That time of year again !!

Floods!!! Not really expected this time and not much warning. I was working Friday night and it rained all night and it was difficult driving but the amount of flooding Saturday morning was a surprise.





Here are two pictures taken this morning after the floods have receded quite a bit. The first one is looking up the garden towards the house and the second one is of newly finished Carolus bear sitting next to my greenhouse.




This is the corner of my fishpond. In the winter we put a heater in it to stop it from freezing. You can see the fish 'sitting' next to it. This always makes me wonder about the way we treat fish. When we put them in a new place,we sit them in a bag or dish of water in the pond and let the temperature equal up. Apparently fish do not like sudden changes of temperature. Well these fish obviously do not mind because they swim from on top of the heater to the furthest end of the pond where there is a significant temperature drop.

I have been busy knitting. I am trying to knit my husband a replacement jumper for his 'favourite'. I knitted him a plain grey mottled sweater when we first met and he still wears it. It is so thin there are more holes than stitches [it is 26 years old]so I have decided to knit another. I am doing a top down raglan and it is taking forever. I am doing the chest now so it is a bit quicker but is still 48" around.

This picture is of some dorm boots I knitted for next door. A bit of a cheat really. She wanted socks for her cold feet but as time is very limited I plied together 12 strands of yarn from my machine knitting days and knitted these. A very quick knit [4 hours] and surprisingly comfortable. I will do a pair for me sometime.

Another finished object and one in progress. This is Carolus Bear. I knitted him tightly and filled him with wheat. It makes him like a bean bag so he sits but I also hope that I can use him as a handwarmer by putting him in the microwave. I found the pattern on Ravelry and he is a delight to knit.

Behind the bear is the start of a knitted Christmas decoration. I visited the American Museum [just outside Bath] the other day to see the Christmas display. It was a little disappointing but I did find a 'knitted paper chain' in the quilt room. It is a very simple idea of garter stitch strips sewn together just like we used to make paper chains. It looks very effective and the strips can be knitted from any oddments of yarn.

I have a busy day planned - garden clearing when the floods have gone a bit more, baking, and room clearing of my sons bedroom ready for him to come home at Christmas. As he is away most of the time now it has become a craft cum dressing room for me! Christmas cards need to be written as well but I am cutting down on those and donating to charity instead. Natalie of 'The Yarn Yard' is asking people to donate each time they use a free knitting pattern. It is called p/hop which stands for pennies per hour of pleasure. I have donated instead of cards so I can spend more time knitting!