It was Aunty Biscuits birthday the other day, not that any of the canine members was offered any cake.  We put a lot of thought into a present for her.  Harriers suggestion was a bag of chew sticks,  Much as this had merit because we would have been able to help her eat them, we decided against them as we weren't sure what flavour to give her. We felt that the collies idea of flea and tick treatment wasn't quite special enough, besides as far as we know she isn't infested with either (or worms).

Mum is going to be making a felted dog, an operation requiring bendy wire.  Aunty Biscuit would pick some up whilst shopping.  In pursuit of this enterprise she stepped on a paving stone that tilted and splashed water all over her foot.  I tried to look sympathetic but failed. Felting involves poking a bit of wool with a barbed needle.  Hmm, probably best Mum handles that and not Aunty B.

Its been a busy sort of week for Mum and Aunty Biscuit which hasn't left them a great deal of time for crafting but they have managed some.  Latest spectator sport for the canines is laughing as Aunty Biscuit scrabbles around looking for a particular shade of double knitting yarn with Mum helpfully producing a ball of it in chunky,  Thankfully though it appears we now have enough caterpillars,  

Mum is gluing something together and using clothes pegs to hold the bits together.  Clothes pegs are one of the versatile unsung heroes of crafting,  Dolly pegs can be used to make peg dolls with, I suppose the clue is in the name.  The springy ones apart from holding gluey things together, can be painted,  decorated, have a bit of magnet attached and hey presto can be used to hold notes on the fridge.  They would make a project for a child to decorate as a Christmas stocking holder.  Some people even use them for hanging out their washing.

Aunty Biscuit has spent the last week looking for the intermittent jumper as she has some more part balls to knit into it.  Having looked in the various places that she thought it would be only to find it wasn't there, she finally found it where it wasn't supposed to be.  we're taking bets on how many years its going to be on the needles.

There seems to be a great deal of muttering about slip one, knit one pass slip stich over, yarn forward knit one yarn forward etc going on at one sofa and double into chain space half treble treble twice coming from the other.  Its almost like a different language and can be very daunting for beginners.  Top tip is to leap on an unsuspecting lap mid mutter, almost guaranteed to produce a "now I've lost count". Result!

Mum is working on a decorated horseshoe.  This takes a lot of work but it is one of her favourite pastimes.  It involves flowers and ribbons, bending things, colour selecting and that's just for starters without mentioning glue and pliers.  Aunty Biscuit is knitting a further caterpillar, probably safest that she isn't involved with the glue as she'd probably go home with a bit of ribbon stuck to her foot.  Harrier is snoozing on his favourite blanket, I'm chewing my favourite toy and the collie is being very vague about her activities - probably plotting a raid on the dog treats.

Aunty Biscuits caterpillar is going to be in 4ply.  Snag is apparently 4 ply is less common than it used to be so there may need to be slight compromise on the exact shade.  Granny Biscuit is a fan of it as she likes the definition it gives.  It is also good for dolls clothes as it provides more stitches for patterning.  I'm now wondering how many stitches would need to be casted on to make a jumper for Aunty Biscuit, I suspect the answer is a lot.

Aunty Biscuit needs a knitted caterpillar for a hat.  You'd think its pretty much a tube slightly pointy at one end and flat fronted at the other right?  That's what I thought but no.  To stuff or roll? you're knitting it not cooking it for goodness sake!  After much deliberation its going to be caterpillar green in colour, clearly not going to be one of those bristled ones that wander about now and again as they are predominately brown.  Not sure what species she is going for but as the hat is for a keen gardener I would suggest that the caterpillar scheme of the cabbage white may not go down too well.  I wonder what colour the caterpillar of the purple emperor is?

Mum and Aunty Biscuit were discussing a rust top they had seen in a local supermarket on the way home.  I was a little alarmed as why would someone wear something that probably clanks when they move?  Turns out that rust is a colour in this context and rather a nice one by all accounts.  Pleased that one is clarified.