A Hogmanay Post

Boxing Day landscape

Hello, happy New Year, or whatever! Hogmanay is proceeding in its usual way - we're sitting in the house not doing much! Occasionally we hear the odd firework (it's only 9.13 pm as I type this so they're a bit early) but the cats are completely unconcerned thankfully. My brother came over for a bit earlier and when I dropped him off at the railway station a while back we saw crowds of young people all glammed up and ready to head into Glasgow for an epic night out. One girl had the most incredible dress of giant sequins, the kind of thing I wish I'd worn when I was twenty-ish, though I'd also have to wish I was outgoing enough when I was twenty-ish to wear that kind of thing  - I wasn't, but I still think it was a fab dress!

Christmas was quiet and nice, and we had snow on Boxing Day, just enough to brighten things up. I've been for loads of walks this week, and might actually go out for another in a bit as it's a mild night. The snow melted last night when it was windy and it feels much warmer today.

My only piece of Christmas knitting this year was a hat for my mother-in-law. The pattern is called Jesse's Christmas Hat and I found it on Ravelry - it's lovely and quick. The cables give it a bit of interest but there's only a few rows to the cable section so it doesn't take ages. I'm going to make another for myself, in two shades of green (olive green with a pistachio border and pompom) - in fact my plan for this evening is to cast it on. Miss M (now eleven) wants to stay up until 'the bells' so I'll need to do something to keep me going! The yarn is Drops Nepal, a wool/alpaca mix and it's very soft and lovely. I made the pompom the old-fashioned way with the two rings of cardboard, partly because I enjoy it and partly because the plastic pompom maker I had was rubbish, but funnily enough my mother-in-law then gave Miss M a set of rather better pompom makers so she's been making pompoms ever since! I've got to admit they're much quicker, though I think they look a bit sparser than the ones made with cardboard.

The final picture is from one of my evening walks because I didn't want all my pictures to be ones I'd already used on Instagram! That was a chilly night. Right I'm off to put the kettle on and then find my needles to cast on my green hat. All the best for 2018 everyone!

making a festive effort!

The December frenzy happened again - no matter how organised I intend to be it never quite works out like that. Oh well..

The picture is from a trip to the farm at Kittochside (the Museum of Rural Life) at the beginning of the month and is about the most festive thing I can find among my photos. Actually I love that tree - very simple and lovely. It's just a shame it was the middle of the day so the lights don't really stand out!

Oh, here, I've found a festive alpaca from the same day:

Now that I'm finally blogging I find I can't think of anything to say - I've been busy but it's all been boring stuff (work, PTA, shopping, that kind of thing) which I wouldn't bore myself with, let alone anybody else. I do however have some yarn from that very alpaca (can't remember her name but it's on the ballband) which I intend to cast on, for a hat probably, very soon. I've been trying to take a picture of the yarn since that day but I've never remembered in daylight.

Right, I'm off - I've got three things left to wrap, a card to deliver, and clean bedding to put on the bed.  Have a good time everybody!