brooklyn meets canary meets the boyfriend (hat)...

OMG...O...M...G...

how many months was that? flew by...in the twinkling of an eye...and the meanderings of a bleak London winter full of lurgeys and Too Much Day Job...(TMDJ by far!)

anyway, here we are again...I won't even apologise for my absence, or promise to do better next time...will just enjoy the fact that I've found a window and I have some bloggable photos on my laptop, all at the same time...

so, I've got this lovely friend called Bert (you may remember him, Bert the Baker from a previous post... what? just the last one? no way...it was AAAAGGGES ago...) and Bert needed a new scarf. He mentioned this to me and all the little cogs in my rusty old brain whorred and whirred and finally engaged upon the notion of making him just such an item for Xmas (ok, so it's a historical post, forgive me...some day I'll catch up with myself again...maybe). Apart from anything else it presented itself as a charming opportunity to try out some beloved noro yarn in the form of a lovely Brooklyn Tweed inspired stripey scarf. (BtB loves stripes)

Shock Horror though, the man started talking about needing a new scarf a bit TOO much. And looking at them in shops and craft fairs a bit TOO much. Yours truly began to get anxious, and worried. And wondered how to avoid having her present (non-original as it was) undermined by coming second to a new SHOP BOUGHT item (the HIDEOUSNESS!)... until the obvious solution presented itself : send him an anonymous warning note.

Of course!

One happy evening of cutting and sticking later (I may be 42 but the simple pleasures never fail me) the job was done and winging its way courtesy of her Majesty's most Royal Mail to deepest East London (where he lived at the time - I wasn't just randomly sending it to East London, oh no, I'm waaay cleverer than that)

And a couple more happy evenings of knitting and purling later (well, many hours on buses, trains, sofas, hard chairs and soft if I'm honest, my knitting ain't a speed sport) the scarf was born.


BtB loved it. And hadn't even bought himself a new scarf in the meantime. RESULT!



Later I added a small linen robot button and loop so he could fasten it tight (on super chilly mornings)

the addition of the button turned everything green...it was like magic*

and made him a matching hat, which I call Brooklyn meets Boyfriend as it's an amalgamation of the Brooklyn Tweed inspired noro striping and Stephanie's Boyfriend Hat

(waiting patiently for a tube)

And he wears them all the time...

Bye, for now....

*errr, not really

(from the sublime) to the ridiculous...

ok, so there really was no sublime...but this is getting ridiculous...it's JANUARY!!! I posted last in OCTOBER...blimey, how did that happen?

well, stuff has been going on, as always. Big changes afoot chez Milkwood. Am sure I'll you all about them in due course.

The crafting has been hit as a result of the energy demanded by the changes, but I still have some things to show (as I should, I've had 3 bloody months!)

First up - my dear and darling friend Gail had herself a dear and darling third child, a beautiful little girl called Maya. So obviously it was an opportunity not to be missed to indulge my love of all things cute and cosy and rustle her up a baby quilt...


isn't she adorable? good god, I'll be coming over all broody next, and that would NEVER do, believe you me...

Then came Xmas (Happy Xmas all!) and I went a bit crazy making neck warmers for the ladies in my life. All from ultra gorgeous, warm and snuggley Noro Kureyon

One for Granny Margaret, another for Granny Una and a third for my lovely friend and colleague Mia, who much to my delight wears it every day in our chilly office (well, whenever I am there anyway, for all I know she rips it off with relief the minute I leave for the day - but I hope not)
Cute aren't they - I got the pattern from the woman down the wool shop, but apparantly you can get similar pattern on Marths Stewart's website - don't say I never tell you anything...

Oh, and I finally finished the Stolen Moments wrap, which I am very happy with...my one quibble with it is that it (the Big Wool I knit it from rather than the wrap per se) moults a lot all over my coat (one of the guys at work thought I was covered in cat hair - it's GREEN - huh? what kind of cats do they have in Sydenham then??...) and (oh, there appear to be two quibbles) it has gone very bobbley very quickly. Sigh.

Is very warm though and I LOVE the colour...(is a bit, um, greener, in real life)

Ok, I will make no promises about my return...but I hope to be back sooner rather than later...

Hope you are all doing ok out there in blogland and sorry again I've been so useless of late...

knitters...sitting comfortably?

the last project on my needles, way back in February and still, sad to say, a UFO

first of all, a huge thank you to all of you who were so positive in reply to my last post. It meant a lot to have so many nice messages telling me not to stop. Indeed so much so that I am quite convinced to continue, and not to feel guilt about the erracticness and random nature of my posting. So here I am, almost another three weeks later...hello...

I got an email during the week from the lovely Tanya Shoop. Tanya is the sister of a very good friend of mine who I met when studying for my MA in Art Theory at Chelsea School of Art here in London. The people I met on that course were far and away the best thing about it (suffice it to say the level of theoretisation ( is this a word?) I needed to apply during the course rendered me incapable of making art since...someday this will change I am sure...but not today or tomorrow I suspect) Anyway, I digress. Tanya is a great knitter (and one day we will knit together at our local Stitch'n'Bitch in the local pub, once I resolve my reservations about mixing booze and knitting, or at least learn the wisdom of the soft drink). Anyway. Not only is Ms Shoop a wonderful knitter but also a very gifted Alexander Technique therapist/teacher. Luckily for me her email contained this article, all about knitting in a way that should ensure you can keep on doing so past your forties. You knitters should all take note. Thanks Tanya. The knitting community salute you!

By the way, Tanya's website is well worth a visit, lots of hints and tips on there even if you happen not to be a knitter...

hot on the needles...new cardi for Ms Bester (who is still struggling into the one I knit her 4 years ago, age 8 months, and plaintively asking each time when I am going to knit her another...luckily for me she is the patient kind)

I wasn't quite practising what Tanya preaches down in the park this afternoon I'm afraid, but I excuse myself on the grounds that it's the first time I've picked up my needles since February so I was a tad overexcited...Once this overexcitement wears off it'll be straight backed chairs rather than picnic rugs for me, I swear...(as long as I can get a variation on the straight backed chair I can drag along to the park that is)

me, looking grim, I wasn't grim, honestly, I think it is just old age (and bad knitting posture, obviously)

As you can see the weather here in London is stunning. Our new garden is complete, it only took 13 months hard toil (well, erraticly spaced toil I should make plain, with lots of gaps for tea) and so we really are enjoying the mini-heatwave we've been treated to over the past week. Here are some snaps for my dad, who has been badly treated in terms of regular snaps of the work (he is interested in things like this, he used to be a carpenter, and a fine one at that)

look dad, a patio! some beds! steps! a lawn!

some tired landscape gardeners taking a well deserved rest and glass of bubbly

gratuitous shot of the table outside, later that night (I'm riveting dinner company with my camera around my neck I tell you)

Hope the sun is shining wherever you are...

I LOVE lunch...and other people's birthdays

in a concession to our new found position as parents of a combined total of six smallfry and the incompatibility of such a situation with late night dinner parties (with smallfry in attendance) the Dinner Circle has recently mutated to Lunch Circle. Inaugural meeting today at the home of my good friends Ms. D and The Wolf. The King and Queen of the Dinner Circle, Anna (who totally stupified me by at the initial DC meeting by whipping up from scratch only the damn finest ever chocolate brownies for pudding WHILE we were sitting around the table relaxing after our main course - I tell you - that's a hard act to follow!) and Fraser were there too, along with their adorable new addition, Ms Martha. Cue gratuitous photo of me with Ms M...(cause it's always nice to have a baby photo when you can)

though she is wearing the kimono cardi I knit her so maybe not so gratuitous after all...
(aside :: the knit I am sporting is a 20 year old creation by Ms D...I am a cold body and had to snatch it while there...it's an amazing fairisle which has worn incredibly well over the years)

Ms D claims she has been suffering a dearth of home entertainment opportunities of late and so in a frenzy of making up for lost time presented us with the following ::

• Jamie Oliver's Caponata as a starter starter while the kids were tucking into their mini version of our main course (see below) - this alone would have made me thought I'd died and gone to heaven
• Fresh beetroot and mozzarella Salad as a starter proper
• Home made tagliatelle (yes, you read that right, the pasta was hanging out in the garden to dry when we arrived - I cursed when I realised I didn't have my camera to hand) with melt in the mouth Lamb Shank and ragout as a main course
• Fig and Almond tart (with thyme...very interesting, not to mention totally delicious) for pudding
• Milk and White Chocolate Easter Egg ring for the kids pudding...somehow I find myself able to vouch for its deliciousness too...hmmm

I am telling you all this as the Lunch Circle members demanded a blog entry of their own...happy now folks?!

It's Ms D's birthday on Friday (Happy Birthday my darling friend) so I rustled up a little soya candle in vintage teacup gift for her...




see that cake in the background there... that was only the bloomin' children's pudding (can you tell I am in total awe of people who can bake?)


Other other people's birthday news ::

I finally sourced the yarn for Nich's socks (which I mentioned in the last post)...

super chunky araucania, in a suitably hippyish hue

finished the dropped stitch scarf for another dear friend's 40th (we are falling like flies I tell ya) - whose name I can't mention in case she reads this blog - made from handspun handdyed yarn from Rosalinde the alpaca which I sourced here...

the yarn came with some photos of Rosalinde (which my animal mad pal will love) and wrapped in with it were two organza bags full of dried lavender...I tell you that scarf was the most relaxing, enjoyable knit I ever had...I was swooning on a cloud of heavenly lavender scent with every stitch...mmmm

Final installment (I promise!) on my own birthday news ::
Lovely, thoughtful, perfect gift from my ex-workmate Midori who I met for sushi during the week (random factoid - I managed to get out for Sushi three nights out of six last week, a record, particularly for me...)

Midori lived for six years in Japan so when she discovered my new found love for Japanese tea knew exactly what to get me...

Tea Tray with Green Tea Caddy and Genmaicha

isn't that tea caddy simply the most gorgeous ever seen?

Thanks Midori, you ROCK!

I'll be back to show what I made for the Time for Tea swap and my Project Improv log cabin square as soon as I know they are safely delivered. In the meantime enjoy yourselves, whatever you are up to...

jammin'...and yarn searchin'

so... there I was Saturday night hanging around in the kitchen at the birthday party of this really lovely man I know...drinking, chatting, getting a bit drunk (it's this thing I do at parties)...next thing Mr G introduces me to a pleasant man wearing a nice blue scarf (don't think it was handmade, unfortunately - that would have been really good)...we chatted....it emerged he was ONLY ONE OF MY ALL TIME MUSICAL HEROES...blimey, knock me over with a champagne cork.


I've loved the high llamas since I was knee high to a llama myself (and I suffer a bit from musical amnesia so only those close to me know what a miracle it is for me to even recognise a piece of music nevermind remember who is responsible for it)...believe me when I tell you this man is a genius. Anyway, we chatted somemore and then my friend whose birthday it was called us all into the living room where he had gotten his guitar out and had started a singsong. Being the natural shrinking violet that I am I didn't immediately start shaking a jingly shaker in time (NOT) to the music. Nor did I appear to be enjoying it all so much that a random (very sweet) stranger went and found me a tambourine so I could make an even bigger noise. Nor did I then decide it would be a great idea to press gang another poor soul into joining me in an official capacity as backing percussionist up next to the birthday boy who actually has musical ability. Nor were we then joined by the man himself. NOR DID I END UP JAMMING WITH SEAN O'HAGAN.

well, er...I did actually. Last Saturday night.

Enough of all that, back to the crafting. I am looking for recommendations for a good, bright, hippyish variegated chunky yarn (he wants them bright and cheery) to knit these socks for my friend Nich who so nicely requested some in exchange for the "1 Hand Knitted Item Of Your Choice" voucher I rather lamely presented him with for his birthday.

Your recommendations, please...(all the ones on ravelry seem to be done in yarns more easily available in the US)

london at a standstill...a kimono for Martha...some slippers for some feet

we had some snow...it brought the country to its knees...apparantly 6 million people couldn't get to work yesterday...that's some "duvet day"! those of you used to snow must be hysterical with laughter...

a street junction just up from my house...

the bird house in our back garden...

poor birds must be having a rotten time...mind you we ran out of bird food so they got to enjoy some of my organic super omega wonder food seed mix (at a cost of approximately 10 pence per seed I reckon)...I hope they enjoyed it

there were people snowboarding and skiing (yes, really) in the central London park down the road from where we live (while my kids descended the hill on a small tin tray which they had to fight over...poor sods)

I had my laptop at home so was able to work from there...this is my favourite bit about working from home...mmmm, proper breakfast...


other news... my good friends (fellow campers and dinner circle founder members) Anna and Fraser had themselves a bonny baby girl...as is my wont I had to indulge my love of knitting baby kimono cardis with this result...


NORO Cash Iroha yarn - silk, cashmere and merino - yum yum yum

(I made a change to the pattern this time and only put one button - I like it)

(that little Martha is fairly scrummy too I can tell you - was nearly tempted until I remembered I'll be 40 next week and more nappies might just hasten my end...) (can't believe I just shared that particular piece of info)

(what's with all the brackets?)

(must be imminent senility)

and finally, a visual update on the now felted slippers...


sweet huh?

knitting 101...

Ms Reva's first attempt - she is 6 now, I thought it time she learned. Very even and neat I reckon. Though it may take a while to make a scarf, even if it's just for a teddy bear...
She chose the wool herself at our local yarn store. She is such a great kid, she always surprises me with her choices. Moss green. Beautiful.

Meanwhile, plundering the archives somewhat, here is my own first attempt, from back when I was six myself. Taught by the nuns at school and my mum at home I managed to concoct this, ahem, fine pencil case.

(spot the original 70s trebor sweet wrapper peeping out through the zipper - now you know what I really carried to school each day)

My knitting, far less even than Ms Reva's though it was, actually garnered me a prize : something similar to this (believe it or not). I still remember walking up to the top of the classroom to the presiding nun and being presented with it. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Still don't really.

My mum kept that pencil case in her knitting bag all these years and my sister found it in her attic last year - mothers, aren't they a marvel?!

Meanwhile, this is what's on my needles at the moment:

What the heck is that I hear you shriek. Why slippers of course (well, one slipper at least) for Ms Reva. To be felted. Lime green ones to follow for her sister. Once I find my needles again that is...(what IS it with me and needles?)

PS I've volunteered to run an after school art club at the girls school. We are meeting to discuss the plans tomorrow. If you have any great ideas for activities to inspire a group of kids aged 6-11 over a 6 week block period let me know. For some reason (am suffering a god awful lurgy to be precise) my inspiration is somewhat dry today...

wishing you a sweet and happy new year...

a colleague of mine introduced me to the Jewish tradition of apples dipped in honey at Rosh Hashanah in order to symbolically invite sweet things for the year to come. Being a bit of a magpie when it comes to appealing customs and rituals I brought this one home and shared it with the kids and Mr G way back then (October, was it?). When it came to the recent New Year's Eve Ms Reva, she of the amazing memory and attention to detail not to mention adoration of all things ritualistic (now, where could she get that from I wonder?) asked when we would be doing the apple and honey thang. With yours truly around she didn't need to ask twice.

There being no reason not to we adopted it in for our (non-Jewish New Year) New Year's Day brunch. We wished for sweet things for 2009 and that's my wish for you too. Have a great 2009, wherever you are. Honey coated or not.

(The brunch was great too...apples and honey, home made pancakes, scrambled eggs, smoked salmon, bagels, cream cheese, croissants, bonne maman jam, lashings of tea and copious amounts of coffee from Mr G's xmas pressie espresso maker. Mmmm, now that's a custom that has taken firm root chez milkwood...)

I've been absent a lot of late. Real life has got me in its grips and is squeezing me tight. Work is busier than ever, the kids are growing and seem to need more rather than less of me. It's ok, it's just taken me a bit by surprise. Ms Bester starts nursery at BIG SCHOOL next week and I can feel her quiet trepidation. Ms Reva is back to school tomorrow after an illness blighted Xmas and I can hear her not-so-quiet feelings on the subject!

I did quite a bit of knitting coming up to December 25th though, some of which has been passed to its recipients and can be shown.

My dad had some health issues last year, which he has met head on (as he does everything in life, amazing chap my dad) and now walks an hour or so early each morning. I walked his daily route with him on my last visit, riverside in Co. Cork. Every day I think of him taking his constitutional and so this Xmas when faced with the dilemma of what to get the man who needs nothing and wants less I decided to knit him a scarf to wear while walking. A multi-directional diagonal scarf to be precise. There were a couple of nerve wracking days waiting for the sumptuous Noro Silk Garden to arrive but arrive it did and soon those needles were clicking and clacking on the bus, in the doctors waiting room, at Ms Reva's Xmas carol concert, on my bike (oh no, actually I didn't go quite that far) and he received his parcel a little after the big day (I blame the Irish Post!).



That Noro Silk Garden is a lovely yarn, and I like these manly colours, very suitable for my dear dad. They match exactly the colours he likes to wear. I hope he has many many hours of warm walking and feels the love in every stitch. (Shame I don't have a photo of dad wearing it on his walk, maybe he'll send me one...hint, hint)

The aforementioned colleague (with the apples and honey) has recently taken to knitting after a 26 year hiatus. A rekindled passion responsibility for which she lays squarely at my door. I am happy with this and am quietly hoping to recruit more workmates to the dark art. They are mostly male software engineers more interested in World of Warcraft and techno-gadgetry but I hold out a glimmer of hope. Mia knit lots of hats for Xmas and helping her find a pattern on ravelry we came across this particularly fetching ribbed beanie which I surreptitiously managed to knit up for Mr G for his stocking.
The yarn is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran and it's lovely. Amazingly I knit most of it while sitting watching TV with him and he was still overcome with surprise when he unwrapped it. All I can assume is that he thought I was knitting yet another tea cosy.

Speaking of tea cosies, there were a few of those on the needles too. One for Jane which I forgot to take a photo of but which I hope will keep her tea toasty warm while she is recovering from her leg operation on Wednesday and not wanting to have to make the trip to the kettle too often. And one for an undisclosable recipient who hasn't yet received it. Ooooh, nothing like leaving on a note of mystery eh?...

nice knitting...knitting with alliteration...

My darling Ms Reva fights sleep every night. I lie there beside her, wondering why the heck* this should be so, why should a tiny 6 year old who is quite clearly exhausted beyond belief both physically and mentally not fall to slumber with grace and ease. My wondering has thus far yielded no results. We have some of our oddest and most intimate conversations at this time of day. As well as some blooming irritating ones where she is obviously just racking her brains for anything to say to keep herself awake and I am like a broken record with my refrain (in increasingly stressed tone) of "no more talking now dear" (I don't really say the "dear" bit - I just put that in to make me sound nicer than I really am at that time of night after a long long day. I normally stop, sternly, after the word "now"). Anyway, I digress. One night last week it emerged that Ms Reva now knows all about alliteration, she's learned it at school. She delighted in repeating examples of said grammatical feature while I wondered about sleep deprivation and its long term effects on the under tens. And their mothers. It emerged she also knows all about similes now too. (Tautologies? no, I reckon I am safe... for now). Don't they grow up fast now though? I seem to remember learning this kind of stuff in secondary school at about twice her tender age.

So, in the spirit of alliteration, I share with you:

some fingerless mittens for Maaya (my lovely Japanese friend) who recently turned an age with a 0 on the end and threw a wonderful party


these are Evangeline (you need to be a ravelry member to access the free pattern I am afraid - another great reason to join eh?) knit in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino aran on size 5.0




and a capelet for Katy (I checked, as long as the sound is the same it counts, apparently) who is far too young and needs to celebrate a 0 laden birthday before I can possibly take her seriously^. Katy has been having a rather unpleasant time of it with a wicked teacher who ignores the needs of young children when it come to the notion of Father Christmas and so it was nice to (hopefully) cheer her up.


in Rowan Cocoon in kiwi on size 8.0

Great patterns both


I have plans for another capelet in a kind of purple, as well as some mittens for myself for those days I want to knit in the park, however I am in the throes of frantic secret gift knitting at the moment so those will have to wait...

I hope you are all bearing up well in this season of insanity (if truth be told I'm getting more manic by the day...)

*"why the heck" being Ms Bester's favourite phrase of exclamation which she reckons is just the right side of proper swearing to earn her no more than an indulgent tutting - I LOVE it!
^joke

a robot...an oversized urchin...and some frogs

oops, that was a bit of a long and unintentional break. Real life seems to be interrupting my crafting'n'blogging existence more than I would like of late. It's the day job, and the kids, and the need to sometimes go out and do other stuff...it all mounts up and gets in the way. Apologies to everyone whose blog I haven't visited in a while. I miss you all! Am hoping to get back into blogger/crafter mode properly again soon. Or maybe it just has to be like this for a while. Hmm, anyway, I'll be popping by again as soon as I possibly can.

I've been reading a bit more than usual of late, and so knitting less on the bus. I seem to bring myself to kind of crisis point with too many knitting projects on the go at one time and then need to take a break and read myself back to some semblance of sanity. I have completed two knits recently though, one of which I'll show you here and one which has yet to be received by its recipient and so won't be unveiled just yet. I've also just ordered some rather lovely Noro Silk Garden Chunky for my next project (never mind the 4 WIPs that are currently hugging various sets of needles, just ignore those)

But before all that...feast your eyes on this...

incredible isn't it?

my swap received from Jan in the DQS5 swap. I mentioned that I liked robots and Jan is obviously psychic and just knew I love stars and put them all together to create this stunning mini quilt

it has gorgeous hand quilting too, which I hope you can make out

I LOVE it. Thanks so much Jan. I now have to tidy my craft room so it can look beautiful on the wall.

Other news...I visited my new nephew Isaac in Geneva recently

we (well, me'n'my sis, not the babe, obviously) drank lots of hot drinks by the lake, and did those sisterly things (like wandering around looking in craft shops and at christmas ornaments and interesting teabags for hours on end) that I miss so much (oh come to London Kate, you'd love it!)


I brought lil Isaac along a froggy baby quilt - this was a lot of fun to make, such joyful fabrics.

My two girls got involved in fabric and pattern choices and Isaac's mum seemed to like it.

unbound

Baby quilts really are lovely to make, especially when you get to work with frogs and polkadots!

bound
(forgive the awful colours in this photo - not sure what happened)

However on the way to Gatwick airport I managed to leave my Le Slouch from last year on the train (my sister says I must never travel on trains with anything connected with handknitting again, as I always suffer a loss. I say I should just start taking a bit more responsibility for my belongings and stop daydreaming so much!)

Anyway, this latest knitting/train fiasco lead me to make this little number



it's an urchin, intentionally oversized (so as to slouch) in Rowan Cocoon Bilberry.

It is soft and warm and I love the colour. I just need to make a felted corsage with which to adorn it next. I may even make a non-oversized urchin too, just for the heck of it!

Hope you are all well and enjoying the lead up to the festive season. Take it easy and have plenty of cups of tea. It's cold out there

you know that your child has been living with a blogger for too long when...

...the first thing she does upon receipt of some postal goodies is dash off immediately in search of the best available light and arrange them ready to be photographed...


...goodies from Helen at Angharad, there was also an old fashioned peg ready for some peg dolly action but the apprentice blogger decided to omit that for a reason known only to herself...

I had no idea what Ms Reva was up to, quite thought she'd lost her marbles in fact (now I know how my overmilkwood-mates must feel about me on a regular basis) until the penny finally dropped. Then I just felt an overwhelming sense of pride...(ahem, you know I'm kidding, right?...right?)

Thanks Helen, for the unexpected goodies for the kids as well as for my lovely giveaway prizes, which I have so far managed to keep for myself, thanks in no small part to the distraction of the peg dolly goodies.

If you planned it that way it was both cunning and immensely successful!

A word about the fabric in the background there: it is a piece of 50s barkcloth I managed to pick up in Jubilee Market one Monday morning - I LOVE 50s barkcloth - we had a wooden holiday chalet on the Irish coast in the 1970s which was still rigged out from the 50s with curtains and cushions etc in this and it always takes me back to those really happy times - if anyone knows a good source for the stuff PLEASE let me know...(cos, like, I really need to start collecting something else you know...)

Apart from photo shoots with the baby blogger I've been engaged with making a doll quilt for the Doll Quilt Swap No 5 (first one I've joined in with)


I used some of my favourite fabrics and made an attempt at a flying geese pattern. Don't look too closely though as if you do you'll see my geese are a little random and not so keen on flying in military style formation

Pesky birds!

I enjoyed making it though and have great plans to make quilts for the girls, and even one for my own king size bed one day. Whoa...hold on there girl...

(you can see more DSQ5 pictures over on flickr)

What else? oh yes...every cloud has a silver lining...as you may recall I lost my fancy dangled harmony option needles on a train from Liverpool and so have been a bit stumped on the knitting front (well, until yesterday when the replacements finally arrived - Hallelujah!). I was forced into using some old plastic ones from the days I used to buy up lots of vintage knitting needles on ebay which brought me the very pleasant experience of knitting with red malabrigo on pretty green needles...

...was almost worth losing the needles to enjoy those contrasting colours together...

In the background there you can see my lovely Cath Kidston bag sent by my even more lovely friend Katy when I moaned about not being allowed to be in her draw due to being a UK resident. Always worth a little moan I reckon. Thanks Katy. Mwah!

The knitting ended up as a tea cosy for my old school friend Siobhan. She had requested a red one as recently as November 2007 (my ability to procrastinate knows few equals) and I managed it in time for a belated Birthday Present this year. Happy Birthday dear hope you like it!

The weather in London this month is a strange mix of beautiful, clear crisp Autumn days and dark days of non-stop miserable rain. Last Sunday was one of the former and we got out to the woods, taking coffee and bagels with us.

It was a lovely little excursion and one I hope to repeat often this Autumn and Winter.

Hope you are managing to enjoy Autumn (or is it officially Winter already? I always get confused) wherever you are, or Spring I guess, if you happen to be down southerly ways...