After knitting, my other big passion is chocolate. I think that it is mainly because I went to school in Geneva just down the road from a chocolate factory, I was clearly brought up and educated to love chocolate.
Anyway, the 11th of December is a special date in Geneva where you get one of these:
This is a traditional 'marmite' (cauldron) that you get in Geneva for the 'Escalade' festival. Back in 1602 the Duke of Savoy sent his soldiers to invade Geneva which was an independent state at the time. The soldiers (known as the Savoyards) climbed the walls in the dead of night. But legend has it that Mere Royaume making her soup in her kitchen and heard them. So she threw her cauldron full of soup out of the window on top of them and thus raised the alarm and Geneva was saved.
It is kind of like Halloween. Traditionally children get given a chocolate cauldron full of marzipan vegetables. They also dress up and go door to door singing a song commemorating the event and get given sweets and the like.
I still don't have any knitting content due to all of the Christmas knitting thing. I think that this will be my last year of knitted gifts. It seems like a really good idea in October when you are buying the yarn and planning it all. It seems like a lot less good idea 10 days before Christmas when you realise that you haven't done it all. So, this is the last year where so many people are getting knitted gifts. As of now, I shall knit gifts as and when I feel like it.
I met a lovely NY knitter the other day: Abby. Abby is really lovely and we had a lovely time sat in a coffee shop knitting and chatting. She's knitting a sock in the loveliest colours - so we compared some sock knitting notes. But I thought that I would have to go and hide with shame when she said that she had started her Christmas knitting in the summer. Eek. Actually I am impressed but have to admit that I could never be that organised. I wish I could, but one has to be realistic.
Right, I was going to rant about knitting on planes but I think that will have to wait until my next posting. Suffice to say that I had a bit of an adventure.
I leave you with some more Christmas spirit pictures - large NY baubles.
And large NY coloured lights.
I love the marzipan vegetable myself. If all vegetables were like that I could get into them :)
Posted by: stinkerbell at December 16, 2004 05:14 PMthose ornaments are one of my favorite NY christmas things...except they put up the same ones every year. i wish they'd vary it a bit you know! p.s. i have made a conscious decision on no knitted christmas gifts. unless i start them in january they will never get made. :)
Posted by: carolyn at December 15, 2004 05:24 PMOK, full disclosure: I knew I was starting graduate school in September, so if knitting was going to happen, it had to happen in the summer. As it is, my family will be receiving un-fringed, un-blocked gifts this year. Next year, they get copies of the policy papers I just finished...
It was great to meet you too Amelia! Your ability to do moss stitch on tiny needles in a relatively dark room was very impressive. See you again soon!
Posted by: abby at December 15, 2004 02:01 AM