Year end musings.....

Seems popular with newspapers and the media to look back over the year now ending, so today my friends I am posting random thoughts. Have been making some notes, started with books, the pile bedside includes "The hundred year old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared" by Jonas Jonasson. This has to be finished by Monday when the reading group is meeting for Christmas lunch, I am just a quarter of the way through. this doesn't look good, have had the book since beginning of December, however was absorbed by "The mystery of Princess Louise: Queen Victoria's rebellious daughter" by Lucinda Hawksley. Now that is finished, also in the queue is Emma Bridgewater's Toast & Marmalade and other stories, Knitting yarns: writers on knitting edited by Ann Hood (gift from DD) and yesterday's purchase "Walk the lines: the London Underground  Overground" by Mark Mason. 

Usual time problem, knit or crochet against reading, just try to do both but not simultaneously! On the needles at present are granny squares, crocheting them to use up stash of double knitting; a pair of socks in self striping blue yarn from Lidl, I am still making the trim from Twilley's Lyscordet cotton for a plain lampshade it is such fine work that I need a good light and reading specs on. 

No new year resolutions, just to try and do my best in all things, try to treat all how I would wish to be treated, on the Ravelry forums I have turned off the dislike button as it is so easy to hit it in error. One of my notes I have written 'Older versus Elderly' because I'm not sure what the difference is. We have decided Older is under eighty, Elderly is over eighty. I wish the press and media could adopt this, I am not elderly :)

If the weather turns warmer, it is Ian's influence, he has found his quilted jacket that he purchased to wear on his trips to Finland so the cold weather should go and the jacket can go back into it's hiding place. It was so chilly last evening, we went to Kew Gardens to walk along their illuminated walk.

Ian wearing his fedora silhouetted outside the Princess of Wales Conservatory, 

Think this sums up our evening, fun, romantic, chilly but warmed by hot chocolate with marshmallow. Ended up in the shop, a cushion was purchased and the Mark Mason book mentioned above. 

It is with pleasure I note that smoking  was not allowed in the Gardens in 1856 when this notice was published, wish it were still so especially near entrances to the buildings. It is one of my pet hates that smokers congregate around doorways, then become angry when their presence is questioned, another is if I have a coughing fit complete strangers tell me to give up smoking, if I have enough breath to speak I tell them politely that I have never smoked. 

Thoughts of 2014 that I will bring to the New Year are my delight that I completed the Beekeeper's Quilt, failure to do so was not an option. The picture below shows the 'wrong' side but shows the way mattress stitch has been used to butt the hexis together. 

All best wishes for 2015 to all who read this, I look forward to reading your musings and blogs during the next year.