He cooks......

Satuday morning brought this.....


Our first snow this year. Was so cold outside but was perfect for our christmas pudding plans.

Meanwhile, my sock was progressing nicely




I picked up extra stitches along the heel flap, and I knitted them so they would twist, resulting in this....
A distinct lack of holes along the heel. Very neat. Much happier to knit socks now they come out like that. I was begining to wonder if i had finally encountered my nemesis in the form of a multicoloured sock.... but it turns out that is and adventure for another day.


So this is my end product. Photographed in the icey blue morning light on the balcony



We (and by 'we' I mean the man) had a late start on the christmas pudding. But once it got going it was so much fun. Not to mention yummy (snacking on spare ingredients)

Lots of dried fruit... Apricots and dates here



Smashed almonds... we coulndt get flakes, but anyway having bigger chunks seemed more appealing...
Hamish was really helpful as you can see...


A huge square of cloth and some flour served as our 'seal'



And this is the pudding.... Did I mention that it was huge.... the little almont on top was to give some proportion. So yummy, I cant believe we arnt allowed to eat it till christmas


'Plop' into the water to boil for a delightful 6 hours (this meant we were up tll 2am)


So all in all, a slight increase in productivity.

Hope you are having a great weekend.

present progress

Top sheet for table cloth number one is complete. This one is more 'disorganised' there is no overall pattern except the alternation of green and red. The second of the two has a diagonal pattern as well as the green/red alternations. I like it. its cheerful.


In other (sock related) news... this is where we are :

Sorry about the poor pic quality. I am about to shape/turn (what d'you call it) the heel. We seem to have recovered well from frogging with minor injuries, hoping this time round with the heel goes better (thanks to a little advice from advanced sockers)

Am off to do more quilting. I want to get them finished and posted as they are for the aussies (mans side of the family).

progress and cables

These little pretties are my new handmade cable needles that I ordered from debhd on Etsy last week. I have to say, they are lovely.


She very sweetly sent me a 4th one along with the 3 I actually paid for.

I made progress on the sock, but its too depressing for words. My main problem is picking up stitches along the edge of the heel flap, they always look like humungous holes or like i dropped multiple stitches or something. I just dont see how I can do it any better, very frustrated and almost ready to pack in socking all together. couldnt even face photographing them. other than that they are going perfectly.

On the other hand though, the wool comes out really cool.

I'm off for sandwiches.... will update with scary sock pics tomoro.