Lots More Knitting and Some Picnics!

What a lovely few weekes I've had! Mostly made up of picnics and trips out and about. Work has been a bit stressful lately so I've been making the most of my evenings and weekends and having a bit of fun. Last week I treated myself to a visit to Knit Nation. I did manage not to spend very much money (which took huge amounts of effort!) and came away with a free Ysolda Teague pattern and lots and lots of inspiration and enthusiasm. One of the stands selling only laceweight yarn was heaving with knitters grabbing armfuls of the stuff. I just stood back and admired the beautiful colurs!

Last weekend D and I took a picnic out to Stourhead, which was glorious in the sunshine. I was particularly taken by the Pelargonium house that had this fabulously named specimen, Happy Thoughts. Isn't that great! We finished off this particular visit with a yummy afternoon tea at the local pub, The Spread Eagle. On Sunday, we attended the second Parklife event in the Council Gardens on Bourne Hill. DJs, live music, chilled out vibes and lounging around soaking up the atmosphere. Wonderful!

This weekend has been every bit as nice, if not quite so sunny. D and I went off for a walk in the New Forest. It was pretty moody - dark skies, purple heather, green gorse. We just about avoided the rain and met some very sweet ponies out for a stroll! Here's my favourite...

I’ve also read some really lovely books over the last few of weeks, Noah Barleywater Runs Away by John Boyne (author of award-winning and heart-rending YA novel The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas) and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers (creator of Lost and Found and The Incredible Book Eating Boy amongst others) which will be published by David Fickling Books in September. I also read Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly who wrote A Gathering Light one of my favourite upper teen reads. Revolution cleverly weaves the stories of two girls, one in contemporary NY and one in 18th century Paris. I quite often find in books with more than one story that I prefer one central character over another and skip over half of the book, but in this case I was completely absorbed by both if the girls’ stories and spent pretty much an entire day just devouring this book.

On the needles, I've started and finished my Snapdragon Tam, which is going to be wonderfully warm when winter arrives, and I've cast on Bella's Mittens too. I'll post a photo of the hat, just as soon as I've blocked it, but in the meantime, here's the newly cast-on mittens:

Lots of Knitting and a Little Bit of Culture

I am delighted to say that the button-eyes for my owls sweater turned up this week, so I've spent a rather lovely afternoon actually finishing things off! Now, usually, I'm not a great one for finishing things, but this weekend I have managed not one, but two FOs! Normally, I find that I enjoy the process of knitting much more enjoyable that the pleasures of admiring the finished object, but for some reason I've really wanted to get the owls done. I wonder if this is to do with what a beautiful pattern it is. Or maybe it has something to do with the nights getting longer...? On my walk to work, I've noticed that a couple of the horse chestnut trees in Vauxhall Gardens already have some pretty big conkers that look nearly ready to drop, and leaves that are already on the turn. Don't get me wrong, I do love the summer - with it's sunshine and long lovely evenings, but there is something about getting wrapped up in your woolens and taking a brisk stroll through misty mornings, kicking through fallen leaves as you go. (And it'll be an excuse to wear owls - it's far too hot to wear anything wooly just now!)

The second finished object is a baby jumper for D's niece, Tess. For once I've thought it through and knitted it for when she is nine months to a year old, so it's all ready to send to them in October or November. I hope that they like it! Having finished off two projects also means that I can cast on two more, and with autumn on the way I've decided to go for the gorgeous Snapdragon Tam from Ysolda Teague's Whimsical Little Knits 2 in some super soft pale blue Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk that was languishing in my stash. I've also got my heart set on bella's mittens from subliminal rabbit's blog. I think they're stunning and they look so toasty to wear, too. I've treated myself to three skeins of ggh Giglio in marl grey from Loop Yarn's online shop, which will hopefully turn into a smashing pair of mittens.

Aside from knitting, I've been cramming in the culture. I've read a couple of amazing books, including the really rather special If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor. It's a poem of a book - nothing much happens, but when I was reading the book, it felt as if time had slowed down. Amazing. I've been home alone for the last fortnight while D was away in Singapore, so I've also had a bit of a movie-fest! I started off with A Single Man which was simply beautiful, followed that with Julie and Julia (great fun) and Precious which was deeply moving and topped it off with Up which was good, but not as good as it had been sold to me. Of the four I think I would watch the first and third again, as I loved them so much. I've also been making the most of my Spotify subscription and have been listening to Sigur Ros' ( ) Bombay Bicycle Club's I Had the Blues, But I Shook Them Loose and Teenage Fan Club's Shadows. It's so nice to be able to listen to whatever I like whenever like. Isn't the internet amazing?!

Messing About on the River

Once my birthday celebrations were all over it became time to focus on a couple of physical challenges that I had set for myself for the summer. First off was a Superhero Dash around Greenwich Park in aid of theNational Literacy Trust. At work we've pledged to raise £30,000 for the NLT as part of our 30th anniversary year, and to help us along the way, 25 of us, and two superdogs Merlin and Puggy, dressed up like Where's Wally? and ran (or in my case jogged) 5k in public! Between us we raised nearly £6,000, which was a wonderful achievement.

What wasn't quite so wonderful was the state of my legs the following day, especially as I'd signed up for a Race for Life 10k with my sister that was due to take place in a fortnight! Two weeks of pretty intensive training were clearly needed, so I was out every other day to try and get in shape. On the day, we arrived at the Luton Hoo Estate in 35 degree heat! It was shockingly hot and just the thought of running anywhere was really daunting. What we didn't realise was that the course was dry, dusty, uneven and not at all flat... But, in spite of all of that, running out of water at 6k, and losing our support team due to a last minute course change, we did it! It may have taken rather longer than we were expecting, but we were pretty proud of our 1 hour 14 minutes and 7 seconds!

So, after a few weeks of pretty intensive exercise, this weekend has been a delight of lazing and eating and generally taking it easy. Yesterday, D and I were invited to an amazing barbecue with some dear friends who we used to work with. Claudia and Simon are two of the most wonderful, genial hosts and we ate so well that I thought I might have to be air-lifted out of their garden!

We followed that up with a trip today to D's alma mater, Henley Business School for their annual Members' Day, which always coincides with Henley Royal Regatta. We packed in a boat trip on the 112 year-old steamship Consuta, a delicious picnic, an incredibly difficult quiz and a yummy cream tea. Henley is always beautiful, but when the river is busy and buzzy, I love it even more. After this weekend, I really think I need to get my trainers back on and get out running again!

On the needles, I've very nearly finished a Debbie Bliss stripy little raglan-sleeved baby jumper from The Baby Knits Book for Tess. As soon as I get some extra cream Baby Cashmerino Aran I shall finish the last six rows and sew it all up. The owls sweater has buttons on order, but until they arrive I'm afraid that there won't be any photos. To make up for it, I will post some photos that I've taken with my new Olympus Pen E-PL1. It is an amazing camera - so light and easy to use. I took it for a walk around the Cathedral Close before WWKIPW on the 12th of June and got some really sweet shots.