Merry Christmas!

The snow is now over 60 cm here. It was over my knees as I tried to shake some snow off the shrubs yesterday.

Last night we had some unexpected Christmas Eve visitors. DS & DIL with three grandkids couldn't get to their intended destination and so came to this inn. It's not roomy but we found space for everyone. The stockings had to be hung for Santa. And he seems to have safely landed his sleigh on the deck because this is what we found this morning.




Many parts of N Van lost power last night due to the weight of the snow on tree branches. Not for long but enough to put us all on alert. We have our one and only back up plan - look to the right. It may require some prep work. Of course, we hope the power stays on. And it's very nice to have kids on Christmas morning.

'tis the season

It always gets really busy about now. We've tried to get down to basics but there are still lots of things to do. So what's keeping us busy?










The Big Event this week was our seniors' Christmas lunch. Anne had the fun of pulling it all together and we're pleased to say it was a great success. The room was happy, the food was delicious and the helpers were plentiful. Of course, the best part was the music. The senior vocal ensemble from Argyle was fabulous! Just the right thing to get us all in the Christmas spirit.

And, since we were feeling so Christmas-sy, we took yesterday to help Santa's elves. Our early gift to DIL was a day for her to shop without the little ones. We had a good time watching them in the mall's adventure jungle with nets and tunnels and lots of slides. After we had a bit of lunch we window-shopped on our way back to the climbing stuff. Like her Grammy, Becky likes to look at the bling. And Charlie liked the big trucks. He didn't know they were remote controlled and we didn't demonstate. Just looking was good enough for both of them.

And here's the other thing that's been keeping me busy. This is two wool tweeds. The turquoise is a blue plaid which was over-dyed with yellow-green. The gold is an Irish tweed which is soft and buttery feeling and has a gray/green herringbone design. I like how fresh and clean the colors are against the white.

I'm determined to have the whole rug put together before Christmas. So, maybe there'll be no other blocks for this one. Ideas for the future.

Absent?

Good thing I did a lot of hooking on the rug last week. Ive almost got all the background done and I really like it. I haven't really decided how I'm doing the border yet.

We've been distracted by our Christmas visitor. Yesterday was our early Christmas, since Wendy will be elsewhere in December, and it was quite lovely. Carols playing in the background, shortbread and mandarin oranges. We emptied our stockings and opened our gifts. Big surprise gift! In the big parcel that looked like putters for mini golf were collapsible hiking sticks, one for each of us - with shock absorbers. Roll on Ireland... And there was, of course, lots of chocolate. But, it was just a rehearsal as we have more to look forward to on Dec. 25th.

I could knit, though. I have a whole lot of things on the go at the moment. I have the gray cardigan hibernating because I got tired of it. I just have not ever been happy with it. Don't know if that's because I had to take the original pullover apart and redo or not. I don't usually feel that way about frogged knitting. But I had so much trouble finding an appropriate design and then there didn't seem to be as much yarn as I needed for anything that seemed good. It's to the point of being sewn together and as everyone knows that's the really tedious part. If I keep it out it will get done. Putting it away would be unwise.

Last week , I knit really fast on the ribbed T-neck so that I could have it done and then start on the tea cosy that I needed to make for Wendy to take back with her. Lucky for me these are pretty quick to knit because I'm still not finished the T-neck on the gray sweater. For some reason this is taking the longest time to finish. Here's the tea cosy - each side has a different pattern...no two are ever alike.






See the festive Christmas tablecloth?

Then, last night, I was so tired of the fuzzy gray mohair yarn that I pulled out the new sock yarn that I had bought last week. More of that cotton Stretch sock yarn - this time in a sea and sand colorway. Socks are always the best default knitting...so relaxing.

It's been a great visit. I've learned all kinds of new things about blogs and cameras and computers. This new knowledge will be put to good use although it might be in subtle or behind-the-scenes ways.