Timely

Well, with one thing or another, I missed posting for a whole month there. Turns out that working a busy job, having a family, a few hobbies, remnants of a social life and the odd holiday takes up pretty much all my time. Oh, and sleeping. Or not sleeping, as the case may be. Anyway, I'm still here, I have many, many blog posts in my head, and intentions of sometime maybe actually posting them. In the meantime, there are new cyclamen in my house, which can only be good. 

Loving it...

This week I have been loving...
...broad bean and pea dip (I know! Broad beans - how I dislike thee)
...Louise cake made with damson jam (I know, mum, its really called raspberry shortcake, but I think Louise cake is prettier).
...Oxford Kitchen Yarns beautiful floor quilt
...starting new projects
...foxy fabric
...Felix's meta pinterest board
...feet

Hope you all had a great weekend

On my mantelpiece...

Are you sick of daffodils yet? Not me....

Rainy days

More than one rainy day requires a little thought and excitement. Turns out making playdough is a mornings worth of fun: cooking, playing then washing up. Most excellent.

Moving on (1)

Signs that we are steadily moving on through winter towards the glory of an English spring...I have been looking at these for a week, gradually changing from red buds to golden tipped goblets. I love their wayward leaves too. A beautiful surprise present - thanks S!

pride and falls and so forth

Yes, I promised pics of newly spruced kids rooms. And evidence of this nesting that I've apparently been doing. But really, all I have to show for the last two weeks is some thermal backing on our downstairs curtains (not inspiring at all but most wonderful in keeping us just a little warmer during this first chill), and a chest infection (and at over 35 weeks I really don't have the lung capacity to spare). Its been a week of colds & 'flu and I've really had enough of it. So I've submitted to the magic of antibiotics in the hope of still eeking out a few weeks of pleasure with my gorgeous and entertaining two year old and a few days of calmness and creativity for me. Fingers crossed!

Rainy Tuesday delights

So what to do on a rainy Tuesday morning in Oxford? Well, my suggestion would be to pop into town early to nab an easy park, wander through the back lanes and past the colleges to the High St. (make sure to stickybeak in every possible door and window), nip into Northlight to do a little essential shopping*, duck across the road to Toast to buy up on a few maternity-suitable trans-seasonal items*, back over the road to the Vaults for delicious coffee, cake and babycino for the boy (who will behave delightfully and entertain all those in the vicinity), then home to a newly cleaned house before the rain comes down, with a child who goes directly to sleep leaving you to catch up on reading some blogs.

Couldn't have scripted it better. Hope you are having a lovely Tuesday morning too.


*there is nothing essential in Northlight, it is all entirely and deliciously frivolous. How I love design focused shops.
*how I would dearly love to curl up on their big couch and knit and drink coffee and watch people come in and out, but I'm not sure they'd be up for it.

absence

Sometimes, even when you really want to be in somewhere , its harder to get out than you expect (this apparently includes laundry hampers). We've moved. Today we (finally) handed over the keys to the old house, which means we can stop finding more things to do to make it cleaner/tidier, and start properly unpacking the new house. I love the new house (although its a long way from our friends over the road/next door/round the corner - well, not that long, 6 minutes in the car!), it is light and has a big empty-canvas garden and is quiet. B loves it too - he runs and runs. So as soon as I find the cable to link the camera to the computer, there might be pictures. But to be honest, very little knitting or sewing. Quite a lot of jam though...

Anticipation

I can never bring myself to throw out these golden syrup tins, they are so lovely. At last - a use for them!

Ice Ice Baby

Snow fun at our place.

Celebrations!

Oh dear....I didn't realise it was so long since my last post! Anyway, time for some celebrations!

1. I got my registration to practice in the UK! After all these years.....

2. Thanks to this, I was offered (& have accepted) a promotion

3. I have only 2 more days at work until a whole week off with friends & family & food. And knitting.

4. Rage Against the Machine made it to the UK Christmas Number 1!!! I now have a few copies of Killing in the Name of, but really, can you ever have too many? Anyway, yay for rebellion.

5. I have the cutest baby ever. No, really, just look at that bum :)

There has been lots of knitting, sewing, baking, etc. Just not lots of time. Hopefully I'll do some catch-up blogging soon.

Knitterly Resolutions

I have avoided, to date, talking about New Years Resolutions. I am not sure why - it was large in my head at the start of the year, mostly as there was some success last year. But things keep happening, and I keep getting distracted. Not from making them, as I have, but from talking about them. But I have been spurred into action due to my participation in the UK Swap, so specifically I will talk about my knitting resolutions.

Its pretty simple. Basically, my resolution this year is to actually make the things that I knit wearable, even if this means going back and undoing things and spending even more time making the jacket into a cardigan or the vest into a vest that fits. There. Now it is public, I guess I better do it!

On a completely different point, I would like to take this opportunity to say a few words to the person that drilled a hole in our petrol tank, stole our petrol and left us with a non-functional car, so that I had to spend 5 hours getting to and from work today, and may have to for many more days yet, and on which I will have to spend more than what I intended to spend on skiing this year -
dear person. I cannot think of words foul enough to describe what you have done. I only hope that you took the petrol to save your dying grandmother, or something similar, although I think this is generous thinking on my part.

Blah.

Melbourne street art

I miss street art. In Melbourne, there was fantastic graffiti, stencils and posters. Many were pretty unnotable, some were beautiful, and a few were intelligent and insightful. One day, this turned up on the door of the abandoned dyeworks factory next door to our block of flats. I thought it was a good time to reminisce, given that Howard's reign is over (oh the joy of being able to write that!)

I know this probably makes absolutely no sense to almost anybody, but I love it. And its my blog. So there!

Sweet Weekendy Bliss

I'm sorry, I just have to have a little gloat. Not only did I make it through the week, and most importantly through a big seminar presentation this morning, but tomorrow, I get to go to this, buy yarn and meet this fantastic person in actuality! And then a party! I am afraid that the excitement may be all too much for me. Well, the excitement and possibly the champagne.

Let just forget that I haven't finished all the work I need to do for next week - and its looking like a killer. Instead, I'm going to go and have the celebratory one, maybe even in the bath...mmmmm. Happy weekend y'all. I will return with yarny prizes for my contest (don't forget to comment!)

Four Good Years

This weekend, S surprised me by a little celebration for our anniversary. It was four years since the day we met. A while ago, we decided that this would be our anniversary date, as it got a bit confusing when we should celebrate, and without a set date it seemed like we might just let a yearly acknowledgement of our lives together slide by - which neither of us wanted. So we decided that the day we met would be appropriate. Only this year we both forgot. We are now a good 6 weeks later, and I had still forgotten! Anyway, we had a lovely picnic, in the same place that we went to last year, and a place that has alot of meaning for us in England. And I received a lovely bottle of Tasmanian Pinot Noir (to share!) which I am drinking as I write this (and as he cooks dinner).

I want to say that I feel so very lucky to share my life with him, and to have the opportunity to do all the things that we do. Four years ago, this seemed an unlikely outcome. I couldn't have imagined a life as good as this.

Cheers!