Booties, socks and a dose of Christmas

Yes MORE booties! This time for little A who was born not long ago in (from what I hear) a very snowy Sweden. I tried my best to make them a bit more gender neutral, with the orange buttons adding just a touch of colour.

And then it was back to the Christmas knitting.. May I present  my first pair of top-down socks?

Taken from the book 'Knitted Socks East and West' these Japanese inspired numbers are probably the most intricate socks I have created. Somewhat depressingly they are called the 'easiest' in the book, which I should probably bear in mind if I ever decide to attempt any of the other pretty patterns.

Anyway, the description was clear enough and although complex, it was pretty satisfying to see the cables and twists starting to branch out and entwine. It was also fun to use my Possum blend yarn from New Zealand for this - very squooshy and super-warm! Perfect for bed-socks. Let's just hope that the recipient agrees..

To round off, my Swedish colleague persuaded me that we should mark this year's Lucia by providing our work colleagues with a taste of Swedish Christmas. She will bring the gingerbread biscuits, Julmust drink and sweets while I bring the lussekatter. So most of yesterday was spent covering my kitchen in flour. Thankfully it was worth it:

It had been a while since I did any baking with yeast and to be honest I was slightly dreading it. BUT it actually turned out to be pretty easy and while the yeast was rising I could get on with essential tasks like sewing buttons onto booties. Perfect!