Merry Christmas

My wish is that we all have a very Merry Christmas, and a very Happy New Year, full of laughter and good things...and calm weather.  I'm very fond of the Christmas season.  I like to make the cookies, roast the turkey, light the candles, surround myself with family and friends and quietly celebrate with a good glass of red wine.   Once the shortbreads are in the oven this afternoon, I intend to sit down in the kitchen and knit some lovely fingerless gloves and listen to music while I wait for the oven timer to ding. 
I hope you enjoy your holiday too however you celebrate.
Cheers
Patricia

An overnight Visitor

I am laid up with a fractured vertebrae - the eighth one to be exact - and am spending considerable time encased in a back brace,  resting and thinking healing thoughts.
So, these week, in celebration of almost winter, and almost the Christmas season, and because I can't do terribly much, I'm going to just show you what the garden looked like the other morning after the overnight ice fog loaded all the trees with frost crystals.

Well...the dog isn't covered with frost crystals...except around her muzzle, but everything else seems to be.

cheers.

This is how we roll in the cold!

It is minus 30 or so around here today - and probably will dip lower tonight.  We are warned and we are careful.  Boots, coats, scarves, toques all go on before venturing outside for any reason.  The Arctic High is upon us and , Baby, it's cold out there.  So, we dress for the cold...and ....we dance!

Libby is having a birthday tomorrow.  She will be six years old and we are celebrating the life and times of this dear border collie who for all intents and purposes has commandeered my life. 
Life would be barren indeed without this dog in it making me laugh.
Dance on sweet Libby.  May we have many more birthdays to celebrate with you. 

Ribbing with Dr Who

I am going to confess something right here and now.  I'm a Dr Who fan.  I love the entire concept of Dr. Who.   I think my favourite Dr Who is...well I did love David Tennant's Dr. Who, but I'm looking forward to the new Dr Who when he arrives on the scene.  I spent last weekend, laid up after a very bad fall, knitting ribbed toques for Christmas presents and watching past episodes.  There was a blizzard raging outside and the temperatures were hovering around minus 25 with blowing and drifting snow, so being inside under a blanket with knitting and Dr Who seemed like a good choice.

The back garden wound up looking like this.

Those are actually two foot high plant pots hiding in the drift back there.   They are upside down to protect them from freezing, thawing and then cracking.

There is something strangely comforting about doing row upon row of rib stitch.  It is sort of mesmerizing without being hypnotizing, if you get my meaning.  

 I have completed two toques, all part of my "handmade Christmas" gifting this year, and am more than half way through the third one.  Toques are essential head gear in Canada in winter.  And I love the elasticity of this pattern which actually is a free Ravelry pattern entitled "Simple Soldier's Hat".  You can knit the thing back and forth on two needles, or join it into a circle to knit in the round...round, and round and round, knit 2 stitches, purl two stitches until your circle is 9.5 inches long at which time you start the deceases.  Because rib stitch is so elastic - the thing fits like a toque should and stretches over most or all heads. 
Rib stitch keeps you on your toes and is way more interesting to knit.  Rib stitch says pay attention or you'll make a mistake but it is still simple enough that you can keep up with the plot of the television show. 
Watch out for the blue box.