Confessions of an Oxfordshire stitcher

Paris day 3 December 2011

2012-02-05T10:34:00.000-08:00

The last day of our trip dawned WET, cold and grey and it was a day the Louvre was open so we did go there but the huge queues and the wet, cold grey air defeated us.
Breakfast at the hotel had been plentiful and delicious.
Warm and atmospheric.
And we fondly remembered the desserts of the night before...

Back at the Louvre, we decided to go look for a vintage shop advertised in a magazine the Hotel had provided, alas the shop had moved on or we failed to find the entrance to the second etage.
Instead having read the full Rough guide to Paris the evening before I wanted to find a ''Grand Passage'' and this is one of them.

Full of quirkly shops and dry for a bit! I can recommend the pocket rough guide while walking round Paris as it has a good map and succinct information, but the full guide is a better read.
Miss E liked this shoe-shop, but we - bedraggled and wet as we were- got stared at.
We sought refuse in hot drinks and pastries!

And wandered back to le Printemps for a bit more window shopping...

A paper dress, not a good idea in this rain?
Miss E in all her branded glory: Jack Wills jacket and scarf, Cath Kidston bag and duckie umbrella!

Browsing in le Printemps was similar to La Fayette but a lot less friendly than in say Liberty of London or Selfridges! This lady touched the Christopher Kane cardigan I was admiring - seeing it in the flesh after all the catwalk photos was AMAZING!- and was told off by guards.

The cashmere used in the granny square effect was thicker than expected, at least an aran weight I'd say. I loved the granny squares printed onto black leather for the skirts- see photo.

Very effective.
Then bored and tired we ended up in another CUPPOLA- quite by chance actually - and had lunch and a rest there, in the comfy leather sofa area, not the packed restaurant. I photographed/crocheted and the family played on their gadgets, i-phone and i-pad.

After our leisurely lunch we took the metro back and caught the Eurostar home.

Oddly enough this was the first and only break/holiday in which I bought NOTHING at all.

I also never found a yarn or wool shop- not allowed by the kids- despite having printed off a few addresses from google beforehand and bringing them to Paris in my handbag!!!

The kids brought back many sweets for their pals and that was it.

Lovely food though, THAT I will remember and yes I did gain quite a few lbs in just 3 days...

Snowy Sunday : brrrrrrrr ccccold!

2012-02-05T09:32:00.000-08:00

Cuttlebrook today at 10:30 am.
This was last week's macaroni cheese a la Nigella Express made with red leicester and I added a layer of cooked ham from the COOP. MMMMM sooooo delicious!!! Really terrific and just like my mama used to make many many years ago.
It completely ruined my diet of course, gained a lb in 3 days instead of losing a few lbs.
IRRESISTABLE!

Today was a bloggy snowy cold kind of a day. Still feeling a bit poorly due to the WW diet which leaves me dizzy, light headed and whoozy. Also something awry with my tongue, could have been last weeks antibiotics. It was nice blogging Paris though, re-living it so to speak.
As I walked into town yesterday it began to snow, lightly but coldly. This was about 3.30 pm.
Then it got heavier and it snowed in the evening and the night, minus 10 degrees C as well, the dogs slept in the hallway and living room, the kitchen being too cold overnight.
It was only a bit, less than 4 inches but Miss Y 's cello day of musical activity got cancelled and we didn't go to J Lewis to choose new curtains today. A staying in day except for a dogwalk this morning. T'was a long day as Lucy got us up at 6 am ( on a Sunday!) , she'd slept on Miss Y's bed and thought it was Monday when she DOES come visit me in bed at 6 or 6:30 am.

I have spent the day discussing a re-vamp of our living room, the purchase of new sofas and an arm chair and so on, also a LOT of crocheting: an entire 100g ball of KATIA AZTECA as below.

I wanted to see how the colours changed as I want to design and make a top down cardigan with raglan sleeves in it, I have only 5 balls of it in the attic. There's be ribbing in the yoke and then a flatter but dense fabric below, I may even be tempted to work it sideways for vertical stripes??
With respect to the diet, we joined on a Tuesday evening and next Tuesday will be week1, up to Friday evening I had already lost over 4 lbs but the weekend has been a disaster.

Little excercise and a lot of munching. Nibbling. Treats...
And I'm getting sick of bananas which you can eat for ''free''...!!!lol. I don;t like them. But now I suddenly eat 2 or 3 a day? Plan is Miss Y ( categorised as obese by NCMP) and myself will adjust our shape- must'n say ''lose'' as the body will always fight a loss- by 1 and a half stone at least!

21 lbs to be exact or in the region thereof.

PARIS day 2

2012-02-05T00:38:00.000-08:00

Fabulous cheese shop on the Rue St-Louis en L'Ile .
Sunny morning: looking at L'Arc de Triomphe from our balcony.
After breakfast we headed to the Marais district but the girls didn't like it much and Miss Y complained about the walking so we headed back to Ile de la Cite which they LOVE for all the shops and they bought lots of sweets and lollied there.

I liked the puppets shop.
This cat was amusing?
Lovely scarves and colourful accessories, tres chic.

Eye catching mosaic animals.....

even some dachshunds...
THIS is the girls' favourite sweet shop in Paris:

I was admiring some felt accessories as we waited, and waited and waited....

The Notre Dame was next on our list but the queues were long and it was so cold and grey...

We briefly went inside, lit candles for the family and then sought LUNCH!

Lunches and dinners had been delicious but a bit pricey atover £150 per meal each time, so I enticed the family to a little FRENCH local bistro in le Quartier Latin...

We ate at '' The cat that fishes'' Le Chat qui pisce'' or somesuch in Rue de la Huchette.

DELICIOUS 3 course meal for all four of us PLUS drinks for under £70!
French onion soup for me and chevre chaud for JJ and the girls, then a fabulously moist salmon steak with salad and mousse au chocolat. YUMMEEEEE!

It was full when we sat down, full of local French not tourists, then we took ages so it was just us at closing time.
A bookshop down Rue Mazarin
Then up walking towards the Seine, turn left and along RIVE GAUCHE there were lovely antiques to be seen in the local shop windows. A little fashion too...

Talking of fashion: guess who wlaked right past Miss E and myself, touching distance away with a bodyguard just behind??? WHO? MONSIEUR KARL LAGERFELD that's WHO!!!!

It was sooo exciting, the trademark black suit, dark glasses, white ponytail... Not very tall.

Miss E and I whooped with glee but didn't run back for an autograph. I know it was him and that was enough.
It was near here that we saw HIM.

Blustery windy day along the Seine.
Love love LOVE the ATTITUDE of this red man at traffic lights.

He really says STOP doesn't he?
I spy a bit of ART, sculpture through an archway...
And then we queued to get into le MUSEE D'ORSAY. For the impressionists you understand, as well as the building itself.
Fab view through a CLOCK across the Seine to the Louvre?!!!
Was dissappointed in the impressionists, there were NO VAN GOGHS at all that time. But we liked the building, which used to be a railway station and was converted by a famous architect.

the building meant much more to us AFTER we had seen the film HUGO which we saw at home in the holidays and which plays out in the railway station before it's becomes a museum.

This CLOCK features heavily and I'm glad I had these photos!

Then we went home and had a lovely evening meal in the Rue Carnot at a restaurant 2 doors down from our hotel.

PARIS in December 2011 day one

2012-02-04T04:12:00.000-08:00

Paris in the week before Christmas 2011, we left by Eurostar from St Pancras in the afternoon of the 18th. A peaceful journey, we slept soundly on the train and woke up in gay Paris!
The view from the balcony of our room in the Hotel Belfast, Avenue Carnot.
Another view.
Blissful luxury of our room.

The girls had an adjoining suite, right next door with direct access and their own bathroom.
Walking along from the hotel on that first evening seeking a restaurant...along Avenue de President Wilson.
We found a brasserie on a corner and Miss E had her first taste of escargot!
All of us are very happy to be here, lovely drinks, lovely food.
Miss Y mastering the tongs technique and really loving her garlicky Brussels snails.

Walking home along the Champs -Elysees: these circles of light were in all the trees and changed colour from yellow to orange to red to blue...

Nest morning after a delicious breakfast we walked to Gallerie Lafayette as this was a place we had to revisit after a curtailed visit one summer...The views from the roof terrace:we left JJ in the cafe with a paper and French pastries.

The amazing cuppola!
And yes it WAS Christmas, but the 'rock 'n'' decorations were less than impressive...
Louis Vuitton had this series going on large striped animals everywhere: monkeys, giraffes, elephants etc....
Then onto the Eiffel Tower where JJ had booked us tickets to the top at 15:00 hrs or so.

Miss Y was already too tired to walk so we mastered the METRO and sped along to le Tour Eiffel. It's now very very cold and grey...

We still had to wait over 40 minutes in the cold but luckily some street vendor crepes soothed the way a little. YUMMY.
Miss Y and I stayed at the first stop off level ( level 2?) as she was having a fit in the lift about heights etc, these were the views:

Miss E and JJ queued in the bitter cold on a windy corner for another hour and a half to gain access to the very top by which time clouds had descended and there was no view. Miss Y and I stood inside waiting while sipping hot chocolate and eating pizza in the company of many tourists and pigeons but there was no seating and no warmth.

When we finally met each other again and left it was getting dark.
We ate a divine meal out and all slept soundly. AAAAAAAH, bliss.

Walks with the dog

2012-01-14T15:02:00.000-08:00

What a lovely and amazing message to discover on a little bridge?!
The start of the walk on the 9th January: the local allotments.
The chickens startled and worried Lucy a bit.
The cock kept crowing and she didn't know where to look! On a lead she didn't try to chase him.

The path ahead.
More allotments further up the path.
View to the right. Chilterns in the far distance.
Straight ahead please.

View on the left.
A raised path between fields, which last summer were shoulder high rapeseed.

Is that St Mary's church tower, in Thame?
Turning left when the raised path forks due to a river.
sky reflected in the river.
Come on let's explore! Lucy is always ahead and loving this.
First time ever I discovered this wood, but it was too muddy to continue.

Lucy waiting for me to catch up.

Luckily Lucy wasn't attracted to the dung heap.
Over the bridge on the way back, where the message is.
The only puddle for miles and lucy had to lie and then roll in this.....
A walk the day before Sunday 8th at Cuttlebrook.

I got really excited when I saw these letters at Tesco: they are in CROCHET!!!!

Speaking of which I have finished the back of the cashmere pink a while ago now:
Lovely zigzaggy EMMA stitch...
We had a lovely fire tonight, but as JJ was on the sofa, there was nowhere to sit?

Also in crochet still playing with samples to try out new stitches, this is from the crochet in photography book.
And this is the progress to date on the WHITE SALICE jacket from KIM HARGREAVES.

I am ALSO soooo excited because BODEN have a CROCHET jacket in their SPRING 2012 catalogue and online!!! Not allowed to show a picture of it here, so google it and have a peep at their site?!! It's in half trebles and dc on alternate rows, in 100 % cotton with turned back and scalloped front edges. Finalised with domed or bobble crocheted buttons and mock pocket flaps also scalloped with a fan stitch. £99!!! WOW. In NAVY , ECRU or mustard yellow.
Finally apart from the two jackets that I'm making, there's the ripple green one and this multicolour cashmere one too.busy busy busy! But why can't I sleep? Am still up and it's now 4:55 am on Sunday 15th January.

more culinary delights

2012-01-14T14:23:00.000-08:00

This was today's- Saturday-lunch including the freshly baked home-made bread I baked last night! It's broccoli and stilton- an old fave in a baxters canned category BUT this is freshly made by MOI with Nigella's recipe of course. I can't tell you how delicious it was, just that eating it made me feel very very happy and a teeny bit spoiled and pampered. Blessed even. To have the chance to sample such a delight.

If you have the ingredients handy - especially 1kg frozen broccoli and 200 g stilton: then it's a quick and easy make. It took me just 20-25 minutes when we got home - hungry!- from our house-hunting escapade.

The bread I made last night even though I was exhausted after 5 + hours of driving and a long day at work and in Chichester....AND we had the roast buttermilk chicken again- see later.
Today late afternoon I knocked up two more batches of breakfast bars as those delicious 24 bars made on Tuesday 10th - yes ONLY 4 DAYS AGO- were all eaten by yesterday afternoon!

Above is one batch- from those foil baking dishes again, the above was made with cranberries and apricots cut up small as well as a few raisins.
Then also a big one in a new square baking tin: this one was cut into 20 bars and was made with a fruit mix as well as the cranberries and ''light'' evaporated milk. Above is the base, below the top.

This morning I was woken up by Miss Y yelling that I'd missed the 9 am music school visit and would need to hurry and get up... No lie in then? ( It was already 9:30)
I got up and walked Lucy on the Phoenix way admiring the heavy frost of last night and the fabulous sunshine and BLUE skies of the day. I also spotted this parasite in a tree, it's mistletoe isn't it?
The view
The path, we had to cut our walk short to arrive at music school by 11:25!
Late on Thursday evening I'm marinating the chicken quarters in buttermilk and spices for dinner, I had to get up at 6 am, not an easy feat for an ''owl'' and I couldn't sleep so was still prowling about after 2 am....
This is the half size cello we returned to the centre, Miss Y has moved onto a 3/4 size cello now, but we have yet to hear her actually play in on a regular basis..... It seems to be only the night before a lesson?!!

Nigella Baking day and more to come

2012-01-11T11:41:00.000-08:00

A slight diversion from the white cotton Salice jacket and the pink cashmere: a ripple scarf in Colinette wool tweed, Muench velvety viscose chenille and a mohair...
The two cones of DOUBLE TOP cotton that arrived today ready to continue and finish the white Salice. BUT Tuesday 10th was Nigella day for me: a day of food preparation to treat and spoil my family, a celebration for the taste buds.
All using this book, which I had hoped for for Christmas but which didn't happen- yet?- so this is from the library. Sunday I shopped and bought ingredients for 6-12 recipes from this book.
Monday we had the buttermilk roast chicken legs and they were so very tasty: terrific! Mine looked just like this too but were eaten so quickly I didn't get a photo in time.
Breakfast bars- Miss E especially always asks me to buy these but she likes some but not others and I can never remember which is which: so I thought I'll MAKE SOME!
oOPS PHOTOS in the wrong order for a bit, this is one batch cut into bars.
The mixture in the bake trays, after baking.
I used a berry mix packet instead of the dessicated coconut and omitted the peanuts alltogether.

My seeds were 67 g sunflower, 30-40 g pumpkin and the rest as sesame seeds.

The berry mix consisted of cranberries, grape raisins and cherry raisins: ie those large dark raisins and the long thin golden coloured ones.
The bake trays in the oven, the mixture from the recipe made these 3 trays.
Mixing it together was very hard work: it was soooo very STICKY!
delicious bars in our biscuit barrel. They get full marks from JJ and Miss E!!!
I also- whilst cooking the amaaazing red prawn curry - again no photo it was eaten so quickly!- I made the lazy bread as well.
It's very dense but so moist and very delicious, yum yum yummeeee.
I made it with half cream and half skimmed milk ( as I didn;t have any normal milk) and used Waitrose fruit muesli instead of the recipe muesli as Waitrose didn't have it. So there are a few raisins and the odd bit of apricot in this. The mueslis in the shop msotly had nuts: peanut or brazil nuts in them and that won't do with my allergy. I aim to try it with oats and bran, shredded wheat or shreddies and so on next time.
It really IS super easy and yet sooooooo good. Very crunchy crust. I'm buying a few more loaf tins and would like to make 3 at a time. Cut them in thin slices when cooled and freeze 2 out of 3.

The prawn curry by the way included lots of new tastes: sweet potato, wok oil, spring onions, red curry paste, butternut squash, fresh mango , fish oil to name but a few, some we knew but not in this combination!

THANK YOU NIGELLA for such superb recipes: tasty and yet sooo EASY and QUICK too- as long as you have /can find the ingredients.

Historic sewing efforts

2012-01-09T04:02:00.000-08:00

No title and please don't read on because this is a private post, part of therapy if you like, cathartic of sorts- at least I hope it will be. A n embroidered blouse- unfortunate peplum, probably bought in a sale and hardly worn... one of those mistakes... Nice embroidery though. from 1990 when Wendy came to visit Portmeirion.
These are very old indeed, the black with white skies is 1987 ( £20) mail order and has faded I wore it so much for skiing of course the black silk V neck ( 1989) is a monsoon and I still have it, worn quite a lot when I could still wear silk without rashes: approx 1984-1994 the grey gunmetal is an awful knit from Country casuals, a mistake: wrong colour, wrong neckline, too boring by far.oCTOBER 1991
Sewed this one myself in Calgary in 1984, from a royal blue AZTEC cotton from John lewis. It was very blue and a hot favourite for many years, it's a lovely quality 100% cotton. Until it faded and the red became prominent.
Liberty Varuna wool bought in the mid 1980's in my London time : 1986-1988 sewn into a classic shirt and worn quite a bit though I now realise it really is NOT my colouring...LOVE the colours and the print though! Very ARTY.
Dupion silk T top made by me. It's in gorgeous royal blue, green and navy. Very chic. Pre 1990 I think.
the go for it skiing t shirt is from ZELL AM SEE.- above the esso tiger one.
first ever time i bulk bought anything: of the 4 m&s tshirts from Llandudno I only wore the pink and the turquoise! The blue and black never and the green only a few times. 1987. very casual for walking weekends in N-Wales.
poloshirts, ms when I'd gotten into the habit of buying in bulk, only ever wore the emerald green one, wore that a lot.
East type folksy stuff, bought at auction in London so 1986-1988 and worn a LOT on sunny holidays. Love the batik palm trees the most.
Nautical wear- longing to go sailing I was.
Heraldic fashions of 1992/1993 Betty Barclay silk in travel maps blues blouse and Jaeger pure cotton Horsey heraldic shirt- my first ever garment at £1oo which was not a wedding dress or winter coat or tailored jacket but simply a cotton shirt? I even shocked myself. Still treasure it too.

BC of course: before Children.

And these were all ''mistakes'': gold striped vintage blouse from a jumble sale IN 1979- TOP LEFT-

, checked cottom jumper from m&s in Llandudno, a variety of EAST/MONSOON sale items which I never wore.

An awful lilac polo shirt- by mail order- and a made to order striped shirt from A VOGUE pattern that a N-Wales sewing lady made for me and which never suited me. Was good in theory but not in practice.
Silk blouses and large long shirts galore... The red is a Betty Barclay though, from Chester which I still have... My first silk blouse was April 1989 London, a b'day present. Then I got a black one in a Manchetser sale, a turquoise one in a London sale: £30 in 1990, a purple and a Blue one from GMEX - I think that was the CLOTHES SHOW LIVE- in February 1992 they were both £30 also.. wow.

then much later in a sale in Wrexham I found them in 1994 at £10 per silk shirt...

The shawl collar embroidered one is also monsoon, at the time I wore pine green quite bit especially in December- daft eh? Luckily I also have a periwinkle blue one, just lovely but don't know if it still fits, I was a 36B in those pre- children days and now an ashamed 32F!!!

( YES I really hate my chest and want to wear normal blouses again, not big chested ones)
All favourites, the navy spotted viscose worn out at work, the Laura Ashley ever so pretty vintage sprig viscose - with a lovely long skirt- the navy /cream floral cotton and the gorgeous voile cotton turq/green blouse that wore out and faded it was worn for summer days so very much.
Poppy cotton blouse I made for work, in that sewing room in North Wales with a view of the mountains. Cotton jacquard from Liberty. Emerald green cotton jersey covered buttons at cuffs.

Too much black and orange to flatter but I loved- and still do- the print!

All these 4 sewn by me for work as an accountant in the City. All based on a fitted cotton T, with fitted long sleeves and a jewel neckline, button at back neck. The green is a dupion with a high neck collar added and the pink/WB has leg of mutton sleeves: a gathered cap shoulder and a slim lower sleeve elbow to wrist with a row of black domed buttons.

The navy and white abstract pattern bottom left started it all as that was my ''go to'' blouse almost all the time, comfortable and easy to wear and smart.
These were all made or bought in Canada in 1983-1984. My first ever sweatshirt: clover an exact match to a colour me beautiful shade for me as a summer. A boxy jumper knitted in basketweave from dishcloth cotton- a huge success for several years cream/white mix !

A blouse made from a shirt pattern I learned to draft at the school of MITHE DE FONTENAY : couturier in Calgary. It has batwing sleeves.amazing two sided woven cotton fabric. And a cable knitted top I bought in a mall in Calgary- one of the very few things I bought there, a lovely classic at the time. Very Preppie 2 cables centre front.looked great in the hot canadian summer with tanned eczema free arms.
This is what I dressed in from 1977 to 1981: cotton shirts from jumble sales.... Large white men's shirts. Except the bottom 2 are denim/chambray bought from shops. Mum insisted I get my shirts from jumble sales and I never had any money to buy anywhere else until 1983 onwards....

Changeover Day and Potential Leonardo Day

2012-01-03T03:19:00.000-08:00

Today is change-over day where in theory the habitual chaos that is my workroom/ study/studio gets tidied and organised, where we check the girls are ''ready'' for school in terms of school uniform, foods, shoes, bus-passes , homework etc. Where I catch up on missed tv programmes and films on the computer and crochet merrily for one last un-interrupted day?

Where dogs get walked and groomed and windowsills bleached and plans are made for the annual Spring Cleaning operations to commence.It's the MOST ghastly weather with dark skies and torrential diagonal rain and gusts of wind, leaden grey skies invite one to stay in bed and read ( and eat chocolates a scenario described by a friend as heaven on earth many years ago and never forgotten) . Or watch catch up tv/ movies and crochet?!!!BUT YESTERDAY now THAT was a true holiday day and we enjoyed it immensely! It was to be a day of queueing and culture as we planned to visit the LEONARDO DA VINCI exhibition in London, his time in Milan detailed via 93 exhibits, sketches and paintings from the Court of Milan 1480's to 1490's.
After falling asleep at 2 am I awoke to an alarm set for 6:30 am and started to wake up the girls. JJ had already leapt into the shower . At 7 am I at last managed to get Miss Y out of bed and she declared she wanted to wash her hair....Not quite leaving at the planned 7:30 it was at that time that Miss Y was dressed and Miss E finally emerged from her lair. Packing day bags, finding sketchbooks and pencils for all, feeding dogs and medicating Pippa with her antibiotics, JJ kindly walked Lucy while I coralled the girls into getting ready.

With duvets, pillows and blankets tucked into the car we set off to sleep our way into London while dearest JJ drove on a gloriously sunny morning. By 9:35 we were in central London and JJ parked at Chinatown so it was only a short walk to the National Gallery. I remarked on this ship in a bottle that I had never seen before at which Miss E exclaimed how totally out of date I was as it had been there when she went to the National Gallery on a school trip '' aaaages ago''.
We joined the wrong queue at first - suspiciously short and fast moving forwards once it was 10 am) And on finding the correct LEONARDO queue- the one for people without advance tickets , which were totally sold out within a day of opening- we joined it only to be told that we would not be able to get in AT ALL that ENTIRE day. WHAT????? After all we queued for 2-3 hours for the Van Gogh exhibition and eventually went in? What was going on? Apparently you have to start queue-ing BEFORE 8 am on the day. OUCH. Avoiding disappointment I suggested the gallery shop and although we were already armed with the written guide to the exhibits from the internet, we had planned to buy the official fully illustrated published guide to the exhibition anyway. JJ - always a genius in managing the kids- let them have an amount to spend and we happily browsed in the gallery shop instead. NO queue! My treats were the official guide, a small book on the complete works of Leonardo - this included much desired anatomical sketches and horse studies-and some postcards. Miss E went for a magnetic journal and a tiger torch and Miss Y : postcards , bookmark and a pencil.
Outside it was a most glorious day which was delightful after all the grey rainy days we've been having. Loath to leave trafalgar square I took a few quick pictures.
Wonderful fountains and a tree!
Nelson
Come on mum!
Looking back a few seconds at a dancing street entertainer with a puppet strapped to his knees.
Hurrying on but stopping to buy a few art supplies for Miss E. Charcoal pencils are currently her fave medium.
I love these mosaics, lovely and dedicated to the National Portrait Gallery.
Even the fencing is decorative and dedicated.

Off we went in the car to park near HARRODS ( JJ suggested an ice cream in their ice -cream parlour) and I suggested V&A for the POWER OF MAKING exhibition. We all agreed: a bit of culture first and then ice cream!!!
It was the LAST day of this exhibition which I had visited in October and this time there were no troublesome stewards stopping all photography... Only I didn't realise this until we were leaving...
The fabulous gorilla made entirely from metal coat-hangers- what a sculpture!
The amazing evening gown- sorry I missed the top V neck and dropped shoulder cap sleeves- still worrying about stewards stopping me. Made from long steel dressmaking pins!
There were also a mahogany bicycle- steam formed circles as in boat building techniques- , a crochet bikini brief( very ho-hum) the incredible crochet-dermy bear which I have featured in an earlier blog-post and lion shaped coffin, fine fabric made from tesselated pieces of thin WOOD in a beautigul marquetry pattern and so on.
On the walk from the car park we'd passed a patisserie and the girls were baying for cake by now. So a quick few photos of the glass sculpture and a visually intriguing pyramid in the entrance hall.

Bye bye V&A , JJ read the inscription in the above but it didn't come out in the photo, will need to research it on the net.
VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM.
aaaah, cakes at last! Yumeeeee : the girls chose this one from the window display and both had the same. I chose an apricot frangipani tart and a raspberry torte for JJ and I to share
With drinks too, cappucino for JJ and chocolate for moi.
The cake was too heavily creamy and custardy for the girls so they ate less than half each, but enjoyed sharing a huge jam doughnut , the cake was nice but not very chocolaty except for the edge at the back.

Mmmmmmmmmm delicious! Visually DELIGHTFUL, very fruity and not very sweet despite the glaze. Very crunchy biscuity pastry case, my appel taart was better dare I say it?
HARRODS was very crowded and compartmentalised, Miss E wanted this £1,900 6 foot bear?
The girls loved their ice cream....
A Happy AND RELAXED JJ, soooo worth it, special moment time.

Afetr the ice cream on second floor, by the lifts- Miss Y saying bye bye to Harrods.
Being much more a '' Liberty of London'' kind of a gal, I have never much visited Harrods, except for the food halls in the 1980's...? There were many interesting features of the building even more than the merchandise- 4 me anyway- the lift had a nice parquet floor....
The various ceilings in the food halls- but we're rushing off now, parking here cost £10 per hour?

Sorry blurry mosaic tiling above archways- must go back to explore after the sales?
Unusual ceilings? Wonderful BLUE!
Amazing glass sculptures, couldn't get any closer.
BYE BYE Harrods.
Bye Bye!

We were home by 14:30 and the girls and I watched some wonderful old movies ( JJ slept his restorative daytime nap) and a JK Rowling feature and by evening it was the newly commissioned Endeavour- Morse as a young man- which absorbed me totally and was accompanied by much crochet. The back panel of the pink cashmere jacket is now almost completed. WHAT A BLISSFUL DAY!

Tumbling blocks encore

2012-01-01T17:14:00.000-08:00

This is a continuing fascination with the tumbling blocks stitch pattern which was mentioned before Christmas in this blog, I took it to Paris as an experiment... This time it's in the slightly thicker SIRDAR ESCAPE DK and worked with a 4mm hook. What I loved about this colourway: 187 - i THINK- is that it NEVER repeated itself in the whole 50g or 82m.
It would take another ball for a snuggly moebius or cowl or 2 balls for a ''proper'' scarf and it's really soft too. JJ did say he wouldn't mind wearing this when it's a full length scarf?

This was a little changing colour- OOOH what WILL be next- crocheting adventure. Enjoy.

New Year's Day 2012

2012-01-01T13:54:00.001-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!

This afternoon I made this oven- mitt as we have lost one recently and also some of my oldest and dearest ones are now falling apart. So in the tradition of making something entire and new on this day I made some oven gloves. Last year I made that cotton bag, remember? I have used it a lot since, it is now my Sottish Dancing bag- containing dance shoes, crib-sheets, water bottles and the little green book.
Here a few more I ran up quickly today. We started the day at a Scottish HOGMANAY party in Headington , where I , JJ and a friend had a lovely active time. Ingrid and I danced a lot while JJ steadfastly refused to even have a try at the Gay Gordons. Dancing from 8 pm to past midnight with a lovely shared supper in the middle and some very personal entertainments provided also.
Going back a few days to 29th I made a Dutch apple taart from a dr Koopman's mix packet after taking Miss E to Hemel Hempstead for a playdate and sleepover in the pouring rain.
Unbaked and then voila after spending just over an hour in the oven.

It was all eaten by the afternoon of the 30th....

Then on the 3oth we went to see HUGO in 3D in Aylesbury together and then I attended an 80th birthday ceilidh party for a friend, most of Towersey folk dance club were there also and it was tremendous fun.

On the 31st I woke with a migraine so had to rest until late afternoon and at 4pm to 7pm I baked furiously as I wanted some Dutch baked treats for the New Year's Eve celebrations.

I made Dutch roomboter koekjes: butter biscuits which are shaped with a special cookie gun....

And I made another Dutch apple taart this time from scratch using all fresh ingredients. I was sooo busy I forgot to take before and after photos, but luckily half was left after the party and then after the girls had had some this is what it looked like.....yummyyy!
I couldn't find the recipe for oliebollen in time and we didn't have time for deep frying so apple beignets were out of the question too, I made mini mince pies but over filled them- it was after 6 pm by then- and they all stuck to the pan so were left at home.

We came home at 1 pm and toasted the NEW YEAR with the girls but they all stayed up late and at 3.15 am Miss Y had a night mare and came to join us. Then JJ and I got up as we couldn't sleep and then at 6 am I fell asleep and JJ slept in Miss Y's bed.....What a tiring start to the year?

I set the alarm for 10:45 so we'd all be awake for the TRADITIONAL NEW YEAR'S CONCERT FROM VIENNA:
The music was wonderful and had me waltzing around the kitchen with the dog Lucy.
The ballet was beautiful as ever and the first set inn orange costumes had dresses exatly like my new dance dress from La Redoute which I'm re- lining with a royal blue silky fabric as it's in black satin strips with net panels. The nylon lining it came with would be too hot and allergic for Scottish dancing. Seeing ballerinas in ''my'' dress was soo exciting though!
The day wound down with the girls watching the Harry Potter film: Half Blood Prince.
Harry, Ron and Hermione looking out over the lake at Hogwarts with the Phoenix flying in the sky above them.

Hopefully we'll be off to see the Leonardo Da Vinci exhibition at the National Gallery tomorrow and then I need to catch up on this blog: PARIS before Christmas, A visit to mum and the fight and injuries of Pippa- luckily healing nicely now. The pink cashmere crochet is now at just over 36 cm in length.

WISHING YOU ALL A HAPPY 2012!!!

2011-12-26T07:34:00.000-08:00

Here it is a little bit of new crochet in a gloriously soft and vibrant hot pink cashmere yarn. Started this new jumper/ cardi on Christmas day and worked a little crochet magic on Boxing day too.
This is the stitch pattern for ''EMMA'' from Sue Whiting's children's clothing book.
Christmas eve started with croissants home- baked at home, Miss Y was quite excited about this and loved the way the special croissant dough package opened up.
Then it was mostly relaxing and decorating as well as 2 church services : 3 pm for the early Christingles and 11 pm for Midnight Mass both at St Mary's , Thame. The Christingle service was chosen because I wanted to watch King's College choir at 17:45 but the service was crowded and full of cute babies and toddlers but also a lot of crying noises and it stayed light throughout- out by 4pm- which didn't seem right with the candles somehow. Midnight Mass was just JJ and me and a rather rude Boris Johnston who just marched in halfway - 11:30- as if he couldn't be bothered to check the time. It was really lovely to see Dee and Libby from Towersey dancing there though.
Then I was cleaning and tidying to make space for the giant turkey from NEWITTS.
Miss E was cooking Christmas dinner with JJ supervising and they were up early to put Audrey in the oven. ( Miss E named her while in the queue at Newitts the Thame butcher)

There she is before all the preparations got underway. I was off the church by 10 with Miss Y ( singing in the choir)- saving a pew for JJ and Miss E who arrived a tad tardy at 11:05.
After church there was crochet and lunch and presents and then JJ and I had a lovely cuddle and nap to sleep off all that food while the girls dominated the living room with toys and tv. Actually we'd been up a lot and been sleeping less than 5 hrs a night so a catch up was in order.
After finishing the available yarn for the white cotton jacket I got started on the pink cashmere samples: Hannah- top- and Emma - lowest above. I have to figure out what went wrong in the arithmetic as I thought I'd ordered enough for the entire jacket in white, and yet after 7/8 of the second front I've run out and there's the sleeves yet to do too.
There was much gentle tv such as the SNOWMAN - such lovely drawings animated and Dr Who and while I enjoyed Downton Abbey - the girls watched strictly come dancing with an open fire and JJ sought some quiet male time in his den with a scifi movie.

The dogs too have enjoyed all the turkey skins and titbits, but very little walking as it's so dark and wet.
Finally late in the evening we had our Christmas pudding:

Almost half gone.....We retired after 1:30 am to sleep once again, sweet slumbers into Boxing Day.

A little Christmas-sy crochet

2011-12-23T15:25:00.000-08:00

At last I crocheted a poinsettia - my own pattern- as I have been meaning to do for several years now... But it took so long that there's no time to finish an entire door wreath of these?!

It's floppier than intended also- needs a bit of tweaking?
The mistletoe turned out just fine- thanks to Lesley Stansfield's book.... It works too!
It hangs proudly in the kitchen already.
Very chuffed with these holly leaves and berries I was this morning!
And here's a playful experiment I took to Paris with me: a ball of Tosca Light by Lang and a free pattern for mini mochi by crystal palace yarns... The above was in 4 days and weighs 52 g out of the 100g ball. Used a 4 mm hook and this represents about 200m in length..
I have had such fun! On the train and in restaurants: happily hooking away and these tumbling blocks making a nice texture and lovely diagonal stripes. This was new to me but so easy and I was quite mesmerised by the colour changes and the way it works.
This is the picture of the scarf which inspired me to print the pattern....
It doesn't work in shorter sequence variegated yarns, no! Not at all.
More to come on the PARIS front and more crochet too.... MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Active weekends and Royal Colleges

2011-12-03T16:24:00.000-08:00

OK it starts with the bear who is modelling a new jumper finished yesterday and to be sent to a little girl next week when I have sewn a coordinating skirt....
Viola, own design, own pattern all cotton DK. The bear for whom it was made is as pink as the flower.
I included a hole for the tail of the bear.
This is the new advent calendar we are all enjoying, from the famous artist J Lawson.
It has animated stories and games and for 2nd December it was decorating a tree and this was my effort....
Been all around some of the Royal Coleges in the last few weeks, this was the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists- which is housed in a great building AND in a great location, for once I could simply walk out of Marylebone and walk there! No tube.

It was a wonderful cuppola over the staircase: I think it may inspire some crochet????

And lots of lovely art: photos, paintings ( oils) and sculpture too.
Here's the Royal connection: the lady in pink is the Queen.

A female president in 1938 I think, may have got the date wrong, I was impressed as it was an early date for female medical professionals I thought.
A mother and child portrait- exactly next to our ChiMat table....
The view across to Regent's Park
Historical instruments: forceps........so gkad that when I did my 10 deliveries I dod not have to use these OR their modern equivalent!
It's a hickelty pickelty post this, I'm afraid, been sooo busy and trying to catch up a little.
Made a new dance dress for Scottish dancing : out of an old tiered cotton voile dirndl skirt and a T-shirt Miss A has discarded from Primark. ( the t-shirt was cropped and boxy but a fabulous blue colour)
I unpicked the skirt which was in horizontal stripes, re- aligned it and sewed many small pleats at the top before sewing it to the t-shirt in high waisted style as it's more flattering to my shape.

I danced in it at the end of Michaelmas Term dance at Oxford University and it was excellent: very comfortable and kept me cool, but nicely swirly on the turns, especially in Petronellas.
These were the new white leather figure-skates we bought for Miss E in the October after our skating in Oxford at Half Term. They did not have them in my size, but I'm hopeful Santa will find me some too?
This was me taking photos at half term , because I was too ill- chesty and full of cold to skate: ooh SUCH a shame!!! And I lost a pair of black leather driving gloves ( for my new black panther convertible )with cream piping and buttons too.
But it was then that I took the details of the skates for Miss E AND the details of OXIST so we agreed we'd come back and try OXIST out. This we did last week: Miss E and I, on Sunday.

Much quieter but all skaters were highly proficient- very inspiring ! Only Miss E was a little put off at first.
There she is loving it in her new skates ( early pressie from Santa)
Waiting for the bus home after a bit of shopping in Oxford too- new jumper for Miss E.

Then this week to the Royal College of Paediatricians and Child Health for an all-day workshop , and I walked from Theobold St down Holborn to Oxford St. Sorry for blurry photo of X-mas lights.
And John Lewis had some lovely in-store decs up too. I went in to buy some lining for dance dresses.
The chocolate advent calendar is hung high in the staircase hallway so Lucy can't get at it but she sits below it and whines....I still have quite some X-mas shopping to do and it's our 11 year anniversary next week. Work's very busy and Miss A has now performed for 4 nights in the joint school play which we attended on Friday and it was very very good. Much higher standard than at primary school.

I tried to provide laughs by including a video clip JJ took of me when we had a fishy pedicure in Wales in July: it's all giggles , do have a look it may make you laugh! It was such fun to do.

Weekend walks

2011-11-20T11:40:00.000-08:00

Lovely sunny day today so I took Lucy for a walk: we took the local ''chicken -run'' route. Pippa had refused to come and I wasn't in the mood to drag her along today.

It's been such a busy week, Miss Y 's music concert on Monday ( glee club) , Crochet class on Tuesday- my ladies learned to do granny squares and brought scarves and hats and a flower that they'd made- wow sooo pleased! Wednesday dancing at the University after working late at the office as well as Newbury driving the A34 in thick fog, Thursday collapsed with a migraine but managed to visit Lucy Clark by evening, Friday more migraine and late evening sewing - dance dress try-outs, Saturday IKEA- Miss Y benefitted from a new desk, bedside unit and desk-chair, in the evening I almost didn;t go but was very glad I went dancing in Oxford.

I danced 10 dances and learned 6 new ones, it was such glorious fun .

Today I walked and sewed the sofa cushion covers.... Phew no wonder I'm feeling so tired?
New shoots near Moreton on a very early walk with JJ, Saturday ( 9 am!)

Moreton on the way home, two sloe trees had been cut down- sad face- and another tree has shrivelled sloes on it still, I wonder why?
This was today at about 2pm on the chicken walk...
Lovely path, autumn colours.
Lucy thinking of rolling in something?

Then back home again, greyer now and a bit chilly.

Lucy loved it.
Making a crocheted tartan sash to wear for dance classes when I'm dancing ''as a man''.
This is the progress on the sofa thus far. By 8pm today I have also finished one of the back seat cushions and have inserted the zipper on the second. Had to stop as I need a few more metres of piping cord.

Charitable giving: crochet and baking

2011-11-15T02:51:00.000-08:00

Say hello to Lennie the Lion, my first ever finger- puppet! For Operation Christmas Child of course.
Pattern from Inside Crochet mag, latest issue: #24 with the weird green baby hat on the cover.
OK ok hand embroidery has never been a forte of mine...Kinda cute though?

At 17 degrees C and sunny at 1pm on 13th NOVEMBER????? aMAAAZING. This was Cuttlebrook where at last the leaves are falling/ have fallen. Tiny bit of autumn.

Lucy BEHIND me , what's going on? She usually races ahead.
Lovely trees.
Lucy panting. Maybe she's too hot? Or unfit? Or exhausted? We walked from the top of the upper High st today AND stopped off at the Children In Need stall AND had walked round the block at home with Pippa too.
Such gorgeous trees.
No she definitely didn't want to walk, she's still way behind.
Here are just some of the delicious cupcakes Miss E baked on Saturday 12th. With Hummingbird bakery recipes and Hummingbird frostings.
Aren't they lovely? I'm just sorry I didn't get a photo of the PUDSEY BEAR ones she iced by hand with a yellow bear face and spotted eye bandage? And she did some RAINBOW ones too.
She was baking ALL day from 8 am to the evening and had shopped at Waitrose on the Friday evening for all the ingredients. ( huge bill but never mind) We're sooo PROUD of her!!!!
And here they are a team of 4 from year 9 AHS manning their charity bake sale stand in Thame.

THANK YOU to the people of Thame who supported them as everything SOLD and they have just over £150 to give to the CHILDREN IN NEED charity! WELL DONE girls!
And this is the left front of the white cotton SALICE I finished yesterday evening at the Autumn concert at AHS. Miss Y was in the GLEE club performance. The music and singing was of an outstandingly excellent standard and that's speaking honestly, as a classic FM devotee, not as a mum. I thought I'd video-ed it on my i-phone but ooops I got only a small part and somehow all you can see is my skirt, not sure why. I'm certain I focused on Miss Y who was in the front row.

So proud of BOTH my daughters! WOW.

Remembrance Day

2011-11-11T06:35:00.001-08:00

I was discussing this only yesterday: how does one keep the paper remembrance day poppy looking good if not pristine, do you have to buy one new every day?

I have been wearing my paper one since November 4th , it went to a dance and then daily after this on coats, cardigans and tops to remain visible but it got very folded and crushed looking?
Then I saw some home-made ones on Ravelry and resolved to crochet my own today, for today.

And finish it before 11 am to wear for the 2 minutes silence.
It's made with Sirdar baby bamboo in cherry red and some sage green DK Patons pure cotton.

I used a 3.5 mm hook, but would have preferred a 3mm to have it even tighter, couldn't find one in time. Chain 2 and then work into the first chain.

Each petal is: approximately:* 1 dc, 1 Half treble ( HTr), 2 Trebles**, 4-6 Double trebles then repeat from * to ** in reverse order. Work 2-3 petals depending on preference. Finish off and sew small a black button into the centre. For the leaf: chain about 20 then work a dc into the 3rd ch, followed by 2 dc 1 per ch, 1Htr, 1Tr, 2DTr, 1Tr,1Htr,1dc, slip stitch the remaining chains to end. Sew in ends and sew leaf onto poppy flower at back, angling so it sits at 11 o'clock when you wear it.

Mine tend to flop over which I think is rather nice as that's exactly what real poppy leaves tend to do? If you don't like this you may want to sew a piece of wire along one edge or make the leaf double sided by working back along the other side of the start chain.

Sew on a brooch back or medium safety pin - as long as it's smaller than the flower -and doesn't show.

Voila.

Wear your poppy with pride and please still make a suitable donation to the poppy-appeal fund.

Let's remember with reverence those who died for us so we may live this wonderful free life we're blessed with today.

Durham and Operation Christmas Child- crochet HAT pattern.

2011-11-09T03:52:00.000-08:00

Sunday last I had the privilege of travelling comfortably by train to Durham to spend some time with a dear friend from the late 1980's who I had seen very little of recently. I was also in for a treat: a walk around Durham, which I have been longing to do for a few years- and it was SUNNY!
Suitably impressed by the cathedral and castle I was awed by the interior and loved the wood, the frescoes, the triangle carved stone decorations which looked like many layers of ric-rac along the arches.
Can you remember Harry Potter and other Hogwart's students walking along this quad?
This wood ceiling fascinated me, the new wood so plain but the OLD wood so patterned, almost like a pelt of wild fur or moire taffeta?! The older wood panels are below the newer ones in this shot. The picture should be ''clickable'' for magnification if interested.

Back outside, we had a lovely walk and I was surprised how small and compact the city-centre was. I had always thought it rather huge as the view from the train station as the train pulls into Durham is one of the towering cathedral and castle with the city below and the river curling through. A view I had seen so very many times on my way to and from Newcastle upon Tyne when at University there for 5 years. But in practice it's much smaller than York.
The rose window, with a postcard of the colours below.
The castle, student accommodation now: LUCKY students, but suffering from subsidence...
Walking down from the cathedral to the river.
Looking back up from a bridge.

I am still very keen to find out WHAT these birds are? There were many on this weir in the river. Some all black, some black and white. Long sharp yellow beaks.

oops, window didn't load rotated to the right as planned.

This one shows the corrugated edges look or the ric rac edging as I described?
Monday morning I walked from the IBIS hotel- very bad night DO NOT stay there if you have a choice- along the walls of York to the University Biocentre. Took about an hour.

And I was extraordinarily pleased to be able to use an app which showed me the way on my phone....aaah the little joys of new toys, we don't grow up do we? I just LOVED the way the little blue dot( ME) moved along the route as I walked from red dot to green dot.
Here's the hat I made on the train journey from Haddenham to London: in just an hour!

Pattern to follow below. It's for OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD.

Am not entirely sure of the scallop edge: does it make it look like a teacosy???
This is the top of the hat without the pom pom.
And here's the scarf I made earlier- Blue Peter style- in just ONE evening. All in UK term double crochet stitches, worked in the BACK loop only.
This is the reverse side.
Pom poms are to be fixed to the ends. Here's the fab clover pom pom gadgets I use a lot. Pom Pom in Progress as it were. Lent my middle size to a student so will make the small ones this time.

HERE'S THE PATTERN:

HAT WORKED IN THE ROUND IN TREBLES AND DOUBLECROCHET

Marble comes in 200g balls and the hat used only 56 g, the scarf used 94g

6 mm crochet hook.

It's that time of year again: time to fill those shoe boxes with gifts for children not as fortunate as one's own!

Warm hats and scarves are needed as well as pencils,paper,soap,beads( for a girl), and other appropriate small toys.

I must admit I do buy the gloves/mittens to go with the above set from Thame market on a Tuesday!

The hat is finished with a simple shell border of* 5 trebles in one stitch skip 2 sts, work a dc in next st, skip 2 sts, repeat from *AND an optional pom-pom.

Made with a 6 mm crochet hook and part of a 200g ball of MARBLE CHUNKY by James Brett.

The hat used up 56 grammes and the scarf 94 g and they easily fit both a child's head and into a small child sized shoe box( from Clarks).

PATTERN: HAT

Chain3 and close with a slip stitch., work 3 chain then 15 trebles into the circle.

Chain 4 and work 1 treble 1 chain into each treble : ending with 15 trebles and a chain3 masquerading as a treble with a chain space between each.

Chain 3 and work 1 treble into the top of each treble and 2 trebles into each chain space: ending as 48 trebles( include the 1st 3 chain as a treble).Close each row with a slipst into the 3rd chain.

Continue in trebles working one into each treble and starting each row with a chain3, close each row with a slipst as before.

After 9 rows working staright without increases: change to dc as follows:

chain 1 and dc in everystitch with a sl st into the chain, repeat for 5 more rows( 6 rows of dc in total)

chain 1 and work dc in the front loop only ( to create a foldline) all the way around, sl st in ch: 48sts.

work a further 6 rows in dc as beforefinishing with a crabstitch border if desired or a shell stitch border as described at the beginning.

Make pom pom ( 35 mm) and attach to hat. Work in ends.

Fits adults as well as most children aged 5-10.

In the photographed hat I used two different colours of the yarn to add a few stripes. It can be made all from the ONE ball. Yarn available on-line from purple Linda crafts, google for information or message me. It's exceptionally soft and nice to work with as long as you have a metal hook.

SCARF PATTERN: as an oval.

Uses about 100g of James Brett Marble Chunky(mine weighs 94 g excluding pom-poms)

A 7 and 6.5 mm hook.

A pom pom maker by clover or custom- cut card rings.

Gauge not essential: my sample scarf measured 11 cm by 174 cm .

Chain 150 with the 7mm hook and change to 6.5mm hook.

Chain 1 and then work a dc into the 3^rd chain from the hook, continue to the end stitch where you work 2dc in the last stitch. Do not turn, but work 2 dc in the first loop on the other side of the starting chain.

Then continue working a dc in each loop until you reach the last loop of the chain on that side. Work 2dc in the last loop and 2 dc in the dc on the other side, then continue across working in the back loop only. The back loop is the loop of the V furthest away from your body.

Continue until the last dc on that side and work 2dc in the next 2 dc, one from one side and one from the other side. You will have completed row 3 and starting row 4. Continue in this manner until the last 2 stitches in row 5 where you work 2dc in each of the last 2 dc on that side AND 2dc in each of the 2dc at the start of row 6.

From now on you increase in the 2 stitches either side of the midline at each end ( ie 4 stitches in total) making 8 dcs into these stitches. The rest is 1dc in each dc.

Complete the scarf at row 13 when about a quarter way along the side by working a slip stitch per dc in about 10 stitches , pull yarn though loop and cut yarn or if you are using pom -poms at the ends finish at an end. Sew in ends.

Make either 1 large or 3 small pompoms for the each of the ends and sew them on.

Variation 1:

Alternatively you can work the scarf as a rectangle working back and forth in either back loops only or both loops or a variation which keeps all the ‘’lines’’ on one side of the scarf.

Variation 2:

You can work the scarf as a rectangle cross-wise across by using a start chain of 24 sts and working back and forth, keeping edges straight Work as many rows as desired and finish with fringe at edge.

Happy Half Term moments

2011-10-29T11:41:00.000-07:00

This was Hobby craft a week before half term because I didn't wish to start this post with CAKE!!!
This is a bracelet Miss Y was going to crochet from a book I had from the library and we were looking at cotton yarns in Hobbycraft Aylesbury.
SEE? I thought this was a great pink colour, by the way I'm wearing my newly crocheted pure cashmere scarf: blisserenity!!!
Ah yes, back to CAKE! Miss Y kindly baked this for the friends coming to play-day as by then the family had eaten all the chocolate brownies and choccie- flake thingummies I'd purchased for the occasion.
Spot the divine new tablecloth we treated ourselves to 2 weeks ago....
Thurday while baking and playing was going on with JJ in the far north of Scotland or the day I was working from home doing an online computer course on Word 2007.
Voila, I will take a better picture soon, the scarf above and Salice the back completed below.
Thursday night I was very ill again and slept in to the afternoon to compensate. Girls did too so the London trip was amended for a late afternoon escape into Oxford as JJ had meetings in our kitchen. We arrived in Oxford centre at 18:05 and still found the perfect BOOTS for both girls at Clarks. RESULT! We had also been to TKMAXX- nowt worth trying on and then got stuck in traffic since 5pm.

After Clarks we had a superb dinner at the Mitre and before that lots of giggly fun playing ''I SPY'' in traffic jams and then on the Park'n Ride bus.
We had ribs, paprika chicken and salmon each but the ribs were the HOT favourite. Bottomless chips were very anti- Public Health?

PS Miss Y wearing the cream mohair scarf I crocheted for her.
This was today's treat or one of many as it happens. Stollen, as inhaled by Miss E.

And I made the Christmas Puddings today, would have been 2 days ago but ''someone'' ATE the entire white bread loaf I had bought to make the pudding breadcrumbs with.......We NEVER have white bread so it came as no surprise. Here we add the grated apple to the soaked alcoholic fruits. This year I used pear cider, courvoisier and sloe gin as we had no beer or stout and no rum or brandy.
The flowers from 2 weeks ago: my first beginners crochet class are lasting very well and are a daily joy.
Miss E found an excellent drawing book in Thame library when she cycled in today, lovely sunny day.

Adding the infamous fluffy fresh white breadcrumbs!
AND OH JOY OF JOYS: the first open fire of the season. On the last day of British Summertime.
And JJ cooked a marvellous steak and sauce supper and treated us all to these choccies, I bags the lovely stripey box.

And finally these are one of the 2 new pairs of boots. I was up at 10 am in the garden in my PJs spraying them with protector spray. ( both pairs are suede: let's pray and hope for a dry winter?)
I've also done a minicrib for next Friday's dance and amended a dress so it's suitable to wear, so quite a bit of sewing done. Still a long ''to do'' list for tomorrow though.

Marvellous Moments

2011-10-27T01:54:00.000-07:00

This is Burford yesterday when Miss E and I rushed over to go inspect a pair of white figure skates advertised at the Oxford Ice rink on Monday....

We ARE having a lovely half term with many marvellous moments, but with all of us now suffering with coughs, splutters,sniffles and sore throats it's a wee battle with ''the bug'' as well.

Monday after a nice lie in, we went ice skating- to be exact Miss E and Y went skating while JJ and I watched, he on his laptop and me huddled in many layers of knitwear. They had such fun it was lovely to see but I did soooo want to join in as I love skating too. Afterwards we had a great time watching the new 3 Musketeers film in 3d in Oxford, such action! D'Artagnan wasn't as handsome as in previous incarnations but the airships and Buttercup as well as Monsieur Planchet made up for this slight defect.

Totally happy after such a lovely family time we came home to springclean/tidy for friends' visits planned for Tuesday. These were changed to Thursday at the last minute but the girls had a gorgeous giggly time with our new Dance 3 WII game, which had us all in stitches trying to outscore and outdance each other. For some reason even a sweet and sour simple meal was the funniest ever with both daughters in top form joke and giggle-wise.

Wednesday was mostly work and an early evening drive to Burford. We now are the proud owners of white leather ice skates, size 5.

In the past month we have had to say a few goodbyes- one to our trusty Renault megane which has faithfully ferried the girls around from baby-hood to teen and pre-teen. 13 years of service.

She has changed role for now: storage solution for office papers overflow for both JJ's and my study/ studio/office.

This fabulously large and comfortable HABITAT sofa too has now done duty since about 1996 and after so very much washing of it's blue covers has worn them through on the seat cushions.

Goodbye to the blue and hello to new covers - soon to be completed by yours truly.

Miss Y has made the most scrumptious WW strawberry sponge finger layer cake!!!!

Pippa has been sulking, waiting for walks . Yesterday when I was working and both girls at home, she didn't get a walk until 7pm when JJ took her out.

Part of the W.I.P. of the back cover to the sofa... Yes I HAVE been really really busy lately.

One arm almost completed, I have added the piping as it's so much smarter, and the hem is a ''to do'' item at this stage.

Beginning to look good???? It also involved a trip to IKEA in MK to buy the fabric- can you believe I had to measure and cut 12 m of fabric all by myslef while the shop assistant just looked on? UNBELIEVABLE! I ended up with 13m just to be on the safe side...

Ah yes, the strawberry cake before it was cut to reveal those yummy layers.

A few samples of crochet, OLYMPIA in tweed stitch , sorry the photo turned clockwise but when uploaded turned back somehow. This looks lovely with nice blues fading to lilacy purples, but it's not a soft yarn so may become a bag but not a garment.

This was another wee invention of mone, crocheted while on that Leominster weekend.

Trying out King Cole mohair, bought in York the other day.I like the effect but again it's not all that soft? Could be crochet flowers , hat or a scarf/snood?

SALICE the jacket I made in Blue in the summer, is now in progress in white in Double Top cotton from Texere. Just finished the back and 2 pockets last night. It's taken the entire first cone though, which I hadn't expected.

Today JJ is in the far north of Scotland- by plane- and Miss E is having a friend over. Miss Y is full of cold and didn't invite her friend for fear of giving her the bug, aaaah so sweet.

It's cold, wet and grey outside so we'll be playing WII games, baking and staying warm inside.

Talking of warm: the boiler has been replaced and we have thermostat thingummies on all our radiators now. The boiler was from 1988 and a dear friend even if it did make a lot of banging noises lately. Another goodbye.

Other news: I have given my first LOCAL beginners crochet class and been to the Oxfordshire RSCDS annual ball- the latter was such fun! Even with my cold, I managed quite a few dances and the supper was delicious, everyone had excelled themselves for the deserts!!!

The week before : 15th, I attended a dayschool with 5.5 hrs of dance practice run by London RSCDS branch and this too was wonderful fun all day and evening.

At last JJ may be wrming to the idea of giving it a try too? Here's hoping: fingers and toes all crossed! Got to go do some computer online raining now.

Metal gorilla and crochet brown bear

2011-10-23T06:47:00.000-07:00

A gorilla made entirely from metal coat-hangers is at the entrance to the ''making as a creative process'' exhibition at the V&A , it has a different title which escapes me.
I went to see this crocheted bear or crochetdermi as it's called by Shauna Richardson, the creator. The exhibition was quite good but at the same time dissappointing as it's all crammed into one small room. There's no-body sitting making anything, there are a few videos showing clips of processes but not anything from beginning to end. They forbid any photos so the bear ones I have taken from a postcard I purchased. The bear was in a glass cabinet, so you couldn't get a good enough look anyway.
I adore the stitch work, though: all double crochet stitches in different directions. The only other crochet item was a pair of knickers(!) from Poland, shame! There were some amazing pieces like an intricate paper sculpture but the overall impression was not what I had imagined or hoped for.
It was more of a celebration of the death and demise of manual creativity rather than the promotion and education to ensure it's enduring continuity. The small room was hot and crowded and too many exhibits were crammed into high ceiling spaces so you could not see properly and got uncomfortable trying to see. Only 2 tiny seats were provided for anyone who's like to sit and look a while.
Went to see mum in early October.
And the view from the viewpoint on the 272 which I think- but may be wrong- is called Cheesehead point was as below....

The mystery location was a view over Portsmouth from the Ports -down-hill- road for one way and over the hills and dales of Hampshire from Fort Southwick for the other directional views.

This fort lies between Fort Nelson and Fort Widley. In one of the final - blurry- close ups the Spinnaker Tower gives the identifying clue?

Mystery location yesterday: WHERE was I???

2011-10-21T04:12:00.000-07:00

Where was I? I was very excited on arrival and took all these photos almost at once. There are clues...!!!

Feel GOOOOD WEEKEND

2011-09-28T13:00:00.000-07:00

a VIEW on a walk from Croft Castle somewhere in the vicinity of Leominster...

Had a fabulous weekend away with the Towersey Folk dance group- a whole weekend of walking and dancing with excellent company and lovely food and a bit of singing thrown in too, BLISS.
This is some of us still coming up the hill. A long slow climb it was. And all 22 of us made it.
Getting ready and waiting for ladies who'd gone to the WC.... again.....
Before that I was in York for a few days- working but this was at the end when I had an hour off.
A new shop for me: NESS, thought my eldest would like the satchels in the window?
This time we walked along the top of the Walls to the University- from the IBIS this was an hours walk but so very enjoyable!

At home- yes this is in rewind mode- Miss Y was playing the cello before I left for York.

These were some crocheted scarves I saw in York, so much fine work for far too little !
And back to Boofle- this is his ''body''. I have since finished all the pieces but have to photograph them, sew and stuff them and then there'll be a ''TA DAH '' moment soon I promise...

Life will recommence after October 6th when the last assignment for OU K311 will be safely handed IN!

B,C,D:Boofle, Crochet and Dogs!

2011-09-10T10:44:00.000-07:00

This is the ''ta dah!!!'' moment for ''Salice'' the crochet jacket pattern from Kim Hargreaves in the ''Whisper'' knitting book. I finished the buttons this morning while watching a film...
And yes it fits!!! Though the neckline is a bit ''square'' and deep, but quite nice all the same?
Ignore my expression, Miss Y was talking to me and I wasn't quite ready when she took it?
Emulating the poses in the book proved too hard! This is as close as it gets, the side view was far too depressing for me so that's not being blogged!

For details : I followed the pattern more or less, adjusting it where my gauge was slightly looser.

In rows not in stitches, though. I used Patons pure cotton DK and it took 622 g or just over 6 of the 100g balls. I started it in Mid-July 2011 and finished today.
Lucy wanted in on the action when we were taking the photos so here she is.
Was that a pigeon in that tree? Grrrrrrr
So are you going to give me a treat then?
Oh, PLEASE?

And all this time Pippa was dreaming and ''sunbathing'' in her basket....
No, I won't look up for you!
Woof woof!
And although I only ordered it yesterday morning my BOOFLE crochet kit arrived today!
Boofle has been very popular in our household for 2 years now.....You can buy knitted ones and I had been thinking- as you do- ''I must design a crochet one instead! Or in fact a stripey dachshund called Sam or Susie or Sasha, Simone, Simon, Shirley, Stephen, Stephanie, sssssssss?

A stripey sausage -dog with his/her own product range and cartoons? So the thinking went on and on and not a lot was DONE about it. Meanwhile we continued to collect Boofle memorabilia.
Wrapping paper covers my early 2011 diary book...
Miss E was given the knitted ones and gifts featured here....
Yummeeeee cupcake one with a yummy b'day message...
Super COOL dude Boofle. Dig the glasses. Doggie raybans.
Picture frame.
And a bag ful of sewing repairs awaiting my attention.... Did you know there's a Boofle cartoon and a website?!!!
So here He and I say bye bye, I will start crocheting him from this kit- I only really wanted the pattern- so He's what I'll be crocheting NEXT. I found the kit courtesy of Inside Crochet magazine- it's a DMC one. 3mm hook so it's gonna be a slow slog....And to MY way of thinking the beige provided thread is NOT quite pinky-beige enough to be absolutely correctomundo.

And the kit was missing a hook so I popped into town to buy one. Hopefully there's be a BOOFLE TA DAH really soon....

Summer outings

2011-09-01T12:35:00.000-07:00

It seems a long time ago that week in Llandudno, we have had relatively little sunshine since, lots of ''white cloud'' days and have been beset by illnesses, but a sense of contentment settled on me today as I walked the dogs in the sunshine we DID have for a while today.

OOOOOH yes and then there's my new baby: my new cabriolet- isn't she a beauty?
We haven't had much chance to drive about with the top down yet and more photos of such are needed, good news is the dogs LOVE it with the top down and Pippa stays put, Lucy sits strapped into a seatbelt with a harness on in the back seat.
She's my black panther prrrrrr but needs a nice colourful crochet throw for the lovely leather seats, to protect them and to add a bit of cheery colourfulness!
The kids have been playing nicely too, see Miss Y teaching Miss E some new pat-a cake- type songs.
I've done loads of crochet- some of it tres boooring as it was that Salice jacket of endlessly the same stitch in one colour, but I have finished all pieces now, sewn it together and it just needs the finishing crab stitch edges and buttons now. And surprise surprise: IT FITS!!!!

Since finishing the main parts I've been playing with a floral scarf in smiley stripes: bamboo and wool.
And most of the Bank Holiday Monday was spent in the car to Brighton and Lewes and back so I crocheted some lace with dreamy buttery soft pure 100% cashmere yarn I bought more than 3 years ago! (Jan 2008).....This is what one 50 g ball makes....
We went to LEWES after Brighton, but here a re a few photos I took...
Lovely lane by the ancient booshop where I found some Georgette Heyers and chatted to the chap who'd lost a 6 week old kitten somewhere in his bookshop...
Miss A in a topshop aviator jacket strolling past the castle gate.

We found some white cliffs ( of Dover said JJ) but they were just outside Brighton...?
Had a lovely walk there in the late afternoon/early evening sunshine- with both dogs too.
JJ loved it, he really misses the sea.
Ok so this one didn't upload properly?
And the sky-scapes were just amaaaazing.....

Bye then, lots more to catch up on soon. For now that dreamy cashmere is calling me. It's bliss to crochet with and incredibly smoochy soft. Can I feel a dreamy cardi-jacket coming on????

Llandudno holiday part 1

2011-08-07T04:56:00.000-07:00

On one of the days Miss E and I took a gondola ride over the Great Orme. Sorry pictures are scrambled - mostly backwards - am getting used to Windows 7 and my photos etc are uploading differently.

View into Snowdonia National Park, across to Conwy.
Over the trees just at the start, oh how my heart jumped into my throat, it was so steep! Am getting worse with heights with age for unknown reason, I was hanging on for dear life: like a white knuckle ride?
Llandudno pier and the little Orme.

West shore Llandudno, Deganwy and Conwy....
Can you spot Conwy Castle? Looking back from walking up the Great Orme from our delightful cottage.
Amazing windfarm, what a sight!
Walking downhill into town, towards the West shore.
Walking downhill, the promenade and Llandudno Bay.
A regal looking gull, but they were pests and 2 gulls stole the ice creams right out of the girls' hands! Swoop and steal, what a shock and many tears too. They were each left with only a third of the cone, all the scoops of dairy ice cream and 2/3 cone all gone into a greedy gull's beak.
View to the right of front door of cottage.

Both dogs and kids just loved it there, especially the Disney channel for the girls....
Yep: just 2 simple choices: uphill or downhill walk today?
The BLISSFUL view: both from living room and master bedroom, both with windowseats AND you could even see this from the bed!!!!!BLISS. Such pretty twinkly lights at night.

In the daytime the sun reflecting off the roof of cars made it look like the promenade was wearing a necklace of sparkling diamonds.

Glorious crochet sweaters

2011-07-17T04:01:00.000-07:00

NowTHIS brings back memories... of a striped green/purple rugby shirt borrowed off a boyfriend in the deep and distant past when we'd got soaked in a summer downpour........Aaaah such memories! LOL.

Looks fun though doesn't it ? Crocheted cotton poloshirt type tops to run along a beach in.

Hi guys, still working on SALICE from Kim Hargreaves/ Rowan but as I had delivery of a brand new computer processor yesterday and darling hubbie copied all my files across I though I'd quickly try out how everything works with the new systems. WOW- its soooo much faster!

A new mouse and a super compact smooth clicky keyboard too..... Above is a book I may have mentioned before, I sooo love it! Especially as it has so many memories: ALL of the patterns I have seen before in a magazine called ARIADNE to which I subscribed as a teenager- so these all connect me to the days when I was 12- 16, early to late 1970's, YUP the seventies!

And yet - maybe that's to me- they don't look all that ''dated'' do they????

It'd raining today, mid July! And not that warm so actually this maohair jacquard cardi looks just the job to snuggle into while reading a good book on holiday- sofa but no fire.... well it IS ''summer''!!!

Gorgeous back....

Ooooh this makes me want to go skiing!

Comfy warm car-coat anyone?

These cables as divine aren't they?

Chunky ribbed shawl collar coats must have been '' the look'' back then?

There's plenty of summer cotton jumpers too, mainly with boat necks, here's just a few:

So sorry I seem to have ''lost'' the function to change the colour to my lovely blue, I don't much like black script......... Will need to learn how to get it to re-do. I tried and it cut the last photo out instead...

Dancing crochet

2011-07-13T13:31:00.000-07:00

Voila a new stole I crocheted the other day, the stitch pattern was inspired by Ravelry but I have amended a few stitches and rows and added a beaded flower dangle fringe. Faerie shamrock shawl this is, light and soft and to be worn and Scottish dance balls in the Autumn..?

It's in Blur mohair with a 5.5mm hook and I started it as a scarf but kept adding rows when I found some extra Blur on e-BAY. The shamrock fringe has a pearl bead in each centre- such fun to do and a first for me.

I am incredibly tired most days at the moment with many headaches and migraines which I think are due to the air pressure, stress and too many bad/ late nights. Am longing for a ''proper'' holiday but nothing is being booked as yet.Work and OU study are keeping me tres busy busy and the eczema is playing up on arms and legs etc. Some battery re-charging in the sun with sea and soft water would be a treat? We've had weeks of muggy ''white cloud'' days again in the first 2 weeks of July. To keep positive I'm planning the next ''big'' project: a Chanel style jacket or maybe a top -down textured one?

From WHISPER patterns by Kim Hargreaves- this is a pattern that was £20 as all the other patterns are for knitting but the photography is fabulous and very inspiring.

This is the stitch gauge sample for it, in Patons DK with a 4mm hook , SALICE.

Crossed trebles with a row of dc in between.

Or a 2 by 2 basketweave?- SCRUMMY texture!

Also have made a denim DK cotton shrug for dancing in strappy tops( I hate my arms) from the Sirdar summer crochet pattern book - published in Spring 2010 I think.

And after the success of the denim one I made another in rose red Bamboo- shiny and wonderful, with a smaller hook and a longer ''sleeve'', more my own pattern really but using the same unusual stitch.

The border too is slightly different, but it also looked good without any border actually as earlier photos show.

And before the shawl became a shawl it was a skinny-ish scarf..

I'll say goodnight with the denim shrug as it's getting late again and I have washing to put on and dogs to walk.

Northern Ireland part two

2011-06-30T08:15:00.000-07:00

Goes to show how time flies when life is oh so busy! 4 weeks ago this was. Day 1 was the journey only, hence the plane. then there's the morning of day 2 , day 3 was a walk and then some kayaking... and then home on day 4. Too short!!!
Alas on day 4 the sun shone and it was hot and we haven't had nice warm sunnshine back home since. Only 2 days last week when it was 33-34 degrees and TOO HOT besides I was in a lOndon conference all day for one of them. Too much rain and ''white blanket cloud cover days for me this June. Depressing.tomorrow it's JULY let's hope for winning the premium bonds and lots of sunshine?There was quite a bit of crocheting in June- to show you in the next posts and a lot of studying and TMA writing and researching too. We've had family events too: a confirmation and a cello grade 2 exam and various bits have been getting hurt, fingers , wrists , feet and toes and ankles...What a month. Let's remember that brief holiday in Northern Ireland:

Northern Ireland part one

2011-06-05T09:58:00.000-07:00

After 1 pm the sun came out and boy was it BEAUTIFUL!!! See for yourself....This is the 1st of June in the north coast part of Northern Ireland, the earlier part of the day will be in part 2.

Walking on the path to the famous rope bridge. Where salmon fishermen used to cross.

Onto the path near the Causwway now.See below.

Organ Pipes. In STONE.

i LOVED THIS OUTCROP ON THE WEE ISLAND....

Such divine textures....Lichens too....

There was a line of RED stone/rock....by the outcrop....

White sand Bay?.....So very much like a Dutch beach!!! Even with Dunes.

What a blissful day and this was followed by Icecreams at Bushmills and Chinese in Coleraine....