Merry Christmas and Happy Stitching

It's probably a bit silly posting Christmas greetings on Boxing Day, but I thought I might as well peak a bit late rather than never. So Merry Christmas to you all, and happy stitching!

I have been working extra days this month, the uni students have been gearing up to move out from under our roof, and we have been preparing for the mama and the dadda with the bubba to take their place in this homely half-way house. We have also been planning our Summer holiday, stockpiling camping gear and essential items for a 4WD trip into the Victorian high country, oh, and in between times, wondering how on earth we were going to manage to fit in Christmas.

There was a half-hearted attempt at Christmas decorating; a small tree up on a side table, away from the marauding Watson, a small collection of Santa Claus figurines, and an arrangement of red and white china on the wine cabinet. 

My dear Anna-Lou shopped and cooked up a storm to try and save me from the usual post-Christmas meltdown. She bought the ham, cooked two Christmas cakes, made salted caramel macadamia slice and Rocky Road. She prepared the summer pudding for breakfast, baked frittata, churned a rich and delicious apricot ice-cream and peeled and baked all the veggies. An angel she is. :)

Christmas is done and dusted now, and Boxing Day has been lazily spent drinking tea and eating cake, taking naps throughout the warm afternoon, and imbibing in a spot of knitting (finally).

The mumma and the dadda and the bubba have come to stay, ensconced in their rooms at the other end of the house. The warmth of the day has given way to cooling rain, and all is at peace.  I am working on a knitted dinosaur for baby R (six months old now!).

I am working with this gorgeous Morris & Sons Empire 8-ply 'Arcadia' yarn. I haven't used it before, but it knits up into a beautiful even fabric, and the variegated colours are very appropriate for a prehistoric reptile methinks.

But I am off to make tea, eat chocolate and watch an episode of Foyle's War with my beloved. I hope that your Christmas season has been filled with peace and joyous things.

Evie :)

Yarn Cakes

Yeow! How lucky am I to be loved by my friends!! One of my work buddies gifted her dear old Mum's wool winder to me a couple of weeks ago. And so I just had to try it out to make sure that it works ... 

I have spent just a few hours re-winding half-balls, and ends-of-balls of wool into happy yarn cakes. These pretties had presented as long and floppy half-balls of 3-ply baby yarn; much more satisfactory, and who would recognise them now! So very neat and compact, and stackable.

 And the other half a ball of sock yarn, re-wound into a lovely centre-pull rolly-polly. This is my first entrelac sock by the way. :)

This alpaca yarn came in soft and loopy bundles, and re-rolled they take up much less room, and sit one on top of the other without falling out on to the floor.

 I never knew how much happiness this wool-winder gadget could bring. :)

Yarn storage is one of those tricky things that plagues every knitter/hoarder of wool. Apart from tidying up messy odds and ends, this is a fabulous way to introduce some uniformity into your stash, especially seeing as balls of wool aren't particularly stable items. These yarn cakes have a lovely flat bottom, and so they do sit and stack quite nicely upon the shelf.

But more than that, there is something mesmerising in the blurring-whirring of twirling yarn; in turning the handle and seeing the dancing-jumping messy tangle on the floor rapidly taking on ordered form. It speaks to that corner of my being that strives for perfection. It's a small enjoyment in the scheme of things, but I am finding it oddly satisfying.

If you're a knitter, and you don't have one, I'd suggest you go and see if you can forage out one of these for yourself. Yarn winders away!

Evie :)