...December

• A rainy walk at the park. Flecks of orange glowing against neutral greys and browns.

• The annual collaborative Christmas Card design made by our Service User Group at work. An array of jolly snow-people out for a midnight stroll, one perhaps a little too full of the festive spirit...

• A custom-designed, made-to-measure Christmas jumper for a friend's daughter's teddy bear/best friend - 'Dominic'.

• Bare trees casting long shadows in the pale winter sunshine at the park.

• A city centre meeting near the German market provided an unexpected chance to stop and admire the fabulous over-the-toppery of an old-fashioned carousel.

• Prepping this year's crafty gift for family and friends. Little slices of wood, complete with bark, decorated with tiny snow-globe style trees. I used a mixture of acrylics, watercolour pencils and paints, and irridescent acrylic medium to create a frosty moonlit winter scene. Added a couple of coats of gloss varnish and a magnet glued to the back and 'hey-presto!' - seasonal decorations for the fridge!

• Two completely different hats from the same pattern - the Antler toque by the fabulous TinCanKnits - made for my two sons. I can't stress enough how much Magic Loop has transformed my knitting life. No more fiddling with double ended needles, no more tedious seams - hats are an absolute doddle these days!

• Just to hammer the point home, take a look below at what's currently on the circular needles - a complex, cabled beauty of a fair isle hat - the Norrland hat by Sara Huntington Burch.  Now, I'm not normally a fan of fair isle - I always struggle to get the tension right - but I fell madly in love with this design the moment I saw it, and I think the snowflake motif I incorporated into the front of Dominic's little teddy bear jumper gave me the confidence to believe I could at least attempt it. I'm teaching myself to use two handed fair isle knitting which is making my tension a lot more consistent, but working the cables definitely interrupts the flow. Even without those pesky double-ended needles it is still quite fiddly and slow going. Not so much a 'switch off and watch telly as you knit' type of project, more a 'concentrate, focus and double-check' style of thing, but it will all be over soon (I've just started the decreases) and it is absolutely beautiful! I'm making it for my Mum and secretly thinking I might have to make another one for myself...

• Just to round things off, here is the picture my friend sent me of Dominic in his festive finery on Christmas Day. He's a bear of few words, but, as you can see, his bestie is delighted by his smart appearance!