A Couple of FOs and a Comment on the Season

Sorry it's been a while since my last post. I've been a bit busy and have been out and about enjoying the last of the summer sunshine. I do love autumn and winter, but I shall miss the luxury of all those hours of daylight. It's now dark when my alarm sounds in the morning and by the end of this week I suspect it'll be dark by the time I get home from work. Oh well, I suppose I shall just have to adjust and get used to it. I think that this is the time of year that we all need to take a little extra care of ourselves and not get run down. (Something which I failed to do miserably this week and ended up with two days spent in bed.)

However, all gloominess aside, I have managed to get a fair bit of knitting done over the last three weeks. I've finished Milo the Armadillo, all bar some squiggly black lines on his back. My Fetchings are looking, well, fetching! And I've blocked my great big grey Flicca and it's drying out on the floor of my study waiting to be finished with some beautiful pink and silver velvet ribbon that I bought from Jolie, the LYS in my sister's village, last weekend. I also got a skein of pale blue Debbie Bliss Maya in the sale, which might just turn into another pair of fetchings for Amanda...

I had a lovely weekend with my sister, her husband and their three adorable dogs. We did a bit of window shopping, had a lovely lunch at the village tea-shop and took the dogs out for some nice long walks before we were joined by D and our parents for a lovely boozy dinner!

I know it's not knitting, but I'm incredibly proud that I have finally finished the Clothkits traffic skirt that my wonderful sister gave me for Christmas. I've worn it to work and I can't tell you how much I enjoyed it when people asked where I got it from and I could reply "I made it myself!" Here are couple of pictures so that you can enjoy it yourselves!

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!

Happy Easter!

The sun is shining, the sky is blue and we've got a long weekend to do what we please. There's chocolate to be had and life is good! Easter is upon us and I'm having a wonderful weekend. Friday started off pretty promisingly as I set out to walk from Salisbury to Winchester along the Clarendon Way. I got to the halfway point (about 13 miles) just in time for lunch, but then I lost the path, the heavens opened, and I called on my handsome boy to come and rescue me! I was really enjoying being out and about in the fresh air, so I'll definitely finish it off in a week or so - but I think it might be better with a map! After a long hot soak in the tub, I was tired but happy and ready to enjoy another three days off!

Saturday was a real treat, as the boy and I went to one of our favourite places, Lyme Regis. As ever, it was absolutely beautiful and the light was amazing. I spent quite some time trying to get the perfect shot of the newly painted beach huts on Marine Parade. I was particularly taken with hut number 16, which was pink (of course) and had the most charming rose-printed curtains. We enjoyed a lovely cup of tea with Victoria sponge cake, walked along the Cobb in the sunshine and had some delicious chips while sitting on the beach looking out at the sea. What a lovely way to spend the day.

We also popped into Susie Cole, which turns out to be a rather lovely little shop. I'd bought an old lace nightdress from there a couple of years back, which hadn't fitted very well and after quite a bit of wrangling they'd reluctantly issued me with a credit note. Luckily, a much lovelier lady was working there this time and she let me use the credit note even though it probably should have expired by now. The result was a great haul of two wooden bangles, a gorgeous vintage pair of dusky pink satin gloves, a green leather rose bracelet and a pair of old 5.5mm needles made of pale blue plastic.



I also took the opportunity, while we were out in the sunshine on the Cobb, to photograph my Noe Noa scarf, which is now in it's third incarnation! Having frogged it once (do you frog in crochet?) because it wasn't particularly neat I realised that it was actually in the wrong stitch, so with the help of the ever-trusty Debbie Stoller and her Happy Hooker I set about correcting it. I still don't completely understand what I'm doing, but at least the American version of double crochet is twice as quick!

Easter Sunday itself was spent in a rather more prosaic fashion when out of the blue, the boy suggested that we have a spring clean. Now, anyone who knows me will know that cleaning is not exactly my idea of fun and I'd rather just scoop up the balls of cat fur when they get big enough to be mistaken for another cat. Still, it did turn out to be strangely enjoyable as I took the opportunity to sort out my stash, frog a couple of long-dead projects and start thinking about actually finishing something! I also dug out my Clothkits Christmas present and have spent this morning cutting and trying to edge the pieces on Libby's sewing machine so that they don't fray.

And finally, in the midst of all the chocolate loveliness that is Easter, I just wanted to show you something truly special from my sister. Check out this fabulous alternative Easter egg that she gave me! Isn't that just the best Easter gift a girl could ever want to receive?

...and a Happy New Year!

Sorry that it's been a while since I last blogged- I've been so busy knitting and making things in the run up to Christmas that I've hardly had time for anything else! Over the last few weeks, I've made over twenty button bracelets, knitted two hats, a baby jumper, finished a shrug and I've even started a commission for three sets of knitted cats for my friend Corinne. The cats are from a children's book published by Walker Books and you can download the pattern here.
Christmas itself was lovely, spent with David's brother, his wife and four-year-old son, before moving onto my sister's place for Boxing Day. (When we met her new Deerhound puppy Loki!) I even managed an MSN webchat with Mum and Dad in India on Christmas Day, it was quite hard to keep up as my sister was online too and I'm sure that there were at least three conversations going on at the same time. Since then I've received three emails and a lovely long letter, detailing their life over there- which is certainly very different from back here.

One of my favourite gifts was a fabulous green and pink Clothkits skirt covered in pictures of cars from my sister, which I'm really looking forward to making up. I think I'll need to go back to my parent's house to borrow their sewing machine though, as I wouldn't fancy my chances of doing a good enough job by hand!

Before they left, Mum and Dad had a bit of a clear-out and I've inherited some rather lovely Aran and eight balls of an orange acrylic curiously named Torpedo Fluffy! I'm not quite sure what to actually do with them, so answers on the back of a postcard please...Finally, I've bought yet more buttons, this time two packets; one of packet of peacock coloured buttons and also a beautiful ruby red selection. I just need to get some more twine and I'll be back in production before you know it.