frogging the noro stash

i've been diving down to the bottom of my stash and discovered this lovely noro yarn (bought four or so years ago when i first took up knitting). perfect for frogging and re-knitting.

happy december

your beautiful eyes

 *stunning* eye photography from here. spotted here.

thalis

 thalis all snuggled up in his wonderful array of hand-knitted blankets - mine was still in progress at this point. lefkosia, cyprus, march 2010.

i tried to link to a previous post about thalis and his blanket but it seems there were more problems importing this blog from posterous than i thought. i'm not sure i'll ever have time to get around to sorting it so i'll just post them again...

and while i'm in the process of posting pictures of my blankets, here's one of noah and his

i would say more about noah and the things i've knitted for him here but that requires a post all of its own :)

louvana

dimitris sorts louvana (split peas) while hombre sleeps on.
lefkosia, cyprus, march 2010

calm

i am feeling quite stressed today but this picture calms me. i'd just love a bedroom like this and an eames rocker has been on my wishlist for a while. via

happy birthday p/hop

bristol lido

the lido is my favourite destination in bristol. i go there a lot - for coffee, for drinks, lunch, tapas, dinner. i've been on special occasions - mine and P's first anniversary and my last birthday - and it's a regular pop up office for my PhD.

today i suggested meeting my mum there for brunch since i figured a custard tart and some lahloo tea was just what i needed on a grey, rainy day when i was beyond fed up with a horrid cough.

we ended up getting there at lunch time and tucked into some tortilla with beetroot, feta and dill salad and some deep-fried honey and thyme oregano. oh, and some caperberries.

mum and i had lots to catch up on but it was such a nice atmosphere, we bumped into a friend of mum's who joined us for a drink, watching the swimmers in the rain was so soothing and our waiter was so lovely that we ended up staying for six hours! we moved on to olives (the best i've ever tasted) and roast crunchy corn and broad beans with more wine.

my view changed from this

to this

if you live in bristol and have not yet been to the lido, do it! jay rayner rates the food and this is another lovely review from dan 'essex eating'.

i *still* haven't been for a swim yet. must get round to that soon...

(first four photos from the lido website)

little winter

this weekend i would love to be in portland for the little winter market which sells beautiful handmade goods.

recycled boat sheds

seen here. ronnie citron-fink describes:

"In an incredible example of adaptive reuse, resourceful fishermen on Holy Island in the UK have   transformed these retired wooden fishing vessels into stunning storage sheds. Each beautifully-aged boat has been flipped upside down and retrofitted with a door to allow it to serve a second life as a safe harbor for tools and other goods".

truly beautiful

gas bird

i love this. via

bike shelf

spotted via, available via

tea shed, st andrew's park

yesterday was my last official shift looking after Baby D and it was a beautiful, warm afternoon so we went to st andrew's park so she could play and then to the tea shed (which closes at the end of october for the winter) for hot chocolate (me) and raisins and fruit smoothie (for D).

ventnor beach

a few weeks ago we had a glorious weekend on the isle of wight. we stayed in ventnor (where charles dickens used to go for his holidays) and it was a beautiful victorian resort. more photos to follow but sunday morning on the beach looking out to the sparkling sea was a definite highlight - accompanied by a minghella coffee and cream ice-cream. lush.

camilla

i want to knit one of each of these. designed by carrie bostick hogge and spotted on hoxton handmade's blog, you can get the patterns here