Shawl and Duvet: Hurray!

For Christmas Branwen (my lil' sister) gave me some lovely red beads and some beautiful peach coloured yarn to make a shawl! Well, I finished this beauty today and now it is blocking. The colours are just perfect (the edging is even a little darker) and the shawl looks like it will be a great size!

The shawl design is called Aeolian and the motifs are supposed to resemble Joshua tree yuccas, agaves and cactus flowers. I think the peach yarn and red beads look just like some of the beautiful flowers of the deserts out here!

One of our gifts from Serena was a new duvet for our bed. We were in dire need of something as it is a little too cool here in the winter to sleep with only a sheet, and as such we've been forced to use our sleeping bag from camping as a comforter. The new duvet looks fantastic and we look forward to testing it out tonight. One very useful feature is that there are two different insides to the duvet, which are used to control how much thermal insulation it provides. Should be wonderful here in LA, where the "winter" nights are cool, but during the summer only a light sheet is needed. Also take a look at our snazzy new bedside table... now there is one on each side of the bed!