Babette's Feast

The Ladram Bay annual 3-day judo nightmare is over once more.  Oliver gained his full orange belt, and got noticed by Sensei Goldman (the big cheese in this area as far as judo goes) as doing really well in the body combat session.  This is a huge deal for Oliver, as I am sure that given the choice, he would give up judo tomorrow, so to be singled out for praise by someone he respects and is in awe of is wonderful encouragement. 

When I say 'given the choice, he would give up judo tomorrow', I don't mean that he is dragged there kicking and screaming by his pushy over-achieving parents, I mean that he can, in common with many other boys of his age, err on the can't be arsed side of life sometimes.  Come a Friday evening, donning a judo suit and slipping out into the cold night air to attend a session seems pretty unappealing.  He is not physically competitive either, which may hold him back in one sense, but may help him keep his perspective that it is merely a hobby in another.  Whenever I get to see part of a session, or grading, I am always struck by the respect shown to the younger members by the older ones, and I am impressed by the way in which your progression through the belts demands and expects your involvement with teaching and encouragement of the lower grades.  This is something which can only benefit Oliver in the long run, and he has said he wants to achieve his junior black belt.  This means he will stay involved with judo til at least mid-teens, and I this is something we will guide him towards. 

Enough judo talk.  Lets talk crochet.  Ah yes, hook and yarn blah blah, my favourite.

My extra purple yarn didn't show up on Saturday, boo, and trapped at work in an unfamiliar role for the afternoon saw me trawling the depths of the Internet, more specifically ravelry.com,  for future inspiration.  I came across a blanket, the likes of which I have seen and admired before, but this time I went as far as to buy the pattern to download.

It is called Babette's blanket.



photo from ravelry.com, member Hyeknitter

C'est magnifique n'est pas?

I have all this yarn in my stash:

so the two elements have come together to be best friends.  Mark has rolled them eyes heavenward again about 'another  bloody blanket', but I am not to be deterred.  In fact, it is clear to me that my pile of yarn is missing a colour or two.  I shall be consulting my shade chart forthwith.

I leave you with a couple of pics from the crazy golf at Ladram, post judo, and Oliver showing his new term schedule, where he has managed to wangle himself a day and a half off by skillful manipulation.  Clever boy.