A day spent indoors, listening to xmas music and putting the finishing touches to a number of xmas gifts. For some reason there seems to be a preponderance of frills this year and I've finally cast off the last of them! I love the look of them but rows with 1600 stitches in 4ply seem to take forever.
I amused myself by changing needles for every row of the last frill to see if I had a preference. The Denise cords were too sticky; the Hiya Hiya points too blunt; the Knitpicks kept coming unscrewed but that was because I couldn't find the little pin thing! The join on the ebony's wasn't smooth enough and the square needles cable was too floppy. The most successful was the addi lace needles.
The music was a real treat. Liz gave me my xmas present last week with instructions that I was to open it early and enjoy - so I did!
I enjoy xmas music, ancient and modern but my real favourites are the traditional carols (more info here but I can't hyperlink! http://www.westgallerymusic.co.uk/articles/GP1/GP1-10-Russell.pdf ) and wassail songs from the South Pennines where I grew up. The local carols still sung in the pubs and clubs in the area and I remember one night 30+ years ago when I heard about 15 different versions of the same carol!
It was a great shock to me when I moved South and realised that everyone everwhere else only sang one version of 'While Shepherds Watched".
Posted by Yvonne at December 14, 2008 06:10 PMa standard paper clip is pretty close to the knit picks pins.
here's having a happy one to you!
Posted by: minnie at December 15, 2008 12:32 PMFor years our favorite Christmas music has been Traditional Carols from England, not easy to find in the US. We first discovered them with an American group who performed them and then the Albion Band and some Maddy Prior and Steeleye Span. All rather commercial, I'm sure, compared to what you grew up with, but not your average Christmas Carols here! Our friends all think we're nuts if they hear them...
Posted by: Maureen in Fargo at December 14, 2008 11:57 PMMy morris side sang the Sweet bells version of it, then I discovered Kate Rusby's latest album is called Sweet bells and has two versions according to the Gruaniad's review. My prefered tune for it is on Ilkley moor baht 'at. Anything quite frankly beats the usual one in the hymn books!
Posted by: Rachel at December 14, 2008 09:45 PM