Festive Knitting

Happy New Year!

Well, I should be working, but I thought I'd rather update you on a few knitterly things instead.

I knit a few things for the festive season, for a variety of people.

First up, a pair of fingerless mitts for my sister-in-law to stop her freezing on the way to work (and indeed when she nips out for a fag...)

Pattern: Fetching from knitty.com
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran (bliss to work with)
Needles: 4mm DPNs
Mods: The contrast cast on and cast off (thanks Elizabeth, would never have thought of it!), plus I added an extra cable before casting off to make them a little longer. After trying the second with the extra cable, I frogged the first back a bit and avoided the picot cast off.

Then I completed a bobble hat for my 10 year old niece (her request, I hasten to add!) and a beret for her step-sister.

Bobble Pattern: Ski hat with pom-pom from Teach Yourself Knitting
Yarn: 100g Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky
Needles: 6mm bamboo DPNs

Beret Pattern: Renee from Let's Knit magazine (Issue 2)
Yarn: Rowan Little Big Wool
Needles: 7mm and 20mm straights

Then a little something for my Mum:

This is the first time I have completed a lace project. If you've never tried it, this is a lovely to pattern to start with. Here are some before and during blocking shots:

Pattern: Forest Canopy Shawl by Susan Lawrence
Yarn: Posh Yarn Emily 4ply in Coronet - unfortunately I couldn't quite squeeze it out of one 100g skein, so I needed to use 8g of the second. If I'd known I wasn't going to make it, I'd probably have added a couple of extra repeats...
Needles: 5mm Addi circular.

Finally, Dad got a sock.

Yep, just the one... But I have checked it and the modifications I made from last time have made a perfect fit, so I'll now go on and start the second one! Photos will follow on completion.

I haven't actually picked up the needles since I finished Dad's sock on Saturday (eek!) but I have had a wonderful time playing with my presents from A - a ball winder and a swift!

Pictured is the first yarn I wound into a centre pull ball. I got so excited that I forgot to actually take a photo whilst it was all in process, but there you go... I am easily pleased.

Christmas Eve...

..and do you know, I think I'm done?

Well okay, the washing needs sorting, folding and putting away, the neighbours' cards need writing, the sittign room needs a quick tidy and I still have one hat to finish for a Christmas pressie, but other than that...

I finished work on Friday and knitted an entire beret whilst watching James Bond - not bad huh? However, it isn't the bobble hat that was asked for, so I tracked more yarn down of the right weight and colour on Saturday and, after finishing some birthday handwarmers, I cast on for the bobble yesterday.

I will post pics of my Chrstmas/festive birthday knitting on a while (want to give them first)

So, since I'll be far too busy being a sloth, this will be it for a while. I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a great New Year! See you in 2008!

He’s just a boy totally dressed in corduroy*

Because, when I’m up to my eyeballs in the Christmas play, trying to hear readers, attempting to sew gold beads onto the camel outfit, trying to hear readers, assessing the safety implications of children on stage with broken limbs, finishing off reading assessments, trying to fit in all the lessons that get squeezed during rehearsals, trying to hear readers AND finding a replacement for a Wise Man at the eleventh hour (well done that child, word perfect within 50 minutes), what I really want is to make people out of plastic bottles and mod-roc, painted and dressed, to personify “Go Tell It on the Mountain” arranged around the font to decorate the church for Christmas…


* Sorry Gedge. When you wrote this, I really don't think you imagined people made out of plastic bottles. But as Laughing Boy reached for this fabric to dress his person, the line kept running through my head.

Curses!

The Blogger gremlins have been at it again - crawling into my computer and making it not communicate with the outside world at all!

Suffice to say, I would love to show you a variety of pictures, but can't at the moment.

What I would like to do though, is take the opportunity to thank my SP10 partner Hanna in Helsinki, who sent me a lovely Christmas postcard that contains a spice mix bag and a recipe for ginger thins. I can't actually remember whether I mentioned it or not on the blog, but I love gingerbread, ginger cake and pretty much anything associated with ginger (although not so keen on crystallised ginger, it makes my eyes water!)

Thank you, thnak you!

An Update from the World of Theatre

I think I can understand why so many of those involved in putting on a production are permanently sozzled. Yet again the Infant Nativity is driving me to drink (I can hear Lou sniggering even as I write. You can try and fool yourself you miss this, girl, but in your heart of hearts....)

I have a very hopeless camel (front end) that has forgotten all her cues and just stands there looking gormless instead of hrumphing. I have an innkeeper who won't (can't?) smile (bit tricky as the song goes "The innkeeper's smiling, his wife's full if cheer..."). My Wise Men lack oomph. In fact, they look a little bit of a rag tag lot of Wise Men, with lazy eyes covered in plaster and missing-front-teeth induced lisps (those at least that can belt out their words... one is very quiet). A couple of my boys (note it's only MY boys, not any from the other two classes...) who don't listen at all during the rehearsals so still miss their cues - in fact, I'm not convinced one has even learnt them yet...

Add to this the fact that the Head seems to hate the only song she's heard so far and it all bodes well, doesn't it?

But you haven't heard the best of it yet. I have a little star who fell of the toilet in her friend's house on Wednesday (I haven't plucked yup the courage to ask if she was using it or just playing on it - I mean, how do you fall off the toilet?) and came in on Thursday with it held very gingerly. "There's a big bruise," Mum said, "but she hasn't broken her arm." It transpired that the child couldn't rotate her arm without crying and found the most comfortable position for it was tucked into her cardigan (a la Napoleon) and that Mum hadn't taken her to the doctor, because she could wiggle her fingers and it wasn't swollen. We got Mum to pick her up at lunchtime and... on Friday she came back in after fracture clinic with it in plaster. Now, if she were merely twinkling... but no. My stars do a little dance around the Amazingly Bright Star. Obviously, we can't have her dancing on stage with a plaster cast on, so the only thing we can think of is to swap her with another child who doesn't move much on stage at all.

Yep, you've guessed it, this year the Virgin Mary will be sporting an attractive shocking pink plaster cast....

Hopeless Camels, Grumpy Sheep and Silly Birds

Those of you who don't work with primary age children, or like Mrs T have not reached the Christmas play part of the parental journey, may question why my head is full of a hopeless camel who keeps getting lost.

The reason, dear reader, is this. Every year, we teachers have to get Mary to Bethlehem. To stop us all going mad we choose a different production, but let's face it - there isn't much room for variety.

New Maternity Wing Solves Bed Crisis in Downtown Bethlehem

Fourth Wise Man Refuses To Give Gift

Breaking News: It's A Girl!

See what I mean? We haven't much option in the key characters, or in the general outline of the story.

However... enterprising musical impresarios have realised that a fresh take on a familiar story is always welcome, so for younger children, the story is often told through a minor character such as the innkeeper or a shepherd boy or through an animal. These characters invariably wander around the outskirts of Bethlehem, bumping into shepherds, wise men, etc. They usually have an endearing character trait that the children can identify with and they ultimately arrive at the stable just after the birth and their hearts are filled with joy. Last year's Reception production involved three Grumpy Sheep who became happy when they saw the Baby. This year, Reception has a dizzy Robin, who keeps falling over and bumping herself on the head. Presumably she wakes from seeing stars to see the Baby and stops being so silly.

And us? Well, here in Years 1 and 2, we have a Very Hopeless Camel, who keeps getting lost. The Wise Men are looking for the Special Baby who is born to be King and the poor old camel keeps leading them and the younger camels, all over the place. when he finally arrives at the stable, all he can see is animals, so is convinced he's failed again. Then the other camels see the Baby, tell the VHC and he instantly feels better about himself.

Cue parental applause and a big sniff from the Virgin Mary's Mum and Dad.

Watch out Mrs T, you have all this to come!

More knitting

I'm staying at Mum & Dad's for a few days over half term. I came down on the train again. I've been winding A up, telling him it's my attempt at reducing my carbon footprint, but if I'm going to be completely honest, dear reader, it's that I can't be bothered to concentrate on driving when I could be knitting.

That's really sad, isn't it?

On a brighter note, I finished my second sock:

I'm really pleased with them. I suppose I learnt to knit when I was 6 or 7, I remember endlessly knitting irregular scarves for my teddies in badly tensioned garter stitch, but I never progressed beyond stocking stitch squares for charity blankets. Then at some point in my early 20s, I got the urge to follow a pattern and I knitted a larger toy killer whale (no, I don't know why, either) but, as is my trademark, I never finished sewing the thing together. I've dabbled a bit since we moved to this house, mucking about with triangles to make mathematical patterns and last year I knitted a garter stitch scarf for myself, but I only really picked my needles up to became what I call a "real" knitter last October, when I wanted to knit something for Anna. Due to my limited repertoire (i.e. knit, purl, stuff the increase/decrease lark) I knitted a blanket with a moss stitch border, then tried four needles and knitted a hat for my Dad (same pattern as most of the Bobble Family hats) . Several hats later (including a gorgeously cute one for Anna), I decided to widen my range and on New Year's Eve, I started my first sock, using Opal self-striping sock yarn. Six and a half weeks later and ta-da! They are finished!

I even managed to get the pattern to match!

These socks have been the cause of much amusement at work. When it slipped out that I was knitting socks, there were hoots of derision, including my personal favourite: "Are you practising for when you retire?" The Head was just baffled, and K and I found that really funny (although I think K was annoyed on my behalf re: the retirement quote....). Several days later when discussing what club I could run, the suggestions I came up with were batted back by the Head. Knowing that she wanted me to run one, I suggested a knitting club, with my tongue very firmly in my cheek. Imagine my surprise when she jumped at it! I told her I was only prepared to run it for 10 children. She asked, if she helped out would I do it for 20? Ye-es I said, thinking quickly that it had better turn into a Handicrafts club, so I could work on the knitting with small groups at a time. Imagine my joy at the first one, when 29 children turned up! The second session, I tried the knitting with half a dozen.

What the heck was I thinking? I need to be committed! But it is fun, the children are making pom-pom monsters at the moment and we'll try some Binca bookmarks, too, I think.

And while I'm showing photos of my finished projects, here is the scarf I knitted my Mum for Christmas (she doesn't do hats!) . It came from a kit and was knitted on 12.5 mm needles, which felt like knitting with broom handles! The yarn was unusual too, thicker and thinner in different places. Knitted up very quickly, though.

I currently have 4 projects on the go: a couple of baby items (more on those when they are finished), a tank top in alpaca and a cotton garter stitch tote bag which was started in November but has been sidelined for more interesting projects.

As promised...

Back in the New Year I promised some photos. Finally, I've got round to downloading them, so here they are.

First up, some Christmas presents:


As you can see, there was a bit of a theme going on for A and his family! Having taught myself how to knit on four needles I went into over drive a bit... Clockwise from top left, the hats are for A, bil, fil, mil and sil. I knew from A's reaction to the first ever hat I knitted (for my Dad, with large accompanying bobble) that I stood no chance of him wearing it unless it was bobble free. Bil's is knitted to a different pattern (on two needles and seamed) and he does have a big head, but even this was a touch too large - he could roll it down and rob a bank very successfully!

Mil, fil and sil all loved their hats (in fact fil wore it for 3 hours around the house immediately he unwrapped it!) A was cringing, as he is wont to do... but not as much as he did the next day, when we went for a walk...

Having knitted everyone else a hat, I suddenly realised that I didn't have one, so I knocked one up the night we arrived. After all, Whitley Bay can be a touch windy, so our New Year's Eve walk would be foolish without one.



Stylish, huh? Large sassy bobble, if I do say so myself! And here are the rest of the Bobble Hat Family, out on their walk (fil, mil, A):



Needless to say, A was edgy enough walking with us as it was (after all, this is a man who equates bobble hats with Care in the Community), even before we had an encounter that caused mil and I to howl with laughter. We had left the house and walked two foot from the gate when a lady that mil and fil know came around the corner. "Ooh" she exclaimed, "I can see what Santa brought you all for Christmas!". A spent the rest of the walk trying to stay several yards ahead of us....

Back Home...

Just for a few days, at least. I love Christmas, I love seeing my family, I'd love to see more of family friends that live near my parents, but I can't deny how great it feels to be back in my own bed. I sleep badly enough as it is - add a bed that is much narrower than our own and it's a recipe for me and Mr Grumpy to really fall out. (Well, he falls out, I've got my nose pressed against the wall...)

Following several blog links through (as you do), I stumbled across Library Thing, an on-line cataloging system. I've listed some books I've read during the last year or so down the side. Eclectic mix, isn't it? But then, that's me all over. If you think this combination's weird, don't look on my iPod.

We are away again at the weekend, so if I don't get the chance to, Happy New Year to you!

It worked!

Hats off to Nigella!

The turkey was lovely and moist, the cranberry sauce was tart, the maple roasted parsnips were beautiful (and I don't like parsnips!) and the stuffing was lovely (although very citrussy and no taste of gingerbread - next time I won't put as much clementine zest in).

Was so replete, couldn't blog for 48 hours!

Have now travelled to my parents', complete with a well-developed throat/ear infection - don't know which, but both hurt. Ah well, you can tell it's the holidays!

Merry Christmas everyone, may you all get what you wish for.

Christmas Preparations

I've said it before and I'll say it again - I am not a "girly" girl.

Neither am I Susie Homemaker. Life is too damn short to stuff a mushroom.

But this year...

I've come over all Nigella.

I have spent the best part of 2 hours scouring Northwich for cloves (not a sniff - good job I have half a jiffy bag of the little blighters left over from a Tudor history project c.1999 that still have a strong aroma. Thank you Cathy at Schwartz, for your overwhelming generosity - 7 years later and I still haven't found the bottom of the bag), star anise and whole allspice(finally tracked down in the Health food shop), maple syrup (last bottle retreived from the back of a 6 ft high, 4 ft deep shelf by a gangly youth at Sainsbury's), chestnuts (scraped from the bottom of the last basket at Tesco) and semolina (none left at all anywhere). Anyone who knows Northwich will know that 2 hours usually gives you a chance to explore every nook and cranny, so it's a sign of how far the fragrant Nigella has invaded our consciousness this Christmas.

Saying that, I've just made my own cranberry sauce and it took no time at all. No, really... by the time I'd got the packet of mince pies open, they were ready to pour into a bowl!

I also have everything I need for the gingerbread stuffing and a brand new bucket to give the turkey its spicy brine bath tonight, in readiness for our own Christmas dinner tomorrow (we always have one on our own before we set out visiting).

Now if only I could look as gorgeous as Nigella in my dressing gown, I'll have cracked it. I'm not sure blue toweling covered in cat hair quite creates the impression I'm after, but heigh-ho...

One More Get Up!

And then it's the holidays!!!!!

Friday was the Carol Service in church, with the whole school attending - 240 children walking through pouring rain - nice...

Yesterday was the panto and the party - no profesional disco this year, so no need for L and I to have half of the Infants playing Dead Lions to help calm them down, thank goodness!

Today was Christmas dinner, a slightly raucous affair, with an extended playtime. Staff also got their Secret Santa pressies. Mine was BRILL - a note-pad and pen, a packet of instant latte and, best of all, an earthenware mug wide enough to dunk biscuits in (there's nothing worse than a wedged Rich Tea swivelling on the brim of your mug as the bottom disintegrates) with a special shelf underneath it to stash several biscuits safely while I eat the first one. Top banana! Thank you, Secret Santa!

Tomorrow finishes with a candlelit service in the hall, which sounds like a lovely end to the term...

It's all over!

Well, after some last minute changes first thing on Monday morning, the Christmas productions have been and gone - hurrah!

I think the changes foxed some of the children, but the parents loved it, which is all that really matters!

Dress Rehearsal Update

Well, J, S and I all thought it went okay. The only problem was a missing Wise Man (a new baby brother born at 6 o'clock that morning) who stands slightly in front of the one who has now decided in full costume that he won't sing or dance when he's on the stage. That and the fact that he and the other one kept taking their crowns off on stage. Grr.

However, I was then told that all 75 of them looked like they were going to a funeral because they weren't smiling, they needed to sing up, Mary was hiding behind her headress and a lot of them they needed to speak up because they couldn't be heard.

I do keep trying to tell people that the performing arts aren't my thing (good at appreciation, no talent whatsoever), but no one seems to be listening...

Gibbering Wreck

That's me, that is.

My head is permanently aching at the moment and I've developed a twitching eyelid that just won't keep still. I crawl home shattered, collapsing on the sofa and sleeping instead of doing my marking, but then lie awake half the night staring at the ceiling, with songs running through my head.

Deep joy.

There are a number of reasons, but the major one is probably the one that causes most Infant teachers to become faintly homicidal when faced with tinsel, a tea-towel and a grubby child-sized toweling dressing gown.

The Christmas Production.

Tomorrow is the dress rehearsal in front of the rest of the school, and we're nowhere near ready. It's not a total disaster - they know the songs, they know their words (well, most of them do, anyway), it's just that they can't remember when to stand up or move around. Joseph keeps turning his back on the audience. The kindly innkeeper has clean forgotten his words and now clutches a "Welcome to Bethlehem" visitors' guide with his words pasted on them. The donkey forgets to go on the stage. The angel choir have learnt their song beautifully (and the little Y1 angels have learnt a dance at very short notice) but they haven't learnt their cue, so there is an undignified scramble to get on the stage and deliver God's message to the shepherds. Herod is trying to set the world record for Fastest Delivery of Two Lines. One Wise Man works on his own timescale, so the camels keep setting off to travel around the hall without him. When the shepherds and the Wise Men arrive at the stable at the same time (I know, I know, but for this production they just DO), the shepherds keep having an argy-bargy as they try to get back on the stage (is there such a thing as an Alpha Shepherd?) Meanwhile, their sheep keep wondering past their masking tape line in front of the stage and getting mixed up with the Wise Men's camels, which wouldn't be a problem if they weren't supposed to be facing each other, singing a song to each other about how they are different.

And then half of my Year 2s told me confidently they didn't need another rehearsal, they were pretty good...

Rehearsals haven't started yet

...and we've already hit the slightly sticky point of the Virgin Mary having the collywobbles. She's "very proud to have been chosen", her mother tells me, but has balked at the idea of standing in the centre of the stage with everyone looking at her.

Back to the drawing board, then...

Do you think this ever happens to Trevor Nunn?

T -15 days and counting

At half term, I posted a little about the Infant Christmas Production. Well, it's now two weeks tomorrow until the first full performance - we've been learning the songs but things are beginning to get a bit hectic.

In the end, I squeezed about 27 speaking parts out of it. Two boys who will either miss the rehearsals or miss the main performances due to holidays are in the percussion band and the remaining girls are in seventh heaven as part of the Angel Choir. However, now I think I should have given the children their words to learn before this week, since the rehearsals start next Friday (dress rehearsals 8th Dec). I know the Head thinks Infant productions shouldn't be over rehearsed, but perhaps I've taken that too literally.

But I have other worries.

My Angel Choir are mutinous since I won't let them wear wings - our parents are lovely but can suffer greatly from "wing envy" and they are likely to try to produce the biggest wings possible if they get have a chance.

I have a Wise Man who would much rather be Herod and had told his Dad he would be Herod. He tells me Dad has made him a wooden knife and a wooden sword to enable him to kill the babies (I kid you not) and having consigned himself to being a mere Wise Man has kindly offered Herod the knife ("I'll need the sword myself, you see. A King needs a sword"). Can't wait to deal with that one when the costume comes in.

Several Narrators have the hump at being asked to dress as angels or shepherds because they would rather wear their party clothes - I found myself in a reasonably heated debate with one little cherub who was finally silenced when I told her in no uncertain terms that in our version, the angels would wear white, not pink, whether her mother was ironing that best frock right at this moment (as said cherub claimed) or not.

To top it all, there is a small contingent who can't understand why L, who taught them last year, won't let them have Anna (who would be 3 weeks old by the time of the production) as the Baby Jesus...

Balance that however, with the lullaby they sang so beautifully this week that they had me in tears...

I love my job!

Christmas Shopping...

This time every year I travel down south to hit Milton Keynes on a Christmas Shopping weekend with my mother. I go with a large wad of dosh saved up during the year and try to get as many presents as possible.

This year I got precisely... none.

Nothing.

Niente.

Yikes!! I had NO inspiration! This means I will have to fight my way round the Trafford Centre, Cheshire Oaks or Manchester sometime around December and I will probably still have NO inspiration then, either.

There is a strong case this year for going to PresentAid or Oxfam Unwrapped for the family presents. Sadly, although I think this is an amazing gesture and would be more than happy to receive a gift like this from people, I suspect that some of them would be rather non-plussed... and some might think I was trying to say something in particular if I got them a goat or a bag of fertiliser. Hey ho...

On a much happier note, L had her baby yesterday. Hurrah! Welcome to the world, Anna!