New Year

Happy New Year to you all. A little belated, perhaps, but better late than never. It's taken a while to get back into the groove. In fact I didn't pick up a hooky hook until this weekend, although I managed to finish the hearts and flowers garland. More of that later, first a few pretty pictures of our relaxing and restorative holiday in north Devon with a big group of friends over the New Year. It was crisp and clear when we arrived, no snow but lots of frost and brrrrrrr it was cold. We had a lovely local walk on the first day, all sun and frost and a gentle 7.5 mile meander through the countryside, ending in the picturesque village of Chulmleigh - in the pub of course! A roaring fire, some liquid refreshment and a game of darts. Fortunately, the fact that I only ever play darts at New Year doesn't make me stand out as a complete idiot, as most of the rest of the crew usually only plays at New Year as well. On New Years day we went the seaside. Westward Ho! was the choice of seaside venue, mostly because it was big enough to have the chance of having a tea room open. We didn't get onto the beach as the tide was in, but we did see some porpoises in the bay, which was quite exciting. Incidentally, Westward Ho! is the only place name in the UK with an exclamation mark as part of the name. An interesting but useless fact. The final picture shows the wobbly eye competition entries. To explain, we were given a pair of wobbly eyes each and were tasked with coming up with something amusing and original, (or just amusing). My entry was the crochet spider which was a pebble from Westward Ho! dressed up in a woolly crochet coat. I brought it home and now I'm not sure what to do with it. I did pick up a few more pebbles from the beach with an idea of using them in a possible xmas present project although I don't think that they will be spiders......

After the holidays, I finally galvanised myself and finished the hearts and flowers garland. I don't have room to store bits of wool so wanted to use up the left overs from the giant doily rug and our little flat really needed  a bit of brightening up as well. I had finished all the hearts and just needed to join them together.  The finishing touch was some pretty buttons bought in a lovely little shop in Exeter, so I had no more excuses for not getting it finished and up on the wall. I don't know why it is, but I struggle to finish things. I think it might be because I'm already planning the next thing and am raring to get started! Incidentally, the 'next thing' is a basket/bag sort of thing. I'm still using up the rug wool, so am going to keep going round and round until it's all gone. Does that make sense? It will all become clear when I have a picture of it.

Last minute presents

The last few days before Christmas were a bit of a mad frenzy finishing off some presents. The crochet hearts worked so well that I just kept making them. The little bag was made as a funny extra for my secret santa present. The last couple of years we've done a secret santa for the family as they are all older and everyone strives to make it amusing. This year I picked out a request for money towards a sat nav. Money is always welcome but a bit boring as a present so I decided to make a padded bag for the future sat nav and found some fab fabric with road signs.  A perfect choice. Since my sewing machine is being stored at my parents house I went over there with all my sewing stuff and quickly ran up a little padded drawstring bag. One of my sisters arrived and declared that the little bag was absolutely perfect for her sat nav, hint, hint, so I made another as an impromptu little gift. Great timing on her part!

Let it snow

let it snow, let it snow. It didn't quite make it in time for Christmas, but here in Derbyshire we had lovely covering of snow. This is the view from our flat this morning.

It's great to have snow in the holidays with no worrying about how to get to work. Today we met friends and walked from the village of South Wingfield over fields and past Wingfield Manor, now a ruin and famous for having imprisoned Mary Queen of Scots. It was all so pretty with sunshine and snow and the perfect walk ended with the perfect pint. Well, actually, we tried a couple of the pubs in South Wingfield before heading back to a welcoming fire and late lunch at Sue's.

Christmas garland

At last we have Christmas decorations. I've been beavering away trying to finish before  the big day and I'm really happy with the result. We have lots decorations in storage, but its a marvellous excuse to have some new ones, especially when they are homemade and turn out as envisaged and  are finished in time. Our little tree is new as well. Small but perfectly formed and sits very nicely on the treadle sewing machine.  The garlands are made from Ophelia from Sirdar which is lovely and soft yet has a metallic thread which gives it a bit of sparkle and a heavy feel which I imagine would make it drape beautifully in a jumper.  It's perfect for fluffy shiny hearts and baubles on a string! The big hearts dangling from the drawers were made to the same pattern but with 2 threads together.  I've made a few for quick Christmas presents as well as they are so easy to make and look so lovely. I'm definitely keeping some for myself this time though.

Lazy Sunday afternoon

Well, more like lazy all day. Still feeling under the weather so spent much of the day cozied up on the sofa with a little easy crochet listening to an audio book. The hearts and flowers bunting is coming along beautifully and I love listening to a story while hooking or sewing. I'm currently listening to a Terry Pratchett story. Well actually, I usually listen to some Terry Pratchett. I've got nearly all of his audio books and love the humour and quirkiness. It's also easy to dip into and out of the story if you are familiar with it. If I'm doing something a bit repetitive I can listen to something new, but any time I need to really concentrate on a tricky bit I lose the thread of the story and have to go back. 

We had a mini family tea today as the kids are mostly all tied up with christmassy socialising, so it was easy to prepare for with some still warm bread and a few mince pies and jam tarts. We are working our way through the stock of home made mincemeat and jam. Next year will be a bit of a lean year for the home made preserves unless I can do some serious groundwork in the garden at the barns.

Pappa al pomodoro

Or tomato and bread soup for those of us who are linguistically changed. I'm feeling sorry for myself today. I have the lurgy and spent much of the day snoozing on the sofa under a comfy quilt. I managed to rouse myself to make the soup for tea. I wanted to finish off the last of the sourdough loaf and the soup recipe based on a Jamie Oliver recipe was the perfect (and souper quick) way to go. Hearty and comforting, just what the doctor ordered. Served with a dollop of pesto it was just delicious. Now I need another nap....

Giant doily rug part 2

At last I have declared the giant doily finished. Well, nearly finished. The crochet part is finished and it is on the floor of our little sitting room being tested for sturdiness and practicality. It has already passed the test for aesthetically pleasing as it looks great - all bright loveliness to cheer a gloomy December, but I think it it needs to be stiffer and more robust. I've ordered some navy hessian to use as a backing and I might throw it into the washing machine to see if it shrinks and thickens up a bit. I'll keep you posted. In the meantime I'm using the remaining bits of wool to make coordinating flower and hearts bunting. I'm using patterns found at the very inspiring Attic24 blog. Well done Lucy for providing such a resource. I have books and magazines with patterns but most of my books are in storage so not much use for browsing through and I seem to have very little time for devising my own patterns. 

Last weekend, we spent quite a bit of time at the barns, but I did manage to make a sourdough loaf. It is such a forgiving breadmaking process as it needs plenty of time to prove, which just fits in with the time I have available for making it. For example, for the loaf pictured below I started it on Saturday evening with half the flour (freshly milled in the flour mill), some water and the sourdough starter and left it to slowly digest and bubble. At bedtime I put it in the fridge. The following morning I got it out of the fridge before I had a shower so that it could start to warm up again. Before breakfast I added the rest of the flour and mixed it in the Kendwood Chef for a couple of minutes, leaving it to rest for about 10 mins before adding the salt and mixing again.  While washing up I mixed it a bit more, added some walnuts and dates (I go where the mood takes me for bread flavourings), and then shaped it and placed it in the bread basket to prove. I left it a good 4 or so hours while out at the barns and when I came home it was ready to bake. Easy Peasy and fresh bread for tea!

Chatsworth House at Christmas

Chatsworth is lovely at any time of the year as there always something to do no matter what the weather throws at you. Every year me and my sisters have a Christmas day out instead of buying presents. This year we went to Chatsworth  accompanied by our Dad and had a really nice family day out. We started with lunch at the Tea Cottage in the  Chatsworth village of Edensor (pronouced Ensor - a good bit of Derbyshire for you!). It was a great meal and I can heartily recommend a visit.

We finished our leisurely lunch and pootled up to the house. This year they have an Alice in Wonderland theme for the Christmas decorations. It was a delight for all ages. We certainly had a giggle at the dressing up bit. Even though I say so myself, I looked rather fetching as Tweedle Dee (or Dum) and a lovely time was had by all. I loved that the giant centipede at the entrance had knitted legwarmers on all it's legs!

We rounded the day off with a coffee and giant piece of cake at the tea rooms at Caudwell's Mill Craft Centre at Rowsley, near Bakewell. I took note of the blacksmiths wares - some lovely door handles and knockers for the barns and also some truly stunning glassware at Greenhalgh Glass Workshop and Gallery. There were examples of some glass panels inserted into windows and doors and I could just see this at the barns.