family camp

a perfect weekend for the last camp of the year - it was our village beaver/cub/scout family camp weekend, the sun shone, the children had so many fun activities to try out & we were in beautiful field less than five minutes from home, little O & i actually cheated a little & came home for the sleeping bit, mainly as i hadn't wanted to get the large tent up for only 24hours {but also as i'm feeling rather exhausted from the whole back to work / school routine} it was some lovely 'time out' i even had a great time making a wooden pendant, some knotted key rings, brushing up on my juggling skills and den building - all good clean fun

settling in

well we are all settling into our new routine, the littlest has surprised us all & is doing so very well, the oldest is struggling most, having moved into year three he's found that it's all about hard work from here on in - poor chap, barney & i have found comfort in each others company & he's especially loving his longer week day walks {when i'm not at work that is} i've been able to finish off little O's new cardi, which was such a pleasure to knit, despite having to rip it back to start over in a bigger size! it's knit up in some debbie bliss 'fez' {which i'd got off ebay at a great price} such lovely yarn to work with, it's a shame i think it's been discontinued & i love the colour so much, luckily she's rather fond of it too & was most obliging when i asked to take some photos of it on her, i used rather a muddle of clear vintage buttons as i didn't have enough of one type! thankfully i think they work rather well on the cardigan, the pattern details are over here

the next phase

goodbye summer, hello september & a move into a new phase for me, we had a lovely farwell to the summer holidays, a trip up to the paralympics, a picnic in the park, a spot of baking, then all change as my littlest started school this week, i felt a little lost at first but have found my feet, as she is slowly but surely finding hers! & the weathers being kind so i've even found some time to sit in the garden with a little knitting to occupy my mind, it's my first day back to school/work today - how many weeks till half term? too many:

the peaks

i feel i've just about recovered for our recent camping trip, the drive up to the peaks was not the best start, what should have been a four hour drive took us eight hours!!! not much fun, then unfortunately we had to pitch our tent in rain, which meant quite a bit of water got in, thank goodness our friends were already pitched up & were able to offer the kids a dry place to shelter & some sausage sarnies to tuck into, the weather did improve, although it was rather a mixed bag, with good company & some breathtaking countryside we still all had a great time,  the hubs was very pleased to have his cosy new cardi to keep out the chills, this was another project that took far longer than it should have done, but was worth all that hard work, as it fits & he's really happy with it

the pattern details can be found over on my ravelry page