured yarn. And it dows pool rather a lot but Vanessa likes them. I'm hoping to finish the first sock at the airport or on the flight and get started on the second one.

I will be taken both the socks and the mittens in my hand-luggage and I may try to get the second glove to the point where I can start the fingers. I'm not sure about knitting the fingers on a cramped plane. I'm also taking a secret shawlette which is half-finished and i'm keen to finish it soon. It's easy to knit and does not take much concentration. Will probably be perfect for knitting tomorrow as i'll be tired after our overnight drive.

I'm hoping my next post will be coming from Norway. We were all a bit fed up on Sunday when we came back home again and we ate our way through a tin of Quality Street:

we've been given two tins as presents and I never thought we'd finish a whole tin in an evening.

We're off to Norway now (I hope)!

We're back home...

28 hours after we left for our Christmas holiday in Norway we're back in Cornwall. Yesterday was pretty horrendous and this morning did not get any better. We left Cornwall at 11am yesterday. The roads in town were pretty snowy and slippery but once we made it on to the main roads we were fine. No problems on the motorways until we got to M4 just before the M25 junction. The last 1/2 mile before we joined the M25 took us about an hour. M25 wasn't any better. From  when we joined M25 it took us 4 hours to get to Stansted, normally it takes us an hour. There was quite a bit of snow when we reached the Stansted area. We'd booked a Travelodge in Great Dunmow but  Iforgot to print off directions. We turned off the main road and drove through Great Dunmow (turned out we didnt' have to do this and could have stayed on the main road and turned off later and found the Travelodge right next to the main road). Great Dunmow looked fantastic in the dark. Lots of snow, pretty houses and Christmas lights. Only 1 or 2 cars around and a few people walking. 

This morning we got up at 4.30am and left for Stansted at 5.30 am. We arrived at Stansted to chaos. All Ryan Air flights were cancelled. As Ryan Air is a low cost airline, customer service is pretty non-existent. One lone staff member positioned by the information screens told us to re-book online and directed us to the internet cafe were we queued for nearly an hour. In the end we managed to re-book a flight for Wednesday. Two hours after we arrived at the long stay car park we left and headed back home. Roads were clear all the way home and we got home fairly quickly.

Some flights were leaving Stansted this morning. We watched two flights take off. Why Ryan Air cancelled all their flights is beyond me. Perhaps their staff couldn't get in? Well, passengers had no problems getting to the airport. We drove across the country yesterday and this morning drove on snow covered roads until we joined the main road which was clear in -7 degrees celsius to reach the airport. And it only took us 10-15 mins.

Perhaps the runway was covered in snow? Maybe but the motorway was completely clear so if snow ploughs can clear the motorway surely an international airport will have a few snow ploughs on duty. A friend told me that it was too dangerous for air planes to take off and land at a snow covered airport. Planes do this every day for several months of the year in other countries. We heard on the radio that Stockholm airport had a foot or two of snow overnight and the only cancelled flights were the ones heading for British airports!!! I can't believe that big airports like Stansted, Heathrow and Gatwick don't have facilities to deal with snow. We spent nearly 2 hours queuing on the M4 and M25 near Heathrow yesterday and there was not that much snow. I'd say less than an inch. The motorway was almost clear, a bit of slushy stuff and the slip roads were a bit worse off.  There was a lot more snow in the Stansted area, perhaps 2 inches of snow but surely they should cope with that. I'd be happy and understanding about delays. We've been delayed in Oslo before due to planes having to be de-iced and that's fine. we've taken off in much worse weather than yesterday (in Oslo). We heard on the radio when we were stuck near Heathrow that there was a blizzard at Heathrow. Well, if it was it must have been very localised as there definitely wasn't a blizzard where we were and we were only a few minutes away. On a normal day we would have been watching flights flying over us every minute or so. 

I'm angry and I was very upset this morning. I think it's disgusting that this country can't cope with an inch or two of snow. Yes other countries (like Norway) have proper tyres and more snow ploughs etc but there wasn't that much snow this morning. I wish I'd taken a picture of it but I forgot.

Driving through Somerset yesterday we saw 3 snow ploughs and the roads were pretty good, only the centre lanes on the motorway had any snow in it. On the M25, although it was fairly good, there was a little bit of snow and slush and no snow ploughs in site. Eventually we did pass a snow plough but guess what? His snow plough was not in use!!! he was spreading grit but it would have been so much more useful if he'd lowered his snow plough and cleared the slushy stuff as he was gritting. Salting/gritting roads that are full of slush or snow isn't really that useful unless the snow plough is in use too.

We've now got two days at home then we'll try again. I'm praying we make it to Norway for Christmas. I only go home for christmas every other year and I've not been home for 2 years and I was especially looking forward to seeing my nephews. They're only 3 and 6 and I've not seen them for 2 years. 

One good thing about being home again is that Simon's Dad is going in for a hip replacement tomorrow and we were worried about not being here. At least now, Simon can take his parents to the hospital and stay with his Mum during the op. And hopefully visit his Dad on Tuesday too.

I'm planning to do lots of knitting. I didn't manage to finish my cashmere cardigan (on the machine) before we left. I finished the front bands in the car yesterday and seamed the side seams and picked up for armbands last night in the hotel. I had decided to turn it into a waist coat instead but now that we're home, I'll finish knitting the sleeves and undo the couple of rounds of armband I've done. I also wanted to try to knit a sweater in Fantasy sock on the machine before we left and I may still try to do this. If I can do the front and back tomorrow and sleeves on Tuesday, I can take it with me to sew up in Norway. I'd also taken Simon's sweater to sew up in Norway but I'll try and do it before we leave again. I'm also planning to make a start on Em's fingerless gloves and both the girls would like socks. Wonder how much I can get done in 2 days. At least because we were suppose to be in Norway, I've got no other plans for the next 2 days. And the packing is all done.

I might go through my holiday knitting again and re-consider what I'm taking. got a feeling I may have packed too much. Will take photos too. The shop is open and I will post any orders placed before 9am on Tuesday before we leave again. In fact, if you've read all this then you deserve a treat, so I'll re-activate the 25% christmas discount. Use code: god jul. Can be used in the shop and on Ravelry. Valid until 9 am (UK time) on Tuesday.

Winter Wonderland!

Yes the snow came to Cornwall at the worst possible time. yesterday we woke up to a light dusting of snow. Not enough for the girls' last day of school to be cancelled though, although they finished at lunch time yesterday. My problem with the snow is that on Sunday at 8am we fly out from Stansted. We were going to drive up to Stansted in the early hours of Sunday morning, which meant leaving Cornwall at about 1 am. driving up overnight with the icy roads we've had lately was not tempting and with snow even worse. Yesterdya morning we made the decision to book into a Travelodge near Stansted for Saturday night and decided we would leave after lunch today. Then when Simon came home yesterday he decided we should leave at 10am this morning. I had planned to do all the packing today and yesterday had a pattern to finish off (just final meausurements and a final read-through needed), some e-mails to write, 2 patterns to write for my knitter to work on over christmas, yarn to post, the Easy Lace Club to post, lots of machine knitting to do. I got some of it done during the day but not all. After dinner, we all set to and packed. Then I finished my pattern stuff and parcels about 11pm last night. I still have one sleeve left to knit on the machine for my cashmere cardigan. I've nearly finished hand-knitting the front bands. I'm also taking a lace shawl in progress with me which has been hibernating for months. I knew i'd only typed up half the charts needed and they're large and I wanted to get them typed up too before we left, did a little bit last night and just about to finish them now (it's 5am)!

This morning I have to finish knitting a sleeve and a half on the machine, do my online postage for the parcels, go to the post office, collect a prescription which wasn't ready on Thursday when I collected the rest, and double check that none of our suitcases weigh over 15 kg. Not too bad. I can do that before 10am. Simon and Emily also need to go and get some fish feeders from Pets at Home before we leave. I'm hopign they'll walk and do that and the post office and my prescription before we leave.

To get out of our estate, we have to drive down a steep hill then up a steep hill to get out to the main road. yesterday I made the decision in the morning to move the car to the estate next to ours where there is almost flat access to the main road and a foot path linking to our road. I drove down the road and was sliding all over the place. I just about managed to get up the steep hill. When I got right ot the top a car was nearly stuck and I was so worried about stopping behind it and not being able to get up the last little bit that I slowly over took which wasn't good but I had no choice. I was sliding all over the road even on the flat bit. When I came into the estate next to ours, there is a very tiny hill and a bend to get into the road I wanted to park in. One car was blockign the road and two others looked like they'd slid into each others. I waited for a while to see if they'd move but htey didn't so I parked the car a little bit further away than I'd planned. Simon moved it last night so now it's parked just over our back fence, which is about 20 m to walk up a foot path, which makes it doable even with 4 suitcases to load into the car.

There is a little bit more snow this morning. Now, if I took a pic of this snow those of you reading this from countries like Norway and Canada when snow is a regular occurrence would laugh your heads off. There is actually very little snow. But when we are driving on what we in Norway would call 'summer tyres' it's bad news.

enough of the snow. I'd planned to take pics of the knitting I was taking, just so you could all re-assure me I've not taken too much. I think my family think I'd deluded - okay, they already know i am. I've taken my Fantasy sock which is nearly finished (the second sock), two other pairs of socks which I'm about halfway through the first sock, one small, very small secret project, yarn for 2 or 3 mor pairs of socks (I desperately need more socks), yarn for socks and mittens for Emily and socks for Vanessa (must be knited in the next few days so they can wear them in Norway), one lace shawl with beads (the one with the large charts which i desperately want to finish), the Carmen shawl which is half-finished, a secret shawlette which is half-done, yarn and beads for a shawlette for a friend - not started, yarn and beads (yet to pack) for a pair of wristwarmers to match my Fairytale shawlette, my crochet curly wurly scarf (needs to be re-done), another crochet scarf - been hibernating for months. I'm sure there is more.

I wanted to take Simon's Debbie bliss sweater which I started in September last year. I'd hoped ot take it and finish it this christmas but I've only done the back and half a front or sleeve. I had to take it out last night to fit in some essential clothes. I also wanted to take another secret shawlette which I started in spain last summer but decided agains it, although it may still go in my hand-luggage. I've decided that my half-finished secrety shawlette will be my travelling project together with the crochet curly wurly scarf and the other crochet scarf. that should keep me occupied at the airport in case of delays. I also wanted to knit some Selbu inspired mittens in my sock yarn but haven't decided on yarn yet. I'm casting on for Emily's mittens this morning and working on it in the Travelodge tonight while watching the 'Strictly' final. I want Pamela or Matt to win although all the finalists are so good, I don't really mind.

I'd better get those charts done and some sleeve knitting done. I had planned to knit a scarf for everyone for Christmas too (on the machine) - I failed.  i got two done.

I'll be back next week to let you know if we got to Norway .... or not. Please pray we do!

Just remembered, I must pack 'Snow Queen'. I want to get some modelled pics in the snow in Norway. My sister is modelling it for me but she doesn't know yet.

One Day Sale

As a special Christmas present to my blog readers I'm having a special one day offer. Between now (9am Thursday) and 9 am  12noon Friday 17 Dec (UK time), you will get 25% off everything in the shop and on Ravelry if you use code: god jul. That's Norwegian for Merry Christmas!

Saturday will be the last day of posting parcels before Christmas. Any orders placed before midnight Friday will be posted on Saturday. Any orders after that will be posted on 3 or 4 january.

Why not take advantage of the 25% discount and join a club.

First Design in Simply Knitting

The new issue of Simply Knitting came yesterday and features my first design for Simply Knitting. It's a fair isle design, worked in one piece in the round with a circular yoke. Debbie did a fab job in knitting up the sample. They even showed a picture of the wrong side of the fair isle pattern. It looked perfect. Thank you Debbie. Debbie has just started a new company called Redhound which specialises in dog coats and gifts for dogs. Her stuff is fantastic. She had a stall at The Country Living Christmas Fair and won the Editors Choice Award.

There was even a small pic on the cover, down in the left hand bottom corner:

Here are some of the pics I took before I sent it off:

We did have a little bit of a drama with this sweater. Debbie rang me to say she wouldn't have enough of the green yarn to finish the yoke. She sent the garment back to me. I took of the ribs at the bottom of the sleeves and body and unravelled them and re-knit them much shorter. And used that yarn to finish the yoke. Perfect!

I've finished my last deadline before christmas. Now, I'm busy planning my Christmas knitting. I've promised the girls socks and fingerless gloves with mitten tops. Emily has picked out her yarn and I may get started on those tonight. Vanessa's may not get done. She got some new mittens on Sunday so is not desperate for the fingerless gloves. I also wanted to knit something for Simon's parents, his sister and her husband and my parents. I'm doing it on teh knitting machine so it should be quick. I spent some time on the knitting machine this morning and it did not go well. I tried to do a rib, which I can do quite well by now and I just ended up with some needles not knitting properly. I kept trying and it kept messing up. I had lunch and then tried again and it worked. I got to the point where I thought it was something wrong with the machine. I did manage to finish the second front for my navy cashmere cardi eventually:

Just sleeves to do. I'm joining the shoulders tonight and picking up for the front bands which i'm hand-knitting. We're having our housegroup Christmas social here tonight so I need something simple to knit. The front bands are perfect.

I also started a curly scarf crocheted in Art Yarns Beaded Silk. I was planning to take this to Norway but I started on my break this morning and just carried on. I'm slightly worried about running out of yarn as I've only got about 90 m.

I finished my cashmere waist coat on Monday.  I knitted the fronts and back on my knitting machine but handknitted the armbands and the front bands.  I'm very, very happy with this garment. I made no mistakes on the machine at all. My first completely mistake-free machine knitted garment! It looks huge on my dress form but my dress form is a size 8/10 and i'm not!

I love the shaping for the v-neck:

I've got some pattern writing to do and some Christmas knitting to plan.

New Design and Shelterbox

In January this year I decided to put up a free pattern to raise money for Shelterbox. Knitters can download the pattern for free from my website and then decide how much to donate to Shelterbox. The donations page is here. My aim was to raise the money for one shelterbox which costs £490 and we're nearly there. At the time of writing the total is £472 and we're at 96% of the total. I'd love to make it to the total by the end of the year, so  if you've not donated yet, I'd really appreciate it if you would consider donating a little now. You can download the Friendship Shawl for free in return for your donation. A huge thank you to all those who've donated money throughout the year and to the British knitting magazines who mentioned my fundraising effort earlier in the year.

Shelterbox is a fantastic charity which started here in Cornwall by a Rotary member. The charity provides boxes containing a tent and essential items for a family of up to 10 people who have been made homeless by natural disasters such as earthquakes, flooding etc. This year Shelterbox have provided help in countries such as Haiti, Pakistan, Indonesia, Phillipines and Columbia. Shelterbox is also celebrating it's 10 year anniversary this year. 

The Friendship Shawl takes just 2 skeins of sock yarn or 200gr of 4ply/fingering weight yarn and is knitted in two halves. And it's perfect to wrap around your neck in the winter. I'll definitely be taking mine to Norway with me over Christmas.

I'm planning to continue this fundraising initiative for Shelterbox next year and i'm hoping to design a new fundraising pattern over Christmas and publish it in January.

The new issue of Let's Knit is out. This is the January issue (no 38) and I've got a pretty, girly design featured. 'Melwyn' has a pretty all over lace rib which gives the sweater a fitted shape without being clingy. The lace pattern is very easy and consists of only 4 rows and two of those are purl. Each lace column is separated by a column of reverse stocking stitch. The sweater has a scoop neck with a garter stitch edging and 3/4 length sleeves.

Here are some of the photos I took before I sent it off.

I'm working flat out on my deadline project. I need to finish it before I go to bed tomorrow night. And I've got quite a bit left. Tomorrow Vanessa and I are off on a coach trip to Clarks Village in Somerset. I can knit on the bus but this project includes beads which won't be easy on the bus but I have no choice. We signed up for this trip a couple of months ago and I think neither of use are that keen to go any more but I'm sure we'll have a good time when we get there. This is my last deadline before Christmas and once that's out of the way I've promised the girls I'll knit them each a pair of half-fingered gloves with mitten tops, and a pair of sock each. I've also got to finish Simon's machine knit sweater - one sleeve left to do and some sewing up. I knitted a waist coat for myself (on the machine ofcourse) the other day and I love it. I've done the arm bands and I'm about to do the front bands. That will have to wait until later in the week. I've been working on a cashmere cardigan for myself today (again, on the machine). I did the back and half the first front this morning and finished the first front and got half way on the second front this afternoon. I'd hoped to finish the second front before Strictly Come Dancing started. I can't knit on my secret project while watching the programme, so I'd planned to knit the front bands on the cardigan. I was kind of hoping I could finish it and wear it tomorrow. A bit too optimistic I think. I also want to knit a sweater for myself in Fantasy sock before we go to Norway. I've also got some machine knit accessories I want to knit for presents next week. So all in all, I've got a busy week ahead of me. No deadline knitting but plenty of other stuff to keep me busy.

On Tuesday I'm teaching a 'crochet motifs' workshop at Spin A Yarn. Learn how to start a shape by using the 'adjustable ring' method and crochet circles, squares and hexagon shapes. We'll also look at how these shapes can be used in designing. This is my first ever crochet class and I'm excited and a little bit nervous about it. Last week there was still one or two spaces left. Contact the shop if you wish to book.

I'd better do some more knitting before going to bed. Nite x

Busy Week

It's been a very busy and at times, very difficult week. Last weekend I suffered from very, very severe back pain and headaches. It was much, much worse than it's been for a very long time. On Saturday I decided to take it easy to try to get the pain under control. So I did very little apart from relax and knit. On Sunday I woke up in just as much pain. So I decided to try to do a little bit more. We went to church and in the afternoon we popped into Plymouth to get Simon some new glasses and Emily a coat. My current deadline project is a little bit difficult to knit with a severe headache so I didn't touch it much and did some easy swatch knitting instead. which means i've been desperately trying to catch up with the deadline knitting all week.

This is what the coffee table looks like when I'm in swatching mood:

The result of the weekend's swatching:

On Monday I was still bad so I decided to ignore the pain and try to get on with normal life. I had planned to dye the sock club yarn but I was in too much pain to manage that. Tuesday I was still bad but I went to Totnes to meet a friend. We spent a few hours in a coffee shop and had lunch and knitted. I managed to do some shopping too. Got some boots for Norway and some beads. Remember my bead stash from last week?

On Wednesday my back/headache was a little bit better and I managed to get the sock club yarn dyed. In the evening the Modbury knitting group which normally meets at Hulu Crafts, had invited me to come to their Christmas meal at Turtley Mill. I went to their Christmas meal last year too and some of the ladies have been to my workshops throughout the year so it was lovely to see them all again. We had a lovely meal. I took some pics but they were not very good so I won't embarass anyone by sharing them. I did have to take a pic of my gorgeous dessert which was the Chocolate Lovers Desert Plate:

On Thursday I was back to severe headache again. I spent all morning sewing up and doing neckbands etc for a deadline design which had to be posted on Thursday. I was very pleased with the result.  At lunch time i picked up my friend, Claire, and headed to Cowslip Workshops for our knitting group's Christmas meal. Cowslip is a patch work shop and coffee shop set on a farm outside Launeston. The garden is beautiful:

And so is the coffee shop:

here's our group of knitters:

After our meal we were allowed to choose a fat quarter from this lovely selection:

After lunch we stopped at The Cornwall Yarn Shop where some of us might have bought some yarn.

I've just done a shop update. Place a yarn order before 17 December (last posting date before Christmas will be 18 December as we leave for Norway on the 19th) and get a 50% discount off any pattern order from my Ravelry shop. The discount code will be in the order confirmation e-mail. so you can go straight to the Ravelry shop and order and download your patterns. buy as many as you like at 50% discount. Here's some of the Organic Merino in the shop update:

These two Japanes stitch dictionaries joined my collection this week. I LOVE THEM!

Now it's time to watch Strictly Come Dancing and do some knitting. Have a lovely weekend.