SOCK DRAWER

Good evening! Sorry to have missed you last week, but I spent a very lovely weekend in Manchester visiting two of my children and their families. I have to say there has not been an awful lot of knitting going on chez Snoops' over the last week or so. My Advent socks are almost there, with just the last sock to complete. I'm loving the great colour match between yarn and needles! 

I've been dipping into a rather unusual read this week. It's a surprisingly interesting read by Marie Kondo, called 'The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying'.......... hmmmmmm! So, in true Marie Kondo spirit, I gave my sock drawers a makeover. I'm rather liking the fact that you can see every pair, as you make your selection for the day.

I've also managed to make space for a few more pairs!!!

We woke to a reasonable covering of snow this morning, that had  fallen upon us silently overnight. It has been bitterly cold and rather dull and miserable today, so a very rare stay 'indoors day' materialised.

There was time to get some sewing organised and started. So, a bit of measuring and a little cutting and the pieces were ready for another contact cushion. I really must move on to try other things, but at present I really love making these gorgeous covers.

I played around for a while with the colourful squares, but still change things around as I began the sewing together.

Here we go! This will be a second cushion for my younger daughter's flat.

It doesn't seem at all possible, but this was the photo taken when Oscar first arrived in our lives seven years ago today. He was the sweetest little pup on the planet and I can't begin to tell you how much joy and love he has brought to our family over the last seven years. He is smart, playful, loving and such a beautiful boy! 

This week has also seen me trying to choose a replacement tree for our back garden. Our magnificent Weeping Willow sadly died last Spring, after contracting HoneyFungus. The tree was enormous and very old and succumbed after being pollarded the previous year; essential for such a large tree in a city centre garden. I felt ridiculously sad about it's demise, but cheered at the prospect of another lovely tree gracing it's spot. The new tree has to be of a variety that will be unaffected by any fungus left in the soil and so, I think my choice will be this beauty. It's a Malus (Crab Apple), but just look at that beautiful blossom. Roll on Springtime!

WHITE OUT......

It's been a pretty white week here on the eastern side of the UK. It's been a struggle, because we are not too used to these conditions. However, difficulties are outweighed by the sheer beauty of freshly fallen snow. I LOVE it! We soldiered on at school, being one of the few schools open in our area, but succumbed to the dangerous, icy roads on Friday, when a 'snow day' was declared! Yay! I ended up frittering most of the day away, pottering but not doing very much. Still, it was nice to have an extra long weekend. There is further snow forecast for our area this evening, so we shall wait to see what chaos another fall will bring.

I was desperate to begin an infinity version of Anne Hanson's 'Monkey Bread Scarf'. It's a great pattern and the yarn that I have had ready and waiting in my stash for some time now, is to die for. It's 'Great Northern Yarns' 70% mink and 30% cashmere. So, so, soft and it blooms beautifully as you work with it. I made a straight version a year ago....

I'm using a gorgeous deep damson purple for the infinity version. The scarf has gently curving cables along its length, which add detail, but are not too onerous to knit.

 It's such a beautiful colour; I can't wait to finish it! Think I might need to knit extra fast to complete it before the snow goes!

I'm getting geared up to start a new little cardigan for Sophie's new little sister-to-be, due in March. I really shouldn't be starting anything else, but you know how it is. Just a quick peek? Oh, alright then...

There's not been much needle action anywhere else this week, except for a few more blanket rows. I've left it too late to photograph this week, as the light is now too poor.

We've made extra certain that the bird have been re-stocked daily, as the smaller birds flock to fill up on tasty seeds and nuts.

Young Sophie has been making good use of her new hat and scarf too!

There is a small reminder of the future prospect of Spring; some vibrant, happy daffodils bought a week ago, but still happily cheering up our home during these 'white out' days.

See you next week! Have a good one!

DID THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS KNIT?

Did they  know what snow was? So sad, to not know the wonders of fondling  a squishy skein or of opening the curtains to freshly fallen snow. I am pleased that my pleasures in life are simple and can be easily found. As you can see, we DID awake to snow this morning, a goodly four inches or so. The falling snow had sadly stopped though. I had made sure that the bird feeders were topped up yesterday when we heard the forecast, although I don't think it will be hanging around for long. I do so love to see it. My delight has not lessened one tincy wincy bit since I was a small child. I just LOVE the stuff!

I have to say, young Oscar does too and after an hour and a half at the water park this morning, he still refused to come in from this winter wonderland.

It's been a very, very quiet knitting week I'm afraid. School has been busy, busy, busy and wedding plnning has been go, go, go. So I haven't been able to quite finish Sophie's little bolero. It's getting there though, so I thought I'd show you anyway.

I've mattress-stitched the seams and made the sleeve edgings , which have been slip-stitched into place. I'm now on the mammoth task of completing the edging, making it long enough to go all the way around. It's a rather pretty and very simple four-row pattern, so easy enough. I'm glad it can be slip-stitched on though as I'm never very good at picking up large numbers of stitches evenly. The borders never seem to lay completely flat, except by sheer chance.

It's coming along though and will definitely be finished in time to take with me next Friday when I go to visit. The elder Miss Snoops is celebrating her 'hen' weekend and I am joining them all for a meal on Saturday evening. I will be staying with my son and daughter-in-law and little Sophie. So excited! It's half-term too, so a nice leisurely drive home on Sunday, knowing that I don't have to go to school on Monday. Hooray!

On Wednesday we took both Year 3 classes to the Norwich Castle Museum for an Ancient Egyptian day. It was brilliant! The children were beautifully behaved and joined in all the activities with gusto. We teach much of the curriculum through projects, often with a drama perspective. We began this one several weeks ago with an Ancient Egyptian artefact, a cat and a story by Julia Jarman called 'The Time-Travelling Cat'. The children have been working as Egyptologists and hoping to become experts in their field! The activity day consolidated their learning and took them so much further in their learning as they had to decide on whether Howard Carter was right to open Tutankhamun's tomb, or whether the Egyptian's side of the argument, that the tombs should remain untouced, was correct. By the end of the day, many of the children could, quite rightly, see both sides of the argument.

Above are some of the beautiful exhibits, some of which the children could handle inside their protective cases. What a great stimulus for learning! Clues were laid and then guesses were made as to what many of the artefacts were. They managed to use the clues and their own knowledge to work out the answers. They had become experts!

The Ancient Egyptians were a very clever people but did they knit! YES they did! Knitted socks were discovered in  Egyptian tombs from the 3rd to 6th centuries A.D. This is the earliest archaeological evidence of knitted garments.

 

This one is in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. It dates from around A.D. 300 to 400. How amazing is that!

Have a great week!

BACK IN CONTROL?

Ahh, at last a short time to sit down. This weekend seems to have been a constant round of in and out of the house. Nothing very exciting has been going on, I can assure you. It has just reached that stage in the pre-Christmas run up, when old Snoops has realised how many jobs still have to be done and had a major PANIC! So, in order to begin to remedy the situation, little forays out and about have been necessary, so that she can at least feel back in control of the situation. It's always good to be in control! I'll show you a little sneaky peek of one of my 'port of calls' a little later.

Knitting has progressed at a moderate rate this week, a little bit here and a little bit there. Most little bits have been sandwiched between assessments and all manor of other boring paperwork tasks that take up soooo much teacher time, but just have to be done...... apparently! As you can see, I have finished Mr Snoopydog's Christmas hat. At least he has a present now! It's the Aran Watch Cap from Charlene Schurch's book 'Hats On'. The pattern worked really well, but the Rowan 'pure wool aran' has pilled a little. I'm not sure if it is the yarn or the fact that my hands have been rather rough from the cold this last week or two. Lavishing hand cream on them doesn't seem to have made much of a difference.

Spot the Oscar hairs!!!!!!!  Whoops! They get everywhere.

The six row pattern was very easy to memorise and I loved the way all the shaping took place over the last four rows, so none of the gorgeous pattern was lost. Hopefully, it will keep his head and ears toasty when he is walking Oscar. 

I've made quite good progress on the socks for my son, in as much that a second sock has been started. At least he is almost guaranteed two feet cosies now, rather than the sad only one, that it was looking likely he would receive prior to this weeekend. So, a little bit more control back on board there too! 

I must show you a new skein of sock yarn that accidentally slipped into my online shopping basket last week. Megan, over at 'The Thylacine', was having a pre-Christmas sale. Her yarns always look beautiful, but this is the first time that I've purchased from her. What do you think?

The yarn is 80% superwash merino and 20% bamboo. It's incredibly soft. The colourway is Bicheno. It's slightly more turquoisey in places than the photo shows. I just love, love, love it! Thanks Megan.

Snow has hung on all week in our eastern parts of the UK. Today has been the first day with clearish pavements, as well as roads. I snapped these shots from the car as we came back from Oscar's hydro yesterday.

Grey skies and rather misty, but helping to add atmosphere to the shots. The city centre, where we live was much clearer.

Today, by contrast, I snapped these........ eerrrmmm....love them or hate them? Ha ha!

We drove out to a nearby garden centre to collect a small potted Christmas tree, to sit in the front window. We have a very much larger 'not real' tree in our sitting room. The place is massive and a huge area is given over to the most twinkly, glitzy, fun, Christmas displays imaginable. Santa's band were busy playing their instruments and the flashing reindeer and sleighs were busy burning up goodness knows how much electricity. But taken in the spirit of festive fun for little ones, I guess it worked. Mr Snoops walked rapidly away, when I told him that I really did need to take a couple of pics, to show you all this evening. I found him back in his comfort zone, looking at seeds and wellie boots! We did get our little tree though and he's now settled into the greenhouse for the week, before coming indoors next weekend. 

So, let's see! That's a knitted present finished and another 'getting there', some shopping done, some cards bought, a little tree collected, quite a few 'confirm purchase' buttons pressed online, a secret Santa gift bought for school, a ball of green yarn purchased to make some little stockings ( I have some oddments of red, white and silver left from last year)

CHRISTMAS IS IN THE AIR.....

Oh my goodness, oh my goodness! I do just love, love, love that first spell of snow of the winter. We travelled across the county to take Oscar for his hydrothrapy on Saturday, which s when I snapped the photo above. Once back home agian, I have hibernated for the rest of the weekend. Very relaxing! I've pottered and crafted and re-planned all my schoolwork for the coming week. Yes, I did say RE-PLANNED!! I was running late, as usual, and left my laptop running with my memory stick still in the drive while we took Oscar. On my return, my coming week's plans and most of those dating back to the beginning of term had mysteriously disappeared. I have no idea what happened, but it is very, very annoying, to say the least. I have searched my laptop and they are nowhere to be found. Silly Snoops that I am, I had not backed them up. I do usually, but do it periodically. Lesson to be learnt there!

Anyways, I left school a 'happy  bunny' on Friday, looking forward to the weekend and the forecast of more snow. I left my bright little 'term time' home neat and tidy. Would you like a look at where I spend my days?

It's usually messy, noisy and busy!

On Saturday morning we opened the curtains to .......

The sky brightened cnsiderably, as we travelled across country.

I decided to get some sewing jobs done today. I had two very special items to make. I had bought the small pieces of felt several weeks ago, but not found the time to get started. Guess what I made.........

Two very special Christmas stockings, for the two new members of the Snoops clan! Now I just need some little presents to put in them. I think Oscar was rather impressed.

I'm afraid I have no knitting to show you this week. It's not that I haven't picked the needles up, I have. It's just that I have several projects on the go, that I would really like to finish before Christmas. Rather than put a concerted effort into one, I have hopped and skipped about all over the place this week, knitting a 'little bit of this' and a 'little bit of that', but not a sizeable chunk of anything!!!! Never mind, there's always next week. See you then.