First of many catch up posts

I have already mentioned this but I have to start at the beginning of the past (which is the furthest away point rather than the nearest as most beginnings are) to be able to make any sense of anything in my own head, let alone yours. So, two weekends ago I was in Cambridge to see my best friend as it was her birthday. Because I love her so much I left work on Friday and climbed onto the grim, grim Oxford to Cambridge bus that travels via Milton Keynes and Bedford (also grim in my opinion but then I do only ever see the bus stations) and takes 4 hours. The buses are old, rattly and have a disturbing habit of smelling of burnt plastic. I managed to entertain myself reading and knitting socks for most of the journey and was feeling only mildly psychotic by the time I reached Cambridge. I had wanted to nap for the last hour or so (looooong day at work) as I knew I'd be up late and didn't want to flake out but there were a couple of people sat near me who had taken the cramped bus conditions as an opportunity to strike up a conversation. The fact that everyone else had to listen to it for over three hours didn't seem to bother them.
Anyway, this was all quickly overtaken by the fact that I had arrived and I was on the way to the pub. I met up with the best friend, was introduced to her friends and work colleagues, handed out her presents that I then forced her to open in the pub and went to the bar. The kinky stockings I had bought her went down a storm (teehee) as did her gloves that I had knitted for her. Unfortunately I was enough of a bonehead to forget to photograph them so I can't show y'all the mystery project that I was working on. I was very pleased to see that they fit and everyone made nice appreciative noises and admired them which made me smile. We had a great night out and as predicted, didn't make it to bed until very late. Saturday we wombled around the shops, stopping tea and hot chocolate wherever we could. We dropped in to a craft event where people were selling handmade clothes and jewellery. The Cambridge knitters where also there and if I had taken my knitting along I might have felt brave enough to go over and say hello but I suffering from a lack of sleep so decided to lurch in another direction. I got to meet some of the roller derby team which was nice though I was mostly asleep on my feet so they probably thought I was mute or maybe just plain weird. We spent Saturday night huddled on the sofa knitting and watching movies. The best friend is working on a wonderful jumper that is made from yarn that she bought from Shilasdair when we visited Skye at Easter. It is soooo pretty and I felt compelled to steal it for a quick fondle when she wasn't looking. Sunday we just lazed around talking shop about yarns, books and TV. I was treated to hot pink milk for the first time in my life and it was wonderful. I couldn't believe I had been missing out all this time!
The only other thing of note is that I bought the wool for making my husband a pair of baseball socks. They are going to be red and blue with little Bostons 'B's down the sides in stripes. The pattern looks a bit complicated but it involves learning a new technique called festive knitting. Having read the instructions I think I have an idea of how it works. Its just putting it into practice that is the hard bit. I haven't started the socks yet as I want to knit them in secret as a Xmas gift but as soon as I have made any progress I'll get some pictures up as the construction really is quite interesting for any geeky knitters out there.