Saturday was spent with RoseRed in the main, but with appearances from the gang, Donni, Shazmina, BrownPants and Black-Dog Knits Nora. It was fantastic to finally meet Nora after being virtual friends for so long and it was poignant to say goodbye to Shaz, who flies out to the UK, possibly for good, next week. Thank goodness for blogs and emails and all those ways we can help keep the world small.
So we met in Newtown and I was introduced to All Buttons. Oh my. A whole shop devoted to buttons. Only in the big smoke. A town like Canberra, sadly, doesn't have the population to sustain such niche shops.
It's a tiny shop and it's CRAMMED with the most glorious array of buttons. There were moments when a button spoke to me and I thought, I need to knit something around that button!
We found a bunch of finalists for the steeked jacket and I had to show one that we tried, but rejected, even though it was so very tempting.
With the steeked jacket being based on Scandinavian techniques, don't you think a reindeer button is fitting?
In the end, we found the right buttons (which RoseRed so generously bought for me as a gift) and when they are attached, I will do a proper photographic record of the jacket.
Sean and I stayed with RoseRed and Mr RoseRed at their lovely home (where I slept again in the same room as the extensive stash and was very well behaved).
We ate at a wonderful French restaurant near their house. The meal was sublime. Sean and I were still talking about the slow cooked wagyu beef in the car on the way back to Canberra today. Excellent company, wonderful wine, fabulous food.
RoseRed and I exchanged 'anniversary' gifts, which deserve a blog post of their own during the week.
Sunday was, after a leisurely morning spent lounging around chez RoseRed, a family day. We headed off to my sister's house for Willem's birthday party.
Here he is, pre-party, wearing the socks I made for him.
See Adele's lovely shiny wooden floors? They are perfect for slip-sliding around on in knitted socks, so we learned.
Later, we went to a place called Hot Tott Cafe where Will was the star of his own fun centre birthday party. A room full of four year olds eating fairy bread and dancing to Hi-5 or some other kiddie music was overwhelming and fun.
The party boy got his face painted as a pirate. Then he got to blow out candles on his racing car cake (beautifully made by Adele).
After cake, Aunty Bells got to have some fun, too.
There was a time when Will called me Aunty Balls.
Who knew it could be so much fun to be surrounded by marauding four year olds and a tonne of colourful plastic balls? I was drowning and it was a riot.
A great weekend. Now I think I just need to sleep.
Bells
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