Christmas Recap

Well, there it goes for another year. Matthew and I had a great day, which included some of the time-honoured Christmas traditions such as lying around watching telly and eating till we thought we'd burst, but did not include getting drunk and having a punch-up.

My sister called from Canada and we nattered away for a lovely hour. She had already experienced another time honoured Christmas tradition - her 10 foot fir tree falling over. Sis reminded me that I hadn't told her where to find what I wanted for Christmas on the internet, so I quickly rectified that, and I now have an MP3 player from eBay, and a set of ebony circular knitting needles from Scottish Fibres on their way to me. My Christmas treats for myself involved raiding the Colinette website the other day, so I have a couple of packages coming from there, so the race is on to see what gets here first.

And now, seeing as it's coming up to 2 am, I guess it's time for bed.

Love to all,
Nance xx

Merry Christmas!

Well, here we are. The things that didn't get done remain undone, but that just leaves us with fodder for our New Year's resolutions cogitations. The main thing is that we're here, it's Christmas and I hope it will be a day of peace and love for all of you, the modern equivalent of imaginary friends.

Matthew (who is unbelievably understanding about the state of my house and who has not once crept off to his room to adopt the foetal position) was far too fond of the seafood lasagna for my liking, but otherwise is a model houseguest.

We went to the midnight service at my church last night. It was a lovely service, and the church looked beautiful, with dozens of chunky candles set amidst pine boughs, and we didn't have to use the fire extinguishers once. We sat with my ex-husband, which was really nice - Barry and I still have the capacity to giggle like children about nothing when we're together - and my other ex, David, was there as well, and his 17-year-old son Alex wants the three of us to get together soon, so it will be lovely to see him. He's a fantastic boy and we get along like a house afire.

Matthew's still asleep, and I'm trying not to make any noise, so I haven't yet wrestled with the turkey but that's always good for a laugh, and I do love cooking Christmas dinner.

Merry Christmas, one and all, I wish you all the day you desire, which, for most of us, will involve some quality knitting time. We are blessed.

Love,
Nance xxxx

Yippeeee!

Hey everybody, I've found the spare room bed - there it was, in the spare room! It's just that I couldn't get to the spare room because of all the - erm, wool in the wool room that you have to go through to get there. But now there's a clear pathway through, and I am determined that next week, after Matthew goes, I'm going to sort that sucker out! The wool room, not Matthew, I hasten to add.

Hi Gill, thanks for your encouragement. £200?!?!?!?!?! I don't think so! I cheated and bought a lovely plump Bernard Matthews turkey a month ago when they were half price - £9!!!!!! Now all I have to do is remember to get it out of the freezer tomorrow. I'd always gone to the local butcher, from whom I always got perfectly wonderful juicy turkeys, but he'd butcher my bank account as well.

I almost bought a roast of beef half price last evening, but then I remembered that there are, after all, only two of us, and Matthew's only here till Tuesday, so I'm sure we can fill in any holes in the menu with pasta and bacon sarnies. My favourite thing for Christmas Eve dinner is seafood lasagna, so if I'm really lucky, there'll be lots left over for me after Matthew leaves. That's one thing I love about living alone - when I make one of my favourite dishes, it lasts several days.

So, I've made some headway, and Matthew has a lovely uncluttered room to hide in when the rest of the house gets to be too much for him. I still have loads to do downstairs, but I just had to stop for a cold drink and catch my breath.

Okay, back into the fray!!!!

Love,
Nance xx

Running Up To Christmas

How are you all doing, Santa's Elves? Are you totally dazed and confused? I am! I was too knackered to do anything more last night, so I went to bed early, knowing I'd wake up early and hopefully have the energy to get through what I have to do today. So that's why I'm sitting here with a mug of coffee and a fag.

But, I have crossed off some items on my Things That Absolutely Have to be Done by 5 pm on the 23rd list. Five o'clock's when my buddy Matthew is arriving for the festivities. I hope he's bringing some festivities with him.

I have managed to tick the following items off in the last couple of days:

The Christmas cards are on their way. So what if the folk in Canada don't get theirs till next year? At least they'll know I was thinking of them. Except the ones whose addresses I couldn't find. Oh well.

And all the eBay parcels are on their way. Yippee!

The Festive Farce is done for this year, but we've had about a squillion requests to do it again next year - there's something to look forward to!

And I've got the groceries - that wasn't as bad as I expected. It was bad, mind you. I went to Sainsburys at 4 o'clock yesterday, which seems like a daft thing to do, but it really wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be. But I wasn't wearing my watch, so after an hour and a half, I had this strange feeling that I might have been there for weeks. I was totally confused. I'd had to start relying on the kindness of strangers to help me figure out what I was supposed to get. Oh yes, I had a list. I'd had several exchanges of e-mails with Matthew to see what his Christmas preferences are. I'd ascertained that he likes to have Christmas cake. And Christmas pudding. And mince pies. Mince pies make me gag, and I've never bought a Christmas cake or pudding in my life. Mind you, the darling Christmas cake with the marzipan Wise Men on it was awfully cute. But they wanted £18.99 for it! So I got a lesser version. Still ridiculously expensive, but very attractive in a minimalist sort of way. I did toy with the idea of getting an un-iced version and doing it myself, but then I gave myself a good slap and I was alright after that. Except ........ . He'd said he likes custard on his pud. Excuse me, Nice Stranger Lady. Do you I think I should buy ingredients and make custard from scratch? Oh dear, let me help you up off the floor and dust you off, while you take deep breaths and try to stop those hysterics. Okay, so I don't have to make it from scratch, but should I get containers of it or that yucky looking powder that takes gallons of milk - where the hell am I supposed to keep that much milk in my teeny fridge? So, cartons of custard it is. And despite all the e-mailing back and forth, I forgot to ask simple questions like, do you prefer white or brown bread? Or bread with chunks of what look like manure in it? Oh hell, we'll get the bread on Saturday. And you like juice, but I didn't think to ask from what. So we've got orange, tomato and one that appears to have every fruit known to man in there. You get the picture. So I got to the checkout, and there was a very friendly young chap waiting to ring up my purchases. He said that people were spending an average of £160 on their shopping, so now it was me on the floor in hysterics. But we managed to get by with £135 - eeeeeeek! In the middle of packing it all into carriers, I hit on a splendid plan. I'd keep the stuff for the freezer separate, put that in the front seat of the car with me, and everything else in the boot, where it would stay until this morning. Wasn't that clever of me? Except that now, of course, the groceries are still in the boot of the car. Well, unless my car was broken into during the night. That sounds quite appealing, really.

So, what's left for today, other than the potential insurance claim for the groceries? Well, I'm meeting some friends for a festive cup of coffee in half an hour, which will be nice, but it does mean I'll have to get dressed. And then really, all I have to do before 5 o'clock is figure out places to stash all the stuff that's in the guest room, and sitting around in crates all over the rest of the house, and then clean said house from top to toe, as I've neglected the housework pretty much steadily for ..... well, since I moved in 3 and a half years ago. And I also need to photograph the next batch of stuff for eBay. But on the other hand, I finally succumbed to the Colinette website for the first time yesterday. And I really would like to go back and look around some more ................. I think I'd better just have another coffee and think about that one.

Keep going, girls, we're almost there!

Love,
Nance

eBaying

We shall now pause for a word from our sponsor.

How much fun is selling stuff on eBay? I had a very exciting hour last evening as a bunch of my stuff approached its deadlines and then it got even more exciting as I started receiving PayPal payments before I could even issue invoices. Virtually everything went for less than 50% of its original value, but hey, that's money long since spent, and now it's great to be getting a little more space, a little more money and eBayers around the world are snapping up bargains. Sounds like a win/win situation to me.

I think I've got the eBay link in the sidebar sorted out now, but in any event you can find my new stuff by searching for knittingsister.

Thank you, and we shall now return to our programme.

Love,
Nance

Countdown to Christmas

Whoopeee! I've done my last craft fair for the year, my items are bubbling away nicely on eBay and now I can, at last, start knitting whatever I darn well please. I've spent the evening by the log fire watching telly and playing with some lovely blue Jaeger Chamonix. I have a Chamonix pullover that I got at the Rowan Mill in Holmfirth for a fraction of what the wool would have cost, never mind the time of the darling woman who knitted it, and it's the warmest, softest, comfiest sweater I've ever had. So when I saw some Chamonix in one of my favourite shades at a Liberty sale, I leapt on it and now that the frost is lying heavy these mornings, it seems the perfect time to make a nice cozy jacket.

Oh, yes, I'm back from Vienna. I had a really lovely time there, and I understand why my Mom loved the place so much. The architecture is great, the people have lovely manners, the music is fantastic, and the coffee houses and chocolate - well, I could easily live in the coffee houses, nibbling on chocolate while sipping the best coffee I've ever had, and I'm a coffee fanatic.

I'd best get off to bed, as tomorrow morning is the final production of the Festive Farce at the unseemly hour of 8:30 am. I usually don't get out of bed till 9, and often wear my pyjamas till noon, so this is going to be quite a stretch for me. But, I can hardly disappoint this particular crowd of the extremely elderly, as several of them are my dear friends, so I'd best take a hammer to bed with me, so as to hit myself over the head repeatedly until I pass out, otherwise I'll be awake till my usual 2 am.

Good evening, friends.

Love,
Nance x

Gadzooks!

Funny, I thought British people were supposed to say "egad" and "gadzooks" all the time. Guess not!

Anyway, I've spent several fun-filled hours sticking a few surplus items from my overflowing stash onto eBay and I hope that you'll be able to go directly to them from the link in the sidebar. I'm still a novice seller, so please forgive me for any glaring foxpaws I've committed.

I think I've also just about managed to pack for Vienna, so it's time to go have a chat with my pillow.

Love to all and to all a goodnight,

Nance x

What's a Girl To Do?

Men! Can't live with 'em, not allowed to kill 'em! It's no wonder there's such a resurgence in knitting.

First things first. On Thursday evening, the second production of our Festive Farce went swimmingly, and no-one became ill, although I was afraid I was going to, as I had a migraine. I really felt more like crawling off into a hole to die than I did like acting like I wanted to be there, but hey! I guess those years of studying theatre were worth the money after all. (Ha ha, the mail just arrived. It consisted of one item - a Christmas card addressed to Pizza Town Customer. There's a Bridget Jones moment if I ever lived one.)

Anyway, because of the migraine, there was no way that I could travel to Scotland on Friday, nor even think about drinking over the weekend, so I had to beg off. Sorry, girls! I do wish I'd been there. But India, I'm so glad you like the cashmere. Isn't it just too gorgeous for words?

So, feeling a bit better on Saturday, I invited that man over in the evening. He asked if he should bring a bottle of wine, and I said no thanks so he said he'd bring chocolate. I said great, my preference is plain chocolate with nuts. So what did he bring? A Bendicks assortment of white, milk and plain with soft centres. Yeee-uck. What's more dispiriting than a man who can't follow simple instructions? But, as it turned out, that was the high point of the evening. He drank about two gallons of ginger beer and went home. Yawn. I don't know what happened to that funny interesting guy I met on Monday evening, or why he sent his doddery look-alike great uncle over on Saturday, but I guess that's the way the cookie crumbles.

Yesterday, I took advantage of the free day I wasn't expecting to have and went out and got some Christmas cards - even wrote out a few. The problem with internet friends is that one doesn't generally have their postal addresses for Christmas cards. I keep trying to stuff them in the CD slot, but they don't go anywhere. And if you e-mail people asking for their addresses a couple of weeks before Christmas, it kind of takes the edge off the surprise, doesn't it? But if any of you would like a no-surprise Christmas card, just e-mail me your address, and I'll send you one, with a return address so you can send me one next year.

Today, I'm getting ready to go to Vienna tomorrow. I'm nervous/excited about that - I always am before I go somewhere I've never been before, especially when travelling alone. Before I go I have to (a) write some more cards, (b) put some stuff on eBay and (c) go to a WI Committee meeting this afternoon. I was just elected to the Committee for the first time last Tuesday (I only joined the WI in September), but have a feeling that I'm going to come home the new Secretary. I can hardly refuse, the President's such an angel. She's going to be 85 on New Year's Day, although you'd never guess she was a day over 72, and my new role model. She has such spirit, but is really quite a shy, quiet woman. And has a real talent for getting people to do things. I went over after Tuesday's meeting to congratulate her on being returned as President, and to say I'd do whatever I could to help out. She ducked her head and gave me a sweet smile and said, Well, we do desperately need a new Secretary, dear. And here's me thinking I was volunteering to learn the words to Jerusalem.

But listen to this, Knitters. Betty's husband died a few years ago, and one of the activities that she took up to fill some of her time was the monthly WI sewing bees, where almost everyone knits rather than sewing. Betty hadn't knitted in about 40 years, but decided she'd take it up again, and looked around for a project. She decided to knit herself a suit. Which she did. Perfectly. Beautifully. What a gal!

Anyway, this isn't getting the potatoes peeled, as they say back home in Potato Country.

Happy trails,
Nance

Eeeeeeeek!!!!

Where on earth does the time go?!?!? I knew I was going to be busy over the last week, but this is ridiculous.

Anyway, I have to tell you this story. I mentioned that I was going out to be the Wise Man in a Christmas play for elderly people? Well, actually there are only 6 of us in the entire cast, so I'm also a dancing angel, a messenger and I think tonight they're going to ask me to muck out the stable. Those of us in the cast range from 53 to around 70, and we all wear black tops and trousers, so that the costume bits identifying our roles (tinfoil wings for angels, a spectacular jewelled crown and navy and gold velvet robe for me as the Wise Man, etc) stand out, so dressed in top-to-toe black we all look slightly satanic which is, I suppose, something of a comment on the world into which Christ was born. Anyway on the day of our first "production" we had an audience of about 30 extreeeeeeeeemely elderly ladies, most of whom arrived on Zimmerframes or a couple of walking sticks. So once they were installed in their seats and all their walking frames and sticks were stashed in a corner, they were pretty much a captive audience.

At the beginning of the play, a couple of us distributed odd little props to all these ladies (little flags to wave, an assortment of hats, knitting (!) and other assorted paraphernalia (don't you just love that word? My life is filled with paraphernalia). So off we launched into this mad little play, which is a moderately humorous modern retelling of the Nativity story. It runs at rather a breakneck pace, as we deliver a few lines, squeeze behind the audience at that end, dash offstage to the right into the kitchen, ditch one costume and leap into another. I thought I was going to wear my wings out entirely, I put them on and took them off so many times. Then we have to scurry through a couple of adjoining rooms, grabbing our props as we go, and dash back into the other end of the tiny hall, squeeze past that end of the audience and get back onstage.

Things were going very smoothly, considering, and then one of the audience became sick to her stomach. Very sick. Repeatedly and profusely sick. Another lady found a supply of plastic carrier bags and would hand her a fresh one, and take the last one out into the adjoining room. She apparently didn't know what else to do with them, so she was putting them on the props table. Next to the carrier bag which contained my Wise Man's gifts for the Baby Jesus. Fortunately, I did manage to pick up the correct bag and was able to offer my gifts of chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil, and a couple of types of ghastly bath products in lieu of actual gold, frankincense and myrrh, but much better that than presenting Him with a bag of sick!!!!

It did make for a rather odd finale to the Blessed Story to have to be squeezing past this poor old lady who was doing her level best to be very quiet about her problem, and really looked as dignified as one can while vomiting into a plastic bag, still wearing the chef's hat that she had been given to wear at the beginning!

Funny, when I was studying Theatre at McGill, they never mentioned the above scenario as a possible option under the heading of Audience Participation.

So tonight we're presenting the play again to another group, but it will be hard to top our premiere.

Other than the above, it's all been madness. I exhibited at a craft fair in Towcester (Northants, not Beds, I've been reliably advised by the lovely Gill of Woolly Workshop who came by to meet me and very kindly went out and got me a sandwich, as I really couldn't leave my stand) and taught two lovely little girls to knit. Philippa is 10 and Sophie is 9, and they were looking longingly at my things and saying how much they wanted to learn to knit so I said if they had half an hour I'd teach them. Within 10 minutes, Sophie was happily knitting away and after another 10 minutes she was saying "I feel like I've always been able to knit". Sweet.

I've had to spend this week getting ready for another fair in Woburn (on the 18th) as tomorrow I'm off to Edinburgh and Glasgow for a festive knit-together with the lovely lassies there. I get back on Monday, and on Tuesday I'm off to Vienna for 3 days to pay my respects to my Mom's favourite city. So I get back next Friday, have Saturday to do the final prep for Woburn on Sunday, and at 8 am on Monday, we're doing our final production of the play for our gang of friends at the gym. And that, dear readers (if any of you have stayed awake to this point) takes us into Christmas week - Hurrah! And then I may get a chance to write Christmas cards.

One last topic - the inevitable. I've met a man. He's lovely. A few years older than I am. Sweet, kind, gentle, intelligent, uproariously funny and very, very attractive. He seems to like me too. And naturally, just when I was thinking that my life is so good and, for me, relatively calm, and maybe it would be best to just enjoy what I have - isn't that always the way? But he's so very, very lovely that I can hardly say, No, I'd really rather spend my time knitting by the fire. So, we'll see.

I hope you're all well and happy.

Love,
Nance