All Fingers and Thumbs

.. it feels like all I've done is work though as I uploaded my camera card to find the picture I wanted to accompany this post I found these before and after shots of our kitchen cupboard so it looks like I've been present and domestic-ing in the house without even realising it!  There's something about taking a before photo of tidying up that makes it so much more bearable for me. It still looks much more like photo number two and I'd forgotten it ever got as bad as number one so these were a nice surprise! I have also been gently knitting away on a chunky cardigan that is getting close to the end - rather thrilling though I still dare not call it a Christmas present for fear I will curse my fingers. Still I was feeling a bit too much work makes Jack a dull girl and then I had a rather splendid crafty weekend. On Saturday I spent four hours dedicated to THE dress - it's really nearly there now - metres of hem to be hand sewn will surely flash by!

We're just coming to the end of a fortnight off work, it's been such bliss, a fortnight feels like a real luxury and definitely helped us really relax. We've been flitting around a lot: we started in Bath, then stayed on a farm just south of Bristol, from there to Dorset though I don't remember much of that as I was stuck in bed with a bug - boo! We went up to near Manchester to visit our friends and their two handsome little boys and from Manchester down to south Wales to see more friends and their scrumptious little girl. Phew! We've been home a couple of days and for such total homebodies as us this has probably been our favourite part. A gentler pace in my brain is definitely my favourite souvenir but as we've shopped in most places we stopped we picked up a wealth of more tangible things too. The car boot was straining to hold it all by the end! I've  made a start on some Christmas gift shopping (minimal Christmas knits this year!) and picked up a few