Birthday

Long time no blog! A couple of days after my last blog post I was offered a new job, which I accepted, and I'll be starting it in November. But that has meant a lot of finishing things off, rushing around and I haven't had time to blog since. I have had a fun couple of months though, including wading through mud in Cheltenham, a conference in Sheffield, seeing relatives and even some knitting. The new job is closer to home and also part-time (whooop) so I'll have a lot more time to catch up with garden at the beginning of the month, and knitting projects, as well as the rest of my life.

It was my birthday last week and I had a great day, despite having a cold! The OH took me out for a meal in the evening. Must be a sign of the recession, but we had the restaurant to ourselves.

I had some lovely presents, including new secateurs and gardening gloves, and some sea salt soap from Wales.

A rather funky casserole dish (it looks like one of those cast iron ones, but is aluminium so I can actually lift it!).

And some books.

 Mostly knitting gave me some patterns from my Ravelry wishlist - Liesl (which I've been wanting to make for absolutely ages), the South Seas Stole and Everyone Outta the Pool socks. I can't wait to get started, although I have some more present knitting to finish off first.

And the OH got me a Colin the Chocolate Caterpillar Cake (he tastes great!). Apparently these are a cult item, although I didn't know that!

I have been doing a lot of knitting, most of which I'll blog about soon. The first project was a Beyond Puerperium for my current manager's baby - she'll be going on maternity leave around Christmas but I wanted to make something to give her before I leave the job. I wanted to make it in something special so popped to Liberty's one lunchtime and got some Rowan Wool Cotton yarn. I used Wool Cotton ages ago on a workshop and loved knitting with it then, and I still do now.

I love this pattern - it's in a variety of sizes (the free version, is sized for a newborn), very clearly written and fun to knit. Plus no sewing up! Just a few ends to sew in and buttons to sew on. Highly recommended - I'll definitely be making more of these, especially as I know several people expecting babies at the moment!