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This is a post written in advance, today I will be in the kitchen cooking up a storm. To me the food is a key part of Christmas, it's what gives structure to our whole day. Christmas Eve is when I do all the preparation, there will be a few types of stuffing to make, pigs in blankets to wrap, bread sauce needs making, the giblets will be simmering to make stock, and there will be a couple of different deserts being made. All that means that on the day itself it's mostly just a case of putting trays in and out of the oven in the correct order, and turning on the hobs under the pans of vegetables. For many years we've eaten goose at Christmas, it's a real seasonal splurge, and not a meat that we eat at any other time. However last year our family gathering trebled in size, so we needed a bigger bird, and went back to Turkey. The family businesses tend to have been quite busy during November and December, so we try to put that money back towards another small business. Our turkey comes from a small family farm specialising in rare breeds, as does our ham, bacon and sausages. We also go and spend some money with our excellent local butcher. On Christmas Day itself we will usually go for a walk with the dogs. They don't care that it is Christmas, so up the hill we go! Whilst we're out the turkey will be cooking. We get back home, change out of muddy clothes, and then sit round to open our presents. Fwen the dog loves presents and new toys, she usually manages to find and open her present several times before December 25th. Meg finds the whole thing to be far too much, and goes to hide until the food reappears.  We usually sit down to eat at around 2pm, and the rest of the afternoon is spent in a self-indulgent style. Much drinking, squeezing in more food when possible, and much debate over what TV to watch together. My brother and his girlfriend alternate Christmas days with us and her parents, we get them on Boxing Day this year, so we'll be repeating much of the day all over again the following day!  I'll be going silent on the blog now for a few days. I'm not back at work until the New Year, so will be enjoying some computer-free time. I have knitting planned... this is going to become a jumper!  First up, full disclaimer, I am not Welsh, I live here, it is my home by choice, I have no direct Welsh ancestry, and my Welsh language skills are not exactly stellar... However, one of the parts I love about living in this part of Wales is the number of old traditions that have been kept alive. I live in that funny bit of Wales that's right in the middle, there are no large towns, and even the form of Welsh they speak round here gets described as archaic by certain Welsh language speakers who I know. The idea of a Christmas Eve service at midnight is one that's pretty common in many parts of the Christian world. In this part of Wales they take it one step further. They hold their service between 3am and 6am, with the night before spent decorating the houses, and meeting up with friends. During the service the church is filled with candles. This is a description of the service in Dolgellau during the middle of the last century. "Now the church is in a blaze, now crammed, body, aisles, gallery, now Shon Robert, the club-footed shoemaker, and his wife, descending from the singing seat to the lower and front part of the gallery, strike up alternately, and without artificial aid of pitch pipe, the long, long carol and old favourite describing the Worship of Kings and of the Wise Men, and the Flight into Egypt, and the terrible wickedness of Herod. The crowds are wholly silent and rapt in admiration. Then the good Rector, and his curate, David Pugh, stand up, and read the Morning Service abbreviated, finishing with the prayer for All Conditions of Men, and the benediction restless and somewhat surging is the congregation during prayers the Rector obliged sometimes to stop short in his office and look direct at some part or persons, but no verbal admonishment. Prayers over, the singers begin again more carols, new singers, old carols in solos, duets, trios, choruses, then silence in the audience, broken at appropriate pauses by the suppressed hum, of delight and approval, till between eight and nine, hunger telling on the singers, the Plygain is over and the Bells strike out a round peal." The carols are sung without musical backing, and there is a certain competitive nature to the singing. Small groups stand, sing a carol, and then another group will stand and present their carol. Within a service there will be several groups taking part, and they will each sing in turn. There is no set programme of songs, and it's a point of pride that no carol is repeated. Plygain is no longer just a Christmas Eve tradition. Throughout the winter local churches will host their own plygain, and groups from other churches will visit and sing. The Say Something in Welsh site has a list of various Plygain services (though there will be many more happening). There is even one in London on 6th January. The other mid-winter event that still takes place here is the Mari Lwyd. This is a New Year tradition, involving a man under a white sheet, holding a horses skull. Traditionally it would go around the houses in the village, and a door-to door challenge in Welsh verse would take place. That's mutated in to a trip around the pubs in our villages... One of my favourite parts of this whole series of blogposts has been reading about what people knit and sew for others.. I do like a homemade gift, though only certain people are deemed to be knit-worthy! Throughout the year I'll usually have a pair of plain socks on the go. The men of my family are rather partial to a hand knit wool sock, my brother ensured his place on the knit worthy list by presenting a pair from a previous Christmas and asking for them to be mended! I tend to use commercial yarn for my socks, I like a good plain, super sturdy 75% Superwash wool, 25% nylon blend, something like Regia or Opal. They wash and wear so well, I finally admitted that my very first socks had become worn out this year, I made them in 2008, so they'd had a good innings! Very occasionally this homemade plan does catch me out, though I've never handed over a half knitted pair! This pair for my Dad were the closest... Finished on the 23rd December  These were made 9 years ago, and the last time we were away as a family for Christmas. Mum booked us a cottage on the Isle of Mull, I arrived home from my first teaching job full of cold, that turned in to full blown flu the following morning. I was bundled in to the front of the car, wrapped in blanket, and didn't move until we arrived at the ferry... Turns out I was also carrying Noro virus that had been sweeping through the school just before Christmas, and one by one the whole family succumbed. The cottage had a delightful view over the strait to Iona, but was a, mostly unheated, pre-fab, with no TV reception... not the ideal spot to be confined to a sofa!  The following year Mum and Dad moved to Wales, which was an equally cold Christmas! The cottage was lacking in insulation, and was rather damp as it hadn't been lived in. The wood burner that provided the heating and hot water wasn't working well. We did a lot of work out in the garden cleaning trees that year, mostly because it was the only time we got warm!  The most last minute present I've ever made was this hat for Mum...
It was the Woolly Wormhead Mystery Hat Pattern that year, but had been put aside whilst I made socks and other gifts. The day before Christmas we'd been out walking, and Mum forgot to take a hat.... Which then led to me pulling this out, realising it could be finished with a few more hours work. I cast of at around 10pm. Gave it a quick wash, then dried it over the top of the woodburner overnight. I then snuck it away and wrapped it the same morning. all without anyone realising what I was up to! My favourite part of this time of year is the chance to cook. I spent most of yesterday afternoon in the kitchen cooking for friends that were visiting, and it was lovely. The main thing that I start cooking at the start of December are Mince Pies. These are little mouthfuls of Christmas, and so much better than the commercially made ones. I start by making a huge batch of mincemeat, and then store it in the fridge and just scoop out what I need every 4 or 5 days to make another batch. The recipe, like so many of the seasonal things we cook comes from Delia Smith's Christmas cookbook. A second hand copy can be yours for the princely sum of 1p on Amazon... If you don't own a copy, then you should! Homemade Mincemeat 450g Bramley Apples chopped in to small chunks (no need to peel) 225g Shredded Suet (you can get vegetarian suet) 350g Raisins 225g Sultanas 225g Currants 225g Chopped, candied mixed peel 350g Soft Dark Brown Sugar Zest and juice of 2 oranges Zest and juice of 2 lemons 4 teaspoons ground mixed spice 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon Nutmeg- grated The original includes 50g of almonds cut in to slivers, but I leave them out and don't miss them. It also has Brandy added at the end, but I'd rather drink it, and again, I don't notice it's not there! To make- Stir everything together in a large bowl, and leave overnight for the fruit to absorb the liquid. I the put the whole thing in our large slow cooker on low for several hours. You know it's cooked when the apple is no longer visible as definite chunks, and the whole thing has gone an even colour. Delia gets you to out it in the oven on very low (Gas Mark 1/4, 225F, 120C) for 3 hours, but one year the oven thermostat failed, overheated, and turned the whole thing in a carbonised lump welded on to a pyrex bowl. It will look like there is far too much fat... there isn't. Give it a stir now and again as it cools, and it will all be fine. For the mince pies... You need Shortcrust pastry. I make mine with half lard, half butter, but you can buy it. Roll out thinly, and put in to shallow cupcake tins. Add a teaspoon of mincemeat (don't get too enthusiastic, or it will flow everywhere and then it sets like concrete, making it impossible to remove from the tins). I like to put a pastry star on top, rather than a complete lid. Bake in the oven at 180C until they are done... roughly 15 minutes, but watch them, they go from not cooked, too carbon at great speed! The perfect pie size is 2 small mouthfuls, or down in 1 if you are feeling uncouth! Mine never look very pretty, but they are tasty!  We're in to the final stretch, and after some wonderful contributions from so many spinners we're now going closer to home, and I've got a few days to share some of my Christmas traditions. For me, December starts properly with my final guild meeting of the year. We spend the morning having our AGM and sorting out all the official business, and then spend the afternoon sharing our favourite projects from the year and eating a wonderful communal buffet. Everyone brings along a plate of something, and somehow we always end up with a wonderful mixture of very stays foods. Every couple of years we're also asked to decorate a Christmas tree for the Christmas tree festival held in a local church. Lots of community groups are invited to decorate a tree, and they're all on display in the church for a weekend at the start of December.
Two years ago we used some toy wheel drop spindles, and made some simple fairies. You can find the instructions for making them in last years advent blogposts. This year we still used wool, but turned them in to some beautiful birds.
The instructions for these are a little bit haphazard... This is the version we mostly followed, though I think it's a translation, so the instructions don't always make complete sense. This version uses leftover yarn, and makes more sense, and is basically translatable in to wool top. Once you get the hang of them they're incredibly simple and quick to make. Once our tree is decorated I love walking around and looking at the trees that other groups and local businesses have created. Decorating the house is one of my favourite parts of Christmas. I own too many spinning wheels to have space for a Christmas tree, but every year I decorate a branch with a huge collection of sparkly birds. I try to buy a couple more for the collection each year.
Welcome to day 18 of our Spinners of the World December blogposts. We're counting down the darkest days by exploring and learning more about the world we live in, but I'm not the one writing the posts! Each day the post has been written by a volunteer spinner, they're be telling us about their mid-winter holiday traditions, and a little bit about the place they live. I still need volunteers, so if you enjoy this post please head over to the form here. This is open to everyone, please don't worry about your language skills, or even if you think your holiday traditions aren't very interesting, I want to hear from you! Todays Spinner is Amanda from North Wales. My husband is usually away or at work on Christmas Day so we choose a day when he's at home and celebrate then. It's usually just the four of us 9me, the other half and the Demonic Daughters). The only year we were brave enough to invite my parents was the unforgettable year that Granny inhaled far too many sherry fumes and announced very loudly at the dinner table that she was not drunk and proceeded to recite the well known rhyme "I'm not a phesant plucker, I'm a phesant plucker's son and I'm happy plucking pheasants till the pheasant plucker comes." She didn't get very far before we'd erupted into laughter at her faux pas. One of us is firmly agnostic, the other a rebellious lapsed Catholic with unbelievably religious parents so we rebel by celebrating the winter solstice with the emphasis firmly on family time. After that rather interesting attempt at an extended family Christmas, our festive day tends to go like this: The day before we venture to the shops and select whatever looks most unusual for dinner. This is a family tradition which started the year we got married when we finally got home from an overseas contract in the middle of a horrendous storm which had delayed our arrival by almost half a day and meant in the hour and a half before the stores closed for Christmas we had to do a weeks worth of shopping and buy a fridge. The only things left on the shelf were the obscure things that no one else wanted to eat. It became a family joke and now the Demonic Daughters attempt to come up with the most outlandish dishes possible. Kudu, crocodile and shark have all featured in previous menus. We usually get up in the dark (not that this is unusual our alarms routinely go off at 4am) and open stocking gifts in bed, they always contain a clementine or a satsuma and a book. Once it's daylight we'll take the dog to the country park for a long walk. We come home prepare dinner together or rather we all watch DD1 prepare dinner as she's training to be a chef and is at the stage where she knows it all which is fine by me, I'm quite happy to delegate cooking duties. Whilst dinner is cooking we'll play board games, Coppit is one of our favourites. We'll sit at the table to eat dinner in front of the log burner, once dinner is eaten we'll play more games, open gifts from family and watch cheesy Christmas movies, The Muppet Christmas Carol is a firm favourite.  Outside of the more unusual foods I love to eat mince pies, Christmas cake, Christmas pudding with flaming brandy, pfeffernusse and stollen. We use Nigella's Christmas ultimate pudding recipe but usually substitute the Pedro Ximénez with brandy. I knit hats and socks as gifts, once in a while I'll sew a project bag but I haven't knitted anyone a garment since I knitted DD1 a sweater in colours carefully chosen by her which she put on and announced was too hot and refused to wear ever again. DD2 eventually grew into it but refused to wear it because it was too pink. It became a cushion. I have four consecutive days off work which is unheard of, I plan to spin up some of the long forgotten fibres which lurk at the back of the cupboards in the hopes that 2018 becomes the year that I use more fibre than I buy because 2017 certainly wasn't. I shop by colour rather than fibre, it means I unintentionally get to try a vast range of things simply because I liked the way the dyed fibre looked. I'm never organised enough to spin for a purpose so I tend to spin whatever I feel like spinning at the time and then shove it in a box in the hopes the finished yarn will come in handy eventually. Last winter I splurged on a second hand loom. It's still in the box it arrived in. I'm hopeful that this winter I'll get the time and space to warp it up and teach myself to weave. When I get time to myself I dye yarn and fibre, sew and have grandiose ideas about making all my own clothes. I love to cook, I read voraciously and I've recently discovered I love to run, preferably up mountains and in deep mud, the dirtier I get the happier I am . A big thank you to Amanda for sharing her Christmas.
Tomorrow there will hopefully be another spinner... but this is where I really do need your help! If you've enjoyed these posts please take 10 minutes to contribute your own. Otherwise I will be spinning my own Christmas celebrations out for 5 days... and nobody needs to read that! Welcome to day 17 of our Spinners of the World December blogposts. We're counting down the darkest days by exploring and learning more about the world we live in, but I'm not the one writing the posts! Each day the post has been written by a volunteer spinner, they're be telling us about their mid-winter holiday traditions, and a little bit about the place they live. I still need volunteers, so if you enjoy this post please head over to the form here. This is open to everyone, please don't worry about your language skills, or even if you think your holiday traditions aren't very interesting, I want to hear from you! .Todays spinner is Filigarne, she's French but was born and grew up in Germany, and now lives in the Auvergne region in the center of France near Clermont-Ferrand.  I love all kinds of fibers (except cotton, too hard to spin). I spin mainly for knitting. I celebrate Noël (Christmas) on 24th and 25th December. We spend the 24th with good friends, and the 25th with family. On the 25th, we have lunch together which may last until the late afternoon. There are lots of good things to eat, good wine, champaign... In France, Christmas equals eating... there are too many things to eat to have just one favourite: bûche de Noël (Christmas cake), coquilles St Jacques (scallops), smoked salmon, vin chaud (hot spiced wine), papillotes ( Christmas sweeties) Since I'm not sure that my kitchen English is good enough to make sure you get what you should, I better play it safe with an easy recipe for hot spicy wine: Ingredients : - 1 bottle of fruity red wine (no Bordeaux!) - 1 star of star anise - 1 untreated orange (whole peel and a quarter of the fruit cut into small cubes ) 80 g of sugar - 2 cinnamon sticks - 10 grains of pepper - ½ teaspoon of ginger powder 2 steps for preparation : 1. Brew the star anise in the wine at 80°C for 9 minutes. 2. Add all the other ingredients and heat to 90°. Keep at temperature for 20 minutes (don't boil! ) Let cool down to drinking temperature and enjoy!  My most ambitious crafting gift was a fully furnished doll house for my daughter when she was 4. This year over the holidays I'll be spinning my "Adventskalender" , a German tradition where you have a calendar with 24 surprises for the 24 days between 1st and 24th December. 24 people exchange 24 small portions of fiber and a sweetie for each day and a small Christmas gift for 25th December. My yarn's for a shawl. And I have a lot to destash - for instance the Hilltop Cloud TdF fiber 2016... Thanks Filigarne. Tomorrow there will be another spinner, from another part of the world.
Welcome to day 16 of our Spinners of the World December blogposts. We're counting down the darkest days by exploring and learning more about the world we live in, but I'm not the one writing the posts! Each day the post has been written by a volunteer spinner, they're be telling us about their mid-winter holiday traditions, and a little bit about the place they live. I still need volunteers, so if you enjoy this post please head over to the form here. This is open to everyone, please don't worry about your language skills, or even if you think your holiday traditions aren't very interesting, I want to hear from you! Today spinner is Jo... I live on the Isle of Wight. Or more accurately my stuff lives on the Island and I go and visit it once in a while. I'm a freelance stage manager so I move from town to town with work. I celebrate Christmas, normally I spend the day with my dad and my brother. But it really depends upon how far away I'm working and what time my shows are on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day. This Christmas will be my first at home in 4 years. Last Christmas I stayed in a hotel and spent my entire Christmas Day in my PJs spinning. It was lovely. Our day usually goes a little something like this... Once we've had breakfast we prep the lunch and get it cooking. Then we might get a present opened before it's back into the kitchen for more cooking duties. We aim to sit down for lunch around 1. After we've eaten our main course we open the rest of the presents while we wait for lunch to go down a bit so we can do the Christmas Pudding justice! Then it's washing up time and a walk if the weather is nice followed by finding something to ignore on the telly whilst we play Scrabble or do the jigsaw. My brother buys us a new jigsaw every year. Tea is a sandwich and trifle. My brother and I do the lunch cooking and my dad does the boiled bacon and trifle for tea. I don't think we'll have this kind of Christmas for a while. I've a feeling that everything will start a little earlier this year as my brother has gained a wife and a three and half year old since I last made it home for Christmas. My favourite seasonal food are Brussel Sprouts. We always cook plenty so that we lots left over to go into the bubble and squeak on Boxing Day. My brother always make the stuffing recipe from Jamie Oliver's book Cook. In terms of crafting for gifts, I'm not very good at deadlines it makes everything seem like a job then. So I do make things for others but they tend to get given 'just because' or very occasionally set aside for Christmas. I have spun yarn for my aunt for Christmas this year. We went to Unravel together this year and one of the fibres on the John Arbon stall caught her eye. Hopefully she'll like it. My wheel is at home at the moment. I will just be taking my knitting with me for Christmas Day. I don't think there will be much time for crafting with a toddler charging about the place. I'm a bit of a craftaholic. I knit. I mostly make shawls, socks and baby clothes. Socks and baby clothes are good ones for doing at work as I have to sit in one place and can knit on simple things during quiet spells. I'm currently making Polwarth by Ysolda but need to rip out some as I've done my usual trick of not reading all of the words in the pattern. If I could do this and count I'd get alot more finished! I also crochet a bit but am still very much a beginner. 14 years ago I bought a sewing machine with my panto overtime and use it to make clothes and quilts. I have a cricket loom which I have with me at the moment. I've only made a couple of scarves and have brought it away with me to try and get a good chunk of practice in as I still struggle to get an even selvage. Spinning is still fairly new. Having gained an interest in spinning because it kept popping up in various knitting blogs that I read I bought a drop spindle kit at Yarndale 2015. I really enjoyed it and by March last year I had bought myself an Ashford Traveller. I found a bargain on eBay. A wheel that someone had been gifted in the mid 1980s but had never been assembled. The box hadn't even been opened. I was very lucky as there were no problems with the wheel and I find it really comfortable to spin with. I'm still at the stage of spinning everything. Trying lots of different stuff to see what I like and trying to get an even yarn. I'm getting fairly consistent now and finer! The wheel has been with me on a couple of jobs where my digs room is large enough to accommodate it. I turned up to digs in the summer the landlady took one look at me and said 'where's your wheel?' My dad put it together for me and is absolutely fascinated by the mechanics of it. He even went and bought some fibre so he could have a go once he'd built it. Thanks to Jo for taking the time to share her Christmas with us. Come back tomorrow, for another spinner!
Welcome to day 14 of our Spinners of the World December blogposts. We're counting down the darkest days by exploring and learning more about the world we live in, but I'm not the one writing the posts! Each day the post has been written by a volunteer spinner, they're be telling us about their mid-winter holiday traditions, and a little bit about the place they live. I still need volunteers, so if you enjoy this post please head over to the form here. This is open to everyone, please don't worry about your language skills, or even if you think your holiday traditions aren't very interesting, I want to hear from you! Todays spinner is Elvira from Cottbus, Germany. I'm still fairly new at spinning and don't have that much time to practice so when I have the time I try practicing or learning new techniques. I'm a knitter (that's why I learned spinning), I have a weaving loom and I know how to crotchet (but I don't do it very much). Apart from that I like to read (but don't do it enough) and I like photography - I have a small collection of analogue cameras (like ... I'm not only on my way to build a yarn and fibre stash ... I have a camera stash too). Since I won't be at home during the holidays I can't use my spinning wheel. But I'm going to knit - and if I'm fast enough maybe I'll finish a shawl out of handspun yarn. I'll try to read a bit more and go out and take pictures with my film camera. And maybe I'll attend a wintersports event as a visitor - since there won't be enough snow around to cross country skiing by myself. October three years ago I decided that I want to knit a blanket for my mum. I chose the simplest pattern that's possible (a rectangle bias) and bought some super bulky yarn. That doesn't sound super ambitious. But it took me three years to finish it. Three years! The alpaca yarn was so fuzzy that it got into my nose and my eyes and drove me crazy. The bulky needles aren't super fun to work with. Those garter stitch rows were sooo boring. So I left it in it's WIP box for a looong time until some weeks ago when I took it out and finished the damn thing. I'm never ever going to knit someone a present again. To much pressure. My family celebrates Christmas Eve, but in a non-religious way. Ill be celebrating with my parents, usually with mysister (sadly not this year because she's on the other side of the world) and my boyfriend at my grandparent's home. On the following days my dad's brothers and their families come to visit too, so the whole family comes together. That's what the most important part of Christmas is for me. During the Advent I like to get in the right mood by visiting Christmas markets. I love the lights, the smell. The Christmas tree goes up on the 23th December. We haven't had a "real" tree since years - the plastic tree is so much easier! On the afternoon of the 24th (Christmas Eve) we sometimes go to the church to watch the nativity play, even if my family is not religious. But it's nice to see how the kids and teens interpret the story every year. Before or after that we eat christmas cookies and stollen and have coffee or hot chocolate. Than the cooking begins. Some families prefer easy and quick meals for Christmas Eve but ever since I can remember my grandma cooks her variation of a traditional Silesian Christmas dinner: bratwurst, blood sausage and liver sausage with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. I loved this as a child - but I don't eat meat anymore so I think I'm going to establish a new Christmas dinner. After dinner we go for a walk or "looking for the elves". When I was a kid this was the time when one of my parents would put the presents under the tree. No need to do it in secret anymore but it's the perfect time to look how the other people decorated their houses and gardens. In the evening we have what's called "Bescherung" in German. That's when we give each other the gifts. Additionally everyone get's a plate with sweets, nuts and fruits that my mom prepares. We sing and play Christmas songs (some of my family members are really musically). Later we watch Christmas themes music shows on TV or listen to vinyls or CDs, play old or new bord or card games. There are so many yummy things at this time of the year that it's kind of hard to decide. My mom is an avid baker and I inherited that to some degree so baking christmas cookies is mandatory. But there are a lot of things that I love but I can't make by myself like Stollen or Dominosteine (that translates to 'domino tiles' - it's a small praline like thing with a gingerbread base, a layer of jelly and a layer of marzipan, coated with chocolate in a cubic form). But I love basically everything! One of my favourite types for christmas cookies are called 'Hirschknöpfe' (deer buttons) - I think it's because you put half of a walnut on top of it and it looks a bit like an antler? To bake them you need: 500 g flour 200 g sugar 300 g butter 1 package vanilla sugar 1 egg 1/2 package baking powder 1 tsp. cinnamon 2 tblsp. sugar 1 tbsp. cocoa Mix together flour, sugar, butter, vanilla sugar, the egg and the baking powder. Make a dough and roll out rolls of 2 cm diameter. Mix cinnamon, sugar and cocoa. Spread the mixture on a baking sheet and roll the dough rolls around. Chill the rolls for 24 hours. Cut the rolls into 1/2 cm thin slices and out the half of a walnut on it. Bake for 10 min in 180° C. Enjoy! Thanks Elvira for her post, come back tomorrow for another spinner...
Welcome to day 13 of our Spinners of the World December blogposts. We're counting down the darkest days by exploring and learning more about the world we live in, but I'm not the one writing the posts! Each day the post has been written by a volunteer spinner, they're be telling us about their mid-winter holiday traditions, and a little bit about the place they live. I still need volunteers, so if you enjoy this post please head over to the form here. This is open to everyone, please don't worry about your language skills, or even if you think your holiday traditions aren't very interesting, I want to hear from you! Todays spinner is Maria Grazia and she lives in Bozen, Italy. I'll be celebrating Christmas, not necessarily as a religious festival with my family and some friends. Here in Bozen there is a famous Kristkindlmarkt, with lot of decoration, typycal handcraft, food and so on. It starts at the end of November and last to January the 6th. At evening you can find lot of people drinking gluhwein (or Vin brulé that is also the recipe l share with you) even if it's really cold. Always crowded from tourists. To make your own gluhwein- This word is german and indicates a warm drink red wine based with spices. The first time l tasted it was in Valle d'Aosta and there it is called Vin chaud, in Italian it becomes Vin brulé or Vincotto and l think in English you know it as Mulled Wine: you need red wine 1l - 1 orange peel - 5 juniper berries - 100 g sugar - cinnamon stick - star anise - cloves and a pinch of nutmeg. Put wine, sugar and spices in a large pan and cook on a low heat bringing to boiling, let it boil for about five minutes. Now you can drink directly or eliminate a little bit of alcohol flaming it. You can substitute the red wine with a white one, more delicate. At this time of year I love to eatsweeties, nougat , panettone, typical cookies. l like to spin lot of things! any kind of wool. My wishlist includes a drumcarder to mix fibers and colour. l knit. usually l knit socks and gloves and mittens. Maybe this is the why l spin only finger yarn and don't succeed in producing something a little bit bigger. From short time, because of my spinning, l've begun to knit shawl, from shawl to lace, another addiction. Then l spend lot of time reading, walking, dyeing (a beginner), sewing, making soap, cooking. With a full time job l have to plan accurately and l'm becoming a little solitary to dedicate time to my hobbies. The most ambitious gift I ever made was my first pair of socks, but also a scarf unfinished, still on the needles. This Christmas l'm knitting a sweater (commercial yarn) and l will finish to spin a pencil roving to knit another sweater all with handspun yarn. It is a project l'm working on from too much time. Thanks Maria for taking the time to write this post. There will be another spinner on the blog tomorrow!
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Beautiful fibre you'll love to work with. Established 2011 VAT Reg- 209 4066 19 Dugoed Bach, Mallwyd, Machynlleth,
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