Birthday stash continued

From Posh Yarns: Allegra (lovely name) in Sonnet colourway, and Cecilia in Surf's up. I had to buy the Sonnet stuff because of the name, but I was so pleased that there were 4 skeins, because now I have enough for a laaarge shawl. There's enough of the Cecilia for a smaller shawl. The colours are always gorgeous at Posh Yarns; I really fancied the Saffron colour, but unfortunately it sold before I could get there. And how they manage to send the yarn out so quickly! Puts a lot of other suppliers to shame.

Arm and shoulder poor today; have finished a sock, and am knitting very gently and slowly. I don't think the continental style is really helping, though it's fun for a change. But I need to get back to lace knitting, at least for part of the day.

Wales lost on Sunday, but not shamefully. I'd really like to see them beat England - though having said that, I was glad to see Martin Corry getting some praise. He's such an honest player - for me, in the school of Johnno and Backy - and he took a real pasting when England were losing all the time.

Snow tomorrow? At least now I don't have to worry about getting to work, so I could actually enjoy it. Just totter up to the supermarket on the estate and stock up with perishables, then enjoy the dogs playing. Fig has missed out on the ice this year: she is fascinated by it, and keeps patting and lifting at it to see what it does. And then, of course, she rolled on it. She and Hesta have been funny playing with the ball which Hesta gave me for my birthday. Yesterday, Hesta had the ball in her mouth and Fig was tugging away at the rope. My pocket is filthy because I have to hide the ball in there if we are to get out of the park ever.

The deer continue to be around, so Fig has to stay on the lead quite a bit - if it moves, she'll chase it. Yesterday a pair of swans flew right past me on the way down to the river. They looked enormous from so close. If the ground dries a little bit I'll go looking for kingfishers; at the moment it's hard to keep your feet around where they sometimes perch.

DD is off on a course in Bristol today. Unfortunately it's the wrong side of the city for Get Knitted! I'm thinking about sock blockers, but they do seem expensive for what you get. Need to meet someone who can cut shapes out of plastic. Might talk to DS - he knows all sorts of people. On my birthday (while I was guzzling DIL's champagne) he was looking up Knitpicks on the web - they have a couple of very good friends in the US. You never know!

Am fighting the desire to buy more and yet more sock wool. But when my book comes, who knows wht will happen!