It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

It's officially the festive season; we've put up our tree!I do have my concerns about Sniff's response. He hasn't looked all that interested yet, but then he did go out for a potter in the garden soon after it arrived and so hasn't seen it in full decorated glory. We've tied it to the wall in an attempt to prevent four am cat-induced tree-toppling action, but I still have my doubts, and think I may find myself performing some emergency tree rescues over the next few weeks.

But, it's up, and not only that, but it has presents under it! No we're not really super-organised, we just did a trip up North to visit my parents and do a pre-Christmas present swap. It felt really festive up there as there was snow and ice and everything!
While visiting I managed to enlist the very patient help of my Mum and asked her to teach me how to knit! How exciting is that?! Not only did she show me the basics, she also introduced me to "extreme knitting" which is where you knit on huge needles, usually with loads of yarn. I tried it with just one ball on the go and it was amazing. It's so fast because you're knitting big stitches, and I managed a whole scarf in a day and a bit.

As a result I have returned with a new hobby, and a new excuse to get out on the bike and visit the lovely knitting shop nearby. I was only going for some plain double-knit wool to practice on (knit 2, pearl 2, has been proving troublesome, methinks because of my rather inadequate maths skills!), but couldn't resist buying some weird and wonderful stuff too. So now I have two things on the go, more extreme knitting, and some normal attempts at ribbing.Despite the difficulties I'm totally loving it. Be warned people, you'll be getting knitted gifts this time next year!

Even more festive baking will be on it's way in the next couple of days. There's the cookie exchange, some edible gifts and decorations, and all sorts of tasty things around the corner.