The Ballad of Nanny Floff

I feel a little sad today. Despite all of our sprucing around Inverleith, we're finding it difficult to sell, and we have now had to say goodbye to two houses we rather stupidly fell in love with as we are in no position to move. I will be sad to leave Inverleith, but the Buster is ever-growing and so is our collection of stuff. And yarn.

Instead of embarking on The Crochet Project List as promised, I was inspired by the tulips to create something new entirely.

 Yes, a new blanket! This is for my dear friend Cecilia's beautiful baby daughter Olivia, whom I am meeting on Thursday. I don't think her blanket will be ready in time, but if I crochet like the wind then just maybe. But very unlikely as I am back to work on some freelance features projects.

 The blanket is in Stylecraft colours again, with cream and yellow stripe interrupted by Meadow and Cerise stripes, edged in Sky and Plum. I love to make baby blankets. They're reasonably quick and it makes me feel warm inside to see a babe snuggled in a handmade blankie.

 These beautiful magazines are the goodies from my trip to London on Saturday. I met up with The Lovely Portia and we went to see the new Cindy Sherman exhibition, and wandered around London in search of the famed RD Franks. Although we found it relatively swiftly it was sadly closed down! We pootled around London, walked past Vogue House (MECCA) and had a spot of lunch at The Diner, a great American diner with possibly the best burger I've ever eaten. Naughty me! With a basket of fries. And a VERY strong magarita. We popped into Wardour News and a few other newsagents in Soho and I picked up these on Portia's recommendation. Oh Comely, which has beautiful dreamy photography and warm, cosy features accompanied by soft photos and lovely illustrations.

 And The Ballad of Nanny Floff, and arty style mag with amazing illustrations and photography. Each feature has a hand-written introduction by the artist and it's lovely stuff. £12 on two magazines....eeeek. Afterwards we went to the Everyman cinema on Baker Street to watch Black Swan. The film was amazing- so tense and beautiful. My heart raced! The cinema was awesome- comfy comfy seats, a small room and a nice bar. I had a big cosmopolitan while I watched the film! And nice popcorn too.

This sight awaited me when I got up to make myself a cheer-yourself-up cuppa. The inside of my 1950s larder cabinet! The colours aren't quite captured right with the harsh flash on my camera. So let's take a closer look.

On the right are some Cath Kidston mugs, a marmite teapot, some Paperchase eggcups, some Whittard spotty cups, and the jug and beakers were made for D by his talented friend Richard. The teacosy was also made for D by another talented friend Emma.

On the left here is a lovely biscuit tin (sadly devoid of biscuits. Perhaps I should do some baking tomorrow?) from Tickety Boo in Chelmsford, my Cath Kidston butter dish and some of my vintage tea sets. The rose one was from a charity shop and the others belonged to D's grandmother. He gave me these when we hadn't been seeing each other very long, and they were in his late father's kitchen. I love to make a proper cup of tea for guests, with my gold Habitat teapot; a gift from when I worked there for the company's 40th birthday.

So anyway, that sight has cheered me right up! I think it could do with some oil cloth to line the shelves. Perhaps Cath Kidston's Provence Rose in green? Yes. Floral loveliness ensues.

I've also just seen a lady in a crochet hat riding up my street on a Pashley bicycle with a wicker basket. This also cheers me immensely, though I wish it were me on that Pashley.