Here's One I Made Earlier - Part II

So, the merriment continues. The mulled wine flows. A bewildering array of canapes and snacks appear, whilst our amazing host Kelly tends to an impressive vat of sausage stew.

Kerry arrives bearing several kilos of sauerkraut and is rewarded with this:

This necklace/headband multi-tasking effort turns out to have been a stroke of luck - Kelly is allergic to wool! Something of an oversight on my part. Fortunately, with her hair protecting her, she reckons it's safe to wear it as a headband and we're all quite pleased with the general look - suits her, no?

Whilst Kelly deals with feeding the five thousand, her gift (a buttoned scarf) is adopted by some of the others and Seb is graciously persuaded to model it:

A task he executes with a charming debonnair attitude and a helpful gesture towards the festive backdrop.

It is at this point my friends become a little over-enthusiastic. I should first explain that each gift had a little card enclosed - I wanted a custom gift tag to make my efforts look a little more polished, plus it's a handy way of passing on the address of this blog and including some simple care instructions - and Kelly suggested featuring the cards so that the photos could be used for 'marketing' purposes. Helpful and obliging chap that he is, Seb immediately launched his own ad campaign for Hoxton Handmade:

At least it proves that this scarf is nothing if not versatile. Meanwhile Seb's charming wife Daisy (who is currently knitting a pair of bootees and therefore gets extra credit) decides to get in on the scarf action:

And very lovely she looks too.

I then realise I do not have a photo of the scarf with its intended owner, and hunt Kelly down in the kitchen. Having discovered it's tricky to balance a small piece of cardboard on a knitted item whilst you are wearing it, Kelly has a masterstroke idea:

Although I'm starting to suspect the casual observer may assume we're advertising something for Amnesty International. Or Jamie Oliver (loving that apron).

Taking up the gauntlet, Kate manages to model a fantastic new look for the headband and I become quite proud of what you can do with an oversized i-cord:

At which point the wonderful Kate P. decides it's high time she headed home (and who can blame her). I manage to catch her modeling her new cowl just in time:

So the woollens are keeping everyone warm (both indoors and out), Daisy and Kerry are knitting away and may even pop along to the Hoxton knitting group in the New Year, Kelly is my new marketing manager (for what, exactly, we haven't quite decided), and everyone's keen to spread the Hoxton Handmade.

And me? Well, I have the loveliest friends in all the world.

Here's One I Made Earlier - Part 1

Someone said to me the other day that I would have made a brilliant Blue Peter presenter. I think they meant this as a compliment (and, to be fair, I was helping to stick a gingerbread house together with melted sugar at the time). So, in the spirit of what may have been an unfulfilled destiny, here's one I made earlier:

(I admit I actually had fun wrapping all of these).

This was in preparation for a lovely Christmas dinner with a large group of friends, most of whom I've known since university and who kindly agreed to model their new woolens:

The lovely Jinty and Holly, and their new cowls. There was slight confusion when they opened them and for one horror-struck moment, Holly thought I had knitted her some sort of boob-tube. Clearly relieved, she kept it on for most of the evening, bless her, whilst her boyfriend declared it to be 'alright' (mustering some impressive enthusiasm I thought - maybe I should have gone with a boob-tube after all??). The girls then discovered there were no end of possibilities:

A handy ear-muffler, should one be required...

The fabulous Emily and her new Porom hat. Another Brooklyn Tweed winner.

A cheerfully festive Kate and her Garter Mittens, thanks to Ysolda Teague.

I should probably point out that these are the pictures that were taken early on in the festivities (i.e. before the mulled wine had done the rounds). Part II will follow shortly, with the mulled wine flowing freely, where my pals hit upon some creative marketing ideas for Hoxton Handmade....

Surrendering to Mr Pitt

Yes, I confess. I have caved. I am a lily-livered, cheese-eating surrender-monkey (even though I'm not entirely sure what that is) who is knitting this:

To explain: I have two knitting rules. Well, not so much rules as guidelines, which are specifically designed to avoid becoming Crazy Knitting Woman and which probably don't fulfill this purpose but nevertheless, there they are: no cats and no socks.

Now, before I incur the wrath of perfectly lovely cat-owning sock-knitters everywhere, I should be clear that I have absolutely nothing against knitters who knit socks; who are members of sock clubs; who love socks. I just felt that a line had to be drawn somewhere and it might as well be at socks. I buy cotton socks that serve me well, I have never felt the need to knit my own.

(However, the cat thing is an entirely different matter. I am not a cat person. I do not trust them. They think. They plot. They are entirely too self sufficient than any pet has a right to be. Again, this is simply a personal and not-entirely-logical prejudice. I live alone. I knit. I own 3 teapots. I cannot have a cat or I might as well bypass the next 60 years and become a grandma now).

Where my narrow-minded and stereotyped thinking gets into trouble is when trying to find a knitted Christmas gift for certain male members of my family. They are tricky and the annoying fact is that a good pair of socks might just solve the yuletide problem. Even the most deeply seated beliefs must be open to question, interpretation and flat out abandonment when confronted with new information or a change in circumstances (except for the cats, of course).

So I am knitting socks.

These are Mr Pitts socks, in a nice simple rib pattern and so far...Well. They are not a disaster. They require 3 skeins of Koigu and I only have 2 in each colour, hence the colour-combo. They are meant to be a size 10 but I'm working to a looser gauge to cover a bigger foot. They're looking enormous but I think it's safer for them to be a bit big than a bit tight. I have never attempted socks before, so I'm simply following the pattern and trusting it to make sense somehow. Which, in a comforting affirmation in the power of blind faith, appears to be working. Now I just have to hope they fit...