It's cold outside

According to my phone is was -2 when I got up this morning. Far too nippy to get out of bed, but then a quick dance round the room to Nina Simone singing 'Feeling Good' and I was fine. When I did venture out the Dock had frozen. 

The seagulls always seem to handle this quite well, but the Coots, with their skeletal feet, just cannot walk on ice and end up staggering around like little drunkards. As I was walking past I could see the bubbles caught under the ice, looking like beautiful polka dots. 

I had gone out to go to Craftacular in Bethnal Green. (One of the things to do from my last post.) It was soooo crowded and so not the best place to be as you couldn't help jostling and being jostled. But I did get a lovely present for my parents so it was worth the visit. Sadly I can't blog about it as they occasionally check in here. It made me realise how close christmas is though. That was my first bit of xmas shopping so I think over the next couple of days I shall have to get on with it a bit more. I've got the next two days off work so I've got some sewing to do, some knitting to do, and some time for shopping. 

The knitting I've mainly been doing it the Inaugural Cardi by Annarella. I've had some fun with it but am now down to just the last sleeve. I tried it on earlier, with the single sleeve, and really like how it's turning out. 

The Dream in Colour yarn is delicious to work with and I do adore moss stitch. Another of the things on my to do list for the next 2 days is picking out the perfect buttons for it. That in itself is going to be a treat!

I've tweeted and blogged recently about the Slow Stashing article on Knitters Review. I've now finished my destash, with the result that more than half is heading elsewhere. Here's what that means in real terms. This is for charity:

And this is gradually going onto ebay:

There's a lot of history going with that lot but it really is a good feeling, and has given me a new momentum for tackling my books and other craft supplies. I think I was really trying to cocoon myself against the world with all this stuff. "I deserve it" had become my catchphrase instead of "I need it". Plus I very rarely did deserve it anyway, I just wanted it. So fingers crossed that this is a new dawn, a new day, a new life for me, because I'm feeling good.