Thursday 2 January 2014

Catching up, as the year ends....

A few weeks ago there were butterflies and bugs taking shelter indoors, like this Small Tortoiseshell. I left it there for a couple of days, and then thought it perhaps needed to overwinter somewhere a bit more sensible - like the shed - so out it went. Poor thing looks a little raggedy round the edges...

Low golden light in the afternoon followed by some beautiful sunsets, made for some lovely yellow highlights on the trees.

This was taken on a walk with my niece who also, lucky thing, got to wear the jumper I knitted (since it looked dreadful on me...)

I was so pleased with myself at having finally knitted a garment (hats and scarves don't count) and in the process learning how to follow a pattern, shape raglan sleeves, do increases and decreases, and to use mattress stitch to join it all together, and so on... But the yarn was quite a heavy one, and the neckline, which should have been a loose roll neck as can be seen by the middle picture, got wider and wider as the days went on, until it was hanging off her shoulders, while the sleeves drooped longer and longer... It was all so promising, but it didn't quite live up to expectations, and it has now been unravelled ready to be made into something less challenging!


I did, however, make my niece a hat while she was here. That I can manage! In fact, if my other niece should want one, she only has to say the word!

We decorated the tree, and the hall, ready for all the festivities - with my niece's help. The Gorgeous Girl didn't manage to visit before Christmas, and since the tree is one of those things she and her dad always do together - while I go around harrumphing and being a bit Scrinchy (a Scrooge/Grinch composite) - tree decorating was a slightly melancholy experience this year! It did (and still does) look rather lovely tho'.


The weather wasn't particularly festive in the lead up to Christmas, although there was one chilly morning, when I walked down to the meadows to take some photographs of the swans - the grass crackled with frost, and the leaves looked as if they were dusted over with icing sugar.

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