The reason behind the hot weather: exhibit 1

Anyone local wondering at the 80-plus degree weather in February can set their mind at rest: it's my fault. I crocheted my daughter a winter hat.

I thought that we might get to play in the snow and spend a night up in the local mountains last weekend, but it turns out that everyone else must have had the same idea, as it was all booked up. So we went to visit a local botanical garden and walked around in shorts and t-shirts instead. The woolly hat was not needed...

Still, it was a quick crochet, even though I was making the pattern up as I went along and did a couple of unravels. Please ignore the black bars - they are to protect the not-so-innocent. The photos don't show it, but that yarn is pink, not white. She likes it.I like it too, but now that I've finished it, I think that I once knew someone with a tea cosy that looked like that.

Translation of the Day:

UK English: pot plant = house plant or potted plant in US English

ie. a plant that you can grow in a flower pot, usually indoors. So I would just like to reassure the lady that was stood nearby that, when I expressed an interest in getting a pot plant to replace the ones I killed off, I really wasn't meaning a plant of the illegal variety.

Cold hands, warm heart

It's that time of year again. Lots of hearts and pink frilly stuff abound and then there's the difficulties of finding a suitable card for your husband (well, it can't be so gushing that he feels like there aren't some improvements that could be made, can it?...). Yet I have noticed that since having a daughter, some of my aversion to the pink frilly stuff in life has waned. Not that she's the pink frilly loving type of girl, thank goodness.

Yes, I've even noticed some hearts sneaking into the house. The one I can blame on my love of the grain of olive wood, but the others? And then I find myself sitting down and making a crochet heart for no reason whatsoever...

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February already. My trip home seems so long ago now. For those of you that are getting a little fed up with all the snow:

We've had the odd rain shower, but winter in California looks pretty much like this.

Pah. I miss snow drops. Does anyone know if snow drops would grow in Southern California?

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I'd better go -my computer still likes to die at random moments and I have to sort out some Valentines for my kids' classmates by tomorrow. Gulp. Plus I'm typing this with gloves on, to try to persuade my joints to work again, so that I can finish this:

Happy Valentine's Day to you all.

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PS. Crochet heart pattern can be found here.

off on the wrong foot

I wouldn't describe my parents as being superstitious, but I was brought up observing a few traditions, such as all Christmas decorations should be taken down by the twelfth day of Christmas (6th Jan) to avoid bad luck for the next year. Another such tradition was First Footing. We were over in England for Christmas, so I made sure that we were prepared for our return before we left: putting the lump of coal and salt in the glove box of the car.

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The only problem with that plan was that, after a flat tyre on the way to the airport, long security lines, a delayed flight (the aftermath of the underwear bomber), spending 12 hours on an aeroplane, no sleep, a 4am (GMT) arrival, retrieving bags, driving home etc. I forgot the First Footing. Maybe my tall, dark husband was the first over the threshold in the New Year, maybe he was carrying one of the bags that had food in and had a coin in his pocket. It was probably short little me, though. And the lump of coal was definitely still in the glove box the next day.

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Still, I'm sure that 2 tellies dying on us, my oven having a funny turn and our computer's indecision about whether it wants to continue working is completely unrelated. I have been scared to touch my sewing machine, mind, given my current luck with electrical appliances...

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Hopefully posting about Christmas presents in February isn't unlucky, as I don't have much else to show you. It's not déjà vu - I just seem to have a tendency to stick to the tried and tested at Christmas time...

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This was for one of my son's teachers, who is expecting a baby boy (it's a little nerve wracking when your source of information is a 6 year old, but luckily he did get all the details correct...). I think that this is my favourite boy baby blanket that I have made so far.

The other teachers got the usual clutch (from Bend the Rules Sewing by Amy Karol) with English chocolates inside.

Another pair of Last-minute Knit Mitts in knit 1 purl 1 rib were churned out for a stocking stuffer. Last, but not least, here's another Emmeline apron. I think that I've got my money's worth out of this pattern. This one was for my Nan. Side 1:

Side 2:Here's the fabrics:

Translation of the day (easy ones today):

UK English: aeroplane = airplane in US English

UK English: telly (pl. tellies) = TV / television in US English

UK English: tyre = tire in US English

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American immigration has started taking pictures of arriving Legal Aliens, which seems a little mean at 4am after a long flight. I'm hoping that that photo gets destroyed...