Ginger Knits UK

Mr Gingerknits and I are both fans of photographer Martin Parr so we took the opportunity to break the Christmas eating too much and watching too much telly tradition to visit the Baltic Gallery in Gateshead to see his latest exhibition . I was a little underwhelmed by his new Luxury series though there were a few photos which brought a smile to my face, especially the women dressed up for race day in Newcastle, holding cans of Fosters instead of the traditional champers. However the exhibition on the 3rd floor was a winner. As well as displaying Parr's collection of photography which is an excellent exhibtion in it's own right there is his collection of "ephemera", Parr's term for his eclectic mix of everyday objects capturing world changing events. The blurb on the Baltic website sums it up better than I can so I'll just show you a few things which caught my eye. There was a lot of miners strike ephemera. These plates struck a chord. They were produced as...

After the sedentary nature of yesterday my mum, Mr Gingerknits and I went for a walk down to Easby Abbey , one of my favourite walks in Richmond. It follows the edge of the river Swale, past fields to the 12th century Easby Abbey and the older St Agatha's church. If you're ever in the area try and visit the church as it has some medival fresco paintings which are well worth a look. On the way we spotted Aberdeen Angus cows... hissing geese... and Easby Abby covered in snow. The walk gave me an opportunity to take a better photo of the Roses Red Beret I made for my mum last year. On the way home we spotted this Knitivity scene in someone's window... ...and some house bling.

The field next to my parent's house looking a little different to yesterday... ...listening to a Christmas service on the radio while in the shower and singing along with the carols... ...a delicious Christmas dinner with an international guest as well as friends and family... ...walking our friend home in the snow Merry Christmas everyone. Hope your day was as lovely as ours.

We're staying at my parent's home in Richmond, North Yorkshire for the festive period. I've seen snow here before but never over Christmas. We're sleeping in the summer house in the garden as my MIL is in our usual room. I've been using my flip flop & hand-knit tabi sock combo to pad from the summer house to the bungalow but woke up to fresh snowfall this morning which was too deep for bare foot/sock bravery. Luckily my Dad appeared in the garden, shovel in hand, to clear the way and my mum brought us coffee. I'm easily pleased. Later in the day we went for a tramp round the field next to my parents estate (housing estate, not country manor). It was so pretty in a bleak mid-winter way. Yesterday I wore normal, shop bought cotton socks for the first time in ages. It was also the first time I had cold feet since I've been wearing hand-knit socks all the time. I'm back in the hand-knits now and intend to stay that way til March.

Yesterday was a gift wrapping day. I finished the socks I'd been making for our friends daughter on the way home from Thailand so just had to weave the ends in. They're knit with the beetroot yarn I made in the summer using my favourite toe up sock formula from the Evil Sock Genius . The girl I've made them for knows about them as I made the first sock with her foot in it, so to speak, so I wrapped them to look like socks. I also put the finishing touches to the chutney I made last month. My usual deocrative technique is to write on the jar in a gold or silver pen however the label glue was impossible to shift so I came up with a folksy festive alternative.

My mum mentioned the Georgian Theatre in Richmond, Yorkshire, where my parents volunteer, was going to be on the Hairy Bikers Christmas Special. I was still jetlagged when the programme was on so I was dozing on the sofa when the theatre was shown, however hearing the word pickle roused me from my slumber and these pickled pears made my mouth water. They are very easy and quick to make. I didn't have any allspice berries so I added some ginger instead and also threw in a handful of fresh cranberries and walnuts to the mix for a festive flavour. I didn't have any lemons either so used a mix of orange and lime peel. The poaching liquor smelled so good I had to stop myself dipping a spoon in and it's a good job I made these before going to my parents for Christmas as I wouldn't be able to leave the pears for the minimum pickling period of a week. I can't wait to sample them with a good English cheese when I get back from Yorkshire.

Our friend Emma has lost her i-phone four times. She asked me to knit her a bag which she could wear on drunken nights out which she could keep her keys, credit cards and most importantly her i-phone in. I knit this on the diagonal, in the round alternating banana fibre (similar to sari silk but smells of rainforests) and cascade 220, then felted it to make a firmer fabric. The cascade 220 bled like mad when I felted it. I wasn't impressed by a commercial yarn leeching so much colour. Luckily I have an old towel I use for felting but if I'd made a garment from it and then happened to get caught in the rain I would not be a happy bunny. Despite that Emma loved her bag. There's something very satisfying about giving handknits in person. Emma didn't stop grinning and wore the bag for the rest of the evening. She's now convinced she won't lose another i-phone but I have told her if she loses the bag I'll knit her another one.

It's festive and it's brass monkeys outside so I was in a baking mood today. I love fresh cranberries at Christmas time so made these biscuits from this recipe . It worked well with fresh cranberries instead of dried producing a tangy yet sweet treat. They didn't last long.

We've had a power cut for the last 30 hours. No heating, no electric lights, no internet, no TV, no cooking, no kettle just as temperatures outside dropped below zero and my mother in law arrived for Christmas. One of the advantages of living where we do is there are coffee shops and restaurants just minutes away though I took advantage of the power cut and hibernated on Friday night which seemed to get rid of my jet lag. Another advantage was we had candles everywhere, this one in the bathroom casting a pretty shadow.

Our wee Christmas tree looks much the same as it did last year though we've decorated our houseplant with some tinsel we found in Thailand. What represents the mid winter festival better than some splashing fish.... and pineapples.

I've just renewed my Natural History Museum membership as it's one of my favourite places in London. A few weeks ago we went to the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition . I dabble in wildlife photography and fantasise about having one of my pictures in exhibition. That fantasy is soon brought back to reality when I look at the superb entries in the show. It's worth a visit if you are in London. If not follow the NHM on twitter . Throughout December they are tweeting a link to a fantastic image every day. I love this one of a springtail on a snowflake. Photo by Urmas Tartes Springtail on a snowflake via Natural History Museum I must dig out my SLR and macro lens then maybe one day I'll join the hallowed ranks of photographers with the perfect decisive moment.

A few weeks ago I entered one of those random competitions which pop up on twitter. All I had to do was tweet "Rarrr" or "Mew" to win a dinosaur or kitten badge. Tweet I did, then forgot about it. Turns out I was one of the lucky winners so this arrived through the post from the lovely @lauriepink . The cute kitten badge was the main prize but the undercover chicken makes me chuckle. So thank you Laurie and keep up the good work.

Remember the blood bath ? Well that turned into this... and this... which then then knitted up... into these for my best friend's birthday present. The pattern is a p/hop pattern , the popular Cranford Mitts by Jane Lithgow . They are a pleasure to knit, the lace pattern is easy to memorise and the increases for the thumb merge seamlessly into the design. I made a few small modifications, I knit the mitts all in one colour, used a 2mm needle for the garter stitch around the fingers and knit a couple of extra rounds for the thumbs. I'm currently working on a pair for myself, more on that later, but these were given the thumbs up by Louise who refused to take them off in the pub. Cheers. Happy birthday Lou and Happy Birthday p/hop. PS The yarn is 4ply Bluefaced Leicester, I used about 36grams for the mittens.

I've just signed up for the 100 days project. I thought of many positive things I could take up for 100 days, from the obvious exercise more and drink more water to things I've been longing to take up again but somehow haven't managed yet, things like drawing or learning to play the guitar. I know I wouldn't manage to keep one thing up for 100 days, I just don't work that way, but it did make me think about why I don't always achieve the things I dream about. I'm a terrible procrastinator, so much so that I only signed up for the 100 days projects with 5min to go of the first day. My goal is to procrastinate less and therefore achieve more. This covers all sorts of things I want to do. I like the idea of positive change, I'm looking on this as a secular equivalent to lent. I find the idea of giving things up depressing so the 100 days project is so much better than the miserable "I'm not eating x,y or z for 40 days". I prefer to replace ba...