Mostly Books and Picnics!

The last couple of weeks have been really lovely. I spent a wonderful Monday evening strolling up and down the Charing Cross Road choosing which lovely carft books I would spend my birthday book tokens on. After um-ing and ah-ing between Foyles and Borders I finally settled on Homemade by Ros Badger and Elspeth Thompson and The Crafter's Devotional by Barbara R. Call. I also got a little cookery book called 200 Cakes and Bakes by Sara Lewis, and I've already tried out the very tasty Oat and Ginger Crunchies - yum! The last addition to my crafty library is an absolutely super book called The Gentle Art of Domesticity by Jane Brocket. I'd seen it in my sister's local yarn store, but hadn't bought it and regretted not buying ever since. I was pretty sure that it would be a great way to spend my book tokens, but everywhere I looked it was sadly out of stock. Luckily, my brother-in-law was kind enough to go to Jolie and buy a copy for me. He even took the puppy in with him- I would've loved to have been a fly on that particular shopwall! It was definitely worth the ritual humiliation of my dear big brother as it is a brilliant book. Really funny and I feel as if it was written just for me - there's a whole page on the benefits of combining knitting, reading, wine and chocolate. Heaven!

I've also been to the library to top up on my reading for the train and in the last couple of weeks I've enjoyed The Girl on the Landing by Paul Torday. It's quite a dark tale of one man's life as he descends into mental illness, but it's told so eloquently and gently that you end up really rooting for Mikey and his wife, and I found myself wishing that the inevitable unhappy ending could somehow be avoided. I'm now reading a non-fiction title by Linda Grant who wrote The Clothes on Their Backs. It's a part biography, part history, part social commentary and all wonderful. If you have any interest at all in clothes and fashion heartily recommend The Thoughful Dresser even if, like me, you don't usually read much non-fiction.

There's been a picnic a week since I last blogged, one last Sunday at a local event called Parklife, which is held once a year in the field that used to contain the old swimming pool by my house. There was live music, charity stalls, ice-creams and everyone just brought their own food, wine and blankets to chill out on the grass. D and I were joined by Piney, Jez and Libby, and I swear, if I'd eaten just one more party ring, it all would have ended terribly! Piney and Jez gave me the rather adorable egg cosy that you can see in the photo, which I used this morning to keep my boiled egg cosy, while I took it back to bed with me! They also gave me some fab eggs that Dotty had laid. There's nothing better for breakfast than eggs from a chicken that you've actually met! They came in a fabulous decorated box and each one seemed to have something to say!

Picnic number two was on Friday when I met my mum, dad and sister on the Southbank for a delightful lunch. I'd taken the afternoon off work to spend some time with them and we had a brilliant trip on the London Eye in the sunshine followed by a stroll along the Embankment and afternoon tea at in the cafe of The Museum of Garden History, where we sat out until they had to run off and get their bus back to Gloucester. I can't think of a much lovelier way to spend a Friday afternoon.

On the crafty side (apart from doubling the size of my library!) I have just finished my first foray into the art of crochet. The Noe Noa scarf by Bente Barosen was surprisingly easy and I really enjoyed getting to grips with it. It's a really beautiful scarf and I look forward to wearing it when it starts getting a little bit cooler. The pattern is available on Ravelry so get clicking and rustle one up for yourself! I've also spend some quality time with my Traffic Skirt kit from Clothkits that my sister gave me for Christmas, so watch this space for a finished object in the next post... (Don't you just love my sense of optimism?!)

On a final note, I must say a huge congratulations to Mister Jeremy Whitworth on his 1000th blogpost. Check out his blog here for an insight into the creative genius/madness that is Jez!