Andeans , Navajos and Woolworths .

We had an At Home Day yesterday . Artis-Anne and her DH were up from Wales and staying with the Moggs , so they all came round yesterday for lunch . Unfortunately Amber wasn't feeling very well and after lunch headed home . Annie and DH stayed a while longer.

I learnt two new skills yesterday as well .Annie showed me how to use the Andean Plyer Papa Bear had bought me for Christmas .The spinners amongst you will know what it is . For non spinners , this is a nifty little gadget that enables you to make use of all the singles spun onto a bobbin , instead of wasting several metres of yarn , which usually happens once you finish plying.
After lunch , when the boys had taken the dogs out , Annie showed me how to Navajo ply . The pic above is the end result and I am so pleased with it . Navajo plying enables you to ply using one bobbin of single spun yarn, instead of plying two singles together .
It was lovely spending the day with like minded people and was a great pity Amber was feeling poorly .

This is some Falkland Island roving which Annie dyed for me for Christmas .

Unfortunately my stupid camera doesn't do the colour justice . Hopefully once I've spun it the pics will show the colours better .

Well that's the Andeans and the Navajos taken care of i want to talk about Woolworths.

Today me and DH went to town to browse round the sales and we found that our local Woolworths was one that closed down yesterday. This shop has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Saturday morning trips up town with my Mum and sister always included a visit to Woolworths for an orange drink and very occasionally we would be treated to a small toy off the sixpenny toy counter.

These two little characters were purchased for Christmas in 1956 and cost the said sixpence each . Every year my Mum got them out and they stood on the mantlepiece during the festive season. When she died , ten years ago , I rescued them from the cupboard when her house was being cleared and they now have pride of place in my home at Christmas .
It's a great pity that institutions like Woolworths have been beaten by all these out of town retail parks and have gone the way of all the little local shops .

Well ! That's it for another Year.

Well ! That's it for another year.It all went rather smoothly , though things got a bit hectic when all the dogs arrived . We'd had a trial run on Monday when Maggie and Bramble met for the first time and they hit it off OK. One good thing for Meg is that they ignore her and just chase one another round , with a bit of All in Wrestling in between . Here is a pic of THE cardie . The one that gave me mega arm ache . Suffice to say he loved it .

Every ones knitteds went down well except No 2 son's . Unfortunately it was a tad to big , and that is putting it mildly . Well one out of twelve isn't to bad is it ???
Bramble and Maggie hoping DH will drop some turkey on the floor. They never left his side the whole time he was carving .
These are all my pressies . Books ( DH , DD , No 3 S ) knitting needles ( DH ), candles & DS game (No 2 S ) , one of Amber's Femmes , perfume ( DD ), an Andean Plyer ( DH ) and the coloured slips of paper to the right of the Len Goodman book are tickets to see Status Quo in Glastonbury next Summer c/o No 1 son.
We had a lovely two days . DD and No3S came Christmas Day . Then on Boxing Day No 2 S joined us with the Grandchildren.

Yesterday we chilled . No visitors so we had a long walk in the nice frosty air . It was really sunny and it really cleared my head . We came upon this gorgeous pair on the lake . They'd nested here at the beginning of the year so they may come back again in the Spring. Dh did a mini survey for the BTO and he saw 15 bird species in just over an hour.

The afternoon was spent spinning and watching an old David Niven film.

Today we went to see No 2 Grandson as it was his birthday then went for a quick walk in the sunshine. More spinning planned for this afternoon.

The weather has been good these past few days and already the days are a few minutes longer . Remember what I said about days being a cocks crow longer after Solstice. It's true , just take note of when you switch the lights on of an evening :0)))

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Oh! What a day . Things started going a bit wrong last night . I was doing some last minute pressie knitting , ably assisted by DH , he was doing the plain i was doing the fairisle. Weeell i'd picked the stitches up all down the front (136 ) and had got a good way on with the band and shaped collar of the Starsky Cardie when me and Dh swapped so i could finish the fairisle of the front . I happened to look across at him knitting when HORROR !!!!! I realised I'd missed knitting two rows of fair isle on the right front. The air turned a distinct shade of Royal Blue.

There was nothing else to do but frog it. The whole band and the top half of the front.

Anyway to cut to the chase I re knitted the front picked the stitches up and by 11-30 pm last night I was back to where I'd discovered the mistake. At this point I gave up and went to bed.

I had loads to do today but it has got finished ( pics another day , it's a surprise )And the turkey got cooked . Care of DH .
The Christmas cake got decorated .

And the pressies got wrapped .

Just the veggies to peel and that's it for today . Tonight it will be hot Lush bath , new jammies on , large Bacardi and Midsommer Murders.
The best , as they say , has been left till last . I am very proud to announce , that at the age of 73 ,my darling eldest brother is a Grandad for the the first time , to a gorgeous Grandaughter.

She arrived yesterday and weighed 7lb 1 oz .
Seasons Greetings and Blessings to all my readers.

Solstice .

Today is Winter Solstice , the shortest day. I can't burn a real Yule log but I've done my best.

After today the days will begin to get a tiny bit lighter . My Gran used to say that after Solstice daylight was a Cock's Crow longer. To celebrate Solstice I have decorated the house and filled it with candlelight .
I have a quite a collection of Snowmen so I've set some dancing round a big candle .

All trimmed up . I love decorating the house . It makes it look so warm .

Yesterday we went to the Moggs for a Solstice Eve lunch and to exchange gifts. They gave me a lovely book and one of Amber's Femmes . DH got a leather bound note book and we both got a joint pressie of a lovely embroidered picture . Unable to post pics of these as the camera decided to play up just as I was taking the photos . Sorry Amber.

I did manage to take a pic of my Super Duper skein winder that Mr Mogg made me .It's great .

We did a deal , he made me this and I made Amber a knitting bag . I like swaps .
I'm nearly ready for Christmas . Still got the baking to do so , as we have one of our Grandsons staying tonight , I've decided to do it tomorrow and let him help just like his Dad used to do .

Sleepy

This is what I've felt like all week .I think it's a mixture of the last fortnight doing all the Craft Fairs , all the driving , not eating the right stuff and my tendency to want to go into hibernation this time of year .Only this year seems worse than usual . I have not been getting up very early and I've been falling asleep at lunchtime. Not me at all . Anyway I got some Metetone yesterday to buck me up and it seems to have started working already as I didn't fall asleep after lunch . Unfortunately all this dozyness has put me a bit behind with the last of my Christmas knitting , so I'm going to have to knit like mad these next few days .

I met up with my crafting friend Jean on Tuesday for lunch . Haven't seen her for ages so we had a lot of catching up to do . Got a gorgeous purple skirt whilst I was out . It will be great to wear on Christmas Day.

Off to the Moggs tomorrow for an early Yule celebration . Then Sunday will be trimming the house day . Watch this space for pics :0)))

The End .

Ta Dah ! That's it for another year. We did our third Grassington on Saturday which surpassed all expectations , which was great. Then yesterday at Samlesbury Hall it was the same . The public were crowding in 15 mins before the fair was due to open . It was packed . We were none stop till about 2-30-pm . I had visits from two Ravellers , Cheekyimp and Padihamknitter , who both went hop with some of my Blue Faced Leicester .This was the Lady Moon at 7-00am yesterday morning . I couldn't see her the other night , when she was her biggest for 15 years , due to the cloud cover.
You meet some , lets say , different people when you do Craft fairs . Henry the eighth paid us a visit at Samlesbury yesterday . It's not a wax work but a real guy. Doesn't he look the part. He works at the Hall and does guided tours and talks .
Well it's the end of the shows for this year ,now I have to catch up on my cleaning up , that has been neglected over the past few days . I've got s busy week of lunches , hairdressers appointments , friends to visit . I'd better get on with it instead of sitting here at the computer.

I've Seen Him .. I've Seen Him !!!

A nice festive Post . Look who I met yesterday whilst I was at the Blackburn Town Centre Christmas Market . Doesn't he look great. You'll have to forgive me for indulging myself in pics of Father Christmas , I'm a big softy when it comes to him . When I was little the whole extended family used to go up to my Grandma's for Christmas Day and as we were a huge family , I had 16 cousins , you can imagine what it was like . There were so many there had to be two sittings for Christmas Dinner , children first then grown ups . Then it was present giving time . Not for us Aunties and Uncles etc just giving us their presents . Oh no . Father Christmas, himself , used to come specially to my Grandma's. It was fantastic . In he'd come with a huge sack and give out all the presents for everybody . If I close my eyes now i can picture myself in that living room waiting for him to call out my name . Such fantastic memories .
His costume was beautiful .

All the children were mesmerised .

He'd brought along his Pyranean Mountains dogs . As you can see they were huge .

Mum and Pup

Big Daddy.

Oops forgot to mention we had a good day in the Craft Marquee . We had thought of cancelling after such a poor first fair but decided , as there was no stall rent to shell out , we'd give it another go . Glad we did .

Short Post

We managed to get out for a walk yesterday . The weather was really sunny but very cold . It made a change from the horrible rain , on Monday .I took my last comparison pics of the year . Remember this in early October.

All the leaves are gone AND somebody has taken the cows in , thank God. Last week when we went they were still there huddled near the gate looking very miserable . I'd made my mind up, if they had still been there , to report them to the RSPCA or something. Anyway they've been taken in now .

This was taken just above the tree line . The Lady Moon has just appeared high above the big cloud in the East .This was taken at 2-30 pm , very early .

This is the sun going down behind the Gasometers ,in the West , 10 minutes later .

We called in to see the ducks . There was over eighty , which is the most we've seen .Got a busy few days ahead now , only got Friday off . Then that's it for this year .

Grassington Dickensian.

This is a very pictorial Posting because I took loads of photos yesterday and I couldn't decide which to put on , so I put the lot on .

Yesterday was the second Saturday in the Grassington Dickensian Festival .Again we set off early , 6-00am , to give ourselves more time to set up . It was a very uneventful journey , the roads and sky were clear but what a surprise when we got to Grassington . They had, had the predicted heavy snowfall earlier in the week and it was touch and go whether the festival would have to be cancelled . There was a terrific amount of snow still about but apparently lots of local people and all the shopkeepers had worked VERY hard to clear the paths and roads so that the festival could go ahead . It was very important that it should as, like the rest of us this year, Grassington has had a very lean time . The footfall that this event was doubly needed .

The first few pics are of the lovely window displays in the village . The rest are a pictures I took as I wandered through the village after we'd set up ." More Cheese Gromitt "
Christmas goodies
The Art Shop

The Main Street Through Grassington

Snowy Cottage

Village Square

Village Square

Lane off the main street.

Hows that for a pile of snow . Look at the blue sky.

More snow covered houses.

This is Clem , The Boss , who oversees the Craft Fair .

It was a very busy day people wise but we did not start any decent selling till 1-45pm . In the end we didn't do to badly ,though again the sales were way down on last year .

Next Saturday is the last one . If you can I'd recommend you to pay this event a visit . If you're not in a Christmas mood when you get there you sure will be by the time you leave.
We have two more events besides Grassington , Thursday in Blackburn Town Centre , by the Old Town Hall . Sunday at Salmesbury Hall . nr Blackburn.

Hope to see some of you there.

Secret Santas

Last night was Secret Santa Night at Preston Stitch'n ' Bitch..and as Papa Bear is the only male member he was nominated Santa and gave out all the pressies .
By a strange coincidence I got Black Purl in the draw and she got me . Spooky.
Here she is wearing the mitts I made for her .

And this what she got me . A lovely coil of hand dyed Merino . It's more purple than the pic shows . I don't think my camera likes purple cos every time I take a pic in this colour it comes out more blue than purple .

We had a lovely night , lots of laughs. It was our last meeting ,for now, as we have shows to do before Christmas but we are looking forward to the New Year and having loads of laughs .

I have been very remiss not posting this pic sooner . I did a swap with Artis Anne
for one of my Box Bags and this is what I got in return . Isn't it gorgeous ( i do use that word rather a lot ) isn't it scrumptious , yummy , fabulous , whatever ,take your pick . I LOVE IT .

It is my favourite fibre , Blue Faced Leicester and I'm saving it to spin over Christmas .
Anne is coming up in between Christmas and New Year and is going to teach me the secrets of Navajo plying so I'm hoping to get it spun into singles by then :0))) Watch this space .

Just to Prove..........

This Blog posting is just to prove I have been knitting .It was cold and wet and horrible when I got up this morning . The threatened snow had not materialised , thank God , but it was still awful . So I went up to the spare room and retrieved this jumble of unfinished garments .After five hours of sewing seams and darning ends in I have this .............................
A nice neat pile of jumpers , socks , mitts and shawls all ready to be wrapped .I still have the sleeve of a cardigan for eldest GD and two Starsky cardigans to make for No'S 1 and 3 sons . They are in chunky so they won't take long . And .......

I've made my first Mobious cowl . All you knitters will know what it is . I've made it in my own dyed Alpaca / silk and it's soooooooooo soft .

Had a nice week doing what I want instead of having to make stuff for the stall . We had the Moggs for lunch on Tuesday . Amber bought some wool off me for one of her SP's and has taken some silk painting stuff to put on Ebay for me . Every little helps this time of year :0)

As I said before the weather is terrible I hope it all clears up for Grassington this weekend . I don't mind the cold but the thought of snow and ice on those fell roads makes me slightly nervous . Anyway I'm keeping everything crossed .

Winter's Here

As December has decided to make a very cold entrance I have changed my little ingle nook homaage to Winter. It does make a difference having the candle glow in the hearth ,it makes it feel warmer and I like to change it with the seasons .This will do nicely till Yule .
It was a very hard frost last night and this is what Jack left behind . It was minus four when we got up , so I dressed accordingly . Tights ,hand knit woolly knee socks and vest under my clothes. I've been nice and arm all day .

We've kept the waterfall going for the birds and the freezing weather has made a beautiful pattern in the net we have covering the pond .

We've had some new visitors to the garden as well , a pair of Gold Crests , to quick for us to take a photo . DH was thrilled to bits , as this is the first time we've had them in the garden . He is a member of the BTO ( British Trust for Ornithology ) and is a keen bird watcher .