A little bit of everything

The past month or so has seen a little bit of everything - I've been on Guide camp, I've been at work, I've done a lot of reading and quite a bit of knitting.  Here's a round-up of photos from my phone...

There was a beautiful sunset the other night - this was taken from my balcony and it was just lovely.

In a charity shop, Ben found some old Pyrex which he bought to sell on.  This lovely dish caught my eye and I persuaded him to let me have it instead.  Not that I need more kitchenware.  I probably ought to use it soon to justify letting me keep it.

My friend Amy had admired the dinosaur I'd crocheted last summer and I said I'd make her one for her birthday. It looked quite sweet all squashed in the padded envelope before I sent it to her university work address.  She's also just passed her PhD corrections, so well done from one Dr. Amy to another!

I took part in Sunny Sweet Pea's postcard swap again this year, here are my five about to be posted out.  So far I've only received three, but I know an American one is on its way!

Over the August bank holiday I was at Foxlease for Wellies and Wristbands, It's a camp for Guides and The Senior Section and is run a bit like a music festival - there are adventurous activities during the day as well as hot tubs, hair braiding, henna, a craft tent, a cafe and then live music all evening.  As it's a safe site the girls are free to wander around.  It's a fully catered event and we saw our Guides to breakfast in the morning, caught up with them at lunch and dinner, then chatted with them before bed.  Otherwise we didn't really see them!  They were all having a marvellous time whenever we did bump into them, and it was a great experience.  I attempted to take part in Louisa and Jane's photo an hour, but the lack of phone signal didn't help.

Obligatory photo of some tents (complete with bunting in the background - they're not our tents, but we know for next year!):

As the Guides were entertaining themselves, us leaders had lots of time for sitting and chatting, we even had afternoon tea on the Sunday!  I got quite a lot of sock knitted:

As well as sewing quite a few badges on to my camp blanket:

I may be showing my age, but I have no idea who the vast majority of these acts are.  But the Guides loved them, judging by the screaming and singing we heard from the other side of the camp!

It was a little bit muddy.  Whilst it was mainly sunny Friday to Sunday, Hampshire had had a lot of rain that week so the ground was already wet when we arrived.  Add 3,000 girls walking about and it soon turned into a bit of a swamp.  The site staff were really good and put bark down in the dodgiest places, but it was still very, very muddy.  My wellies sadly didn't cope - I had a small slit on the left side of my foot just above the sole so my feet were wet as soon as I stepped anywhere, let alone when I had to go through puddles and mud!  I did my best with tape and UV stickers sent to me by Char for my birthday, but in the end I just put up with changing my sock regularly!  On the Monday, N and I were about to drive home and I got in the car, took off my wellies, took this photo then N threw them away for me.  We then got stuck in the mud (literally) and a tractor had to come and tow us out.  We weren't the only ones!

I am planning on knitting another one of Vikki's Pargetry blankets and so I ordered this 400g ball of Aran wool, it looks huge next to a little 100g ball of DK (which is going to be turned into a dinosaur for Ben).

A colleague I've worked closely with in my job left at the end of the month when I was on camp - I found this present on my desk when I returned.  Thanks, M! Also, I've now been given full time hours at work - woo hoo!  Finally, a proper full time job with a proper salary!  I've really enjoyed working there so far and I'm pleased I can work there a bit more!

I decided to make my own flavoured alcohol, as you do, (it's one of my 101 in 1001) so I'm turning these bowls of blackberries and raspberries

into blackberry gin and raspberry vodka.  That's the plan, anyway!

So, a little bit of everything.  September is set to be a good month, with new responsibilities at work, a weekend away with friends and a wedding.  I've started to wear socks in bed and I now need to turn a light on when I get up in the morning.  Autumn? I'm ready!