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: