She's only just begun....

We have a new addition to our family...*

And she is beautiful. We are all in love...

My excuse for the excessively cheesy title to this post is that the new arrival's mother, my sister, and I spent a lot of our youth singing along to Carpenters songs. And we loved that too.

I always used to think that January would be a hard time to have a baby, but actually this is a glowing light of hope and loveliness in a really difficult month. She is all newness - little hands, little feet, gorgeous-smelling head. And I think that's probably what we all need - a suggestion of all that is innocent, real, and forward looking. I can feel all kinds of corners being turned...

Welcome to the world.  

* The smocked dress is from John Lewis, but the cardigan is knitted from a pattern in Erica Knight's Simple Knits for Cherished Babies. I did leave off the fastening though - seemed simpler, given the tiddly dimensions (and the complexity of dressing babies). It looks too big for her - it's hard to conceive of how tiny they are at first.

Keeping up the Calories

My bad arm / shoulder is still making life difficult, which doesn't help the new year blues. But I've decided that I'll counteract that with good food. It's easiest to go out for eats, or to make something that's simple to stir with a spoon in your left hand...

So this weekend I've made porridge with raspberries (strange for the season, but they're from Spain, so not as bad as it could be for food miles)....

And gone out for French Toast - both delicious. 

It always seems so brutal to 'detox' or deprive yourself in January - why do that in one of the coldest, gloomiest months of the year? This is the time when we need all the calories we can get. Think positive by eating positive. 

fresh air and sunshine

So last night was Twelfth Night: decorations will no longer be worn.

And I have my arm in a sling... It's one-hand typing and no crafting. This and other things such as the dank rain since New Year were making me gloomy, but it's a new day, and I'm astonished to see the sun. 

In the absence of self-produced images, here are two of my favourites from the little pile of Christmas cards I received this year. Both of them bright, fresh, and suggestive of crispness and cheer, so I think these can continue, even after 

Twelfth Night. 

Open the windows, feel the cold on your cheeks...

Image 1: Joseph Winkelman, 'Christmas Party' (1996)
Image 2: Cressida Bell, 'A sly fox creeps his way through the snow' (2009)

ring out the old, ring in the new

thanks to various problems caused by dampness under the bonnet of my little old car, i am posting my new year notes a day late. so i've already been late and it's only day 2.

the most useful thing i knitted in 2010 was definitely this pair of mittens (thanks to my lovely friend Sara for the pattern). the fairisle effect makes them very warm.

but in the event, we spent new year's eve indoors anyway. with music...

and a cat...which is much the best way to start a new year

so now there is a shiny new (and empty) calendar to fill.... i like it best when it's empty though

inspiration for 2011 comes from my sister's road trip to california (i hope to see some of the sun this year)...[her photo]

and i must, must finish this damn tapestry cushion, which i started over a YEAR ago...

happy! new! year!