End of holiday roundup

Time to report on a few festive goodies before heading back into the daily grind tomorrow - yikes!
First of all, I have been remiss in not showing you the amazing apron made for me by Rebecca. I was under strict instructions not to breathe a word of this in case other readers might be getting the same type of thing. Plus I couldn't post a piccie because it was too precious to use at first and had pride of place on the top of a stack of Christmas loot until the new year. Then I had some friends coming over for lunch and I hopped right into June Cleaver mode, complete with apron. Here I am, sporting my new apron, and so vigorously stirring some sauce that my arm is blurred in the photo. (No, nothing to do with low light - it was vigorous stirring, I'm telling ya.) Thank you Rebecca, it is an inspiration to cook in this lovely garment!
Also under the tree for me this Christmas were two skeins of Lorna's Laces in a beautiful colourway called Vera.

(I am just swiping Purl Yarns' photo of the product because the LL is still hiding in the stack of Christmas pressies and I would never be able to get the colours to look as correct as they do in this photo.)

I know I for one have always wondered what this Lorna's Laces craze was all about, but could never find any for sale around these parts. Thanks to Taryn, we in Australia now have the opportunity to purchase Lorna's Laces at a very reasonable price. Full marks to Fiver for picking up my clues (in the form of an email directing Fiver to the website and saying 'any knitter would be happy with 2 of anything from this site'.) I think it is so romantic that he braved the unknown territory of the Yarn Purveyor to find me a Christmas pressie. (Meanwhile I braved the unknown territory of the Football Purveyor to purchase Fiver an AFL football. It's his favourite gift ever I think!)
The two weeks off over the holidays has been full of excitement, namely - I finished knitting both the French Market Bag and Kiri. Both still need to be felted/blocked, so I will spare you photos until I have truly finished objects.
In between 10 days of test cricket (2 of them in person at the SCG), a visit from my father from overseas, a long bush walk, Christmas merriment, and various delicious foods and drinks, I also managed to fold 130 paper cranes for Fiver's sister's wedding last night. Here they are in all their glorious volume:
The guests really seemed to love them - there was one crane on each plate as people entered the reception to eat. Fiver of course assisted enormously with the folding but was kind enough to give me all the credit on the night!
I also finished a sock on Christmas eve but will spare you the gory details until the second one is finished. Here's a sneak peek for you if you cannot delay your gratification any longer.