Bird flu

Ill. Very ill. Poorly sick. Only knitted 4 rows since Thursday so it must be bad.

The Man has also decided to do some DIY and wants help which unforts won’t be forthcoming. Helping the Man with DIY requires more strength and tact than I can currently summon. Sorry darling. Sorry front door. Sorry cat (if we had one).

He’s currently singing though so perhaps the preliminary stages are going OK.

I made some chocolate chip cookies earlier. Note for future baking sessions: too much cookie dough in one dollop does not spread evenly into a monster cookie but just wrinkles up into something which resembles a cowpat.

Tastes OK though.

Chrimbo tree is up. Presents all bought and waiting to be wrapped. There are ominous sounds of sawing coming from the garage and kung fu ‘Yaahhhh!!’ noises.

Wish me luck, gentle reader, wish me luck.

Snowed In, or How to Get Lots Done

Lots of pictures in this post.

It started snowing on Tuesday, so I've been working from home since then. Not much choice with the amazing train network we have in south east England. We had just the same last year, but I suspect it would cost far too much to install overhead power rails which are more snow-proof. Although for the rest of the year the rail-side power lines seem to have fewer problems. Hmm. Maybe I should just save up for a helicopter. Although they are quite sick making. :)

So here are some pics of the snow, starting on Wednesday. You need to keep an eye on the big plant pot in the garden. It was like a souflee rising over several days.

Thursday morning. It's risen!

The town sold out of sledges (again!) and the kids made the most of the big slope in Calverley Rec.

Someone made a cool snowman in the precinct. He's waiting for the phone box.

Good use of available materials. Carrots from M&S? (Not just any carrots.) Check out the eyes. Maltesers!

My little car turned jeep sized. Bless. I suspect if we try to start it the battery will be flat, poor thing.

Our gutters need replacing but the leaking makes some cool icicles!

Then last night it rained and look! Deflated souflee! You can see steps and plants!

The birds had little else left so went to town on the red berry bush.

Make this pic bigger to see the shredded stalks.

Remember those icicles? They grew some more after I took that picture. Good job the Man didn't park on the drive because this would have gone through his bonnet.

The gutter wasn't so lucky.

Just hoping it's not gone through the top of the bay window though. Because if it did that would be directly below the new hole in the gutter...

So anyway, those are our snow dramaz.

The great thing about having snow days is that I can catch up on some of those craft projects that I've been itching to do for weeks.

There are numbers on this pic but you might have to click on it to see them.

1. Mini Maiden from Handmaiden - two skeins for a Percy shawl that I'm not allowed to start until my knit group decide if it's going to become a knitalong next year.

2. Debbie Bliss Andes (65% baby alpaca 35% mulberry silk) with some clear beads to be a cowl or mini shawl / scarf when I finish the current project.

3. First proper dressmaking project I think - an Amy Butler Domestic Goddess apron. Was good, the instructions are clear even for a newbie like me. Had to dredge up some of the dressmaking hints mum told me aons ago, combined with some hints from the interwebs. Yay mums and interwebs!

4. Christmas cards. Card from Hobbycraft (hiss), stamp from Nooliebird via notonthehighstreet.com, inkstamp from Papertole in the Pantiles. Which is now the only shop in T Wells proper which sells cardmaking stuff. Now you understand the hiss for Hobbycraft.

5. Jumper which I knitted twice and it was still too small so is destined by my cousin I think. Just waiting for some poppers which are stuck in the snow somewhere to finish it off. Got the buttons there all ready, see?

So here is the Amy Butler project done. It came to an abrupt halt when I ran out of thread two yards from the end. Unforts that was to topstitch the waistband which goes right across the front, so it had to be matching. Even more unforts, I was using Sylko thread. They don't make Sylko any more. Since when?? Apparently Coats took them over. They are taking over the world, I swear. So I ventured into C&H to try to match the colour. So, it's minus two outside and everyone has elevently hundred layers on and C&H have their aircon on 9000000 degrees. I walked in and said out loud, 'Wow! It's hot in here!' and the man said, 'It's nice, isn't it?' At that point the sweat was already running down my back, under my lotsoflayers and feather-filled snow coat. Um. No?

One of my knitting buddies described it as menopausally hot, which I think sums it up quite well.

They were also playing Cliff's Christmas Hits on loop.

The things I do for craft projects.

This is a good project, if you're over 6ft tall. This apron comes to my ankles. I may be taking it up. This is the pleat front apron, with pockets. Not that you can see either in that pic!

During some recent sorting out I rediscovered these cool little tags I'd bought in Bath. One of those is now secreted around the apron.

And now it's time to clear up my desk...