Christmas is HOW close?

Isn't it amazing how quickly the week slips away from you and suddenly you are looking at the end of another week - again! Especially at this time of year. I was hoping to be really prepared for Christmas this year but with only just over two weeks to go I am not there yet. Is anyone?


I do have most of the presents bought or I know what I will be buying. The ham for Christmas dinner is ordered and will be ready to be picked up on the 20th. I have written out a "menu" for the dinner but have yet to ask others to bring particular dishes. Nothing fancy, just plain and simple - the way I like it!


I have bought a couple of CDs of Christmas-type music so we can have something playing softly in the background. The only Christmas music I had was on a tape and I no longer have a tape recorder. A pity as I did like that tape.


I started putting up some decorations yesterday. I bought some cheap fairy lights and have strung them around the room. They look quite pretty with the lights out at night but may have been better with some tinsel strung with them. Maybe an idea for next year. I am hoping to get the tree up later today. I'm not very good at these decorative things but I would like it to be pretty for the little ones.


Yesterday (6 Dec) was a Big Day for the littlest one (our youngest grandgirl) - it was L's first birthday! I wish we could have been there but will just have to be content with going up there on Sunday for her party. I did ring them but L isn't much for talking on the phone as you can imagine! I did hear her in the background grunting for whatever it was she was wanting. She is resisting learning to talk preferring to point and say "aaah, aaah, aaah!" until she gets what she wants. Maybe it's a second-child thing as I think I can remember her father doing that too.


Before you get too bored (if you haven't snored off already!) I do have a photo - I finished the hat that matches the fingerless mitts from a while ago and finally took a photo of them yesterday. I am quite pleased with how it turned out. I used the basic hat pattern in Ann Budd's book (sort of) and included the same cable as the mitts. I fudged the decreases at the top a little so that the knit stitches between the cables remained as long as possible. As with the mitts I knit the hat on two circs. The scarf is still a work-in-progress having knitted about five complete cables. Photos when there is more to see!

There has been a fair bit of controversy lately on KR about the pink Denise circular needles. I have long wanted a set, particularly as I would like to try Cat Bordhi's mobius pattern and I can't buy a long-enough circ here. The pink set made a good excuse anyway, I thought, to buy the set knowing that I would also be donated a little to a good cause. So what if it is donated in the US rather than here. My sister had breast cancer four years ago so now I need to have yearly mammograms (yuck!). All is well with her, now, but may not have been if it hadn't been detected early.

Whatever, the set arrived this morning and is so pretty in all of it's pink glory! I love it and can't wait to use it. Once I have finished the scarf there may just be a mobius in my future!

Enough time on here, I think, time I was getting back to my Christmas preparations! I hope your's are going well, too.