First thing I guess is to have a quick rundown of the second half of 2009 - you know, the bit that I've totally missed. There's been a wedding (not mine), a holiday, the usual swaps & loads of other stuff. Here goes . . .
The end of July saw DH's niece get married. I was thrilled - at last, an excuse to buy DS his first kilt! & knit him kilt hose to go with it.
![IMG_1124](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2466/3784412829_d13110f3d7.jpg)
DD3 also got to wear the party shrug I crocheted for her & I even managed to knock up a quick shawl for me - a good thing too as the wedding was held at Aberdour Castle & the wind whistling through the ruins was rather chilly. Check out my new silk dress too - in Monsoon's sale at 70% off woot!
![dress](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2454/3784537381_7a4ab9873d.jpg)
![IMG_1122](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2455/3784407443_0f28968036.jpg)
On ravelry there were a couple of big swaps;
In the Swapperneckers group I got the most fantabulous package from bcowgirlswt -
![DSC00313](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2446/3700902063_c611ab2b81.jpg)
Noms
![DSC00310](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3524/3701705638_feb963d579.jpg)
The scrummiest fingering-weight alpaca & fibre, fibre, fibre (plus a 3.25mm crochet hook - a size that I just can't get here in the UK) -
![DSC00315](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2563/3700904675_093023d89b.jpg)
![DSC00314](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2422/3701711158_dfd2865243.jpg)
![DSC00312](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2563/3701708296_c7d15b2816.jpg)
There were even noms for the kids -
![DSC00323](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2474/3700973055_c3dfdaac26.jpg)
In the Ankh-Morpork Knitter's Guild we had the big Guild Swap when midatlantic totally outdid herself;
![DSC00564](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4060/4271047825_b1d99d3832.jpg)
I entered as a member of the Guild of Seamstresses (hem hem) so the scantily-clad chocolate goddess was appropriate as well as delicious;
![DSC00566](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2706/4271794888_34c9c64fc5.jpg)
As well as all the goodies in the pic there was a beautiful extra-long hot pink skinny scarf, crocheted by midatlantic. Sadly, I still haven't gotten a good pic of this despite wearing it almost constantly altho' you will see it peeping out of my collar in a couple of our holiday snaps.
Here's the package I sent midatlantic in return;
![DSC00562_1](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2686/4271791642_e64e943fb6.jpg)
The wrap was crocheted in a 50/50 wool/acrylic blend & was a joy to make;
![DSC00555](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4056/4271044539_8c69256079.jpg)
The AMKG also had a Detritus mini swap when I got a fabulous spinny parcel from Brownie22;
![DSC00663](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2430/3995194477_4861857fb7.jpg)
In October we had a week in Pitlochry & were lucky enough to have almost a whole week of good weather, which meant lots of walks in woods & around lochs as well as a fair few ice cream cones from the kiosk by the river (Baileys ice cream - om nom nom);
![IMG_1154](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4070/4271092757_b4ec4af9c0.jpg)
![IMG_1166](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4059/4271846700_9a0883d839.jpg)
![IMG_1174](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2702/4271109337_d5c41ddb7a.jpg)
![IMG_1197](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2589/4271866094_de2cc1e0da.jpg)
![IMG_1202](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4058/4271129111_1bde3ebb11.jpg)
I can't leave out Halloween! DD3 was easy to outfit - she took one look at a cat costume in Asda & fell in love. DS was a bit more problematical since he decided he wanted to be the dragon from Room on the Broom & there's a distinct lack of dragon costumes in the shops. Thankfully I had a big skein of red yarn that turned out to be enough for a dragon hat, fingerless mitt 'claws' & a pair of wings to sew onto a black tunic;
![dragonprof](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4070/4271132419_e8f1b0b646.jpg)
![DSC00703](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2799/4046299441_45fd4af7d2_b.jpg)
![DSC00713](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2695/4062853173_15c6308789.jpg)
Over the last few months of 2009 I joined Hogwarts @ Ravelry (just cuz I'm a big kid) & have been taking part in various classes.
For transfiguration I crocheted & felted an owl using my own pattern. Here he is with the house scarf (i'm in Hufflepuff heh) & the wand, both crocheted to my own patterns too.
![DSC00569](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3251/3880619345_4b3872366c.jpg)
There was also a temporary transfiguration project so I crocheted a cabled headband/earwarmer/neckwarmer using my own handspun. It has 3 different interchangeable flowers. This was my own pattern too.
![IMG_1189](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3456/3988986211_4ec8fb09ec.jpg)
For Astronomy we had to write about a celestial body, then spin/knit/crochet a representation of it & *then* knit or crochet a moebius scarf, cowl or shawl (something I've wanted to try for a while). I chose Aries, which represents the golden ram whose fleece was stolen by Jason & the Argonauts. I decided to use this as my theme for the whole clas & spun up some golden fleece (heh) for assignment 2;
![DSC00662](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3020/3995192189_d3d470725b.jpg)
![IMG_1203](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2570/4000764354_1ab85e91fd.jpg)
& used the resultant yarn to knit my moebius cowl;
![DSC00701](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2764/4046807192_4c57efec3b.jpg)
For Apparitions class I made the dragon outfit for DS but you've already seen that so I don't have to add more pics :0D
So, I think that's me mostly caught up (& if there's anyone still reading this far down then good on ya!). I've loads of stuff on the go still but if I actually manage to stick to regular posting no-one'll have to trawl through such an epic post again ;0)
Cheers for reading,
S x