Keeping Busy

I've had a pretty busy month, so sorry for the lack of posts. Knitting has taken up a fair amount of my free time, especially as my dear friend Jenny is getting ready to have a baby (the bump is affectionately known as Bobbin) and I've been crafting away to make something ready for when she arrives. The knitters from work joined together to make this really lovely blanket for her. The pattern is from Stephany Lein's YARRRRN! blog and Jenny E, Suzie, Claire, Maya, Chiara, Alyssa and Gemma all chipped in to make an incredibly personal gift for Bobbin. Jenny E, Gemma and I had great fun choosing particularly Jenny-esque colours. Wool was handed out just before Christmas and the knitting started in earnest. Squares started coming in a couple of weeks ago and with a bit of patience, a lot of needlework, a long, long chain of double crochet and the magic of blocking, a baby blanket was born.

Bobbin is going to be a very well dressed little girl as she already has a beautiful nautical jumper and gorgeous baby jeans knitted by her mum, a stunning pinafore dress knitted by Jenny E and a little red asymmetrical cardigan from me! I think that the dress, the jumper and the cardigan will form Bobbin's going home outfit. She'll be the best-dressed baby that day, and pretty toasty too! I can't wait to see the photos and I can't wait to meet her even more! We gave her a pretty good send off from work last week and I'll really miss her over the coming months. Big hugs go out to Jenny and good luck for the big day.

My Kaffe Fassett Patchwork book that Mum and Dad bought me for Christmas finally arrived and I have at last been able to start on my first quilting project. I'm using the fat quarters that I received and a pair of jeans that David has kindly donated to craft to make a quilted cushion cover. It's early days yet, but I'm rather looking forward to having something to show you as the project to share...

Off the needles, I've had a trip up to Scotland to stay with Angie, Robin and Joe and we had a wonderful time. Angie and I even managed a girls' night out at the movies to see The King's English at Dundee Contemporary Arts. I had just discovered the Instagram app for the iPhone so spent a fair amount of time snapping away and posting my pics!

Edinburgh Castle in the Dusk

Woodpile at the Pillars of Hercules

Flowers in the Guest Room

Up In the Clouds

I've been reading some absolutely cracking books this month, including You Against Me by Jenny Downham, Mrs Miniver by Jan Struthers, Life: an Exploded Diagram by Mal Peet and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. 


My favourite book by a very long way, however, has been Being Billy by Phil Earle. Being Billy is an incredible book. It is a work of honesty and sensitivity. Rarely have I cared quite so much about a protagonist as he struggles to come to terms with the life that he must lead. Being Billy has integrity, it is moving and heartfelt and above all, it's a brilliant read. I was lucky enough to be invited to Phil's book launch at Waterstone's Piccadilly in January and it was wonderful to help him celebrate and catch up with so very many old friends. Phil's working on his next book; please do visit his website for more news, reviews and more.

Happy Birthday to Me!

I've had a particularly lovely couple of weeks since my last post, which included my birthday. I really do love a birthday (it doesn't have to be mine!) and I felt particularly special and really quite spoilt this year. The birthday started last Thursday with tea, cake and flowers at work and I still feel as if I'm celebrating as I'm yet to spend my birthday book tokens - this is always such a treat. I'm thinking about buying The Gentle Art of Domesticity by Jane Brocket, Homemade by Ros Badger or The Journey is the Destination by Dan Eldon.

My present from David was a swanky new iPod, which is now pretty much surgically attached! I've gone from being a podcast novice to a subscriber of not one, not two, but eight different podcasts. These range from The Archers to the Topshop fashion videocast. On the knitting front I am loving Stash and Burn, Let's Knit2gether and I am really quite hooked on Craft and Make (after the magazines). It's a whole new world out there and I love it! It had been looking a bit touch and go as my lovely little BabyMac laptop, at the tender age of five and a half, was looking too old to take the upgrade that would allow me to use my new Nano, but luckily a very kind IT guru from work found an old Tiger lying around and sneakily put it onto my computer. I am now the proud runner of OSX 10.4.11! Thanks, Mark! The Mustard colour iPod cosy was rustled up this afternoon, while watching cricket for the first time. India vs England in the ICC Twenty20 at Lord's. I am really quite surprised by how much I got into it!

I've also started a blanket for the sofa that will go into my study/studio when I finally finish the decorating and am ready to move in. It's based on the same pattern as the baby blanket that the Walker Knitting Club made for little Oscar. I love that it's all knit on one piece (not least as I hate finishing things off) and I'm going to be reducing my stash dramatically as a result! It's going to look pretty random as I'm using every shade of pink or red, regardless of how well they go together, but I think that will just add to its charm and it'll be just as warm to snuggle up into in the winter regardless of how much it clashes with itself! I'm slightly concerned about the size of the finished object - I'm guessing that after a while it'll be far to big to take in to Knitting Club! Speaking of which, Libby's mum made her an amazing birthday cake in the shape of a purple ball of wool, which Libby kindly left a chunk of on my kitchen table, so I shared the love and took it in for the knitters to share. Brilliant - I can't think of anything more perfect for a Squiblet birthday celebration!

Christmas is Coming...

I've had an eventful few weeks saying goodbye to my Mum and Dad, spending time with friends and getting ready for Christmas.

I saw M&D both last weekend and the weekend before, in Walkern at my sister's place and then at their home in Gloucester. It was very precious to have time with them before they set off on their awfully big adventure, and I still can't quite get my head around the idea that I won't see them until June next year! They flew out to Hyderabad on Wednesday, and so far I've had a secondhand text that came in via Amanda. They've lost one of their bags on the way over, and unfortunately that was the one with the laptop power cable in, so all of our MSN practice hasn't actually come into use yet!

Work has been busy, and I've sold nearly twenty of my button bracelets to various colleagues. This has been an absolute godsend as it's meant I've had much more money to spend on Christmas presents than I would've had otherwise! I've been pretty busy with my knitting for various gifts. Angie's mittens are very nearly finished, Amanda's shrug is only six inches away from being ready to finish off and last night I cast on yet another Odessa hat for Tamsin. I've also spent today making some little gifts for the lovely people in my department at work. They're very, very handmade looking- but I hope they'll like them anyway! Last, but certainly not least, I was lucky enough to get my dear friend Libby in a Secret Santa of all the girls that I used to work with at Ottakar's and I have got just the most perfect present for her... (I'm not saying anymore in case she reads this before I see her!)

Other news, is that Feefer and Rob had their baby this week, so her baby blanket will hopefully be in use right now! Oscar was born on Thursday after a very long labour, weighing in at 6lbs 1oz and is absolutely perfect! I've seen a picture of him and I can't wait to meet him in the flesh...

Anyway, I must dash as I really do need to write some Christmas cards now. Have a great week all- hope that you're really feeling festive!

I ♥ Buttons

Here's a photo of my button box:


I've got a bit button-crazy over the last few weeks. We're holding a Christmas Craft Fair at work on the 2nd of December, so I've been beavering away at making some button bracelets to sell. I can make a couple of bracelets on each train journey into work and so far people really seem to like them, so here's hoping that I'll sell a few on the day...


It's been great fun going through my button box and sorting them all out into colours that compliment each other:

On the knitting front, the Walker Knitting Club have finished the baby blanket for Fi's baby. She came in this week and we presented it to her. She was absolutely delighted, which was just brilliant! I'd spent most of last weekend sewing all of the different pieces together (which was quite challenging as they were all in very different tensions!) and adding a cream border to bring it all together and finish it off properly. I'm afraid that I didn't manage to take a photograph of it, but here's very poor quality photo from my phone that gives you an idea of what it looked like!
(Back row from from left to right: Sarah, Cheryl, Jenny, Gemma
Front row: Me, Fiona, Angela, Stephanie
Missing from the photo: Judy, Caroline and Jenny J)

Gone to the Dogs!

Well, what a lovely weekend! I’ve been staying at my sister’s house in the middle of nowhere looking after her two fabulous lurchers; Max and Tiggy. We went for four walks (two long and two short) and had a number of adventures including catching a rabbit (bleurgh!) and a scientific experiment to see if you really can get two human adults, two very large dogs and a small but fluffy cat into a standard double bed. (And the answer is yes, but it gets a bit cosy!) Unfortunately, I was far too busy with the dogs to make anything with my buttons, which have arrived already.

On the knitting front, I have started off quite a large project at work. My dear friend (and fellow founder member of the Walker Book Knitting Club) Feefer is due to have a baby just before Christmas and I’ve adapted this log cabin blanket pattern so that everyone can knit their own piece then I can sew them together and knit a border to finish it off. So far I’ve got three pieces in, so nine more are due. We’re keeping it a surprise and I can’t wait to see the look on her face when we present her with the finished article!
Speaking of surprises, David’s birthday trip is this weekend. I’ve managed to keep where we’re going a secret since May, but just keeping the destination under my hat for this last week is proving most challenging!