The Twelfth Day of Christmas

One of the most beautiful paintings I have ever seen - Adoration of the Magi, circa 1480, attributed to the circle of Hugo van der Goes, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath.

Happy Christmas!

O Come All Ye Faithful

Joyful and Triumphant

Unto Us A Child Is Born

Happy Christmas

Unto Us A Child Is Born

Happy Christmas

Madonna and Child circa 1909 by Marianne Stokes (1855 - 1927)

Wolverhampton Art Gallery

The Twelfth Day of Christmas

Happy Christmas

The Twelfth Day of Christmas

They offered Him gifts, of gold and frankincense and myrrh.

This delightful painting of the Adoration of the Magi is on the walls of the cloister of the Collegiate Church at Alquezar, which can be seen in this photograph.

Welcome to Pam Jones, the latest follower - thank you for joining!

Happy Christmas

Unto us a Child is born

King of all Creation

This beautiful carved Nativity scene is on the capital of one of the pillars in the cloister of San Pedro el Viejo in Huesca, Aragon.

We Have Seen His Star in the East

To celebrate the Twelfth Day of Christmas, here is a a photo I took last week of a beautiful window in a country church in Herefordshire.  If you can enlarge the photo on your screen, have a close look at the king kneeling at the front - his hair is flattened down and there is an impression left in it by the rim of his crown, which he has taken off to put on the floor.

Welcome to the latest followers, Paul Mangham and Jo Mb.  Thank you for joining!

A Quick Cheesy Snack - Spot the Cheddar!

Just a little selection of English cheeses lined up on a plate... (I scoffed them while cooking Sunday dinner and ever so slightly spoilt my appetite)

cut from these packets that I raided from the local supermarket before Christmas...

and now laid out on the fabrics with the result of the Boxing Day Quiz.

Number 1 is the colour of smoked salmon, so quite plainly a red herring.

Number 2 is a creamy buttermilk colour.  I could just have easily grabbed a block of Lancashire or Cheshire, but I fancied some Wensleydale, which is perhaps a tiny touch pale for the fabric, but I was thinking primarily of my stomach at the time.

Number 3 - I have lost count of the number of times I have seen this colour on American blogs or websites referred to as cheddar, and I have been sitting here yelling, " No, it's Red Leicester!"

Number 4 - yes, here it is, the real thing.  Living in Somerset, with Cheddar less than fifteen miles away, we are very particular about our Cheddar.  We always buy Farmhouse Cheddar, and my husband likes it extra mature, so it has little chalky calcium bits in it.  I prefer it a bit younger myself.

Number 5 - the same routine as number 3, but in this case I will be yelling "Double Gloucester!"

Number 6 in real life is a nice biscuity colour like home made cheese crackers, but my camera couldn't cope with the poor light so it has turned out the colour of dirty pastry that has been rolled out on the floor by a six year old.

Well done Gavin, breezing in first with the right answer! Note the confidence in his answer - no doubt or hesitation.  He knows that we would have no problem finding our way round each other's fridges.

Motherdragon's Australian cheddar hit the mark, and Beth Strand realised there was something up my sleeve.  Alcea Rosea just missed it, but getting subtle shades of yellow right on computer screens is a hit and miss affair... her cheese and number 2 on her screen may well have been a perfect match.

So if you are feeling a bit peckish by now, feast your eyes on more lovely cheese here, or just make a dash for the fridge.

Boxing Day Quiz

The Boxing Day soup will be ready this evening.  It smells delicious already.  Sewing is fading into the background for the moment.  Cooking is the order of the day.  Is it possible to combine the two and expend as little energy as possible?  Yes, with the Boxing Day Quiz!

Take a long hard stare at the photo above, showing various shades of yellow, with a couple of shades of not really yellow at all thrown in for good measure.  Bear in mind that the camera can't cope very well with the poor midwinter daylight, and I have done my best adjusting the colour with the pictures editor to try and get the shades as close to real life as possible.

Now it is time to dash to the kitchen and get yourself a plate of cheese and crackers, settle down again and look at the picture, and tell me...

Which of these fabrics is the colour of Cheddar?

No prizes, I'm afraid, but a good excuse for a sneaky quick snack.

The answer will be posted next week.  In the meantime I will be very busy relaxing.

Happy Christmas

                 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will

The Twelfth Day of Christmas

   The Three Kings have arrived!

Roger Moore - Licensed to Purl

Well done Alcea Rosea for spotting him!

Here he is later on in the same book.  Doesn't he look a poppet in his fair isle scarf and gloves. Knitted on size 007 needles, of course. Thank goodness he's cheered up a bit.  Karen Black thought he was smouldering on the last picture.  Probably dangerously near to igniting if he knew how many of you thought he had a girl's body.  Scary girl, that's all I can say.

You might enjoy the snippet I cut from the Daily Telegraph in 2003.

If I ever come across him again I will let you know.

... Glory to the New Born King!

                          
                        Happy Christmas

Hark, the Herald Angels Sing...

Christmas Quiz

This is page 129 of Practical Home Knitting published by Odhams in 1949, full of patterns for all the family.

This title of this pattern is " For a young man about the house  ...  Useful polo-neck sweater"

I hope this teen-age youth took good care of this polo-neck sweater, wore it only at week-ends and wasn't too rough with Mother's careful ribbing.  All told, he's looking pretty baleful.  Perhaps she'd ticked him off for leaving it under a pile of dirty socks.

I always found this picture rather amusing, until one day I suddenly realised that it is in fact completely rippingly hilarious.  Can you see why?

Answer next Saturday.

Hello Meridlin.  Thank you for joining!