The Bluestocking: it's the season of mulled wine, conversations about pineapple and, of course, gerbils. Confused? You will be...

[EdithStourton]

Welcome to the anarchic and marvellous women-only on-line pub, the Bluestocking. The booze won't give you a hangover, the cakes won't make you fat, and the conversations are fascinating, covering knitting, health and safety, the Muppets and anything else that comes to mind.

Climb Peak Woo, have a cuddle with Rosie the Red Panda, and watch out for capybaras busy with any necessary building works.

Welcome in (and name change at the door if you need too).

Well, I’m heading for the mulled stuff first. Thank you!

I'm here for the warmed mince pies and mulled stuff. I've even got my extra starry Christmas stars dress on for the occasion.

They are rather rotund aren't they.

Balrog did a magnificent job this evening. She should feel very proud, there was only one fire related accident and that was down to some idiot in a Christmas tree outfit smoking a fag.

Crikey; they’ll last the winter!

🤣🤣🤣

Are you sure that's not a mass escape from Android's latest attempt to hybridise tribbles with anything else she can think of?

Lovely mince pies

The lights on already? Anything before the 8th Dec is a bit precipitous..
But I won't be bah humbug about it, I love the tree, it's beautifully decorated so thank you Gerbils, and Rosie is a very impressive orator, isn't she? [say yes, or she'll get upset].

I've never liked either mulled wine or mince pies, so there's all the more for the rest of you to enjoy... if there are any pies left as those flying squirrels look as if they got there first, and they don't look very aerodynamic any more, do they??

ChristmasStars this is your moment to shine, isn't it, literally✨
edited to add 'literally'😄

The tribble haggis hybrid was the last one? They didn't have the wing span of the flying squirrels. No wing span at all!

Unless she's kept a further tribble squirrel hybrid completely secret.

I miss the tribble haggis hybrid, but there was too much haggis and not enough tribble so they were eaten quicker than they could procreate .

Marie, DH opened a bottle of Madeira this evening, so I've brought it with me. have a glug. It's very nice. I'm very tempted to open a bag of lebkuchen...

We have some metal wreath-base thingies (technical term), and I have a lot of hay given to me by a friend (who says it works just as well as moss), so tomorrow might be wreath-making day, if anyone would care to join me in the Craft Room.

The tribble haggis was an adorable hybrid. Evolution can be such a bitch 😢

Very cute, but take ages to cook.

Oh! <jumps> I wasn't asleep, I was just inspecting my eyelids from the inside.

I once went on a wild haggis hunt on the Isle of Skye. It involved a long walk over a windswept landscape, with a local guide who "knows the habits of the haggis". Apparently, wild haggis are rather like Scottish wild cats. Though everyone knows they are there, very few people have ever seen them. We didn't spot any, of course, although we did hear their cries on the wind. It was a bit early in the season to spot them, he said. Early April. In fact it may have been the first of April.

I've warmed up now, but being warm has just made me tired, so I'm heading towards my bed. Goodnight all 👋

😂😂😂

You don't actually need to hunt hunt them. Their legs on one side are longer than the other side. So they can only go round the hill they live on in one direction. At the right time of year you make a loud noise, all the haggis get scared, and start running in all directions. Then they fall over and roll down the hill. Then you just collect them up at the bottom of the hill.

ETA missed a line.

Madeira? I don't mind if I do thank you Edith!
And I make a wreath every year, so I'll collect all the greenery from my garden, and see you in the Craft Room

G'night Crumble, g'night all. Special good night to the gerbils who must be tired out after their work on the Xmas tree🌛

As is tradition the Walrus opened the prosecco to celebrate the interview.

I may then have drunk white wine on my own.

My liver may have objected and left half a bottle. Not sure what to do now. The concept of leftover wine is alien to me...

Ooh Madeira - my favourite! There’s a restaurant in London that specialises in port (and sherry I think?) but also does the nicest (and most expensive!) Madeira I’ve had.

Ooh, yes please to the wreath-making. Someone sent me a kit one year as a surprise, complete with chunks of fresh foliage to cut into smaller pieces. Luckily I'd made one before but even so, it was hours of hard physical labour. I loved it.

@MyrtleLion congrats on the second interview.

Have you knitted feather & fan? I'm experimenting with a version now & I think it might suit your baby blanket. It's a 4-row repeat with only one patterned row & if you use a self-striped yarn, it gives you waves of colour.

I won't be doing any more experiments with tribbles. shudders

Ooh, feather and fan sounds interesting.

I need to finish a) sorting the house out and b) my ongoing projects before I start anything else, though.

Thanks to @EdithStourton I now have a Flanders and Swann earworm.

Have a Madeira, m'dear?

Though it is a bit early....

Cough cough cough

Achoo

Achoo

Achoooooooooooo.

Bar gerbil some vicks vapour rub, a box of soft tissues, a bottle of buttercup, 2 paracetamol, a hot water bottle, a cup of tea and a bowl of porridge, extra sugar, to my room please.

A

A

A

Achooooooo.

Blghhhhh.