Buttons and Jam

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a knitter, or any crafter really, will find craft supplies in the unlikeliest of places, whatever the event or opportunity.

It really should surprise no one therefore to learn that I went to see a grand house and magnificent gardens, and rather than buying a picture postcard as a memento ...


I found buttons! Ceramic buttons to be precise. The big spotty one is about the size of a tuppence and is irresistible in its spottyness - I suspect I'll use it on a cushion or a one button cardigan some day. The hearts are the palest cream with blue and green dots (to match the fairy cakes!) and would be perfect as the buttons on a little baby jacket, for someone not afraid to handwash!

H is as much a fan of whimsy as I am so it seemed only right that he had his own parcel to unwrap at the end of the day. We passed through Bicester Village on the way home and swung in for an end-of-the-day stroll (the only circumstances in which Bicester Village is palatable - usually it's heaving at the weekend) and went to visit the Le Creuset discount shop.


Please tell me how I ever managed to exist without a strawberry strawberry-jam pot before, because compared to this, the humble jam jar pales into obscurity.


It appears I may have a bit of a thing for strawberry patterns - who would have thought!