Why I missed I Knit

You may or may not have heard already, but I'm 40 this year (and you only tuned in to see if there was any yarn yet!) Well, in the worst bit of timing on my part, I'd arranged the garden party for yesterday which clashed with one of the most anticipated yarn events in the calendar in London - but good old alabamawhirly was sending me emails from I Knit updating me on the goings-on.

Despite the torrential rain, it was the best party. We had set up the food and drink in the workshop and a marquee linking the house to the party room .

Cupcakes, Turkish delight and French fancies

Lilies, roses and summer bunting

Guy, Jo and Skein King in nervous anticipation of guests arriving

The rose wine with lemonade and fizzy strawberries went down very well with the ladies and I ended up making about eight or nine jugs of it. There was pasta salad, cold meats, quiches, Spanish tortilla and salad - it all got demolished.

It was so great to see so many friends and I enjoyed every minute. Thanks to Sonia and Debs for my voucher to get some posh treatments, and to Sarah for adding a ballet pump to my charm bracelet and to Unity for booking a trip to the Watermill Theatre AND arranging a babysitter for the occasion and to everyone else for all the lovely presents - I am spoiled indeed.

The official photographer (Skein King) had one beer too many and so we haven't got many photos of the proceedings but he did get a couple. I chickened out of wearing my summery dress:


This was pretty much at the end - the last guests left at four and I went to bed at five - a sign of a good party, I always say. And I'll spare you the photo of Sandra showing off her Rigby & Peller bra!


So, for posterity when I look back on this blog as I head closer to my dotage, I want to thank the following people for coming out in the rain to help me celebrate:

Guy and Jo, Unity and Nick, Sarah and Dave, Sonia and Toby, Debs and Richard, Jo and Allan, Cath and Nick, Sandra and Peter, Sue, Jackie, Maureen, Harriet and Shane, Rose and Phil, Sara and Simon, Chris and Pouran and Ceri and Tony.

There WILL/MUST be yarn by the end of next week as things get back to almost normality.

And I can't believe my little boy started secondary school this week. I'm so proud of him - he took it all in his stride and has his first full week ahead of him next week. Think he was about three in this photo.

And finally, a photo of my Spring Forward socks in progress made in the beautiful Encore SQ yarn.

It was my 40th and I'll cry if I want to...

...but it was a good day last Friday. I woke up to loads of cards and pressies and after being persuaded to come downstairs, had to run round the house breaking all the "You are 40" tapes criss-crossed over the doors! Yes, even the porch and my car were covered in them (as if I didn't already KNOW I was 40, I had to drive over to the Post Office advertising the fact!)

These were from Skein King

These were from my sister

My more-than-generous mother-in-law gave me 40 heart-themed gifts all separately wrapped, ranging from heart-shaped soaps to a knitted hearts hot-water bottle cover and this tin heart decoration:

My sister-in-law gave me this modern take on a charm bracelet by Thomas Sabo.
I have a mobile phone and my birth stone, peridot, on mine and I think the lemon's going to be next whenever I can get to House of Fraser.

And the fabulous alabamawhirly made my these mitts from SQ Lavish in a colourway called Sweetbird. I'm so chuffed with them, they're making me look forward to autumn!


Skein Prince made me this card from a kit he bought in Buxton when we were on holiday

And there were lots of other gifts - too many to mention individually - but thank you all, especially to Sandra at work. I very embarrassingly thanked her for the lavender bag, but she had so beautifully wrapped up a gold-leaf necklace in satin and lace that I hadn't realised there was more inside! Truly mortified!

I thought we were going to be going out locally for a meal on the night of my birthday, but no, turns out Skein King had other plans. We headed towards Oxford, then Swindon and the wonderful man had booked a couple of nights in a hotel in the Cotswolds.

It was fabulous. On Friday afternoon after he'd told me to pack, I was speculating about it possibly being a Travelodge by the M40, but it was far from that. The hotel was lovely, the food excellent, the staff were friendly and we fitted in a trip to the historic wool town of Northleach and also to Cheltenham. I want to live that city! One reason being, it has a Cath Kidston shop. I was in heaven and came away with this:

Because, as I've matured, I've come to understand and appreciate that old Confucian saying "One can never have too many needles or too much yarn." It appears right beside the one that says "There's no need to cry when you reach the age of 40 if you have love and friendship but not necessarily your original figure or hair colour." I guess I'm lucky to reach this ripe old age - many people don't have that privilege.

But, I also like the philosophy of Miss Piggy:

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye"

I'll leave you with that wise thought as I prepare to squeeze into my magic knickers for the Garden Party at the weekend - anyone heard a weather forecast?!!