My house smells of fruit cake. When I was younger, my grandma always used to make her cakes in the Autumn half term to allow them plenty of time to mature and be fed copious amounts of brandy in time for the festive season. Though her reason was practical; school holidays were her holidays and it was the only chance she got. Whereas I’ve picked up her tradition purely because now it isn’t too uncomfortable to be thinking about making food to eat in December. And my huge and fruity cake is cooling in the kitchen and will soon be wrapped up after a good boozy drink, ready to be iced in the easiest way possible a couple of days before eating.

So with the Big Day looming ever closer, I’m cracking on with my gift knitting. The Skull Illusion Scarf is over the half-way mark, so for a change of pace and needle size, I’ve started another pair of socks.

The pattern is Child’s French Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks and I think this is one of the very rare occasions where I am using the yarn specified in the pattern. Better make the most of it, after all, because soon there won’t be any Jaeger Matchmaker Merino to be had anywhere. I also think this is the only time I have ever used the same colour yarn as is used in for the pattern. But I just loved the combination in the book, so why not? Actually, in real life, the red isn’t nearly as rich, but it’s still very pretty and it’s called “Strawberry” which reminds me of squishy softness and that’s what anyone would want from a comfortable pair of handknit socks.