Keeping warm

The wool for these colourful mittens is dyed, spun and knitted. Also seen are leg warmers by Gill Martin and my HH carrier bags. 

Swans on the ice at Petersfield Lake this week. Picture taken by Jenny Stacy

Fun with colour. I enjoy painting on paper. 

Are you managing to keep warm in the coldest week of the year?

 In Handmade Happiness hand-knitted gloves, hats and scarves are prominently displayed but as it's so cold and January I don't expect many visitors. Traditionally the quietest month of the year, saleswise, I sometimes wonder whether I should just close the shop for the whole of January. But I have plenty to do. It's tax season, as the Americans say, and so you'll see me with my calculator and books working away in the shop, aiming to get final figures by the January 31st deadline. Always a wonderful feeling of relief when it's over at the beginning of February.

I love having flowers when it's below zero outside. Somehow the supermarkets sell daffodils at just £1 when the weather is at it's coldest and Lidl have tulips for £2. The cheerful splash of colour takes your mind off the cold and onto pleasant things, like painting summer colours on a sheet of A4!