Sensational Stockholm

I started this post when we got back from Stockholm, which was, I'm ashamed to admit, well over a month ago! D and I had an amazing time and I just wanted to share with you some pictures from our week away and a list of things that I loved most about Stockholm. (In no particular order.)
1. Drinking cocktails at Erik's Gondolen
2. Ten Foot Flowers by Andy Warhol at Moderna Museet
3. Running entirely around Sodermalm
4. Dinner at Pet Sounds bar
5. The Stomatol toothpaste advert
6. Hotell Anno 1647
7. Buying wool at Litet Nystan
8. Drinks at the terrace bar above Bruno Arcade
9. Wandering the streets of Gamla Stan
10. Catching the ferry out to Skeppsholmen

Starting and Finishing

Sorry for the distinct lack of activity here over the last few months - there never seems to be quite enough time in the week and I don't know if I'm trying to cram too much in, but what with one thing and another, I've been a little bit busy. There are so many books that I want to read, so many places that I want to go, things to see and do, so many projects that I want to make and there's the garden too. If only there was an extra day in the week! I am trying to be disciplined and only read one book at a time, only have one project on the needles at a time, but starting and finishing have become a little blurred and I'm really just a bit rubbish at sticking to one thing at a time!

One thing that has been taking up quite a lot of time is the running that I've been doing. My dear friend Piney inspired me to sign up for a place on the Bupa Great South Run, a 10-mile road race around the city of Portsmouth, which I am now running on behalf of the charity that I volunteer for, Cruse Bereavement Care. It's definitely hard work and although I thought I wouldn't make it, I am now starting to feel a bit more confident about the forthcoming race. I think I might even be (... gasp ...) starting to enjoy running! My training schedule has involved an average of three runs every week and I'm now up to eight miles on my long runs, which takes me about an hour and a half. During the week, I have to limit myself to an hour and most of that will now be in the dark. (Can you see why I'm short on time.)

The garden continues to be wonderful and I have been finding winning ways with potatoes and discovered the joy of courgette carbonara and I'm really looking forward to the beetroot, leek and onion that are still to come out of the ground. Although absolutely beautiful, it is a little bit wild right now, but I have a few days holiday owing so I hope to be able to get everything ready for winter before it gets too wet and miserable. I have some seeds that I'd like to get in before the frosts and the weeds that have sprung up really need a good talking to! I've bought some bulbs for a bit of spring colour which will be something nice to look forward to.

On the needles, I have started (and actually finished) two baby dresses and my first ever pair of socks! One of my New Year's resolutions (aside from finishing things!) was to learn how to knit socks and when the lovely Heather at Born to Knit said she was going to be running a sock knitting workshop, I leapt at the chance. Seriously, what could be better than an entire day knitting - and learning something new at the same time? My idea of heaven. I have conquered the sock and can now turn a heel with confidence. I've even worn them on a wonderful trip to Stockholm, about which more anon...

What a Wonderful Weekend

 

 

Best in Show

Alllium

 

Foxgloves Galore

 The last three days have been an absolute whirlwind of delights, with trips to the Chelsea Flower Show and Malmaison in Oxford all rounded off with a bit of knitting, quilting, running, and some quality time in the garden. 

Kaffe Fassett's Emporium
of Fabrlc Delights

Roses, Roses, Roses

Having narrowly missed out on tickets to Chelsea last year, my sister and I were determined to make it and she booked our tickets in January. I can tell you that it was definitely worth the wait and lived up to all of the hype and way beyond my expectations. It was all so beautiful that I ended up feeling rather overwhelmed by it as we strolled the pathways soaking up garden after garden after garden. The Brewin Dolphin Garden deisgned by Cleve West which won best of the show gardens was a worthy winner and my sister and I were both really taken by the Laurent-Perrier Garden designed by Arne Maynard. 

We had an absolutely smashing picnic and I went completely belly up for the whole Artisans' Retreats area. The Kaffe Fassett exhibition was probably my favourite thing of the entire day, though I'd be hard pushed to say that there was anything about the entire day that I didn't like!   

 












Oxford was almost equally lovely and D and I had the most delicious meal followed by an afternoon of browsing bookshops and a picnic supper in the Oxford University Parks before retiring to our rather lovely accommodation that D had booked through the university. What a wonderful weekend!

The Joys of Spring

I don't know if it's because spring is in the air, but I've been feeling really creative lately and I can't seem to get enough of crafting. The week before last, it was my mum's birthday and I'd started a quilted cushion cover for her sometime in February. As is all too often the case with me, I'd started with enthusiasm and completed quite a lot of it, but then I'd totally run out of steam and the poor cushion cover lay in a heap on the back of the sofa until I was quilting against the clock. Now, I know that necessity is a great motivator, so I got up early on the Saturday before the actual birthday, edges the necessary bits of the quilt and sewed the sides together to create a rather lovely (if I say so myself) present for my very lovely mum.

I made the post and Mum loved her present and the crafting bug seems to have bitten. Since finishing the cushion cover, I've started another quilt, from a Hometown jelly roll by Sweetwater for Moda. I've never tried anything with a jelly roll before and wasn't quite sure where to start, but Emma from my new knitting group came to the rescue and kindly loaned me a copy of Jelly Roll Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott. It's a great book and shows clearly how to make the most of a jelly roll. I was really sceptical that you would get an entire quilt out of so little material, but having cut and pieced it's going to be a full sized quilt. I've really enjoyed having a day of cutting and sewing and I'm hoping that I should be able to get the whole thing finished in a matter of weeks, rather than the months and months and months that it took to make my first one!

On the needles, Olive is coming along really well and I'm already well past the bustline. I've also cast on a shrug from Ravelry by Katya Gorbacheva which is giving me the opportunity to use some beautiful vintage needles that have been languishing in a pen-pot on my desk. I've also started up the sock monster manufacturing again and have half a dozen sock-skins ready for sewing and stuffing. Busy, busy, busy!

Off the needles, D and I celebrated the birthday of a very special two-year-old with a delicious lunch at the True Lovers Knot pub near Blandford. We've also helped our local landlord and friend celebrate the opening of his new pub The Haunch of Venison. (He's still working on the website, so I'll post a link when it's up and running.)

Speaking of running, I've started that up again as well and am following a nice, gentle training programme, which I hope will help me feel fitter and more energetic - and full of the joys of spring!

Messing About on the River

Once my birthday celebrations were all over it became time to focus on a couple of physical challenges that I had set for myself for the summer. First off was a Superhero Dash around Greenwich Park in aid of theNational Literacy Trust. At work we've pledged to raise £30,000 for the NLT as part of our 30th anniversary year, and to help us along the way, 25 of us, and two superdogs Merlin and Puggy, dressed up like Where's Wally? and ran (or in my case jogged) 5k in public! Between us we raised nearly £6,000, which was a wonderful achievement.

What wasn't quite so wonderful was the state of my legs the following day, especially as I'd signed up for a Race for Life 10k with my sister that was due to take place in a fortnight! Two weeks of pretty intensive training were clearly needed, so I was out every other day to try and get in shape. On the day, we arrived at the Luton Hoo Estate in 35 degree heat! It was shockingly hot and just the thought of running anywhere was really daunting. What we didn't realise was that the course was dry, dusty, uneven and not at all flat... But, in spite of all of that, running out of water at 6k, and losing our support team due to a last minute course change, we did it! It may have taken rather longer than we were expecting, but we were pretty proud of our 1 hour 14 minutes and 7 seconds!

So, after a few weeks of pretty intensive exercise, this weekend has been a delight of lazing and eating and generally taking it easy. Yesterday, D and I were invited to an amazing barbecue with some dear friends who we used to work with. Claudia and Simon are two of the most wonderful, genial hosts and we ate so well that I thought I might have to be air-lifted out of their garden!

We followed that up with a trip today to D's alma mater, Henley Business School for their annual Members' Day, which always coincides with Henley Royal Regatta. We packed in a boat trip on the 112 year-old steamship Consuta, a delicious picnic, an incredibly difficult quiz and a yummy cream tea. Henley is always beautiful, but when the river is busy and buzzy, I love it even more. After this weekend, I really think I need to get my trainers back on and get out running again!

On the needles, I've very nearly finished a Debbie Bliss stripy little raglan-sleeved baby jumper from The Baby Knits Book for Tess. As soon as I get some extra cream Baby Cashmerino Aran I shall finish the last six rows and sew it all up. The owls sweater has buttons on order, but until they arrive I'm afraid that there won't be any photos. To make up for it, I will post some photos that I've taken with my new Olympus Pen E-PL1. It is an amazing camera - so light and easy to use. I took it for a walk around the Cathedral Close before WWKIPW on the 12th of June and got some really sweet shots.

New Beginnings

Happy New Year and happy new beginnings to you all! 2010 has arrived and I wish that the year brings you only happiness. No great resolutions were undertaken by me, but I am hoping that this year will be as good as last and I shall endeavour to enjoy every minute. D and I got off to a rather nice start with a trip to Bournemouth for a stroll along the beach in the afternoon sun. It was quite buzzy and busy, and a great start to the year.

I've already started enjoying my new sewing machine. I laid out the pattern for my new dress and realised that I could really do with a pin cushion to help me out. A quick search of Threadbanger and Craft lead me to Planet June's tutorial for an Offset Square Wrist Pincushion for which I put my Janome into good use for the first time yesterday afternoon. I think that it might have to be a weekends only project as it feels as though I want to spend sizable chunks of time on it. I promised pictures as I go along, so here are the pattern pieces so far.
On the needles right now, I still have the study blanket and the lacy tea top, both of which are having a bit of a rest, so I'm using up my odds and ends to make up a stash-busting crochet scarf. (Accompanied in this picture by the stunning grey velvet bag that my sister gave me for Christmas!)
Off the needles, I am enjoying re-reading The Dark is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper, I've started running again, and I've also had a lovely night out with my dear friend Piney to see New Moon. Lastly, I'm loving listening to some new music thanks to an iTunes voucher from David. This week on my iPod it's been largely Scouting for Girls, Paloma Faith, Muse, La Roux, Jay-Z and The Temper Track.

Happy Holidays

D and I are just back from a rather wonderful week in Cornwall. We were pretty lucky with the weather and although it was cold, it was clear and just about the perfect weather for wandering along deserted beaches and staring wistfully out at the sea. As you can see from the photo, my Flicca cardigan got its very first outing in public, accompanying me to St Ives where we took in the sea air and visited The Dark Monarch exhibition at the Tate Gallery. We also stuffed our faces with the most delicious pasties and I took a series of photos of the boats in the harbour and the beautiful beach. Other days out included The National Seal Sanctuary at Gweek, Sennen Cove, a trip on the King Harry Ferry to St Mawes, a visit to Boscastle and a morning wandering around the gardens of the National Trust property at Trelissick.

My absolutely favourite place to visit in Cornwall though has to be Trevaunance Cove in St Agnes. It is always beautiful and on this occasion it was just stunning. It was really quite wild while we were there and D and I wandered around the sands taking photos of the magnificent waves. Talk about mean, moody and magnificent. Very romantic, too.

While we were away, I took full use of the amenities where we were staying and swam every day we were away. I also racked up nearly 20k on the treadmill in the gym, which I thought was a pretty good effort! I optimistically took about ten books with me, but only had the time to read a couple - Small Wars by Sadies Jones and Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger, which were both perfect holiday reading. I also started The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, which I'm hoping will be a grower, as I'm not loving it as much as I'd hoped.

Due to the curious length of the Cornish mile, I really got stuck into Mum's Christmas present, the Shalom cardigan. Every time we were in the car going somewhere, I whipped out the needles and notched up a couple more rows. The pattern was made for someone six feet tall, so I'm having to take out a whole bunch of rows - hopefully it's still in proportion. I shall have to have a trying on session and check that it's not ended up completely wonky!

Now that Christmas is getting closer, I've opened up my button box again and started working on some new bracelets to sell at the Walker Books Christmas Craft Fair. I invested in some new buttons from Pavi Yarns online store, which is particularly good as you can buy in much smaller quantities than some other retailers, which means I can experiment a bit more without having to invest to heavily. I'd already been comissioned for four little bracelets from Lucy at work for her nieces, and it's been really lovely making them up. Here's an example of one of the new ones that I've made up - hope you like it!

Nice New Things

Christmas is coming early, and I've already started my first present project! It's the Danica pattern from Knitty that I was thinking about last week. Now, I usually find that scarves are just about the most boring thing in the world to knit, but this one is an entrelac scarf, and that makes it much more interesting. You only ever knit ten stitches at a time, and you really just have to trust in Jesse Loesberg's brilliant pattern without thinking too much about it, so that you get this...The other nice new thing in my life is a very exciting gadget for my iPod. It's called Nike+ and it is just about the most funky little gadget in the world. You simply plug it into the bottom of your iPod, go out for a run, plug your iPod into your laptop when you get back and it gives you a graph of how far you've been and how fast you've run. It's brilliant! It even tells you how you're getting on during your run. I can certainly see myself getting out and about more often. (And that's no bad thing at all!)