Windy.

The day began with heavy showers and hailstones that slid slowly down the window. These eventually blew over though the wind remained. With hindsight I wish I'd put the second blanket in the washing machine as the wind would have blown it dry but there you go. Can't always get it right.

My initial plan had been to walk into town with my parcels and send them from the Post Office in Smith's but instead I drove to the Post Office at the top of Sticklepath.  That gave me the chance to take my old office chair to the dump. It was so old and broken that it wasn't fit to be put on the Don't Bin It site. Coming out of the dump I was met by the sight of Santas on motorbikes taking a break at a lorry fuel stop. They do this charity run every year coming up from Tiverton and raising funds for the local Children's Hospice and very festive they looked with their bikes covered in tinsel. My attempts to zoom in the photo failed so when I got home I looked up how to. I'd tried that opening fingers move but had needed to tap the screen three times first. I also worked how to delete photos from the phone so that now I only have my Borth photos stored. And I came across the editing menu. 

From the dump I went to Lidl's and Tesco's. A Saturday is never the best time to go shopping and with Christmas so close the roads and shops were very crowded. In Tesco's it felt a bit like being at a Christmas party, maybe a works one that you didn't really want to go to. The staff and many customers were wearing Christmas jumpers and hats, Christmas party songs were blaring over the loudspeakers though I still like 'And so it is Christmas' and crowds of people were milling around. It was almost jolly. I didn't feel stressed as my shopping list was short and my visit not too long. I did cast my eye over the most expensive boxed cards picking out which ones I hoped would be in sale after Christmas. Then I called in at the Laura Ashley shop and looked longingly at their decorations already on sale. I was nearly tempted by the beautiful glass tree ornaments, if they reduce them further I may succumb.

Later in the day I began knitting the mittens. I've decided on which of my wool purchases I'll use for the cuffs along with the New Zealand wool which was used for making LOTR costumes. The pattern calls for 'knitting in the round'. The only other time I've done this was when making the first two pairs of mittens a few years back. I began by using three double ended knitting pins until I realised something wasn't working. Yep. I need to use four pins. Having sorted that out and dissuaded Speedy from attacking the wool or the pins I began. Several times I got to the second row and found extra stitches which were throwing out the pattern. I'll make a fresh start tomorrow. Our evening ended with the finals of Strictly. There was no point in waiting for our usual Sunday viewing as being a BBC programme they often mention the winner in the morning news.