Pratghan revisited

I know I haven't exactly been posting much recently- and what I have posted hasn't been of a knitting nature. In an effort to get back to the point I give you two of my latest Pratghan squares. I made a concerted effort over the Christmas period to get this project back on its feet and going again- I've been suffering from an incomplete project problem over the last few months that has left me with a pile of WIPs the size of Mount Etna. This would probably account for the lack of knitting posts as I hate posting about things when I'm only halfway through. This seems like a bit of silly thing now that I come to think about it and I shall try to rectify this in future as well.
But I digress. Here are the latest efforts on my Pratghan project. As it stands I am about 5 months behind schedule and I have done a few squares out of order which annoys me immensely but at least I am back on the horse so to speak. The two that I present here are my recent favourites and are representative of 'Reaper Man' and 'Small Gods'. The Small Gods square is currently the reigning favourite and is acting as a great catalyst as far as motivating me to get others done is concerned.


Taken when the snow hit England just after Christmas. It was such fun crunching round taking pictures of things and it made a great background for knitted items. The square above did not want to behave however. It really is square I promise. I'm quite proud of how the stitched skeleton (Death) came out- not so keen on his hat though which I might take off and redo. The square blob on the hill is the New Death and in the bottom left hand corner you can see the Death of Rats. I realise that he looks quite big but you have to imagine that there is some perspective in the piece and its actually because he is a lot closer to you...
The Small Gods square shows Om standing protectively over a lettuce leaf whilst small gods swirl around in the heat haze over the desert in the background. Om is made from several pieces of free-form knitting which are then stitched into place on the final square. The lettuce leaf was a particular delight to make. It came out a little larger than hoped but I kinda like that- it will be a nice feature on the finished afghan.

Oink

Micro-pigs! Picture as stolen from this BBC News article (which links to the full story for anyone who wants to read it).

P.S. I wants one. Please send to the following address.......

And so a new year begins

A new year, a new start. At least, that's what my parents always used to say. But I have to admit that the new year is no biggy for me. As far as I am concerned the date for the new year, as laid down by countless school authorities throughout my life (and now my job) is September 1st. So I wasn't one of those people climbing clock towers or running around in fancy dress a couple of weeks ago. Instead, I was tucked up under a blanket at home doing a spot of knitting and only vaguely paying attention to all the noise coming from the television. The only thing that distinguishes it from any other night for me is the sound of bagpipes wailing and the big gun going off on Edinburgh Castle- watching the Scottish New Year celebrations has become something of a tradition in our house and that it is something that is important to me.
Or at least, something of which I am a little proud maybe.
Whilst listening to a sound akin to a cat being strangled I realised that my husband and I have now 'evolved' our own traditions for certain things- it only recently struck me because the ones at Christmas time are obvious ones, plus I had plenty of time for musing on things like this as I whiled away my two week break.
For example, we always watch the televised New Year celebrations in Scotland if we are near a TV. At Christmas, we buy one new decoration for the tree a year (tinsel not being included in that bracket as it seems to have a shelf life of about one week before it dies) and have hot mince pies and hot chocolate with marshmallows in it almost every evening (I know, piggish of us).
Which got me thinking about other little household traditions. There's not much else that we do as far as organised celebrations are concerned as neither of us hold any beliefs in that respect but there are other things that have arisen that are specific to our family. For instance, we always buy the cats Christmas and birthday treats. Now I know that that is a fairly common one and that there are plenty of other people that do it but it is something that rose independently in our house. We just decided that it was something we wanted to do because the cats are so much a part of making our house a home. We also always watch opening night of the baseball season for the Red Sox- we even go so far as to ensure we are wearing team kit, caps and red socks and we always make hot dogs during the 7th inning stretch.
And it is this that makes me happy- not the actual traditions that we follow as such but the fact that we have got a little rhythm to our year, that we have settled into our lives and our home and that these traditions have come to be. It's nice to feel that difference that comes when a house becomes a home, when you've managed to stamp your personality on it to such a degree that it almost feels as though you are wearing it.
I hope with time that more things like this spring up- and that I manage to notice that they are going on around me.
Which leads me to a question for any of you that happen to chance across this post. What little traditions have evolved in your house? and do they make you smile as much as mine do?