In the Garden

There have been many great things about this summer and although the weather hasn't been one of my favourites, it has been amazing for our new garden. I've just spent the best part of the afternoon out pottering; weeding and staking, encouraging and clipping - D and I even harvested our very first crop and enjoyed some simply stunning courgette and lemon pasta for our lunch. I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying being able to look over the garden and notice all the tiny little differences every day.

This time last year, our garden was completely unloved. Wild and full of weeds, it was an embarrassment. Now I am so proud of how beautiful it is and as I sit typing this, I can't help feeling a little bit proud of it. I couldn't have imagined that it could look like this, let alone be producing veggies for my lunch! I think, most of all, I'm looking forward to tucking into a steaming great bowl of potato dauphinoise. Mmmm! It's hard to resist the urge to dig up some spuds right now even though I know for sure that they're not actually ready yet!

Back in the house, and on the needles, I've started the first of two baby dresses for two friends that have recently had their third child - a bonny baby girl and for the lovely Juliet from work, who will having her first in no time at all. It's incredibly satisfying knitting for little people - whatever you're making grows so rapidly and the finished article always looks so cute!

Catching Up On Craft

I couldn't help but notice that in my last post, there was a distinct lack of craft - sorry about that! In my defence, I feel I should say that I was pretty busy and that I did manage at least to bake a batch of muffins to say thank you to my friends at work for all of their lovely gifts and I have finally mastered the art of pain perdu. Mmmmmm.

And it isn't as if I've been a craft-free zone. My quilt is still coming along nicely and I've just spent a really lovely afternoon quilting away while watching the very wonderful "You've Got Mail" by the talented Nora Ephron, who will be sadly missed.

I've also done a little bit of knitting, not much (especially as I decided to unknit a certain amount of my mustard shrug because it had some pretty shonky yarn overs in it!) but enough to still say that I am still a knitter. Just. Oh, and I made a pretty necklace for a friend at work, too.
I started writing this post in the middle of the night, in bed, during an almighty rain storm. It is both welcome and necessary (not to mention loud) but I can't help worrying that my poor tender veggies will be battered by this much water...

I can't tell you how much I love the new garden. I love watching everything grow and take shape - even weeding is a pleasure! And I've started a sort of garden journal to celebrate it all. Today I popped on my bike, cycled to Wilton and spent the last of my birthday tokens on a Temperley rhubarb, some basil and some garlic chives to fill the very last few spaces in the beds. I can't wait to start eating our own veggies. Mmmmm!

It's a bit brighter now and although not fully summery, D and I have made the best of our weekends with trips to the beach at Bournemouth and a glorious picnic at Henley-on-Thames. Here's hoping for a bit more sunshine and a lot more picnics to come!

High Days and Holidays

 Picnic season is well and truly underway now with a pair of picnics for my birthday; one in Pedlar's Park with lots of lovely friends from work on the Friday before my birthday weekend (thanks guys!) and a second with D on the day before my birthday. D had arranged a surprise day out to Oxford which was just lovely. We drove up from Salisbury, picked up some bread, cheese and fruit from the covered market and took it to the University Park for a long lazy lunch in the sunshine. After lunch we took a stroll back into town and I visited the Eccentricity exhibition at the Museum of the History of Science while D browsed for books at Blackwell's.


Next up was a smashing cup of tea at The Grand Cafe, the oldest coffee shop in Oxford and a perfect day was rounded off with a trip to the really rather lovely knitting shop, Darn It and Stitch where I took a very pretty picture of their rainbow of wool and bought a charm pack of creamy-beigey-brown and pale turquoise fabric from the Lily and Will range by Bunny Hill Designs for Moda. It is such a sweet little shop and well worth a visit if you in or near to Oxford.

The day of my birthday itself, I was completely spoiled. I was sent all kinds of cakey goodies; silicone muffin trays, the most beautiful measuring cups you are ever likely to see and a stunning three tier cake stand from my dear sister. D gave me a Kindle, which was a complete surprise and I have promptly loaded it with all of my favourite classics and even more that I haven't read yet. I also used some brilliant V&A fabric that hadn't fitted in with the colours of my quilt, to make a padded case to keep it protected on the train. Framley Parsonage, here I come...

I probably would've posted last weekend but D and I have spent the last week relaxing in the Tuscan sunshine! We stayed in the apartment of a friend and divided our time between swimming or lounging by the pool, and day trips out to the surrounding towns of Florence, Siena, Volterra and San Gimignano. I read some brilliant books; Great House by Nicole Krauss, The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe, High Wages by Dorothy Whipple and When God Was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman. All of them were excellent reads. 

The apartment we stayed in was simple and stunning. It is situated in a tiny little hamlet in the hills not far from Pisa. The view from the bedroom window is of the church in the village at the top of the road and the view from the pool was of olive groves - I can't tell you how amazing it was! The sun shone every day and without internet, email, phone or TV it was a real retreat from the busyness of modern world and a step away from our everyday lives.

Trips out and about gave us a bit of culture and we visited the Uffizi Gallery in Florence for the first time. Both the museum and Florence were slightly overwhelming, so it was nice to visit a few of the more quiet towns in the region. We had the most amazing ice creams on each of our days out, including pistachio, yoghurt, vanilla, lemon, peach, fruits of the forest and best of all stracciatella, which is a plain cream gelato with delicious strips of dark chocolate. Mmmmmmm!

We pootled around in a brand new Fiat 500, which was charmingly Italian and very brave as it tackled all of the hills, often in first gear! I couldn't resist taking this picture of one of the original models that was parked up in Siena. Isn't it cute!

After all that activity, we made sure to make the most of the long evenings; eating wonderful Tuscan recipes, drinking local wine and gazing out over the landscape. I even managed to get in a spot of crafting, starting up the crochet blanket that I had my eye on in The Gentle Art of Knitting. 

Keeping it Cozy

Mellow in Autumn

 Autumn is well and truly here, and what a beautiful season it is. D and I took advantage of our location a few weeks ago and went for a long, lovely stroll through the New Forest. The sun was shining and the light through the trees was amazing. Wherever we walked there were fallen leaves and the most amazing mushrooms. D was incredibly patient as I stopped every few paces to capture yet another fine specimen on my new camera. We saw literally hundreds, in all shapes and sizes; in circles and rings; on trees and in hollows - they were everywhere!

We also made friends with quite a few of the gorgeous New Forest ponies, that roam through the woods and on the common land, but the best thing we saw was the Landford Village Autumnfest. I'm not sure that I have ever seen anything quite so bizarre as their scarecrow competition! Outside every other house in the village was a homemade scarecrow, some modelled on famous people; the Pope, the X-Factor judges, Wayne Rooney, some based on fantasy characters; all manner of fairies, the cast of The Wizard of Oz, Shrek, Borat(!) and some ordinary people; the cellarmen outside the Landford Poacher and the couple getting married outside the old chapel. It was brilliant - click on the link to see the overall winners.

The Finished Mittens 

On the needles, I have now finished my winter mittens, and just in time too! Already, I have to leave for work in the dark, and that extra little bit of warmth will make all the difference as the days get colder. I've also made a little something fro Emily from the Poultry Cross Knitters who will soon be giving birth to her little acorn! I'm also embarking on another Noa Noe scarf for my sister and I am determined to finish Cheadle before cables go back out of fashion! It has been lovely seeing in all the glossy magazines just how much knitting has been shown on the catwalks of the various fashion weeks around the world - here's hoping that more people get knitted and join one of the most gentle crafts going. Mittens crossed!

Messing about with my iPhone!

I'm still completely smitten with my iPhone and happy downloading apps left, right and centre! My favourites so far include Hipstamatic, the Man Booker Prize app, Nike+ GPS for tracking my running and the LSE Mappiness social experiment app. Hours of fun, and my life is way more organised too!

Beautiful Oddness

Something else that I have enjoyed, almost beyond measure was The Enchanted Palace exhibition at Kensington Palace. I visited this weekend with my sister and it was quite possibly the best exhibition that I have ever been to.  It was everything that I would imagine for a dark, beautiful, fairy tale brought to life in an enchanting setting. It contains dreamlike installations, fashion beyond compare, from the likes of Vivienne Westwood and Stephen Jones and William Tempest, a bewitching quest to uncover the stories of seven real-life princesses and contemporary art and poetry from some of the most talented modern artists. It's on until the 28th of February next year - if you can get to London, I urge you to go. Check out this blog of one of the characters Peter the Wild Boy.

One last thing - I have discovered a new passion - the joy of muffins! If only I had known years ago how easy it is to bake these lovely little beauties...  So far, I have tried raspberry and white chocolate, banana and mile chocolate buttons and double-chocolate chip. I shall soon be as big as a house - but very, very popular!

Yummy!

I Love Yarn!

Unsurprisingly, I have caved in and bought some more Cocoon to make my Owls sweater! I've opted for Polar, a really lovely natural shade, but unfortunately the wool has come from two different dye lots, and I'm waiting to hear back from the online retailer, before I get started. I really hope that they can let me have all six balls from the same lot, as I think it would look a little bit odd. Luckily, I do have Cheadle to keep me going, and my Mum bought me 700 grams of navy blue Aran, so I'm going to spend some happy hours on Ravelry looking for the right pattern for it.

Mum and Dad came over this weekend for a visit to admire the new living room (which sadly is still picture-less). We had a lovely lunch of Yotam Ottolenghi's aubergine 'cheesecake' recipe from the Guardian Weekend magazine. I dished it up with a hot ciabatta loaf and a green salad and a bottle of very cold white wine. Yummy! After lunch we took a stroll up to Clarenden Palace in the glorious spring sunshine. A really lovely day.