A N D A M E N T O

Blankets, Branches and Birds.

2012-02-15T20:37:00.008Z

The turtle blanket goes for its first swim...

...in future, when a small boy is not feeling well I'll give him an easy wash-fleece blanket to snuggle and not one of the crochet blankets. Barf and crochet do not mix!

I hand washed the blanket which is made of a mixture of acrylic (fine to wash) and charity shop wool (super felty!), then put it in the machine on a slow spin. At the end of the spin I fully expected to open the machine and find a mass of woolly ends and tangles, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover the blanket was all in one unstretched, unshrunk piece and that no ends had started to unravel. Phew! N is still a little under the weather though, which is a shame as we had three days off for half term but as a result of the sickness bug we were inclined to stay close to home.

We've had some relatively nice weather over the break (apologies for the gloomy and moany tone of my last post - I don't mind February if the sun shines!). While all was bright I decided to see how my pile was developing...

...crochet blanket pile that is. Two are completed - at the bottom is the african flower blanket, second from top is the newly washed turtle blanket. One just needs a few more ends sewn (second from bottom), and my current daisy project is at the top of the pile.

Since the African flower blanket I do seem to have gone for a more definite blue and green theme. This was intentional as I wanted to make a couple of blankets which better suited the living room colour scheme. The African flower blanket is perfect for my daughter's room though she's normally too hot in bed to need it.

Back to the holidays...

... On Monday N seemd fine and we attempted a walk in the woods. Uh oh, mud, thick oozy mud, fortunately we set off with wellies on. Mine were given to me by hubby and as you can see pre date the current fancy patterned welly trend.

We could vaguely see the sun through the clouds.

The cloudy sun again, this time lurking behind a wonderfully wiggly tree.

Fat bird on a branch.

Sun and branches.

The top of the woods adjoin fields. A enjoyed running to the brow of the hill to see what she could see.

N by this point was sitting on a log wanting to go home.

So we did. I managed a couple of arty beech leaf photos before we left.

I then had to satisfy my photographic cravings in the garden...

...the crocuses are almost ready to flower. I checked my blog (the search function is brill for this) and last year the crocuses didn't flower till around the 25th Feb, so we're just over a week ahead this year, not as much as I thought.

Molly in the holly.

Snowdrops from below.

And again.

Hydrangea.

Skipping a day we move to earlier today. The sun was shining and it was relatively mild. I capture some sky images for the Sky365 Flickr Pool.

Wispy.

Hearty?

We went to a nearby park.

Then to the loch.

There were lots of these birds about. I didn't know what they were till I used the RSPB bird identifier form and would now say that this is just a black headed gull in its winter plumage.

The same bird after being "encouraged" onto the water by the children. The surface of the loch is like glass, giving wonderful reflections.

Ducks in a row.

A pink footed goose (I used the RSPB site to identify this too)

Lastly, a jackdaw.

Back to school tomorrow...

Saturday Morning Bike Ride

2012-02-12T14:15:00.006Z

Yuck, the weather turned out to be worse than I expected - cold, misty and damp. Certainly not dry, but not so wet either that it wasn't reasonable for a cycle. I set off about 9am.

Even I don't attempt this closed road, not even pedestrians are allowed. Instead I go up the road I seem most often to take out the village when I've no particular route in mind.

Through the woods, the mist makes it all most atmospheric.

Bright splashes of orange from the beech leaves brighten view.

A buzzard sits atop a fence post.

All so wet. February is my least favourite month of the year.

Baaaa. I especially like the little group posing for the camera on the left.

Shortly after this point a deer crosses the road right in front of me, I think it is as surprised as I am. I then spot its companion in the woodland to my right. However, both disappear too quickly to photograph. The first one bounded away across the fields showing off its white rump, so I think they were roe deer.

Past the glacial erratic. I like the farmhouse on the left, you need to peer through the gloom to see it.

These closed road signs I ignore. I actually like it when a road is closed like this as usually it means there is much less traffic. I still manage to get splattered by a Tesco delivery van zooming through the mucky puddles though.

Another murky photo of the white farmhouse on the hill.

A different white farmhouse. I like the small hill of patchwork fields this one sits beside.

Higher up and the mist starts to thicken.

It also starts to rain. I abandon plans of a longer ride and turn off down a side road towards home.

Down past the red gate and post, the tree mound barely visible.

But I don't want to go home just yet, so while on the quieter roads I do an extra little loop.

This little road leads you to...

...the big dipper. If you hold your nerve and DON'T BRAKE you can make it down one side and right up the other without having to pedal. Wheeee, it was fun!

My chain comes off here, it was a nice bend in the road for a last photo. Chain back on I head home.

I know that there is some of this refrigerator cake waiting for me. Two pieces will do for now. My sugar cravings are rather out of control at the moment. I blame the time of year - I don't like February, certainly not the damp, dull, wet, dreich Februaries we normally get here. Some snow would brighten things up, so long as the roads stay clear though...

The ripple, blooming daises, and a whole lot more...

2012-02-10T20:01:00.010Z

Grrr, pesky internet access issues have meant that I've been off line from last weekend till this evening (Fri). I'm well behind on blog reading but have been getting quite a lot of crocheting done as spare time normally gobbled up by surfing/browsing/mooching has been spent hooking.

Hmmm, this first photo doesn't look at all crochet related...

...however, whithout meaning to, I seem to have used this fabric as the inspiration for selecting the colours of my rippled "thing". It was originally going to be a cushion cover but I didn't like the way it was looking for a cushion. Instead it has turned out to be a perfect cover for one of my granny's old chests.

Here it is in situ (excuse the washing drying on the radiator!). Not a terribly good photo. It's hard to see but there are two chests - the larger one in the foreground covered by the ripple, and a smaller one in the background with a wooden cat on top. The fabric photo is taken from the lid of the smaller chest. The lid of the larger chest is covered in the same fabric but must have been more exposed to sunlight during its life as the fabric is quite badly deteriorating, to the extent that the red sections have disappeared completely, hence the need for a new cover. I'm still ridiculously sentimental about the old fabric which is why I just wanted a loose cover instead of a complete replacement. I remember these chests as they were in my grandparents house. My granny was an excellent seamstress and also painted china, upholstered, crocheted, and was a fabulous baker. It's over twenty years since she died but I feel lucky to have some lovely memories and mementoes of her.

Moving on...

I'd recently covered a few more hexagons from my patchwork project I started last summer so I thought I'd add them to the box.

Then I sorted them by colour. Since my last lay out away back in August (link here) I decided I didn't like all the lilac and needed more red and green. I need to lay them out again soon and see how it's looking now.

As to when I'll start joining them... well, I knew from the start it would be a long term project.

Right, here's how the daisy blanket was looking towards the end of last week. We had some sunshine then. I did (briefly!) consider just joining the daisies without the hexagon backgrounds. It would make a beautiful blanket, perhaps another time...

Last week I had some luck with the charity shop browsing...

A funky cook book and a chunky pottery dish. I've yet to try the recipes, after a quick browse I would say they look good for cooking/baking at home but on holiday I would be looking for simpler and less time consuming recipes.

A lovely little wooden elephant complete with tusks, and an Elizabeth Gaskell novel.

Last week we had some lovely cold, bright days...

Moon & branches.

Vapour Trail.

Evening Skies.

A leaf suspended in ice (in the sand pit!).

A gorgeous sunrise, A alerted me to this one, so glad she did, it didn't last long and I would have missed it otherwise.

I added this photo to the flickr Sky365 pool.

Meanwhile, the daisies have been multiplying.

Our biggest jigsaw to date. The box said 200 pieces, but A counted them and said there were 204. I initially assumed she'd counted wrong, but it is indeed 17 x 12 = 204. Curious!

Bits of slate from the roof, now finally fixed (thanks to George, our magic roofer!).

Snowdrops. Until I popped some in a little vase I hadn't realised they were so sweetly scented.

More daisy growth.

Lastly some frosty photos from the garden...

Honeysuckle bud.

Spiraea.

Moss.

I've not been for a cycle for weeks, hoping to rectify that tomorrow. The forecast is looking dry but cloudy and misty. Not great but could be worse!

Off now to catch up on some blog reading...

Ships & Shoes.

2012-01-30T09:42:00.006Z

Zooming through...

I have a new pair of boots. From the Moshulu sale (again!). They now have an extra 20% off sale prices and today is the last day of the offer.
A better picture of the boots from the website (link here). Half price with a further 20% off - great value, they're sooo comfy and a lovely colour too.

This morning is frosty and sunny, yay - so nice to have sunshine again.
I have a new favourite spot in the garden for photographing the morning sun.

Yesterday was also cold though not sunny. There were some interesting ice formations in the garden...
...can you see the fish shape bottom left?

...a fairy garden, spotted by A.

Also yesterday we went for an excursion...

We visited the Tall Ship in Glasgow, the Glenlee, built in 1896.

Arriving early we pretty much had the whole ship to ourselves, indeed A was a little worried as to whether we were actually allowed to be there as there was noone else around. There was lots to see, some random impressions include... the cosy looking cabins for the officers, the impressive tween deck, ringing the captain's bell, loading & unloading cargo, a short film where the narrator spoke with such enthusiasm about his memories of being a merchant sailor, a sense of just how different our cities and rivers were back then.

"The Glenlee is one of only 5 Clydebuilt sailing ships that remain afloat in the world. The other 4 are also visitor attractions: Balclutha (San Francisco), Moshulu (Philadelphia), Falls of the Clyde (Hawaii), Pommern (Finland)." This, from the website, caught my eye as it was another mention of "Moshulu", a word I'd never heard before other than as the name of a shoe shop. After a quick search for a definition online I can only find a slang meaning: "To have a drunken one night stand in the city of Philadelphia", so there you go!

We also visited the Transport Museum which is right next door. As it was free to get in the museum was much busier than the tall ship though of the two attractions we all preferred the ship.

Lastly, I have a new favourite biscuit/cookie recipe, modified from the Good Food 2012 calendar - reduce the amount of sugar by about 1/3 and add 100g of 70%+ chocolate instead of the apricots and raisins. Delicious! The one on the plate above was the last one, I'll need to make more.

Now though, some housework is badly needing done...

Daisy Connection.

2012-01-27T13:45:00.003Z

I started joining some of the daisies together...

... and I'm liking the effect so far very much. It's a wonderful pattern (link here). It's simple, logical, easily memorised, produces a wonderfully bold flowery effect and is great for playing around with different colour combinations.

Yesterday, after a lovely sunrise we had some...

...snow!

Even the humble doormat is made beautiful by a snowy blanket.

We enjoyed a fun, snowy walk home from school.

This was as much as we got and it didn't last long.

A recent drawing of A's. I love how children just get on with it and draw a picture, just like that! I always seem inhibited by a fear of making mistakes which they don't seem to worry about at all, not at age 6 anyway - long may it continue.

The subject, "My friend Molly", wasn't popular earlier this week though. On hearing a commotion in the hallyway N went to investigate to find Molly "playing with a birdie Mum!" She'd managed to catch a collared dove and bring it in the cat flap and there were feathers everywhere! I managed to get the cat and the bird in separate rooms, and the bird was well enough to fly out the french windows. I have since seen it in the garden and hope it continues to survive. It's certainly a step up from the earth worms and mice we've been getting. The cat has now got a collar and bell back on, hopefully that will help.

And finally...

...so that he's not left out, here's a recent installation by N.

Crocheting Daisies.

2012-01-24T10:16:00.006Z

Yesterday was a lovely sunny day so I took the opportunity to photograph some recent crochet happenings.

Since finishing my little ripple (which I forgot to photograph), I've been faffing around trying to find another project. I find crocheting quite relaxing and soothing and find I like to crochet as much for for the process itself as for the end result. Not any old project suits though. I started a big granny square (pictorial evidence to follow), one of the reasons being there would be fewer ends to deal with. However, once beyond a certain size I grew bored with it and wasn't happy with the colours I'd used earlier on - too far back now to change without undoing almost the whole blanket. I relalised then that (despite the ends) I prefer to work by adding blocks of colour and pattern together as it's easier to change your mind (which I do often!). A few more wrong pattern and colour combination endeavours followed. Then while browsing Pinterest I came across this pattern by Karen @ ColourInASimpleLife. It's magic!

Here are my daisies made while watching Birdsong on Sunday night.

MollyTheCat feigns interest for a photo opportunity.

These were my original colour choices. Seven of the balls are a recent Stylecraft purchase, the rest are from my stash (one problem I'd had in starting a new project was that I wasn't happy with the colours I had available in my stash, not surprising as I'd used up the ones I like best already). Although there was a nice variety in colour, the tones were too similar.

Some more lighter tones now added to give better contrast to the flowers and backgrounds.

Then I went to Lidl who are stocking yarn this week and bought some more colours (in cotton).

Finally! (though there may be a few more bits and pieces added - tiny remnants from previous blanket efforts)

I did try adding a red (we have a red armchair), but to me it's completely wrong, somehow it just shatters the colour harmony I like to think I'd achieved. It's been removed (for now).

So there we go, blanket #4 is now underway (I've still to finish sewing in the ends of blanket #3 before doing a tada for it, I've not blogged about it much, it's not the ripple as it's not a blanket...)

While in Lidl I also bout this sock yarn, I intend using it for crochet shawls, I bought two packs so I could make some shawls/scarves as gifts.

And here we have the granny square beginnings, all still optimistic atthis stage...

...but by this point I'm not liking it. I'm not sure what to do with it. I've almost run out of the green I used six rows from the end and particular greens seem to be hard to come by, so I may frog it as far back as that just to acquire the yarn.

Back to yesterday, I had to look hard to find a cloud in the sky (not the case today, we're surrounded by cloud - horrible wet, grey, drippy stuff it is too!)

I spent a happy few minutes photographing bits of a hydrangea.

One of my pots of pebbles, love the colours.

A lucky charity shop find (makes a change from children's books which is all I seem to recently find worth buying). I like the wonkiness of it and the fact that it's so obviously handmade but is still pleasing, and perfect for my crochet hooks.

OK, I tried to take a decent photo of the hairdo. This is the one I was least displeased with. I like how my coat collar hides my chin (a facial feature I wasn't bothered about till seeing it in self taken photos!). I'm not entirely sure about the hair. It's the best one I've had from a salon for a long time and I would actually go back, but maybe with a few tweaks. It's not much different lengthwise at the front, but it's been thinned out a lot and cut shorter at the back. Definitely less effort to wash and condition!

The daisies are blooming!

Saturday Morning Bike Ride

2012-01-22T14:18:00.007Z

So, I (and my new hairdo!) set off about 9am for yet another January Saturday Morning Bike Ride.

The weather was not particularly appealing. I even considered switching to an indoor rowing session instead of a cycle. But no, a three hour cycle in the rain (with camera) was greatly preferrable to a one hour row. I think we'll be selling the rowing machine...

I like these silhouetted trees cresting the hill.

Lots of rain recently so lots of extra water around.

Lovely little tree silhouette, shame about the overhead wire (which seems to be getting entangled in its branches).

On the route today are three reservoirs. This is the first one. At this point all is a little grey and gloomy.

Then out comes the sun.

Sunbeams.

What a beautiful sky. I popped this photo in the Sky365 Flickr pool being run by Knitsofacto that I found via Mrs Micawber.

I'm sure this little hut didn't look quite so run down the last time I passed this way.

Looking up at the branches of a larch decorated with little cone baubles.

Then it started to rain.

Looking at this view the wind was behind me so it was still possible to take some photographs without getting the camera wet.

Shortly after here I sheltered beneath a bank of trees for a while till the rain went off. Just a shower. Then on my way again.

The end of the road, so it seems.

A last view of reservoir #1 (actually, it's two reservoirs joined together but I'm not sure where one ends and the other starts).

More sun beams. The sun itself is also visible through the clouds - just about to break through the hole in the clouds at the top of the picture.

Another abandoned building on the left of the road, another nice little row of trees on top of the hill.

Beech tree.

Reservoir #2, complete with a pair of swans.

Right next to it on the other side of the road is reservoir #3, complete with rainbow.

Further on, a look back down the hill. Beyond the big puddle is reservoir #3 away in the distance. Someone has stuffed pinecones into the gate post - nice!

This is the view over the other side of the hill.

Then I pass the photogenic but dilapidated farm wondering if I'll be brave enough to photograph it this trip, but nope, someone is there yet again. It seems to be the dingiest, dampest but most densely populated farm around.

I like to photograph this little trailer if I'm passing this way (sad?). Today I have company over the wall.

To the right of the last photo, the road ahead. Lovely dykes, hedges, trees and sunshine!

Another few miles and I pass the snowdrops from last week, they've come on a bit more and are now at their best. Last year there was no sign of them till February, it's definitely been a much milder winter this year, though rather wet and windy for my liking.

Looking over the loch towards the sun.

The past some ducks in a row. I like their orange legs.

This swan was approaching for some food, I didn't have any.

A perfect rainbow. It was actually a double one but the secondary rainbow didn't show up well in the photos I took.

Along the cyclepath past the folly.

A bike shot, then home.

Another surprsingly enjoyable ride. Strong winds (often it was hard to hold the camera still) but I made sure I cycled out against the wind so that it was behind me coming home. Sunshine and showers - I did get wet a few times but the wind quickly dried me, and gentle sunshine is always a pleasure.

Going For The Chop.

2012-01-19T20:32:00.006Z

I am going to get my hair cut tomorrow....

...and this is how I'm going to look once it's done!

My hair is thick and curly. I've only ever found one hairdresser who seemed to know how to cut it but he moved to premises new and his old salon wouldn't tell me where that was.

The last two haircuts I've had have been self inflicted but (in my humble opinion!) they turned out better than any I've paid for in recent years. However, I've decided to "treat" myself and try(risk?) the new salon in town.

As anyone with thick, curly hair will know, a trip to the hairdresses can be extremely daunting.

Either they're terrified of cutting any layers into it at all...
in which case you end up looking like Crystal Tips...

...or they madly snip and layer away...
...and you end up looking like a poodle!

Wish me luck...

Saturday Morning Bike Ride

2012-01-14T14:45:00.007Z

Dreich.

Dreary.

Dim.

Dismal.

Desolate.

Dull.

Dark.

Detailed.

Drippy.

Damp.

Drenched.

Dank.

Dreamy.

Dedicated.

Ducky(!).

drops(Snow).

Delightful!

Aren't there a lot of discouraging words beginning with d? Isn't an on-line thesaurus fun(!)

The weather this morning was indeed rather dreich which is what started me off, but despite that the ride was enjoyable, entertaining, energising, enthralling, exhilarating...OK I'm getting carried away here. It was fun, I'm pleased with the views I saw and the photos I took, I got some exercise and fresh air, I'm glad to be home and cosy again...

Progress

2012-01-13T12:23:00.002Z

The ripple...
...is rippling along nicely. It is a nice easy pattern to make and adding in the new colours is a most satisfying process. The overall effect is bolder than I had first anticipated so I am changing it's intended final form. All will be revealed, soon.

Ends, what ends? These have already been dealt with, last night whilst chatting to friends (the best way to deal with ends!)

He was just bob-bob-bobbing along.

A sunny and still afternoon and a hint of spring in the air. Yes, it is still the middle of winter, January and February often bring the worst weather and we can still get heavy snow as late as March, but at least the darkest days of winter are now past.

We're still waiting for a roofer though...

Last night the skies were beautiful shades of blues, pinks and purples. N alerted me by shouting "Pink Skies Mummy" and came outside with me while I took some photos. He knows what I like!

Lovely skies this morning too...

...here enhanced by a pair of jackdaws on a chimney pot.

Saturday Morning Bike Ride

2012-01-09T21:05:00.002Z

A bit of a wet one and only 10 miles or so but at least I got out. That's two bike rides achieved so far this January, previously I've only managed one January cycle each year since starting this weekly cycle malarky (January 2010 & 2011 both being too cold/icy/snowy).

My favourite photo is the first one of the shrouded sun. I also like the last photo of the knowe of trees behind the iron gate with the sunshine highlighting the bright red ball topped gate post. Actually, now I look back, most of the photos do seem quite sunny and I am reminded that yes, the sun did shine for a while in amongst the frequent and heavy rain showers.

Gifts.

2012-01-06T23:03:00.012Z

Presents to me...

...a lovely oil painting of a robin...

...it's perfectly small, fits into the palm of my hand.

Also this painting of a cellist and a bassoonist. Well, it's almost a double bass (and I did learn 'cello for a year or so before children arrived on the scene - for when the bass becomes too heavy to carry & play), and the hair is pretty good (see later...). I really like it, it's from a friend I'd almost lost touch with, I need to get her something special in return. I'll get both paintings framed soon.

The 2011 Christmas books collection - I like to keep my bookcases topped up. I also got a needle felting kit and a needle felting book which is still to arrive.

Lots of lovely things, I feel very fortunate.

Presents from me...

Don't worry, I'm not going to list all the presents I got for friends and family. However, I wanted to show what I'd made for the Pay-It-Forward (PIF) hosted by Diane@HeartShaped that I joined in 2009 and finally honoured at the end of 2011 as I know all parcels have now been received and opened. I took the opportunity of it being close to Christmas to include a few Christmas related items...

Each present included a tiny matchbox sized mini nativity set. I already have one of these (see here) and it's probably my favourite Christmas decoration. I got them from a fair trade Christmas fund raising catalogue, my own set is from a couple of years ago and is slightly different.

Aside from the chocolate coins also included, I made all the other items - crocheted snowflake, felt ornament, mulled wine sachet, bracelet, fridge magnet and wooden bird.

I bought the wooden bird blanks and decorated them using my latest toy - a wood burning tool I bought in Lidl.

After a few attempts I found it easiest to make the burn marks using tiny dots.

For Vicki @ Vintage Vicki.

For Jacquie @ BunnyMummy.

For Suzy @ RusticVintageCountry.

Vicki and Jacquie I think already have their PIF volunteers but Suzy is still to start her search if you're interested.

I have a finished crocheted thing...

I made a cosy chunky wool scarf. The pattern is from Cute & Easy Crochet by Nikki Trench. I made almost all of it while watching Great Expectations so it will be forever linked in my mind with Pip, Estella and Miss Havisham.

See what I mean about the hair. As you can tell from the frown lines above my nose I usually do look this grumpy. How I wish I hadn't spent so many years frowning, I'll never get rid of the evidence now.

We had a tiny spell of sunshine this morning. I like how it highlights small clusters of clutter around the house.

My purple shoes arrived! Since aquiring a pair of red shoes, my next desire was a purple pair. When I noticed Moshulu were having a sale an order was duly placed. They're not quite perfect - I'd prefer the toes more square - but they're not bad at all.

I also had my first charity shop visit of 2012. There have been slim pickings recently -nice vintage items seem very thin on the ground. However I got four dinosaurs for N, two paperbacks for A, and yet another cookbook for me. It's Tana Ramsay's Real Family Food. On a quick flick through the bakewell slice caught my eye, though I'll be using 11oz of ground almonds not the 110 oz as written!

I've started another crocheted thing. It's something rippley! This means I can join the Attic24 and LittleTinBird Ripple Along. I got a few more rows done tonight whilst watching the last installment of The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy. A friend mentioned that she and her husband watch this every Christmas, it seemed a nice idea so hubby received a set of DVD's for Christmas and after 6 nights (1/2 a film per night) we've finally destryoyed the ring and saved Middle Earth, phew!

These are my intended colours. They took a while to choose, whether or not I stick with them all... we'll see. There's no purple, I decided on red as the accent colour this time. Speaking of purple again...

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

Warning by Jenny Joseph

Hmmm, I think I'm practising already, I now have purple shoes, I've been wearing a purple coat for the last three years (I would have liked a new coat this year but I had to take back the one I bought as it was defective and haven't been able to find another I like that has long enough arms), as for hoarding things in boxes - I think I could win a prize! Mmmm sausages...

Monday Morning Bike Ride

2012-01-03T10:21:00.006Z

November and December weren't good cycling months. The problem wasn't really weather related, weekends were just busy with fairs and concerts. But now the calendar is clear again and we're experiencing a spell of mild weather so right in the middle of winter I managed to get out for a little morning bike ride. There was a bitterly cold wind but it was dry, to start with...

Past the stumpy post, the stubble in the field behind aglow in the eerie pink sunlight.

Hard to see, but this field was full of canada geese with more flying in all the time. There was lots of honking! I'd guess the swans are hooper swans. It was raining at this point, hence the rather grainy image.

Another flock flies in.

Tree silhouettes against a stormy sky. I had to get off the bike to reach above the fence to take this photo, so here is...

... the first bike shot of 2012.

I like the strong horizontal stripes of colour across this view.

Not all is pretty round here though...

... grrrr, fly tipping, almost in the middle of the road too!

A clipped hawthorn tree, never to be allowed to grow tall.

The sun shone briefly, making a red gate shine.

More striking stripes in the landscape.

Look, blue sky!

Farm house above patchwork fields.

Tree silhouette at the brow of a hill.

I also got hit with hailstones while out, they're sore! I then spoiled the good effects of my morning bike ride by getting stuck into a box of Christmas biscuits in the afternoon. Oh well.

Other "news". We were right (tired!) party poopers on Hogmany and all went to bed before the bells. At midnight we were awoken by a bagpiper playing Auld Lang Syne out on the street. She and her party marched up and down finishing with Scotland The Brave before heading home. Fireworks were booming, friends (less boring than us!) were texting. I rather enjoyed it all. Happy New Year!

Last night though we had a terrible storm...

... and part of our roof is quite badly damaged, the front garden is littered with slates. Oh well...

The 2011 collection of photo mosaics/samplers (with a little how-to).

2011-12-30T15:57:00.006Z

I started this on impulse late last night and ended up not going to bed until the wee small hours. It's the first time I've done a year in pictures round-up and I found it to be time consuming and rather addictive but I greatly enjoyed my trip down memory lane and the results provide a wonderful snapshot of the year.

--------------------January

--------------------February

--------------------March

--------------------April

--------------------May

--------------------June

--------------------July

--------------------August

--------------------September

--------------------October

--------------------November

--------------------December

January:- I crocheted two shawls! The beginning of an addiction. Part of our bedroom was actually tidy enough for a photo of it to be included in a blog post

February:- Another crochet shawl, and my first (and only) crocheted cardigan. I found a good snowdrop spot, I'll be back to visit it in a few weeks.

March:- Some late snow. A fancy cake -I placed a stencil (an old decorating mag freebie) over the cake before dusting with icing sugar. I joined in with the Japanese Flower Shawl mania.

April:- An unusually gorgeously sunny, warm and colourful month. We had icecream on the beach. I finally finished my African flower crochet blanket, it took 11 months altogether.

May:- We had a lots of rain in May 2011. However, there were good days too as these photos show. It's still my favourite month, so green and fresh and full of promise.

June:- Daisies, elderflower champagne, the agricultural show, birthdays. Also a special quilt was completed - a joint effort with friends.

July:- We went on holiday, it was beautiful. I recommend you take the Road to The Isles if you ever get the chance (and good luck with the weather!).

August:- I madly started a hexagon quilt. I madly finished my second crochet blanket, I madly started and finished a crescent moon shawl. I wonder what happened to the housework in August!

September:- It seems I couldn't live without another blanket on the go. Number 3 was begun.

October:- We took a short holiday to gorgeous Robin Hoods Bay. Later, once back home, some Halloween crafting. Wild geese, so evocative of October.

November:- A parliament of felt owls. Beautiful Autumn colours. The lavender mouse survives the addition of a cat to the household.

December:- Mincemeat and mince pies. There are still many left. I'm not fed up of them, yet. Snow, gone before Christmas. I finish the year as I began, with yet another crocheted shawl - I've started giving them away.

I hope you enjoyed this little meander through 2011. I'll take a better look at the ones other bloggers have created now I know how long it takes! I'm a little fussy with my photos though, here's how I do mine...

1. I look at the thumbnail images of my photos for each month and pick the best nine - ones which have a strong feature which stands out in a small image size and which would fit a square size frame.
2. I crop the selected photos so that they are square (I use microsoft photo editor)
3. I upload the photos to flickr. I create a set for each month with nine photos.
4. I use BigHugeLabs (free!) to create the mosaics. I set the mosaic size to be 3x3 and the image source to be the relevant flickr photoset. I do this for each month.
5. I eventually go to bed far too late and feeling too cold after sitting in an unheated room for several hours at the computer in the middle of winter, which means it takes me even longer to fall asleep. Today I feel a little tired!

Here's to many more colourful days to photograph in 2012. Happy New Year to you when it comes!

On The Fifth Day Of Christmas...

2011-12-29T16:33:00.005Z

Happy Christmas!

Stockings have been hung, filled and emptied. Christmas dinner was devoured and it was delicious. Instead of turkey we had a corn-fed-happy-pampered-chicken. To accompany it there was pancetta and lemon ciabbatta stuffing, pork stuffing balls, lincolnshire chipolatas, streaky bacon rolls, sprouts tossed with bacon and honey, roast potatoes, plain carrots and bread sauce (always packet). Just the four of us. Left overs are lasting well...

On boxing day we had 23 altogether - it was our turn to host my husband's family annual get-together. Everone brings something to eat and I wish I'd taken photos of the food. This year it seemed to be the year of the dessert. From my husband's youngest sister there was (all homemade) lemon meringue pie, passion fruit cheese cake and sticky toffee pudding. I made banoffi pie and key lime pie and hubby made brandy snaps. We were stuffed.

Next Sunday we do almost all of it again when we see my family on New Years Day for another present swap and roast dinner.

(The stuffing recipes were from the Good Food Christmas magazine.)

We've not spent all our time eating. A little family bike ride occurred on Tuesday morning. Before the stormy weather started again.

Shades of grey. A good time of year for bird and tree silhouettes. Graffitti and cycling jackets add a splash of colour.

And now... hubby is back at work. The children are being pretty good considering we're stuck indoors much of the time. I wouldn't say it's idyllic, when they argue and squabble it can drive me nuts, but we forget about these things (and the number of times I've cleaned the bathroom floor after toilet incidents!) and remember the fun times. We're particularly enjoying the new lego sets and the marble run N got for Christmas.

I just wish for a little less wind and less rain (and some sunshine would be lovely!)

Tonight I'm looking forward to the final episode of Great Expectations (anyone else been watching it?) and some more holiday crochet. MollyTheCat likes to play with the wool - a little, but not enough to be a nuisance. Which is good!

The Best Mince Pie Pastry Recipe Ever (or so I think!) And Some Other Christmassy Things...

2011-12-23T15:46:00.008Z

Here we have...
...my third Eva's shawl. I managed to finish it in good time for posting. I really like the grey now it's done though it wasn't terribly interesting during the making stage.

The (rather lovely and also free!) pattern is here. You can buy Drops Delight yarn here (though now Drops is in the process of being discontinued from this supplier).

As to the rest of Christmas, I don't think I'm as organised as I was last year but I think we'll be OK. Everything that needs bought has been bought which is always good. I managed a few makes (presents, decorations, baking), not as many as I'd have liked but enough. However, the house is a tip and I'll need to try and sort that tonight and tomorrow morning.

I made our usual Christmas cake - Nigella's chocolate fruit cake. The recipe is in her Feast and Christmas books, and I have found it on line in the past.

The little matchbox nativity is back in front of the clock on the mantlepiece...

...which is looking very festive.

Mince pies. This is how they look when you drop the camera in amongst them while trying to photograph them!

I noticed from my blog last year that I wasn't planning to bother making them again. However, one of my brothers and I had a mince pie contest last Christmas and his tasted delicious, far better than the ones I'd made last year and better than shop bought too. His secret - our Mum's mince pie pastry recipe. It has a small amount of sugar in it which I think makes a difference. Here it is for you:-

Mince Pie Pastry

6 oz marg / butter
2 oz caster sugar
9 oz plain flour
1 egg yolk

Cream sugar & fat. Add egg yolk. Add flour gradually while mixing.
Chill
Roll 1/4 " thick
Make up pies
Bake @ 400F / 200C/ Gas mark 6 for approx 10 mins (this leaves them pale for later reheating).

For this number of pies I used a double batch of pastry.

I still had some mincemeat left over, so I just added it to a batch of muffin mixture to make mincemeat muffins.

These dangling snowflakes are my favourite Christmas decoration.

I've made some more since taking this photo (the snow's gone now too). I've seen far more impressive snowflake curtains on flickr but I'll add to our collection for next year. I love how they twirl gently around (perhaps you need a draughty house for this particular effect). I am rather fussy about one aspect of paper snowflakes though - they must have six points as per real snowflakes. Folding your paper circle in half, folding this half by three, then folding in half again before cutting does the trick. Please, no more eight pointed snowflakes!

Fabulous shadows are cast by a Christmas cactus plant on a sunny day.

Hmmm, not seen a bird like that before.

The milk bottles have their Christmas tops on.

I eventually got round to taking the holly inside. There are still berries on the tree, the birds are very late to eat them this year.

Today I made more gingerbread biscuit with some new cutters. I couldn't resist creating this little woodland scene.

My helpers then decorate them before they are baked. I had expected the pack of mini smarties to last the whole batch of dough, I obviously underestimated the decorating density deemed necessary. We had to switch to currants half way through, which actually taste better anyway.

This will probably be my last post before Christmas though I will still be logging in to read other blogs. I hope you all have a lovely time. Good health & good cheer!

Getting Festive...

2011-12-16T20:41:00.008Z

Phew, just had a busy few weeks what with Christmas Fairs and playing in end of season concerts. However, I have managed to fulfill my Pay-It-Forward obligations at last - a big thank you to Suzy @ Rustic Vintage Country, Jacquie @ BunnyMummy and Vicki @ VintageVicki who all volunteered to be my PIF recipients.

The parcels have been posted, I can't show you what's in them though as they've not all been delivered yet.

Now that that's out the way(!) I've been getting on with a few more Christmas preparations. All rather haphazard so far - decorations gradually appearing, rooms (very) gradually being tidied.

The tree is up. For the first time we have gone for a fake tree. Much less hassle. No lovely smell. The "needles" are staying put. Not as pretty. It'll go back in it's box for next year instead of lying round the garden till June. Too small.

I had fun with my camera after reading this post at BunnyMummy. The photo above was achived by waving the camera around while taking a shot on the firework setting. One of many.
,
This seemed like a good idea. I started crocheting an Eva's shawl in lovely Drops Delight wool. It's for a Christmas present and has to be ready in time for posting. It uses three balls of wool - that's nearly 600 yards of yarn. What was I thinking! Since taking the above photo I'm now about 2/3 of the way through, my left hand is getting sore, but I think I'll make it in time.

We've been enjoying the school and nursery Christmas shows. This year hubby has taken holidays from work to come along and see them too. Yesterday was the school show. It was a lovely sunny winter's day (such a nice change from the very wet windy stormy weather we've been having for the past few weeks - even to the extent of the school being closed for a day due to high winds, something I've never known happen before).

The boys spend some time cleaning bikes together before the show. The show itself was excellent, A was a dancing cow and did a great job!

I decided it was time to pick some holly for the house.

The birds are just starting to eat the berries, usually there are none left on the tree by Christmas.

I looked out my cookbooks for some Christmas baking. From Feast I intend to make the chocolate fruit cake for our Christmas cake, as I've done for the last two years, it's yummy and we prefer it to a more traditional Christmas cake. From Bake I'll be making more gingerbread biscuits. The other two books I was using for mincemeat reference. I had thought this year that I would just buy mine pies rather than make them. However, while at Morrisons I noticed that a pack of six rather unappealing looking pies cost £2 - expensive I thought, I'll buy a jar of mincemeat and make my own. Next I look at the mincemeat, again, it doesn't really look appealing, and on checking the ingredients it would appear to be about 50% sugar - way too high. So...

...I now have a big bowl of this maturing.

The good housekeeping recipe recomends leaving it in the bowl for 2 days then putting in jars and make no mention of the weeks of maturing other recips seem to require, so that'll do for me.

I have to say that in the past I've very much liked the Co-op Truly Irresistible brand of mince pies, definitely my favourite shop bought option.

This morning it was the nursery show. N was a star, one of about 8. He didn't sing any of the songs as he only wanted to sing Robot Robot Robot - a made up song which, unsurprisingly, wasn't part of the show. Still, he sat well, though did look rather bored, and yawned a lot.

Hubby and I had planned to go on a bike ride as he was to be in nursery all day, but this morning we woke to snow. Most unexpected - I love a snowy surprise on opening the bedroom curtains in the morning (so long as I'm not needing to take the car anywhere though).

I took another visit up to the holly tree for a snowy holly berry photo.

Snow on the whirlygig wires.

So instead of a bike ride, hubby and I went for a lovely snowy walk.

Up out the village past fields and trees.

I like how each fence post has a little hat of snow.

The tree at the corner. I have photos of this tree for all types of weather and seasons, but until today, I didn't have one of it with snow.

Under the troll bridge.

Snowy hogweed and straw bales.

Birds on wires and a straw bale.

Trees and straw bales.

Lines in the snow (no straw bales)

If you look closely there's a straw bale between the fence posts!

A lovely walk of about 4-5 miles. It felt like a good old Christmas day walk even though we didn't have bellies full of turkey and weren't returning home to relax on the sofa with a Bond film and Christmas sweeties.

Ahhh, home. Just wish it was a little better insulated!

After school we went sledging in the dark. It ended in tears as it often does - N didn't like going too fast on the sledge and needs better gloves. A, though, had a great time.

Lastly, an update on our orchestra's appearance with the BBCSSO a few weekends ago -it was a fantastic morning, you can hear the results here.

Getting Sorted, Clearing Out, Paying It Forward.

2011-12-07T21:01:00.011Z

A confession...

Back in November 2009 I took part in a Pay It Forward venture hosted by Diane @ Heartshaped. I received lots of lovely goodies from Diane and promised to obtain three volunteers to pass on more presents to, they would then each pass on three more sets of gifts to three more recipients, etc, etc. At the time I only managed to get one interested party and failed to deliver the goods (it's OK, Country Mouse is also a "real" friend and I don't think she minded really, and has probably completely forgotten about it - till now...)

I would like to try and re-start the pay-it-forward. To enter you need to volunteer by commenting on this post and indicating that you're interested. I'll put the names in the hat and will pick three (as my original volunteer no longer blogs I will send her a seperate gift too but with no obligation to pay it forward). To enter you need to have a blog and be prepared to continue the PIF by posting it on your blog and finding a further three bloggers to receive handmade items from yourself. Officially you have a year in which to do this (umm, I took 2, sorry!). It'll probably be no surprise to learn that most of my intended gifts will have a Christmas theme. In addition to the handmade items I will also be giving sets of my favourite fair trade Christmas decorations which have appeared in this post (2009) and this post (2010).

Christmas 2011 is approaching as quickly as ever now that December has begun. I'm still feeling relatively organised (just because I'm not thinking too hard about it all!)

On Saturday it was the nursery fair.

I prepared a small army of gingerbread men...

...some of whom were scoffed in house...

...but most made it safely out the door, accompanied by my usual tablet donation.

One evening before the fair a few Mums got together to make some owls - after selling all the ones I'd already made at the school fair the previous weekend I needed a hand to make more, and people were keen to have a go at making their own.

It was a good opportunity to try out one of the mulled wine sachets, it worked a treat and I liked the wine stained orange slices left in the pan.

I managed to make two owls for hanging...

...and one little spicey owl cushion.

I dug out some Christmas lights for using in Santa's grotto. It seemed daft to put them away again so a few are already hanging round the house. Normally I decorate for Christmas all in one go, but this year it's more of a gradual accumulation of decorations and lights. To be honest I'm not quite ready for decorations yet as I like to give the house a good clean and tidy before bringing them out. But not to worry, noone will notice the difference I'm sure.

I have some advent herbal tea, a gift from a German friend. I've never been keen on ordinary tea or coffee but over the last couple of years I've grown to like herbal teas. In winter they can be pleasantly warming and soothing without the cloying sweetness associated with other hot winter drinks. I do find I'm preferring the berry based ones, but it's good to try different ones and this pack with two of twelve different flavours is ideal for that, though so far there is only one flavour I'd actually buy again.

I have some other works in progress - I'm really liking the spiced pillows and am making a few more as gifts.

This one will probably be for A's teacher.

One of these I've already finished and have posted to one of my brothers who has just moved house (after 23 years in his last home).

We've not had a chimney pot view from the back door for a while. Here we have some rather threatening clouds moving in, and as usual there are several jackdaws perched atop various chimneys.

The clouds didn't disappoint and we've had our first snow of this winter. Not a lot, enough to make the world look magical for a while but not enough to cause any annoying travel issues.

Footprints.

Some wintry scenes.

To today...

I'm in the middle of a pre-Christmas clearout and have been listing items on ebay and sorting out bags for the charity shop. While at the charity shop...

...I bought this lot (plus a purple forklift truck not photographed as it was in use) for the grand total of £4. Such bargains! Look at the lovely threads, perfect for more owl crafting.

One bobbin in particular caught my eye. It was made in a local mill, the buildings of which dated back to 1782 and were believed to house the world's oldest surviving machine factory. However, last April vandals set fire to the buildings and the mill is now no more. I find it sad that another link with the past has been destroyed in such a mindless way.

To finish on a happier note, here is the shelf with A's lovely Phoenix Cards advent calendar house on it. It's beautiful, I'd have loved one like it when I was young. It is nice occasionally to be able to indulge the children a little with one's own childish desires.

PS. Remember that if you want to enter the Pay-It-Forward please say so when commenting - fingers crossed I'll get more than one volunteer this time round...
PPS. You don't need to be UK based to enter the PIF.
PPPS. Entries for the draw will close at midnight on Sunday 11th December.

A Temple, Puddles and Birds.

2011-11-28T13:09:00.007Z

I had a go at another Christmas make idea, I was looking for something less time consuming than the owls.

I came up with this little birdie. He's a cross between the coloured birds in this post and the quilled bird in this post.

I think I'll make the wings a little less frilly for the next one, then do a few more to sell cheaply at the next fair. They're very simple to do...

1. Cut a piece of card into a bird shape (this particular shape is taken from "Christmas Crafting in No Time")

2. Fold a length of paper into a concertina, round the ends with scissors, insert into a slot cut into the, glue wings together at the top, and attach a thread for hanging.

I am also making more owls for the forthcoming nursery fair. Why? Because... all seven hanging owls and the spicy owl pillow sold at the school fair on Saturday - hurray! I put the price at £4.50 for the hanging owls and £7.50 for the owl pillow. So just for those that's £38 direct to the school which is more than I would have given in a straight donation, plus I did enjoy making them, and of course, taking photos of them, putting them on my blog and receiving some lovely comments about them! Thank you to all who did take the time to comment, all comments are much appreciated. I must admit now that the thrill of making them is starting to fade a little, but I'll manage a few more I'm sure.

Yesterday afternoon we went for another little walk. Anyone who follows my cycling posts will probably have noticed little hilltop folly which frequently appears in my photos. Despite living here for nearly 10 years, I'd never made the little detour up the hill to visit the folly, till now. However, we soon realised we hadn't picked a good day...

... a huge enormous puddle! I waded slowly through it carrying N. It probably stretched for 100yds and for about 50 of those it came up to within 2" of the tops of my wellies.

Hubby and A decided to try skirting round the puddle (you can just make them out on the far right of the above photo)

It initially looked like they'd made the better choice, but they got very muddy.

Still, we made it!

The folly (or temple as it's often called) was bigger than I thought it would be, and although empty there was more inside than I expected - such as the remains of a fireplace and evidence of an upper floor level with the windows. It was built in 1760 so is also older than I expected too. Apparently its original use was thought to be as a religious shrine and later it was used as hunting base, being close to a deer path.

At least it provided shelter from the wind.

The views were pleasant too, though we resolved to come back and appreciate them more on a nicer day.

Sunbeams and the setting sun peeking through a gap in the clouds.

We returned to the car along the cycle path to avoid the puddles. I love returning to a warm cosy home after a cold and blustery late Autumn walk - one of my favourite things!

The Final Tally.

2011-11-25T14:07:00.005Z

In the end...
...I made...
...seven...
...owl ornaments.

I apologise a little for the glut of owl pictures, but I'm pleased with how they've turned out and they do make rather nice photographs together. Tomorrow they'll be on sale at the school fair so it may be the last time they are altogether.

I'd be interested in knowing what the general opinion is as to how much they'd sell for at a school fair. I have a price in mind which I hope isn't too cheap, but also isn't too pricey bearing in mind it's a school fund raising event and not a craft fair. So please, what do you think Joe Bloggs would pay? (not what they're worth, which to me is far more!). If I make them too expensive and they don't sell then I can always drop the prices a little for the nursery fair next week - I don't actually want to sell them all as I don't really have time to make many more.

As an alternative to the ornament form...

I turned one into a little scented cushion, full of cloves, cinnamon sticks and allspice berries, and gave him a little branch to sit on. I've cut pieces to make another of these which I think I will keep for myself.

I had some luck in a charity shop recently. Some good looking books including the Twilight Trilogy which I've yet to read (or see on film) and a big ball of crochet thread which is perfect for snowflake production.

So, this is my final board of Christmas craft donations for the fair. I seem to have have felt personally responsible for stocking the entire craft stall and have gone a bit daft perhaps.

Actually, there's more...

...in addition to felt decorations and crochet snowflakes...

...I made...

... lots of mulled wine sachets using fresh whole spices - cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and ginger. Our house smells lovely just now!

To finish, as a break from all this crafting, I'll share a few photos from a recent walk. It was at our local country park and was just as daylight was starting to fade. N felt rather cheated as he was expecting swings and slides after hearing we were going to a park. A wasn't keen at first either but really enjoyed the walk up the hill and the views. Both enjoyed Gruffalo hunting the the deep dark woods on the way to the hill.

A Mouse, an Owl, some Snowflakes and a Winner.

2011-11-19T16:00:00.004Z

Not an owl...
...but a lavender mouse. Made using Tess @ Driftwood's tutorial. I found it a little fiddly to make but everyone who's since seen the mouse has liked it very much so I will have another try. Things are often easier after the first attempt anyway.

There is another owl after all. Green too.

I tried to get a photograph of him outside but his ribbon seemingly proved just too irresistable for the moggie.

I've been blocking my crochet snowflakes following Victoria @ Yarn Round Hook's blocking guide.

It certainly makes a difference. I've just been using acrylic dk to make the snowflakes which seems fine. Oddly the snowflakes I liked best before blocking are the ones I like least after, I'm glad I found out before I made too many.

Now to the giveaway which ended yesterday...

...thank you to everybody who entered for the fantastic response. I've also been receiving a lot of nice comments about the owls which has been very encouraging for me.

Into the hat...

...and the winner is...

... Victoria at Yarn Round Hook. Congratulations! In addition to the book and chocolate I'll include some materials for making your very own owl.

Thank you again to those who entered and to those who have also commented on my feltie attempts. I'd like here to say a little Thank you in particular to Toffee Apple who is always so generous with her comments but with whom I can't find a way to communitcate as I've not been able to get the email pop up doodaa to work. Anyway, it's turning into an Oscars speech so I'll away now and leave you alone. Enjoy the weekend. Actually, tomorrow should be quite an interesting day for me - our orchestra is playing with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in the morning. I hope I don't make too much of a fool of myself in front of the pros! We'll be playing Sibelius 2nd Symphony, last movement...

Twit Twoo

2011-11-14T18:29:00.004Z

Five little felt owls all in a row...

...along came the cat...

...and made them a little higgledy piggledy, so there you go.

Purrrrrrrrrrr.

I'm rather enjoying making the felt owls, it's such a lovely design to start off with (from Christmas Crafting in No Time, see here) and I get a lot of pleasure from selecting the different colours of felt and thread.

I've also been making some other felt Christmas ornaments...

... most are new for this year, though the gingerbread man (and snowman and Christmas pudding motif which follow) are old favourite designs (see here (2010) and here (2009)).

I adapted the pudding design and used it for this little scented pillow. It's stuffed full of cloves and cinnamon and smells divine. I'm also pleased with my dala horse motif which is new this year too. I used the colours from my bargain ebay horses (see here) as inspiration.

Mmmmmm. There'll be some more of these to come and I think I'll be keeping one for myself (all the rest are to be donated to the nursery/school Christmas fairs).

Here's the snowman. He wasn't quite ready for the photo shoot as his scarf needs a little stitch to fix it in place.

Not shown is a crochet snowflake attempt. It needs blocked, in the meantime it was being played with and has temporarily disappeared.

And someone else has got the owl bug too!

Other bloggers have posted photos of their Christmas crafting in progress which prompted me to share mine. It's nice to know I'm not alone! The ones which stuck in my mind were Summerfete (here) and Yarn Round Hook (here).

A Giveaway - Christmas Crafting In No Time

2011-11-10T13:25:00.005Z

I recently bought" Christmas Crafting In No Time" by Clare Youngs...

... and liked it so much I have since bought another copy to offer as a giveaway gift.

I'll also include a bar of my favourite chocolate.

To enter: please have a blog, stay in the UK (to keep p&p costs down) and leave a comment on this post by midnight on Fri 18th Nov.

It is a lovely book, full of wonderful craft ideas just perfect for Christmas. When it arrived I was surprised at how thick it was - 176 pages - lots to keep you inspired. Here are just a few pages to tempt you...

I've already had a go at the owls:-

I'll be making more as they're to be donated to forthcoming school & nursery Christmas Fairs.

So far I like the purple one best. I got the eye beads from ebay (here's a link)

I also had my first attempt at quilling. More fiddly than I expected but I think I was trying to make my spirals too loose.

I finally managed to clear my desk so I could "arrange" my Christmas crafting materials on it. Now that I'm starting to gear up for the Christmas Fairs there's no time to finish off the crochet blanket...

...last seen here chasing the cat. It's the one furthest away, some of those pesky ends can be spotted trailing from it.

By the way (as they say) I bought both copies of the books from The Book People (here). They also have the KirstieAllsop Craft book which I'd browsed in TK Maxx (too expensive at £12), noticed on Amazon (still a little pricey at £10) then bought from The Book People for £6.99. It's the most I'd pay for it, it seems a nice book (have only really flicked through it so far) but contains too many photos of the contibutors for my liking.

Autumn Woods

2011-11-07T19:03:00.007Z

Sunday morning was our first properly frosty morning of Autumn 2011. Another morning when I couldn't wait to get outside with my camera to capture some seasonal delights.

I started in the garden...

...and ended up with this mosaic of frosty leaves, foggy views, sugar dusted slates, a late blooming rose, pebbles locked in a frozen pail and an icy windscreen.

Fortunately I wasn't planning on scraping said windscreen. We were going for a walk, we three, A, N & me.

Destination: nearby woodland. On the way: a jackdaw perches atop a tiny church tower.

On reaching the woods we start at the bottom, where it's cold and a little bit gloomy.

We make our way upwards along leaf strewn paths. We're glad of our wellies when required to negotiate some very muddy patches.

Before long we're at the top, bursting out into the sunshine and enjoying views of the village back down through the trees.

Another favourite avenue.

A blackbird silhoutte (as opposed to the black bird silhouettes I normally photograph, usually rooks and jackdaws)

A beautiful view over an adjacent field. The bare tree shapes are wonderful at this time of year (before they become just too familar and I long for them to be covered again with leaves)

Interesting shapes, colours and patterns.

Fallen branch, blue skies.

Lots of logs perfectly placed for sitting on.

We head back along the little avenue to reach the tree with the rope swing. When I become a little weary of supervising the rope swinging and log balancing acts I find plenty to keep myself and my camera entertained...

Then it's time to head back home for lunch.

Such a gorgeous weekend, who knew November could be so lovely. I do feel fortunate to be able to get outside and appreciate Autumn in such pleasant surroundings, and all within walking and cycling distance too.

Boom!

2011-11-07T11:33:00.005Z

This made me laugh lots...

Hope you enjoyed it too! I think it would be soooo funny to go to a show like that. Our local Guy Fawkes firework display was on Friday night, but as we were late I'm actually glad ours did follow a more conventional pattern on this occasion or we'd have missed it all.

My best attempt at a firework photo.

Saturday Morning Bike Ride

2011-11-06T16:08:00.012Z

Up early - at 7am a quick peek out the window shows some lovely mistiness lying along low ground. I quickly get the cycling gear on and munch a banana sandwich for breakfast, then get on the bike and set off up the hill to catch the views from on high.

Heading uphill along the road through the woods.

At the top the sun is only just appearing over the hill. Two little cows are silhouetted beside the base of the pylon.

Lovely colours here in the landscape and skies. I had to get off the bike to see above the wire fence for this photo so...

...here's a bike shot before I get back on.

I love the effect of the mist wreathing it's way over the fields.

A mossy wall. We've had a light frost...

...and the leaves of the plants along the verges are looking especially pretty.

Tree silhoutte, lovely blue skies above.

Just a few hundres yards further on another tree silhoutte, however this mist is rising fast and the sun is already obscured. I'll need to find even higher ground now if I want to see more blue skies. I decide I'll cross over to the other side of the valley to reach where the road lies higher. It'll mean going deeper down into the fog first though...

Through the fog, a rook on a wire.

At the crossroads past the big stone (a glacial erratic) I'm going to turn left.

I pause for a couple of photos first though, I like this one of the silhouetted stone with the hazy sun on one side and a shadowy tree on the other.

Here I'm now past the stone and from this angle the sun is strong enough to light the surface features.

Brrrr, I'm so glad I brought my gloves, it's very cold down in the foggy air.

Rook.

No photos for the next few miles as it's super foggy and cold. I reach the bottom of the hill on the other side and make my way up...

Yay, back to blue skies and sunshine again. But what's this, the road I'm planning to take is closed... to cars perhaps but not to bikes.

Frosty leaves (and a toadstool) underfoot.

Uh oh, can you see the mist making it's way up here too.

This spider web looks fantastic.

Look closely and there are webs adorning these hogweed heads too.

A late cornflower bloom.

A rainbow.

Sheep with gorgeous misty wreaths over the land in the back ground. Aside from the sheep and cows I have miles of countryside to myself and it's all absolutely beautiful!

The road ahead. Misty patches but still plenty sunshine here.

Fantastic! So glad I got out and came up here.

Grrr, scenes like this don't please me though. Some people...

More road closed signs. Perhaps they really mean it. I ignore them anyway, I can always turn back if need be.

The rainbow can still be seen, here faintly to the right of this large solitary tree.

A very grubby looking cow.

I've decided to come as far along the road as the tree avenue (right at the end is parked the tarmac lifting machine, hence the road closed signs, but the surface is fine for cycling). Then I'll retrace my route a little before heading down to a nearby reservoir. The mist is already starting to dissipate in the warming sun.

Many of the trees in the avenue have various scribbles on them. I wonder if Jaz and Stu are still together.

Don't forget to look up.

Lovely little line of shapely trees.

I like how these four trees are perfectly formed into one rounded canopy.

This little tree is growing in the doorway of an old ruined cottage.

Balls of sheep fleece caught on the fence barbs.

A first view of the reservoir. All around is the sound of honking geese (as has been the case for much of my cycle ride round here).

To get down to the reservoir I will be passing through a most picturesquely untidy farm (you can almost make it out, right in the middle of the photo above). I would so like to photograph it. It is absolutely full of junk - there must be at least 15 abandoned cars for a start, never mind all the old tractors and farm equipment gently decaying in the yard. However, there are bright, colourful flowers planted in any and every usuable container including the old carts and troughs, so it is obviously a place that is loved too. Often there is an old biddy pottering about close by so I feel it's a bit too intrusive to take my camera out and start snapping away, and I seem to be too shy to ask permission.

A lovley little group of Scots pines grace this bend just before the farm.

Now I'm through the farm and admiring the view of the reservoir on the other side.

A long straight road lined with neatly clipped beech hedges. A beautiful sky.

At last, some "proper" Autumn colour.

Good old beech, it seems the most reliable tree herabouts for a fiery display, so long as all the leaves aren't blown off too early.

This one must be in a sheltered spot.

A last view over the reservoir. It's looking nice and full (well, we have had quite a lot of rain recently).

And when I start my descent of the hill to reach home the mist has completely lifted and a bright sunny afternoon awaits.

Tiny Tidy Cottage

2011-11-04T13:52:00.002Z

I was very lucky recently to win a giveaway hosted by Isabelle at Suzy's Vintage Attic. The giveaway was to promote Isabelle's new blog Tiny Tidy Cottage, which she has created to sell some of her lovely new and vintage items. In Isabelle's own words...

"I live in a stone cottage in the beautiful Somerset countryside. I love my home but there isn't enough room to accommodate all the things I have bought/collected over the years and keep buying. To keep my home tidy and clutter free and to make room for new arrivals, I have a regular clear out. Instead of using a well know online auction site or dress agency, I have created this blog to sell some of my own personal items.

I will be selling: Clothing, accessories, textiles, books, magazines, home wares, jewellery and more... (Modern, old, used & new)

HAPPY SHOPPING!"

Isabelle generously offered a choice of two books as a giveaway prize, the one I picked was...

...The Liberty Book Of Home Sewing.

It's a beautifully presented book, packed full of some rather nice household items to sew. I especially like the fabrics used for the quilt above.

This cushion cover looked unusual and very effective...

...as did this one.

And I've always had a hankering for a decent bean bag. I did get a bean bag one Christmas when I was in my early teens and I was delighted, till I sat on it and realised it was filled with blobby mishapen polystyrene packing lumps and not the nice slidey "beans" I was expecting - like the ones you can see here in my favourite bean bag film scene(!)

Thank you, Isabelle, for a wonderful prize. I am enjoying the book very much and may even be tempted to renew my aquaintance with my sewing machine (with whom I parted on bad terms rather a long time ago).

Halloween Is Coming...

2011-10-31T15:57:00.003Z

Aaargh, what's this...
...a big beady eye coming to get you...

...belonging to Molly, our new kitten (6 months old) who came to stay with us yesterday. She's very friendly and affectionate and is right now sitting on my knee as I type.

This year's Halloween preparations are a bit better than last year's when I mislaid all the decorations (still can't find 'em even now), then found out the pumpkin I'd bought was rotten.

Just cutting out spooky shapes in black card is most effective. I particularly like the crows and there is a high possibility they will still be displayed somewhere after Halloween is over.

We also cut out some (non Halloween) coloured card shapes while we were at it...

These three birdies brighten up an otherwise plain and boring lightshade.

This is N's effort (aside from the cutting). I like the addition of googley eyes, jewels and sticky shapes, all carefully positioned.

The happy face on the pumpkin was drawn by A (I cut it out). He's quite friendly looking which is good - I'm not a fan of the gory and gruesome Halloween decorations which seem to be getting more and more prevalant as the years pass (or is it just as I get older?).

Lastly a flock of pigeons, just because I liked them flying in the sky.

Have a good Halloween. I hope the guisers have some good jokes and songs for you all.

Robin Hoods Bay

2011-10-23T15:59:00.013+01:00

Last week we had a little holiday and spent four nights on the North Yorkshire coast staying in a wonderfully quirky cottage in the picturesque village of Robin Hoods Bay.

It was a dark and windy night when we reached the area, perfect weather for Dracula's arrival I thought as we passed through the outskirts of Whitby. We parked at the top of the village and carried our bags down through the little streets to our cottage (we preferred to do that than attempt to manoeuvre the car round the narrow streets). Even in the dark, we could tell we'd picked a lovely place to visit.

The next morning...

...we awoke to this view from our bedroom window, Blue skies, golden sunshine and such pretty cottages piled on top of one another up the steep cliffs. I couldn't wait to get out and explore the little streets and paths of the village, and the nearby beach and the cliffs. Of course I took my camera with me...

Just one of the 200 or so cottages in the village, all picture perfect. I love the contrast of the orange roof tiles, the white walls and the deep blue sky.

The narrow paths are a delight to wander, at every corner there is always something to see.

Our cottage was up at the top of the road on the right here. It was a perfect holiday cottage - well equipped, clean, very comfortable and with a curious layout - great for a week or so but which would probably drive you mad if you lived there permanently. Each room was on a different level and each level was connected by a spiral staircase. Ground level at the back of the cottage was equivalent to third level at the front.

There were several pleasant shops in the village for browsing...

Mmmmm!

N's favourite shop was the dinosaur museum, on his second visit he took his toy dinosaurs along to show "the man".

A's favourite shop was the one with this fairy display. Much time was spent gazing at the fairies in the window as the shop opened late and closed early so it wasn't till the final day that she was able to purchase one of her very own.

Although generally sunny it was also cold. I finished my car crochet project early so hubby could have a scarf to help keep him warm. It's just repeated rows of UK dc and is made from a £1 bargain ball of King Cole Riot DK, colourway Dude.

I enjoyed spending lots of time on the beach looking for fossils (and taking photos).

Look at those fantastic clouds.

It was nice to walk out along the beach and return via the cliff path.

Hawthorn tunnel.

I was impressed by the abundance of berries hereabouts, and I also saw lots of sloe berries which aren't very common round our way.

Yup, hogweed here too, silhoutted against the sea.

A smashing view from the cliff path of Robin Hoods Bay lit by the late afternoon sun.

While in the area we spent one day in Whitby.

Unfortunately, we picked one of the days the abbey was closed, but it was possible to get some nice views of it from over the wall.

A view of Whitby from near the abbey.

Whitby cows, with a ship on the North Sea behind.

Back to Robin Hoods Bay... I arranged a couple of mosaics with some of my pictures - there were just so many opportunities to take photos of lovely things...

The pointed arch seen here in one of the cottage gardens is made from a whale's jaw bone.

Here I like the sun or flower of pebbles that someone has made on the step.

This little fellow is to be found at the old coast guard station in the village, well worth a visit and entry is free too.

The very impressive sea wall which protects the village. More than 200 houses have fallen into the sea over the last 200 years prior to this wall being built in the 1970's.

One afternoon we headed out along the cliff path to the north of the village.

More blue skies, and some flowering hogweed, it could almost still be summer.

Beautiful views looking south across the bay.

Looks nice inland too.

Then later on...
A last walk down the hill from the cottage, heading for the beach...

A last shot at rock pooling for A...

A last look for fossils for me...

And a last photograph from the beach.

I would dearly have liked to have found a fossil. I never did find one on the beach, apparently it's the wrong time of year and it's better after the winter storms have loosened some new material...

...I did, however, find this one in the old post office shop for £1. It is from the Robin Hoods Bay beach, so that'll do for me.

Dramatic clouds seen from near the car park on the morning we left for home.

As I'd already finished the scarf, I worked on the blanket while it was hubby's turn to drive. I was going to take a photo of my car crochet but thought it might be more interesting to show the border crossing instead...

...blink and you've missed it!

On the whole, an excellent trip (aside from some dodgy roundabout navigation north of Newcastle on the way down (mine) and a huge tantrum on the beach on the first morning (A's). We'd like to go back for longer, perhaps when the weather's warmer too, though I'd imagine it's the kind of place to get pretty busy on a good day.

October Images

2011-10-14T19:00:00.007+01:00

"... I saw the wild geese flee / A lang, lang skein o' beatin wings wi their heids towards the sea / And aye their cryin voices trailed ahint them on the air..."

...from The Wild Geese which is a poem by Violet Jacob. It has been adapted into a folk song which you can listen to here. I'm rather prone to suddenly bursting out into this song whenever I see wild geese overhead, though I do make sure I'm alone first! I'm originally from Angus (the part of Scotland referred to in the poem) so the song does have special meaning to me, and does make me feel a little homesick (awww!)

Last Sunday A, N & I visited the local nature reserve, they took their binoculars and I took my camera.

Teasel. I considered trying to pick a stem to talk home with me, but they are a little prickly, so didn't.

Bull rushes (or dog jobbies on a stick as A called them - sorry, but she's at That Age where poos and pees are fascinating and hilarious, I believe it's just a stage...)

Beautifully coloured Autumn leaves stand out against the murky background.

The path through the woods to the bird hides.

We park our vehicles outside the hide while we pop in to see what we can see.

I liked this view of a distant tree ridge across the loch. There were some ducks in the loch (not shown) and that was all we saw. One of the bird hides has been burnt down since our last visit which is a shame.

Nice hairband! I only sold one of my hairbands so A got to keep this one which was her favourite one with a flower. We're waiting for N (a speck in the middle distance). Sometimes getting places can take such a long time.

Back across the river.

Then a quick visit to the park...
A & N atop the climbing wall (they took the easy way up)

All the little different coloured circles here are bottle tops which have been stuffed into the bolt holes, I rather like the effect.

Then later in the week, N and I went for a walk along a section of the cyclepath. My camera batteries were almost flat but I managed to get a few misty photos.

It's N's first visit to the Roman soldier sculpture.

I almost managed to get a whole row of birds on posts, but was just a little too slow.

A mushroom. Like berries, mushrroms seem very scarce round here this year.

Rain droplets adorn a knapweed flower.

Hogweed (of course!)

And back home...
... a little peek at the blanket. I swithered over whether to make it 8x10 or 9x9 (I had just enough yarn for either). I've made my descision and am at the border stage, yay! I'm having a go at a granny border, it'll be done soon (the border, that is. The ends will take a lot longer...)

For a more impressive skyline and gaggle of wild geese, see this post at Dancing Beastie.
For a more impressive collection of wild mushrooms and toadstools see this post at Rambings of a Roachling.
For a more impressive Autumn (or Fall) display of colour see this post at Mr Micawber's Recipe For Happiness.

Happy Blog Hopping...

Saturday Morning Bike Ride

2011-10-08T21:03:00.008+01:00

We've had a couple of chilly nights recently and I was hoping for a nice frosty morning for today's ride, but it was not to be. The rain, however, wasn't heavy and I didn't get soaked (unlike last week), and altogether it was actually quite pleasant, I saw lots of nice things...

Many sheep are dotted under the pylon today.

The tree at the corner.

On the bend - bird on a post silhouette #1. I like photographing birds on posts and there are more to come. There would indeed have been many more but sometimes I try to creep just a wee bit too close and end up scaring them away.

Fence post and rounded field.

Straw bales getting wet.

The road ahead.

Horses with fancy jackets.

A face!

Bird on a post #2.

Lone tree and telegraph pole silhoutte.

Found some & couldn't resist.

Glossy wet bramble leaves. The berries themselves now definitely look like the devil has spat on them, not at all tempting to pick, so that's it for this year's bramble jelly effort.

Bird on a post #3.

Oh look, another one! I like the effect of the silhouetted leaves and branches far above.

A little view across a field to cows on a hill.

And yet another one.

Breakfast for two.

More sheep, I like the row of trees in the middle distance.

View from a bridge. I'm afraid these are the most colourful Autumn trees I found today.

A dilapidated farm. There is a walk signposted through the farmyard and up to the hill. I must try it one day.
Highland cows.

A little flock of sheep. Lovely colours on the land and some nice tree silhouettes topping the ridge too.

Someone didn't notice the corner - skid marks lead through the fence to the crashed car in the field.

If you look very closely you will find bird on a wire silhouette #1 just past the first telegraph pole. The road bends round to the right and you can see it disappearing up the hill below the ridge of trees.

The little isolated black dot on the ridge is a bull, we'll see him a bit closer soon.

Drippy berries. There seem to be far fewer berries in the hedgerows this year than last.

I like the tree shapes and the bend in the road. Looking further to the left here...

...we see the bull from the other side. He doesn't appear to have moved at all. There is a field of cows nearby and they're making quite a racket bellowing away, which reminds me that we were kep awake much of the night by one of the cows in the field opposite our house mooing through the night.

A final view, heading towards the trees and past more noisy cows on the left.

Altogether I did 17 miles, at a rather slow average of 8 mph - too many stops for umbellifer photos and too many attempts to creep up on birds. I did take lots of silhouette photos, I was going to apologise, but, hey I like them, so won't! There will be plenty more I'm sure. As Autumn then Winter take hold the silhouettes often become the most striking feature in the landscape. Despite the gloomy weather I did enjoy today's ride.

Craft Books and Sunshine in the Garden.

2011-10-06T14:00:00.008+01:00

A beautiful burst of late afternoon sunshine had me touring the garden yesterday, camera in hand.

Green man.

Rose. Earlier this year I dug out all the roses in the front garden as they were loosing the battle with the grass in the "flower bed". I later bought another one for a pot and it's thriving, so far...

Aster. Bought as an unknown thing in the sale section at B&Q. So glad I did give it a home as it provides a reliable and welcome show of late colour.

I varnished the gate, woohoo! I did this last week during the "heatwave". Although we didn't share in the very hot and sunny weather experienced further south in the UK, the week was generally dry and mild - most pleasant. A painter dealt with the eaves and downpipes of the house, a roofer sorted out the damaged flashings and loose slates, and I got some varnishing done. I'm starting to feel a little more prepared for winter.

Back inside...
The brambles have all been turned into jelly. The harvest was pretty poor this year, a lot of the berries never seemed to ripen and those that did were small.

I made seven full jars and two half jars in total. Some have already been gifted or eaten but I have five full jars safely tucked away.

Continuing with the red, white and blue colour scheme, I finally won a dala horse on ebay. I've had my eye on one of these for a while and found a pair in deep red (as opposed to the more common orange), one is living upstairs and this one is downstairs (shown here next to a print by Julia Crossland).

More artwork: A's latest - a rather exuberant mountain goat, made me laugh.

I picked the last of the rhubarb from the garden and made a rhubarb, apple, plum and blueberry crumble. It was unexpectedly delicious. I'd overstewed the rhubarb and apples, and when I added them to the plums and blueberries it looked like a cat had puked in the dish (sorry!), but it made a lovely thick fruit sauce. I then didn't have any rolled oats so added oatmeal to the topping instead, it turned out beautifully crunchy so I will continue to use oatmeal in future.

My current favourite type of chocolate. I can't keep any in the cupboard as I just end up eating it all. Available in handy 40g bars from your local Co-op for 60p.

Muffins! They're all the same recipe, the darker ones are just the 2nd batch which I burnt - too busy chatting. I managed to catch them before they were ruined though, the children don't like them but I do.

The Book People currently have some lovely craft books for sale at excellent prices. I recently bought two by Jane Brocket - The Gentle Art of Knitting and The Gentle Art of Quilting, both for just £6.99 each.

Of the two, the knitting one is the one I'm most likely to actually make something from, but both are lovely to read and look at. "There is nothing nicer on a cold, rainy, blustery winter evening than snuggling down on a comfy sofa, a fire to one side, a glass of red wine to the other, ... [with] a good book, [and] some knitting that can be picked up and put down." Well if that quote and the lovely patterns (I've shown below the ones I'd like to try first) don't get me to have another go at learning to knit then nothing will!

Hot water bottle cover.

Plain sock pattern.
Gloves.

Slouchy hat.

I've just had a quick look at the craft section on the Book People site and they also have "Cute and Easy Crochet" by Nicki Trench (see Attic 24 review here) for a mere £3.99.

The Knitter's Year by Debbie Bliss (£4.99) and Christmas Crafting in No Time (£3.99) are also catching my eye, uh oh, perhaps it's just as well I have to step away from the computer right now as I need to collect A & N from school & nursery!

Saturday Morning Bike Ride

2011-10-01T18:40:00.008+01:00

Up bright and early this morning I wait till the rain stops before starting out at about 8am. As you will see, we have none of your blue sky heatwave nonsense hereabouts. Big sigh...

I pedal up the long hill out the village through the dripping tunnel of trees. It's always a pleasure to reach the top, it seems a different world up here - so peaceful and with a wonderful sense of spaciousness.

Behind this pretty young cow you can just make out the clouds lying along the strath. I was looking forward to photographing these not too far along from here, but I stop to collect some more brambles and by the time I've filled my tub the clouds are all around and it's raining gently.

I am aware of the folklore warning about picking blackberries after Michaelmas Day. It is claimed that any unpicked berries after Michelmas belong to the Devil. Allegedly, when Lucifer fell from Heaven he landed in a bramble bush and was so angry that "he then cursed the fruit, scorched them with his fiery breath, spat and stamped on them and made them unfit for consumption". In reality this story stems from the fact that as Autumn progresses maggots and early frosts will likely have spoiled many of the berries. In actual fact this lore relates to Old Michelmas Day which is the 10th Oct (as opposed to the 29th Sept), so I'm fine and the berries looked much the same as when I picked my first tubfull two weeks ago.

Rain soaked fields.

Beautiful twisty bare trees.

I like the contrast of the long yellowing grass in the foreground against the emerald greens of the rest of the landscape.

These sheep were trying to avoid getting their photograph taken.

Hawthorn berries, each adorned with a gleaming raindrop.

Tree mounds arched by silhouetted branches.

Another lovely tree silhouette. The red gate post is now visible again, in the summer it is hidden under a leafy blanket.

A solitary thistle.

I'm heading up a steep hill (so steep I actually walk a little of the way, the shame...). I've not been this way since just over a year ago, I'm sure I was able to cycle all the way up the hill back then.

Pylons descend into the mists.

Nearly at the top...

...made it! I'm at Kaims Reservoir (here is a link to how it looked last Sept)

A moss topped stone wall...

...curves round the edge of the reservoir.

Beautiful, peaceful...

...and wet. It starts to rain quite heavily and the ground is already waterlogged so I decide not to follow the track round on this visit.

Back down the steps to the bike.

A last soggy view before heading for home. The rain becomes torrential. I make sure my camera is tucked away safely in my bar bag and take the most direct route which is along the cycle path. I end up soaked to the skin. Each time I press a foot down on the pedals I can feel water squelching up through my toes. Water is dripping from my elbows inside my jacket. What a pleasure it is to reach home and get dry again.

I check the bramble haul. There are fewer millipedes and no spiders this time but there are quite a few of these teeny tiny snails, now removed.

Some Crocheted Flowers, a Blanket Update, and Other Stuff.

2011-09-26T20:39:00.008+01:00

I've been playing with flowers...

...and seem to have created a little crocheted flower garden.

Most of the patterns (the best ones, in my opinion) were from this book. I started off with the auricula, shown on the right hand page above. Fortunately I had all the necessary colours in my stash and thought the shades looked so lovely together that I carried on with a few more patterns.

I've had a few people ask which brand of yarn I use for my blankets and get surprised responses when I answer that most of it is from pound shops. Three of the balls above were indeed from the pound shop and the mauve one still has its band on, so the brand I most often use is Premier Value DK" and sometimes "Premier Value Baby DK". It's just 100% acrylic and is fine I think for blankets and cushion covers, etc. If I'm making something to wear I'd use yarn with a lot more wool content. When I bought much of my stash a 100g ball did cost £1, however most shops stocking it now sell it at £1.25 to £1.50. We don't have a handy good local yarn shop (I have a little daydream of opening one!) so the pound shops were the next best thing. I also didn't want to spend a lot on yarn at first as I wasn't sure if I'd be any good at this crocheting lark. Charity shops and ebay have supplied the remainder of my blanket yarn.

Returning to the flowers, I do have plans for most of them, as you'll find out later...

I decided to take a proper photo of the blanket as it was at this time. I think it's developing nicely though I'm rather worried I'll run out of some of the key colours - yarn which I bought on ebay but didn't keep a record of the brand or shade at the time. I know better now.

Have some more cherry strudel cake.

OK, here's how some of the flowers from earlier (plus a couple of ones from even longer ago) look now. I've sewn on little beads for centres and have then sewn them onto fabric covered hair bands. I'm sharing a stall at a forthcoming nursery shopping event (it's on Friday, eek!) so wanted to get the hair bands ready for then.

I also made some butterfly hair bands in brighter colours (I have to confess to not knitting these butterflies but buying them from someone else who can knit!)

A picked the bright pink one to keep for herself.

We've also been back to the loch again. It was a school holiday today so we packed a picnic and the bikes and set off.

The simple joy of bikes and puddles.

More hogweed to keep me happy.

The view from our picnic spot. It was a little cold at this point, but brightened up and developed later into a sunny afternoon.

A swan and cygnet. Apparently it's the last cygnet left at the loch, all the others having already flown away.

The swan standing is the resident whooper swan (yellow beak) who remains at the loch year round as he has a damaged wing.

Knapweed in the sun.

And just to finish off, a very recent photo of the blanket taken under lamp light just before starting this post. It is now 7 squares by 6. If I have enough yarn I'd like to make it 8 x 10 which is another 38 squares, almost double the size it is now. Hmmm, I think I might need to settle for 7 x 9, "just" 21 squares more, if I can...

Saturday Morning Bike Ride

2011-09-24T20:16:00.011+01:00

Fine weather is forecast for today - hurray! I begin today's ride by heading north.

A sheep watches me from beside one of the nearby pylons.

I like this little ridge of trees topped by some impressive clouds.

I pass the tree on the corner. I take a little detour to take this photo from the bridge in order to record how it looks in September.

Beautiful clouds.

Moo.

I do like this old fence post! Today it's posing in front of golden stubble.

A little further on and I spot some straw bales.

I like fields full of straw bales too. I'm easily pleased.

A nicely framed tree-topped hill.

A glance back up the road reveals this pretty view.

Nice old farm sign.

Love the twisty tree trunk on the left. To its right, nestling among the trees, it's possible to see one of the buildings from the Formakin Estate which I'll be passing by soon.

Looking down I spot this squashed Irn Bru can. Just the other day I bought a card with almost exactly this image on it (I'll stick a photo at the end of this post for comparison). If you've never tasted Irn Bru (tagged as "Scotland's Other National Drink) It's a sweet fizzy soft drink which I once heard described as tasting like liquid bubblegum which seemed a pretty good description to me.

I'd forgotten how lovely some of the views from this road can be. Nothing terribly grand, just very pleasing.

Now I head past the buildings of the Formakin Estate. They're very attractive. All are privately owned though it's still possible to gain access to the estate grounds.

Although the estate buildings look like they date from hundreds of years ago they were actually built in the early 1900's for a wealthy local stockbroker.

Birds on wires, another favourite photograph subject.

A lovely view of the firth of Clyde to the right of this road.

Looking past a field of sheep to Dumbarton over the water, Dumbarton castle can be seen at the foot of the large rocks (said to look like a sleeping elephant) on the left.

I pause for a while beside this field full of flowers and watch the swallows swooping for flies. They're still here after all, I manage to capture one with my camera.

Ooh, what's this...

I couldn't resist it, just look at the blue of the sky.

And here's another one while I'm at it, lovely!

Looking back east down the hill.

Looking west, the direction I'm headed. A rook poses on a telegraph wire, he flies off before I get any closer to him.

I'm being pursued by a woman on a horse. My route has been uphill for the last few miles and will remain so for a couple of miles more as I'm about to head up the hill to the left of the farm house in the middle of this photo. Horses can go faster up hills than I can but I don't want the horse and rider to pass me as it will spoil the delicious downhill waiting on the other side. Not quite Frodo and the black riders, but it certainly made me cycle up the hills faster than I normally do. I managed to stay ahead, and zoomed down the other side reaching 30.3 mph, beat that horsey! Actually, I've just checked and horses do gallop at around 30mph. However this lady was just sauntering along, as they do round here, personally I don't see the attraction at all - I'd rather cycle - better excercise and no mucking out. Much cheaper too.

An Inca pyramid? I think it's a WW2 pill box though I can't find out anything about it on the internet. One day I'll get off the bike and go take a closer look.

Shortly after this I pass through a nearby village. They have a charity shop, I stop and browse and buy. I stuff my purchases into the empty tub I'd brought along for brambling, the brambles will need to wait for another day. Then it's on to the cycle path for the rest of the ride.

Beautiful green rolling fields.

Early Autumn colours starting to show on the trees here.

Past the centurian...

...and his company.

Then home. Just over 25 miles today.

In the charity shop I bought...

...this pretty little jug for 50p, already in use with some flowers from the garden...

...and this vase for £1. It's rather a dumpy shape, this is the back which I think I slightly prefer to the front which is decorated with a flower.

And here is the card with the squashed Irn Bru can image.

Blue Skies and Bramble Jelly 2011

2011-09-21T13:25:00.010+01:00

Over the weekend it was time to make bramble jelly from the berries collected on my Saturday cycle ride.

I checked last year to see which recipe I'd used. By the way, if you don't already have the "search this blog" widget on your blog I suggest you add it, it's very useful. Anyway, I used the same recipe again this year, it worked so why change.

One problem; I'd forgotten I needed some cooking apples. As I didn't have any I went out to the garden to check the crab apple harvest...

...not good! I think most of the apple blossom blew away with the storm we had in May so there was very little left to develop into fruit.

So, no crab apple jelly this year (things were looking so promising back in April, and I'd been looking forward to lots of apples since last September too), but the fruit could instead be used for the bramble jelly (the apples act as a source of pectin to help the jelly set)

All the fruit was boiled on Saturday evening and left in the muslin to drain over night. There was some amount of beasties in amongst the bramble berries. Before boiling I picked over each and every berry removing numerous millipedes, one centipede and a few spiders. Another reason why I prefer to make bramble jelly rather than jam (other than preferring the taste & texture) is that I know that even if I miss some of the bugs then at least they won't make it through the muslin when the boiled fruit is drained.

The next morning (Sunday) dawned beautiful and sunny, so the rest of the jelly preparation was left till later...

...in the meantime I took A, N and myself for a quick visit to the loch.

A was particularly taken with the sparkly water and insisted I photograph it for my blog.

I liked these teasels.

Much fun was had at the play park (quick, take the photo before I fall).

Then back again to the car. Loving the blue skies and fluffy clouds.

Looking across the wetlands and loch to the folly. A little umberllifer has managed to sneak into the bottom left corner...

...just asking for a silhoutte photo.

Such a gorgeous afternoon. Unfortunately it was a rushed visit as we had to be back for a 3 yr olds party which involved being shut inside a soft play area for the rest of the afternoon, grr.

One of the things I like about this time of year is that the evening sky as seen from our back door starts to look most attractive at times. As Saturday night fell and I prepared to boil the jelly, these little wispy clouds glowed pinkly pale in the setting sun.

Testing for setting - a spoonful of the jelly (when placed on a saucer cooled in the freezer for a few minutes) wrinkles when pushed. I have to boil the jelly for much longer than the recipe suggests. I expected it this year so the process wasn't such a trial as it seemed last year.

However, I was still a little disappointed with the yield. I'd rather optimistically prepared ten jars but ended up with only four and a little bit from 2kg of fruit. I'll just need to pick more berries, fortunately there are still plenty left ripening on the bushes.

For reference when I check back next year - I used a soup pan for boiling the jelly, and a ladle and jug for filling the jars which kept the kitchen jelly mess free.

On Monday I managed some charity shop browsing (the main reason for the shopping trip was to buy more pants for N, potty training is proving a slow process and some of the poopy pants (the full squidgey ones!) I just bin, especially if we're out and about when it happens).

I bought...

...another pot for the collection. It's the middle one here - a little hand thrown and painted vase for 49p.

...a good bundle of ladybird books, all 19p each. I don't collect all ladybird books but I do like the nature ones.

...some other children's books, amongst which was "The Cornfield" by Vanessa Luff. It's full of beautiful illustrations showing how the field and its inhabitants change through the year. Here are just a few of my favourites:

And to finish...

...a rainbow, spotted yesterday at tea time.

Saturday Morning Bike Ride

2011-09-18T10:16:00.007+01:00

It's been a few weeks since I've managed out on my bike. I'm a bit of a fair weather cyclist and don't like setting off when it's pouring with rain. Yesterday wasn't too bad though (today is much better but Sunday is hubby's cycling day)

Off out the village and up the wood lined road. The trees are wearing their early Autumn colours, I like the varied shades after the blanket green of summer.

A favourite view, looking north.

Looking south.

Shortly after this point I reach my goal for today's ride - bramble bushes! I spend about an hour filling two tubs I have brought with me in my rack bag. Many of the brambles still aren't ripe. Some are so ripe they gently fall into your hand with the slightest nudge -if you're lucky - most often these ones (in particular, the most juicy looking ones) fall deep into the undergrowth never to be seen again, I like to imagine the field mice will benefit from these. Once the tubs are full I'm back on my way. I'm intending making bramble jelly with them so it doesn't matter that the berries will get all bashed about while coming on a bike ride with me.

Another favourite view on this route.

Up on top of the moorland I join a B road for a couple of miles. Still hardly any traffic around.

Fantastic big bank of clouds.

The bare shapes of tree trunks and branches are becoming more apparent as the leaves start to thin.

Three buzzards wheel above this little copse of trees, their plaintive calls can be clearly heard in the otherwise silent land.

On zooming round a corner I think to myself that swallows must surely have left by now, but no, right at that moment I come across a large group of them sitting on the overhead wires. After my noisy arrival and sudden halt only these four remain for a photo, the rest are darting around the sky.

I love the dark blue of the water in the flooded ditch.

An unusually straight stretch of road.

A bench at the top of the last hill, it's downhill all the way home from here.

I collected just over 4 1/2 lbs (about 2kg) of berries. And no, there aren't any choc chip cookies left in the tin.