The view from the living room is usually quite nice. We have no neighbours living opposite us - just a patch of woodland - and we live on a quiet street. Today has been even more quiet than usual. A heavy snowfall has pretty much blocked the street and none of the car owners have seemingly bothered to dig out their cars for the morning commute. I do not blame them; our street doubles as a nice little hill and the idea of driving up the hill in these conditions .. no, not an appealing thought. Today the view from our living room is still quite nice - except at some point I shall have to put on a lot of layers and climb the aforementioned little hill. Brrr...

(Yes, the photo is a bit large but I found I lost all the "lovely" snowy details if I made it any smaller)

And the star? It's a traditional Danish Christmas star and you can make it yourself.

Inspired by the wintery conditions, I have begun making some wintery mitts. You may remember a previous attempt which I pulled out after some thought. I loved both yarns I used but I did not like them together. I rummaged through the stash (still unsorted and unorganised. I need to get my act together) and found some yarn I thought might work better.

This time I'm combining Noro Kureyon with some Rowan Purelife Organic Wool DK (I have plenty in my stash - I picked it up during the John Lewis clearance sale at a tres favourable price). I'm loving working with both yarns but..

..I cannot decide if this looks completely twee in the worst sense of the word (sentimental, sugary sweet, affectedly quaint) OR if this looks twee in a totally adorable 1950s way. It is a fine line, you must agree. I mean, the pattern has me knitting hearts for heaven’s sake!

I shall, of course, be making a matching beret.

Apropos of nothing, my winter coat is close to giving up the ghost. It remains warm and cosy, but the loosely woven tweed is beginning to get worn to the point of holes. Just one hole so far (which I shall mend) but it does make me ponder whether it would be an idea for the future to sew my own winter coat. Last time I had problems finding a winter coat which was both warm, practical (ack) and not butt-ugly.

Budget fashionistas (and sewers), share your thoughts and experiences with winter coats.