My first presents given.

I went to visit my Dad this weekend. It was time to crack out the first of my handmade presents:






Dad - a simple black cowl
Dawn - a 15
Jaybea - a hat, a scarf, a dinosaur and a blanket
Louise - a hat, a scarf, a teddy bear and a blanket
Callum - a monkey and a blanket
They also got a tin of handmade rocky road and a tin of oat and raisin cookies and a big bag of sweets each.

I think the kids like there bits:



I saw planning on staying over night but with the weather being so bad i decided to go home on Saturday evening. I left my Dad's at half 5 and didn't get home till 8.30. It was a long journey but defiantly the right decision.

We had our work Christmas do on Friday and had dinner at the Runnymede hotel followed by bowling. I had a good time and came across a few interesting things in the hotel:



A huge hand knitted blanket and a wall full of rubber ducks! I love the blanket and the ducks so much, I think it added a great touch to the hotel.

Its my last day at work tomorrow and I don't have to go back there ever again! I start my new job on January 4th and cant believe that my working life here is over. (I'm really really pleased)

Ive been a lazy blogger!

I know I havent blogged in a while and Im very sorry so here is a brief update on whats going on with me.

Firstly Tim and I have decided that we are just friends! We hung out on Friday night and it was just like hanging out with a pal, there just seems to be nothing there romantically between us at the minute. We have decided to take a step back and just see where we go with it, but the pressure of the couply stuff is now gone.

Secondly, I went to a surprise birthday party on Saturday. It was my Nan Turleys's (my dad's ex wife's mum) 65th birthday on Wednesday and we threw her a surprise Birthday party. She had no clue and her face was a picture when we all shouted "SURPRISE"! She is Elvis mad and J&G went a little mad with the Elvis decor:

It was a great night and really lovely to catch up with everyone.

Ive been knitting like a nut case! Ive got a few more bits left to do and a fair bit of sewing up so I really need to knuckle down.

I will be having the my first Christmas this weekend. Im heading over to Barking to have a pre Christmas Christmas with Dad, Dawn and the kids so im really looking forward to that.

Now to go completely off subject but I saw this on a friends blog today and wanted to share. With all the commercialisation of Christmas I think its nice to see something that humbles us and makes us focus on what is really important in life and I also think it nice to have something bring us back down to earth when were too worried about not having enough Mince Pies to feed everyone:

Knitting, Parcels and Nibbles!!

I have had the best last few days!!! On Friday night Sue and Graham took me to the Thai restaurant at the end of the road for my first trip into the world of Thai food! It was really nice and very reasonably priced!

Then on Saturday Sue and I hit Staines and brought some really great bits from Julian Graves, I am stocking up on all the ingredients I will need for all the baking I need to do for Christmas.

I then met up with 6 other members of the Staines Knitting Group and we all went and invaded the Pincushion in Windsor! (I pre-warned Des the owner that we would be invading) and we were met there by Dani who then invited us back to her house for home made cake and tea:





We all had a great time and everyone of us came away with new yarn for our stash! And I brought some stuff for a Christmas swap with a pen pal.
When we got back Lou and I had a drink in the pub and then had dinner in Nandos which was yum!

On Sunday My Mum and her wife Jan (yes her wife) Came to see me and we went out for dinner. We had a meal at the new Harvester in Staines and it was lovely. I had a really great time with them and cant wait to spend the New Year with them.

On Monday when I got home there was a parcel waiting for me on the dinner table:



Its the Peaches and Creme I ordered from Create and Knit on Friday! I cant believe how quick its arrived. I started using it straight away and managed to get 2 sets of Scrubbies finished (they will be Xmas pressies):


Only 3 people made it to knitting group last night including me but it was nice, for some reason I just couldn't knit last knit, things kept going wrong so in the end I just read my knitting mag. When I got home there was another parcel waiting for me! It was from my 1st ever Ravelry swap and it was from Knittingbunnies in Arizona:











It really cheered me up and I feel like ive been spoilt rotten! I posted out my 2nd swap parcel yesterday to Chelsea in NY and will be getting one back in the next few weeks. I also have another one to send out to Tia in Oregon who is one of my penpals!

Tonight I plan on finishing up a few more Christmas presents and baking up a few treats. Im going to make tiffin and cookies. Im seeing Nicola and her boys on Saturday in Staines and Marius, Loredana and Joshua on Saturday afternoon so will need to go armed with treats and nibbles!