10 years (this is getting like a countdown!)

In a little over two hours I am off to pick a up an old friend and her husband from our local train station. It is just about exactly 10 years since we last saw each other. My girl was three and a lot and my boy was getting close to turning one. He had just learned to walk.

He and I headed North to watch her compete at the World Rowing Champonships. She won! We went to Sherwood Forest and saw Robin Hood's Tree and several hairy looking lads dressed as Merry Men. We stayed in the back bedroom of a quite pleasant B&B. This was also the weekend we stopped and got directions from the nice lady who was standing by the cemetery. An odd place to linger on corners one might think. Lucky for her it was a very warm Summer as she really wasn't wearing very much. There was a gasp when she read the directions the nice B&B people had given me. Turns out she was their foster daughter! Oh 'oopNorth' you are a funny little world.

The time before that when my friend&her husband visited my girl was about 18 months old. And before that we hadn't seen each other since I first moved up onto my Hilltop back when I was very a sweet young thing. In fact it was so long ago that it was before I had even met CK!! She and I go all the way back to the depths of SW4 at the beginning of the 1990s when we both nannied in a Posh Square just near The Common.

Right. So before my head explodes I must go and actually clean the bathroom. Displacement activity anyone??

15!

 To celebrate his birthday we took my Big Black Dog to the beach today. 

 On this first non-rainy day in weeks we headed off to Hengistbury Head for some well-deserved VitaminD absorption. Except we couldn't find it. Hengistbury Head that is. Which is ridiculous because it really is quite large but the magnet hidden on the roundabout in middle of Christchurch sent us off in the wrong direction. So we parked up at the Priory and mooched around the quayside. There were lots of swans with the same idea. My Assistant was underimpressed. Nasty yukky big swimmy white chickens apparently.

Mooching through Christchurch brought us to Chilly Wizards, the ice cream shop. Not only did they have fabulous homemade ice creams in yummy flavours (I had whitechocolate/choc chip and honeycomb) but the nice lady offered ice cream in a cone to the birthday boy!

Once our bearings were straight we headed off to the beach proper. En route My Assistant was very chuffed to have found a present for the Big Black Dog. Because a HUGE wild mushroom is just what every aged hound needs.

Eventually we made it and I think he was pleased.

Happy Birthday Big Black Dog.

No really, there has been crafting.

This is the Citron shawlette It is really simple. Knit plain, knit purl, increase every 12 or so rows. Simple, right? So how come I had to frog nearly 3000 stitches? Mostly bc I am stupid and did not actually do a stitch count when the pattern said to. For 20 rows!!!! 

But it is back on track now and hopefully will be finished in short order. If that is I don't remain distracted by the Boogie Woogie dinosaur I have started knitting for Young Will. Obvious it is a dinosaur belly when you look at it isn't it?

Way back at the FQ Retreat London2012 I took part in the Iron Man Challenge to make a quilt top for the fabulous Siblings Together Project. We made potentially the smallest quilt ever which meant there was lots left over. I brought it all home and slowly have put together this seriously patchy nine patch quilt top.

Well nearly. I am just in need of a few scraps of Flock to finish the last couple of nine squares but then BOOM! another quilt will be winging toward the Siblings Together goddesses. I say BOOM! but we all know the reality is more like POOF! because I only ever craft at a glacial pace.

And bc I am so slow at the sewing and knitting and suchlike I have joined TWO Bees in the last month. The scariest one for me is the Eeeep EPP Bee (EPP = English Paper Piecing). I am more than a little nervous bc these women are really good at this and I have a sneaking suspiscion I will be found out for the hack hand-sewist that I am. The second Bee is the FQ-inspired Kinky Bee. I am one of the Bumblies and this block is the first cab off the rank.

Look I even made pieced ones! Doing these circles was good practice for helping my girl with this.

This is her end of year piece for DT and I love the cheeky look in his eye. My girl designed and sewed the whole thing except for a few of the brown spots. I put on my 'nice mother' hat and did some bc her hands were about to fall off. Rather lovely though, isn't it?

And finally I hd a little accident yesterday. The rather lovely yarn shop up on another hill happened to be open after I lurked in front of it for 15 minutes and I bought these gorgeous delights of alpaca and merino.

And pattern book for Christmas that has a KNITTED CHRISTMAS WREATH! Oh yes it has.

And finally the kids and I are going on holiday with Dougal. Around Scotland.

Roll on late August I say.