Christmas catchup

It's Christmas Day, or evening. We had a good day at our friends, ate a lovely meal and watched their little boy play with all his new toys. I have been and still am feverishly making Christmas presents for my family. A wrap for Sarah, a jacket for Rowan, dress and hat for Cammie and wrist warmers for Casie.

Hopefully they will all be finished before I go down to Devon next week.

Last week I went over to see our neighbours Pine Tree Alpacas. Nick and Lisa kindly gave me one of their white alpaca fleeces to spin a few weeks ago and thought I might like to go over and see their current fleeces. It was enjoyable and educational to see a selection of fleeces one after the other and be able to grade them for crimp and fineness (micron count). I met some of the mother alpacas with their crias who were very cute. I loved the fawn and dark brown colours. I'll be using some of the remnants (sorted fleece which is not usable from around the edges) to try wet felting and also to experiment with other techniques.

They also asked me to help them with their open day next year and help Lisa start up a craft group in the village hall. Exciting stuff.

Speaking of craft groups, Caroline and I are going to one on Thursdays at Burbage in the Acorn Cafe on the Common. Most of the ladies belong to Spinning guilds I belong to and go along for a couple of hours to knit, crochet and gossip. Very pleasant. 

There is a new group starting in Ashby Magna village hall in January, Sylvia Winn from the Braiding Society is setting up a monthly group making braids. It's not something I've ever done, but as it is right on my doorstep, I'll be going long to try my hand. I might attempt to make an inkle loom. More about that another time. 

That's all for today, Happy New Year to you all.