The C Word

I know we're still in October but I've started thinking about Christmas, in fact I've done more than think about it, I've actually started buying some presents.

My love of Christmas stems back to my childhood when my parent's always made it happy and special. We had little routines and rituals which I've passed on to my children and the traditions continue.

I saw these Christmas cards on Amazon and just had to buy them. Doesn't it look like Archie waiting for Santa to arrive?

Scarfety Scarf

The Knotted Openwork Scarf which I was knitting for Eleanor is now finished and I'm really pleased with it. I first saw the pattern for it on a link on Little Cotton Rabbits blog and liked it so much that I decided to knit it. I had never used Rowan's Kidsilk Haze yarn before but I like it so much that I'm now knitting the same scarf for my mum for Christmas in Hurricane, which is a lovely blue colour.

Whilst reading Damn, Knit & Blast It blog I followed a link to Jannettes Rare Yarns where an unreleased shade of Kidsilk Haze, Daffodil, is being sold. I couldn't let the opportunity pass me by so I ended up buying a couple of balls. There's some other bargains on there so I'm sure my credit card will be out again before long.

A Walk In The Park

Daniel and Eleanor had an inset day on Friday, so Mick took a days annual leave and we spent a few hours at Golden Acre Park.

It's the first time that we have let Archie off the lead on a walk and he was really good, coming to us when called. We made sure that we were well in to the park before we took off his lead as we were unsure how he would react, but our worries were unfounded.

Daniel and Eleanor had a good time climbing trees, something I took for granted when I was a child as there was a wood at the bottom of our street, and we had so much more freedom then than kids do nowadays. Archie enjoyed playing in the leaves.

There are so many mushrooms and toadstools around just now that I couldn't resist taking photos of some of them.

The trees are now showing their autumn colours, and many are slowly losing their leaves.

We forgot to take anything with us to feed the ducks with, but Eleanor found some bread on the floor which she threw to a hungry crowd.

Golden Acre is one of our favourite parks as there are so many different walks around it, a nature reserve, some lovely planting and there's also a wonderful tea room. Well worth a visit if your in the area.

A Sunday Morning Walk

We had a lovely walk yesterday morning around the lake at Newmillerdam Country Park. It was a lovely day, sunny and still. There were plenty of birds around, including ducks which were swimming on the lake.

Archie came face to face with a duck for the first time. He didn't like the Canada Geese, especially the noises they made, but he didn't mind the ducks.

We came across a tree which had lots of ribbons tied to it. On closer inspection, the ribbons had names written on them. I assume this will have been an activity organised by a local Brownie pack or something similar. Perhaps each Brownie had to make a wish and tie the ribbon to the tree. It made the tree look pretty anyway.

Eleanor enjoyed walking in the woods and she came across quite a few different types of fungi. I couldn't tell you their names, but I'm sure they're not edible.

Even though Archie was so interested in everything going on around us, including lots of other dogs and puppies which passed us by, he sat like a good boy while we had a rest on a bench. Can you see the faces?

The next photos are views looking back from where we had walked. The trees are starting to show their autumn colours.

Newmillerdam is a lovely place for a walk. You can walk around the lake, which took us about an hour and a half, mind you, we were stopped so many times so that kids and adults alike could pet Archie, or if you want a longer walk, you can veer off in to the wood, or go further afield on the surrounding public rights of way. This was a lovely distraction from my housework.

More Socks

I've finished another pair of socks, these are for Daniel. I've used Rico sock yarn again and they fit really well.

I'm really enjoying knitting socks. I'm only using an easy sock pattern which is supplied with any sock wool bought from Get Knitted as I don't yet feel confident enough to move on to a harder pattern, but I think they're turning out well.

Yesterday, I treated myself to some new yarn. This is Regia Hand Dye Effect from Kaffe Fassett and I love the colour. I can't wait to see how it knits up.

At the moment I'm knitting a scarf for Eleanor using Rowan Kidsilk Haze, and the pattern is one where I'm having to pass one stitch over the following two, which is tricky as I'm using quite large needles and the yarn is so fine. I thought I would start another project so I could alternate the two, otherwise I will get fed up of the scarf. I'm going to knit some socks for myself using the Regia yarn which I bought yesterday.