Cabled Blanket

It's finally finished!

Bigger than I expected and wanted, but I'll blame the yarn for that. It's as if it was Superwash, though it wasn't. Still, I'm happy with it.

I'll let the photos do the talking:

Finito!

The blanket's O(ff)TN and blocking. What a relief! I enjoyed it and I'm happy with it, but definitely ready now to move on to new things. It turned out much larger when I'd soaked it; I actually wish I'd just left it without blocking, but too late now.

More on that when it's dry and I can take some good photos.

This is my new project. I'll let you guess what it is. Toad's doing one too, and I already love it!

The Cotswolds

DH and I nipped off to the Cotswolds last week for a last getaway while it's just the two of us.

The sun was shining, we were in our new car and we had a lovely time. We stayed in this lovely little place in Kingham (above). Amaaazing food!

We visited Blenheim Palace one day...

... and wandered through the beautiful gardens for ages.

See how hot it was? Lavendar filled the air.

Back at home I made a plum and sour cream tart for DH's picnic that we're going to this afternoon.

This is something I've made a million times, and is extremely easy so let me know if you'd like the recipe.

Saartje's Booties

These are my version of Saartje's Booties by a very clever knitter named Saartje.

This time I used a larger needle (3mm), as my first attempt a year ago (using the prescribed 2.5mm needle) resulted in far too small a shoe (the bootie was small enough to enclose a grape!). They are now rather large, but will perhaps do for a 6-months old baby.

This pattern has been top of my queue for years, so I’m glad I finally got round to making the booties. It has to be one of the most popular patterns on Ravelry, so I'm glad I could make my contribution.

Do you like the little mother-of-pearl flower buttons? Believe it or not, they actually came from my button stash. I did not buy new buttons!

The yarn you may recognise, as I have previously made Umbilical Cord Hats and my-own-pattern booties in it (as gifts for other people). It's Malabrigo Worsted in Amoroso, a spicy red that changes to orange, pink and purple. Although good in Stocking Stitch, I think the little bumps of Garter Stitch really shows this yarn off best.

One bootie is not as pefect as the other as I used the yarn frogged from the earlier bootie (see above); perhaps I should have ironed it before re-using it.

However, I'm really happy with them, and they will look lovely on a little girl if that's what we have, and will co-ordinate with the matching Umbilical Cord Hat I made years ago in the same yarn.