Mums new year resolution was to try 52 new things (of varying magnitude) this year.   Up to now this has covered pancake flipping, one handed egg cracking and replacing the door seal on the washing machine.  She has proved a natural at pancake flipping, needs a lot more practice at the one handed egg manoeuvres and managed the door seal with minimal swearing and a couple of teaspoons.  To help her in her trying new things we have bought her one of those kits where you stick crystals on a board to make a picture.  She is slightly alarmed as it says it contains well over 7000 crystals.  What we don’t know is how many are spares in case any are lost.  Any suggestions of things she could try are welcomed ranging from crafting an aardvark in modelling clay to knitting a zebra print jumper.

Aunty Biscuit is considering knitting herself a jumper in double knitting yarn.  Unwisely she mentioned this to Mum, who just laughed.  I think this is due to length of time that it takes her to knit anything in double knit, the record being 12 years for a jumper.  Although at this point I’m going to sprag on mum, her record is an impressive 25 years!

In between progressing the paw mark jumper Aunty Biscuit has been crocheting a blankie for Harrier.  This one is a square rather than the usual hexagon and has used up a few bits of spare double knitting yarn and he moved in under it about three seconds after the last end was sewn in.  It has to be said that her crocheting is definitely better than earlier efforts with clusters and a decorative edging now the norm but the colour combination choice perhaps could do with a little improvement.  The paw jumper incidentally now has the back finished and is about a third of the way up the front.  Should it snow over the weekend I think that progress would be good on it.

Mum has being doing some work on the sleeve of her poinsettia jumper. I was puzzled by a random piece of bright green yarn but it turns out that it is to mark the centre of the flower.  Good to know.

After a busy Christmas it is now back to normal with the exception that I’m having minor paw control issues due to the ice outside.  Alongside the sprats Harrier and I received a number of dog treats form Christmas but we are rationed and not allowed to scoff them all at once.  We registered our displeasure by emptying the contents of the lounge bin all over the lounge floor and shredding a bit of paper from it.  I was right about Aunty Biscuit doing a chunky jumper with paw marks.  They were going to be on the front but due to a slight error on the length after the arm hole shaping they are now going to be up the back.  Mums response to the question “it will work with them up the back won’t it?” was “yes, especially if you are wearing a coat.”

I’m pleased to announce that not only has the aran jumper been completed but also that a matching hat has been knitted, stitched up and pom pom’d.  All this before the Christmas target. That said, it is maybe a good job as it has been snowing today.  From sneaky peeks at the doodle pad and the fact that one of my back feet has been closely inspected I surmise that the next jumper may possibly be in chunky yarn with a pattern of multi coloured paw prints on it.  I am, however, certain that if this is the case it will not feature inter-pad hair.

Major milestone for the aran jumper! The next row will be the start of the armhole shaping.  I think this has been due mainly to it being a miserable day conducive to sitting in front of the fire knitting (Harrier has spent the day snoozing in front of afore mentioned fire).  I think there are hopes that it may possibly now be finished for Christmas but time will tell.  It is also looking like there will sufficient yarn to make a hat as well (and maybe even either a pair of legwarmers or fingerless mitts). 

Present wrapping is one of those activities that can be quite interesting for the spectator.  There is the inventiveness required to wrap odd shaped items (this years comedy attempt goes to the bird house with an apex roof) which invariably involves yards of sticky tape, through to the pristine beauty of an immaculately finished, even rectangular box.  Some people go for gift bags (like Aunty Biscuit) or boxes.  Then you have the embellishments, ribbons, bows, rosettes, and that strange stuff that you run the back of the scissors down so that it goes curly.  It has to be said though that this should be viewed from a safe distance as you do not want bits of sticky tape stuck to your foot or fur.  Guess the present is also an enjoyable festive pastime, although Aunty Biscuit has made one present really easy for me and Harrier to guess.  There is a bucket of sprats under the tree with our names on, but she hasn’t wrapped or bagged it up!

Aunty Biscuit followed Mums example of oranges and cloves but on a smaller scale.  The ribbon has been substituted with red wool and a satsuma (or possibly a clementine) has replaced the orange.  The finished item is now adorning the antlers on her mounted deer head. The deer head I hasten to add is not a real one which was bought for her as a joke a couple of years ago, but it now gets decorated each year.

Mum has been ferreting around in the craft room and has reappeared with some green ribbon, a pair of scissors, a bag of oranges and some interesting smelling spikey brown things in a bag which are called cloves.  This has alerted me to the fact that a project is afoot.  Further investigation has revealed that ribbon goes round the orange to section it up and form a hanging loop.  The cloves are then stuck into the remaining exposed parts of the orange and the whole thing then is put to start to dry out and release fragrance.  I suspect that it may take her a little while to stick all the cloves in an await with anticipation to view the finished article.  I might even ask Harrier to take a photo of it.