Goodbye 2007

Well looking back it's been an eventful year for us: We sold our old house and moved. Had leaks through the kitchen ceiling, coped with a broken foot & flooding. I had to abandon our car due to the depth of the water & the roads were impassable near my office but fortunately
our new house is on a hill so we were ok at home unlike my poor SIL.

Knitting has also been evident this year but not as much as I would have liked due to all the events above. My favourite FO of the year has to be the Walking Socks that I designed & made for DH.

Petwise we said Goodbye to Vince & Monet & hello to Ginny & Lyra.


Ginny

Photo courtesy of Puplet who visited yesterday with Susoolu much to the delight of all the animals as these guests played with them! Ginny in particular loved posing for a new camera man & enjoyed the flash bouncing off her whiskers Thanks Pup

Christmas gift knitting

For ages now this blog has focused too much on the kittens & my DD's awful behaviour. Partly because the kittens are new to our lives & very cute and that her behavour has been so awful but also because I haven't been able to show any knitting as it was all to be gifted to other people.

So finally I can show what I've been working on. Firstly a pair of bedsocks for my 5 year old nephew:


Stockinette-stitch Triangle bedsocks

Pattern: Stockinette-stitch Triangles from More Sensational Knitted Socks
Yarn: James C. Brett Pure Merino in PM5
Needles: 2 x 3.5mm 60 cm circulars
Method: Knitted cuff down two at a time.

Then a pair his eldest sister my 10 year old niece:


Open Cable with Twisted Rib bedsocks

Pattern: Open Cable with Twisted Rib from Sensational Knitted Socks
Yarn: James C. Brett Pure Merino in PM2
Needles: 2 x 3.5mm 60 cm circulars
Method: Knitted cuff down two at a time.

Then a pair for the middle child my 7 year old niece:


Bluebell Rib bedsocks

Pattern: Bluebell Rib from Sensational Knitted Socks
Yarn: James C. Brett Pure Merino in PM5
Needles: 2 x 3.5mm 60 cm circulars
Method: Knitted cuff down two at a time.

Of the three patterns the Open Cable with Twisted Rib was my favorite. I don't have any modeled photos but this one on my hand shows how the pattern might look on a foot:


Open Cable with Twisted Rib pattern

This yarn is so soft & squidgy that it's perfect for a pair of snuggly bedsocks. I've even started a pair for myself!

Festive misery

Ever since DD was born we've worked hard every year to ensure that her Christmas experience was fantastic. As a young child she saw snowy footprints from the fire place, left mince pies & carrots out for Father Christmas & his reindeers & always found a big pile of presents under the tree.

However she has done it again; just like Mothers Day she single handedly managed to ruin our Christmas Day. It was horrendous & I haven't had a worse Christmas since I was a child.

I've decided to ask her school for help as we're obviously doing something wrong & need an outsider to step in. So next year things will be very different.

Hmmm

At least someone had fun!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Or rather


Merry Catmas!

Shivering

We're now discovering what our new house is like in winter & it's not good. The previous owners, as well as being mucky & incapable of housework didn't do any maintenance hence the knackered bathroom & now we're discovering that the house is freezing. The windows are double glazed but are old & the seals have seen better days. The roof is poorly insulated & the cold air rushes down from the loft so we've got a series of dustsheets on the loft stairs trapping the cold air & trying to prevent it coming downstairs. We've got two duvets on our bed plus a quilt & I'm also using a hotwater bottle & bedsocks. To make things worse our bedroom is north facing and as soon as the wind picks up we freeze.

DH is planning what he needs to do to make the house warmer & to save our heating bills & wants to totally strip the roof the rafters & create a 'a warm roof void' using using this stuff. The windows will be replaced as we can afford them but the first to be done will be the bathroom & our bedroom. The latter will be expensive to do even if DH does the work as we'll need scaffolding to straddle the conservatory.

Knitting is continuing but as before I can't reveal what I'm working on yet as it's for Christmas so instead I'll redress the balance. Ginny has complained that her sister featured far too much in the last post so here she is looking pretty:


Ginny showing off her whiskers!

btw as I wrote this post I was sat on the sofa wearing clothes (obviously), slippers, a blanket over my legs & a hotwater bottle between my ankles. I must learn how to use the sewing machine so I can make some wheat pillows........

ETA: I've just remembered to add that we still don't have a kitchen ceiling

Kitten Catch Up!

Well the girls have been with us for 5 weeks now & what a difference those few weeks have made.


Lyra & Ginny

They're now well integrated with the rest of the 'pack'. The dogs adore them & Lyra is also very taken with them. She often jumps up to rub her face against them & we've caught her a few times flaked out on the floor batting at dog feet as they walk past.

Ginny on the other hand is smitten with Pam & often rubs up against her & tries to sleep next to her. Pam initially hated them both particularly Lyra but is getting much better & now hardly hisses at them.


Lyra killing a toy

They love the 'tree' that DH & DD built for them a few weeks ago:


Ginny & Lyra

They are very different to each other. Lyra loves a cuddle & loves nothing better than snuggling into my neck & nuzzling into my hair pretending that I'm her mum. Ginny HATES to be picked up as she's got too many things to check out & will push at you to get away.


Lyra


Lyra posing

This photoshoot of kittens was also combined with that of updating my Ravelry pages with recent swaps & of course they had to 'help':


Lyra checking out some Jitterbug

and then it all went wrong!


Ooops!