Christmas shopping

Amazing what you can accomplish when you try!

Admittedly, we don't do gifts for as many people as we used to, but there's a few. Our habit was, once upon a time, to have a day out in Manchester or York, buy a lot of stuff for ourselves, and get through maybe half of the rest. Then we began sometimes going to Ilkley, because there is a Smiths there, a lovely sweetie shop, and, of course, Bettys.

So, yesterday, we did a swift gallop around HB, very successfully. Including a haircut for the DSM (so he now looks like a scalped schoolboy, he believes in a haircut lasting....) some wood varnish to spruce up the bathroom, and some beetroot to make soup. Then set off for Ilkley, aiming for a late lunch at the aforementioned. Well, it was late. But good. Especially the festive mulled wine. We bought a few goodies in the shop, then I shot off looking for more conventional boots in black, than I normally wear, in red, blue or purple. I was successful, and highly amused by the lovely woman in the independent (yay!!) shoe shop who took them off to use the "Victorian Bunion Stretcher" on them. We had a heartfelt conversation about the hereditary nature of the dratted things, too. Meanwhile, himself was hunting down photograph storage albums and parcel decorating materials in Smiths (I let him do that on his own!!)

We knocked off a couple more essentials, then went around the corner to the sweetie shop......to find that it had vanished. Now I have to find another source of our favourite Alban* Berg chocs, dammit. We don't ever eat many sweets, but at Christmas, we do like a box of those.

Drove back in the twilight, but without the spectacular sunsets of last year, sadly. Still, at least it wasn't raining - again! Wow.

Today was a pleasant Bear Knitters, where I finally got to reacquaint myself with "Birch", a less horrendous experience than I had feared. I am about to start the second ball of yarn - coming up, a judgement call on when to stop the body and go on to the edging. I've done such a thing so rarely that I have practically no experience to base this on. I am sure that edgings take more yarn rather than less, and I would rather stop too soon than too late and have to frog lots. And if there is yarn left over, I could always make finglerless mitts. Can't have too many of those, eh?

One of my spectacularly lousy photographs - of the new spinning on the wheel, the rather nice mohair. Enjoyable to spin, too.



And a rather better photo of the yak and silk. The colour is slightly more pastel in reality, but this is close.



Someone at lunchtime was knitting a very pretty scarf - I'm off to Ravelry to see if she has posted which pattern it is there, it would work a treat with this.

*Anton Berg, Anton. Fool. Chocolates, not music!