Birthday Goodness

Another year has passed, and always one to enjoy celebrating a birthday, last weekend was a real treat. I started the festivities slightly early this year, as my dear sister treated me to an incredibly posh afternoon tea at Sketch where we tucked into delicious cakes in heavenly surroundings! After tea we took our time wandering along Regent Street, popping into some of my favourite shops along the way.

The actual birthday morning started well, with breakfast in bed followed by presents! My main gift was the laptop I'm typing on a laptop, which is replacing my poor old babymac, as it has pretty much reached the end of its useful life. I was lucky enough to receive a subscription to Spotify to go with my new laptop, so I’ve been enjoying some new music; Manmade by Teenage Fanclub, Bang Goes the Knighthood by The Divine Comedy and Infinite Arms by Band of Horses. It’s amazing that you can listen to whatever you like whenever you like, and I will definitely be broadening my musical horizons. The rest of the day was spent picnicking, admiring the roses at Mottisfont and a lovely dinner at our local Italian, Alpinos. Marvellous.

Sunday saw us take a trip to Frome to check out the delights of St Catherine’s Artisan Market. It wasn’t exactly D’s cup of tea, but I loved it and will definitely return for a more leisurely visit. As it was, we certainly got stuck into a fabulous brunch at the Garden Café with Shona and Iain.

While we were in Frome I popped into Marmalade Yarns to stock up on Cashmerino Aran. D and I stayed with his brother and sister-in-law last night, so I had to knit like a crazy-girl this week to start (and finish) a baby jumper for his new niece Tess! It took quite a while just to decide which pattern to knit, and I thought that I'd settled on Debbie Bliss's Raglan Jumper, until I realised that it was far too warm for the summer and that in order for it to be useful I would need to make a size that I wouldn't quite have enough wool for! Luckily Ravelry, and a mercy dash to John Lewis on Tuesday lunchtime, came to the rescue and I made her a supercute Debbie Bliss Shrug over three train journeys and a knitting club! Also on the needles, I have cast on a navy swing cardigan and I've blocked out my owls sweater. (Will add photos when I've bought and attached the button eyes...)

One last treat, was a trip to my favourite museum the V&A to see their Quilts exhibition. It was really wonderful and incredibly inspirational. It's on until the 4th of July so if you do get a chance to visit - take it!