Monthly Archives: July 2011
FollowSilent Sunday
Sweet Peas, Strawberries and Stitches…
It’s Friday again, how quickly it comes around! At the moment the sun is shining so I must try and nip out to make the most of it before the next band of rain arrives. It seem only five minutes ago we were begging for rain in East Anglia, never satisfied!
I’ve had a varied week, lots to tell you about. It was my actual birthday (I know, I’ve been milking this event for weeks) so some lovely flowers were delivered…
…and the house has been filled with the scent of lilies ever since.
I had a special needlefelting order to complete which I was pleased with, but the light was so bad I’m not so happy with the photos I took. He is sitting on a little crochet mat with a ball of wool to play with…
I’m obsessively knitting too, since I saw this on Penelope by the Sea’s lovely blog. It’s the Boneyard Shawl. I don’t know about knitting for winter in the summer, I can’t wait to finish it to snuggle up in it now, it’s been so cold!
Isn’t it gorgeous yarn? It one I can actually get locally, (we don’t have dedicated yarn store, it means a trip into Norwich) it’s Sirdar Escape wool rich DK and the colour mix is very pretty and random. I’m struggling to work out when to stop knitting, unlike crochet you can’t lay it out flat when you have so many stitches on the needles, so it’s a bit hard to judge what’s going on. I’m nearly at the end of the third ball with one more to go and I’m thinking better too big than too small.
Which leads me to the next purchase. I started knitting on standard needles, but the pattern requires circular needles which I didn”t have in the size, so when I saw a Tweet about a promotional discount from a new online wool shop I wizzed over to see what was there. I found these lovely bamboo circular needles. I do like using bamboo, but have never found circular ones. In order to qualify for the discount, I had to spend a bit more (life can be tough) and fell madly in love with some fabulous Bluefaced Leicester yarn from the Natural Dye Company…
Such a nice way to shop! I had a Twitter conversation with Joanne from Wool and Buttons whilst putting in the order, a tweet to tell me it was in the post and it arrived the following morning before 9 o’clock. So pay her a visit, and say I sent you!
So the next project, socks or mitts? I can’t decide!
I’m loving having fllowers to cut for the house growing this year. It’s a bit accidental, the garden’s been rather neglected one way and another so I ended up with a bamboo wigwam in the veg bed where I popped in some sweet pea seeds. It’s taken forever, but at last they are flowering and the colours are rich and the scent is heavenly. Added to a self sown cornflower I have been able to have a little posy of colour and scent on the dresser all week…
And the strawberry? Well I had to show you this lovely pressie from my dear friend Jen. It starts off small…
…unravels…
…and turns into the very thing for carrying home the spoils from a visit to the yarn shop!
Well, lovelies, I’d better get out in the garden and do a spot of deadheading. I hope you all have a fabulous weekend. Higgins and I are taking a trip to visit the lovely Emma of Silver Pebble who is opening her studio this weekend. Emma has made me something rather special which I will share with you soon.
Can you guess what it might be?
See you very soon x
Silent Sunday
Good Grief, is that the time?
I always start out with such good intentions to do a post twice a week, and then I skid to the last day and find it hasn’t happened. So not much of a theme to this post, rather an eclectic mix of happenings.
On Monday, I went to Norwich Deaf Centre, where I had a long standing booking for a needlefelting class for the Craft Group. Good fun was had by all…
The felting needle related injuries were minimal…
..and everyone was very happy with their own needlefelted cupcake pincushion!
Good enough to eat!
Talking of eating, has anyone else made sour dough bread? I’ve been wanting to have a go for ages, but chickened out of the little pot of bubbling goo thingy that you have to go through to make it. Any way, I consulted Mr Fearnley-Wittingstall here, and started out on my scientific experiment a couple of weeks ago.
(I put a little label on the lid saying don’t be scared ‘cos last time I tried I threw it away in a panic!)
Anyway it sat for nearly two weeks bubbling away while I fed it and this week I decided to actually make the loaf. It starts off overnight as a spongy batter, then with more flour added and kneaded in it progresses over the day…like this…
And the verdict? Well, I’ve not had sour dough bread before so I’ve no idea how it compare to the experts’ version. It’s tasty, with an extra edge, a slightly sour tang like lemon juice or vinegar, without the flavour. It’s good with cheese, and toasted with lemon marmalade. It seemed to go dry quite quickly, almost as it cooled, but that could be a fault in the making. But it was fine toasted. I’m fairly confident T will NOT be impressed, being a fan of the sliced white or 50/50 loaf so it’s quite faff for one person, but I’m glad I gave it a go. I’d love to know if you’ve tried it. How did you get on, and what did you think?
I’ve been creative in other ways too. I had a special commission, a present for a small boy who isn’t really into birds, or sheep or frogs, but really likes his bike. So let me present,
The Biking Bear, complete with cycle helmet…
And I’ve also been working on a new Bluebirds of Happiness project…
What do you think?…
And finally, I’ve been doing a little dressmaking. This week I came across this lovely blog, Sew Scrumptious and Louise, who is currently collecting little dresses for Dress a Girl Around the World. You can can read all about it by following these links, and it’s such a lovely thing to be involved in. today I made my first dress…
It’s a really easy pattern which you can download, and with a brilliant tutorial here, even a novice can turn out a beautiful dress to make a little girl happy!
It would be lovely if you could join in too, what better way to use up all those pretty scraps of fabric you can’t bear to throw away, but don’t know what to do with?
See you soon! x
