Celebration

It is a truth universally acknowledged that I approach all major high days and holidays with a need to provide one of two things: cake or knitwear.

Occasionally the celebration is sufficiently meritorious to demand both. Today our lovely friend A is 28 (a full month and a half older than us) and he definitely comes under the knitwear AND cake category.

The socks you've seen on my last post and it was just too hot today (30 C) to make him try them on for a picture so imagine him smiling and saying that he likes the colours because they're a bit like LandRover colours.

To make up for a lack of pictures - here is a vision of a sunny day in case it rained where you are

The cake ... well the cake comes with a backstory. My parents-in-law tend to go to the US every year just before Christmas to stay in a cousin's house in Orlando and they tend to do their Christmas shopping there. My Christmas present? a William-Sonoma cake tin. This year it was a set of little car cakes and what better for our petrol-head friend.


The unpolished state is pretty impressive but add a trip to Lantern Corner (a wonderful sweetie shop in Leamington) and you have this:



Add candles, and you have this:

And more recently this:

A loves it and when we finally recover from eating the BBQ that H cooked (delicious but substantial) we'll try some cake.

It seems to have been the day for presents as I had not one but two parcels arrive this morning. I seem to have had an extraordinary run of luck recently - Marisol chose me as the winner of her funky sock monkey kit, and I won the drawing for finishing my last Socktopus club sock (Neighbourhood Tunnels) before the last ones were sent out - and boy am I happy:


Look at this yarn - see, looooook,

it's soooo pretty, and the monkey pattern is so very cute. AND it's the perfect excuse for a little STR aquisition as I need a contrast colour for the monkey extremities.

And the Socktopus prize is this:

A copy of Stephanie Pearl-Mcphee's latest book - it's very very funny (no surprises there then) and perfect for a hot day when moving was just a little bit too much effort. Yes, I know I didn't help matters by putting the oven on either!

Tomorrow H goes to play hockey for the whole day and I have to knuckle down and get going on the last sleeve for Mum's cardigan - 12 days and counting, here's hoping it's sunny again