Ornament Installation

I've slowly been putting up my Christmas decorations and taking down my fall/Halloween decorations.  I haven't had the time to do it all in one afternoon and when I do have the time, I haven't felt like doing it all at once so basically I'm doing it on the Installment Plan.

One of my favorite items I've picked up on every trip to London are these couched goldwork ornaments.  I'll be honest, they are expensive ranging from 8.95-18.95 pounds each but I figure I'm going to have them the rest of my life and they are stored carefully 11 months of the year and displayed and treasured on my Christmas tree every year so I think it's a great souvenir.  Very many of my ornaments were purchased on trips.  This butterfly came from Hever Castle.

This beautiful poppy ornament commemorates WWI and was purchased at St. Georges Chapel in Windsor. 

Of course I had to get a Corgi ornament!  This one also came from St. George's Chapel.  If it weren't for the fact that he has 4 legs, he'd kind of look like Zak!

This one was purchased at Westminster Abbey and is a 90th Birthday medallion for Queen Elizabeth II.

This one is a domestic ornament purchased on sale at Joann fabrics but it warms to my theme!

I was pleased as punch to find this nisse the last time we went to IKEA.  We'd never had a nisse in this house for Christmas so it was about time.  We should have plenty of good fortune because we have a gnome in the garden and now a julenisse in the house!  He stands in the front landing next to my potted palm and umbrella tree.

It's Heeeeeeere!

Winter that is!  We got our first taste of wintry mix weather on Friday and I actually had to scrape my car a bit before I left the ramp.  We'd managed to get all the way through November 18th before having to deal with that.  The snow melted off the roads but dusted the ground a little.

We woke up Saturday to this gossamer coating the backyard and deck.  Temperatures were in the mid 30's and noticeably chilly.  I put away my jacket and resigned myself to the winter coat for the next few months.

This morning was greeted by a frozen pond with geese sitting atop it.  I was quite surprised by this.  Right now temps in the low 30's seem so cold and that makes me feel like a wimp.  Temps in the 30's are nothing but I also realize it is all relative.  In March and April, temps in the 30's will feel like a heat wave and we'll be happy to go out in short sleeves but for the moment it chills you to the bone.

These are my Socktober socks from this year.  I used some hand spun yarn I bought a while back at the now defunct angora goat farm near my brother's old home.  It was a wool plied yarn that was plied along with another 2 strands of plied mohair yarn.  I separated the mohair yarn from the wool and knit the socks from just the wool using the Saxony sock pattern from the book A Fine Fleece.  I don't know what I'll do with the mohair yarn.  I'm sure something will come to me.  I owned this yarn for a while before the perfect project occurred to me and I had just enough yarn for it.  Eventually the right project will come along for the mohair.  Stash karma is real!

With this cold weather, I've finally turned the furnace on and we have two dogs sleeping with us at night.  Here is three legged Zak in a trapper hat.  He is so darned cute!