Never have I seen the collie as grubby as when we returned from todays walk (she absolutely refuses to wear a coat, much to my disbelief!).  Harrier and I were slightly nervous that it might result in all of us being bathed, but fortunately Mum has settled down to continue work on her previously unspecified green knitting.  Detective work by Harrier has ascertained that it is in fact the trial sample of a knitted bag,( it’s always handy to know what she’s up to).  Aunty Biscuit is sewing bits of blanket together in between enjoying a leisurely cup of tea and rubbing my tummy for me.  Harrier is now snoozing on the sofa and the collie is grooming herself.   

Grey pony has lost another shoe.  He has done relatively well by his standards at keeping them on.  I think this has been helped by some bits of left over Dalek Mum had put on his front feet.  At least they look like bits of Dalek but Mum assures me they are rubber overreach boots.  Hmm, I’m not entirely convinced.

It would appear that discussions over the latest dolls hat have reached their conclusion and work is about to begin on knitting the modified version.  Hopefully Aunty Biscuit will soon have sufficient oddments knitted and crocheted for a couple of dog blankets for the local dogs home.  We are currently watching a programme about people driving on ice roads, I'm glad I don't live there as I think my tummy would get very cold.

Brrrr, winter seems to have arrived.  Suffice to say that our morning foray in the garden covered the bare essentials and nothing else.  Aunty Biscuit took Granny Biscuit to the last craft fair of the season at Middleton-in –Teesdale, she reports back that there was a covering snow on the hills and odd bits on a couple of the pavements.  I made double sure I had my coat on before going out for my walk today.  For the human element, colder weather does lend itself to staying in and knitting or crocheting and also wearing the finished items especially jumpers, hats, mitts and scarves.  I personally take it as an opportunity to lounge on the sofa testing out blankets, as does Harrier.  The collie seems impervious to such extremes of temperature - typical.

The dolls hat with plait and tiara has just been finished, it is really cute and now at the discussion over any potential amendments stage.  This evening Aunty Joan has been working on an advent calendar.  Aunty Biscuit is crocheting left overs into a charity dog blanket and Mum is knitting something unspecified in green (although I can confirm it isn’t a frog).  Amongst topics covered in general conversation soup makers, disposal methods of fridges, the merits of pressure cookers have been included.  Harrier is sulking as he’s had his claws trimmed and I’m stretched out taking up as much room as I can get away with on the sofa, occasionally kicking the other occupants.  All in all it is been a very sedate evening as everyone has had a stressful week.

Mum has been clipping grey pony.  Due to not completely doing the boiler suit zip up completely compounded by a slight mix up in the washing machine load, she is now removing horsehair from a black jumper.  This operation involves the use of a copious amount of sellotape as the lint roller cannot be located.  I suspect that this particular error will not be repeated any time soon.

It’s a horrible windy, wet night.  We are staying firmly on the sofa watching people cook things, suffice to say its not going well for most of them which makes entertaining viewing.  Mum and Aunty Biscuit are combing and carding fleece.  I’m hoping it will eventually end up as something warm and cosy for me, but early indications would suggest this is unlikely.

The lady that Aunty Biscuit did the white hat with a tiara and plait design for loved it.  Flushed with success she is now working with Mum on doing a dolls size one.  These are often a lot trickier due to the smaller scale and having less stitches to play with.  I await the results with mild anticipation.  We have all recovered from bonfire night and fireworks displays, so depending on species can enjoy the autumn colours or snuffling through the fallen leaves in search of something interesting or even better edible..

After careful consideration I have come to the conclusion that squirrels cheat even worse than frogs.  You only ever see them running across the road when you are in a car, or scampering about on the ground when on a leash.  Even if you were free to chase, the little blighters run up trees to escape – its outrageous!  Squirrels aside it has been quite a productive day.  Aunty Biscuit has managed to complete the white hat, start to strip her dried lavender heads (behind schedule, Mum did hers weeks ago), boil some crab apples to a mush and set them to drip ready for jelly (also weeks behind schedule).  Mum has been doing some preliminary work developing an idea for a scarf, its all very interesting..

Aunty Biscuit is raking through a tub of buttons looking for six that match.  She was saying that as a child playing with the button tin was an enjoyable pastime -Hmm.  They were also passed down the generations, double Hmm.   Button collections are generally built up (or added to) over a number of years and invariably you can spend ages looking through them for a project only to there is one less than required for it, or the perfect colour is the wrong size.  Perhaps someone should tell her about Velcro?  That said, if you want to start your own button collection you need a button and a container to put it in. Add buttons at regular intervals and hey presto.