Shhh ...... someone's sleeping

I managed to get a quick photo of my Buddha baby wearing his new kimono. I am really pleased with this little cardi. I agonized over whether to have the buttons opening on the left or the right but decided it didn't really matter and I would stick to the pattern. As I mentioned in an earlier post I got the pattern from Interweave. It's a very ingenious design in that you knit it all in one piece and you only have to seam the underarms. The shoulder seams are joined by a clever three needle bind off - thanks to Mary for her invaluable tip on how to do this as the glossary wasn't included in the photocopied pattern I got from Interweave! The only tricky bit for me was remembering to slip the first stitch on every row. It does give a lovely finish - but I missed one which got knitted and only discovered it when I had gone too far to turn back, luckily the second one was spotted quickly so I could redo it. You have to be a bit vigilant! I decided to do buttons rather than the ribbon tie as it was for a boy and found some cute little fish buttons. The button loops were made by making a loop of wool where you want the button to be and roughly the right size and then I did a sort of blanket stitch all the way round the loop. More photos of the kimono can be seen on Ravelry.

I was reading periwinkle's blog last night and she had posted that she was off camping this weekend. We too are being mad impetuous fools and spending the weekend under canvas. Well it would be canvas if we were borrowing DH's parents 1930's tent again which we used last year. We had a very retro look on the campsites, with all our old and borrowed camping equipment. But with the arrival of Little Roo we needed a bigger tent and really we needed our own tent - not that the grandparents go camping that much anymore! Anyway we road tested the tent and Little Roo last May bank holiday and it was deemed a success. It's funny that camping is a real divider, you either love it or hate it. I must admit I'm not one of these minimal campers, turning up with a tent on your back and with a small stove to cook on. Given the choice between a luxury hotel and camping it would be a hotel every time! But with little ones, they just love it so it's got to be done. Here are a few points that make camping work for us

• We only ever go for two nights which means you are never far away from a hot bath and comfortable bed!
• We only go if there is minimal (preferably no) rain forecast. It's just no fun camping in the rain. Luckily the forecast for this weekend is good.
• We make sure we have lots of layers to wrap up warm with and blankets to snuggle under.
• we bring some knitting do - that's me of course not DH! Camping is prime knitting time when little ones are scampering around the field.
• we go with some friends, which makes the whole thing so much more enjoyable. In fact last time we went we invited people who weren't camping to join us for lunch and another family came for an afternoon cream tea! You can entertain even in a tent.

Anyway, enough on camping and the joys of, I have lots of packing to do! Enjoy your Bank Holiday - whatever you are doing