Memorandum Monday: Hello Old Friend

It was a companionable weekend here, this last one: the kind which adds to that Here's December! feeling. There's the doorbell! Quick! Turn on the twinkling lights!

For on Friday afternoon I had received two messages: one from my dear friend and fellow blogger Alexa, of Trimming the Sails, asking if we'd be about the next morning for a flying visit; and one from Studentland, asking if we'd be around on Sunday. Yes! Yes! we said; and we went to the attic and brought down the fairy lit garlands with which we brighten our very dark stairs over Christmas (and beyond, if I can get away with it). 

And Alexa, and her lovely husband, came and we ate Dundee cake and chatted; and then, for the first time (because you knew there had to be one in there somewhere) I was able to leaf through one of Alexa's stunning photo books. You can read about this one on her blog. It's a beautiful thing to hold in the hands: put together with such care and love and no little skill. Thank you, Alexa, for letting me see! And for making time to visit on a short, busy trip.

But wait: on Sunday I managed another first. I finished another sweater and its owner came from Studentland to collect it: the first one I've knitted on the suggestion of a friend. It's well over a year now - maybe two? - since Fiona linked me up with the Kate Davies Owl Sweater. I thought it was clever and beyond what I knew how to do and it was then; but that was before I learned how to knit a sweater on circular needles. It turned out to be very straightforward, thanks to a clearly written pattern, and fast, thanks to the chunky wool (Rowan British Sheep Breeds).

The trickiest part was in the finding of thirty two - count 'em - tiny buttons to fit onto the faces of sixteen cabled owls. After a bit of thinking I decided to use buttons cut from old white school shirts; and now I like the idea of her wearing a little bit of her old uniform as her new one. 

So that was my weekend. We stayed away from the shops and stayed in with friends. Oh, look:

there we are, colour coordinating just for you. How was your weekend? Anything new?

Maybe you'd like to make a memo, for Monday, just as  Deb, Helena, Mary-Lou, Ladkyis, Maggie, Barbara, Mitra and Alexandra did last week. Go on, give 'em a wave! And have a good week.