Tag: Gardening

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Rounding Up

A large drift of chives with lots of purple flowers taking over one corner of the bed.

Last week I promised a round-up of the Calon Cariad shawls, didn’t I? Well, I’ve had a scour through the images posted in my Facebook group, posted on Instagram with the hashtag or sent to me and this is a good mix! I know for certain that Anne’s (top left) is finished, but I don’t have a picture of it post blocking.

Shawls knitted by: Top, L-R: Anne, Sandra, Patricia; Middle, L-R: me, me, Katrin; Bottom, L-R: Markus, Karen.

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I think you’ll agree they all did a fabulous job! I know there are some other knitters out there who also made a start on their shawl and if you are one of them and have some progress to show, please send me a pic!

Speaking of progress… things are happening in the veg plot! As well as the chives flowering profusely, the broad beans are starting to make their presence felt more and I’ve planted the edamame beans and the squash and courgette plants. The rhubarb is also finally finding its feet after we split the crown and moved it, giving various parts away and the raspberries, red and blackcurrants and apple tree all look like they’re going to be quite productive this year!

It’s not a massive garden, but it’s got a lot in it (including the ground elder which I’ve chosen not to show you)!

I made some ‘same-day’ sourdough rolls yesterday – it’s a quicker process which uses more sourdough starter than the regular recipe (100g instead of 50g) and they came out of the oven a mere 13 hours after feeding Audrey2 (my starter). My lovely wife chose her two favourite ones this morning for her lunch before I’d remembered to photograph them! They are lush.

I have been doing quite a bit of knitting this week, but sadly none of it is stuff I can show you at the moment. I’ve also been doing lots of Excel spreadsheet magic, calculating (and recalculating) the sleeves for the sweater I’m working on. It makes life so much easier when you can make the formulae do the hard work for you (and when you know the ones you need), and then also round the results up/down/to a specific multiple. I’m going to cast on the sleeve for the third time later on and hope that it will be third time lucky. Fortunately, WYS Fleece DK is a very forgiving yarn!

The workshops I mentioned last week are filling up. The Two-Colour Brioche class is full (which is good as that is the first one – next week!), Beginners’ Crochet has one or two spaces left and there are spaces on the Closed Ring Cables workshop.

And on Saturday I get to see some sheep! We are going to the Riverknits Open Day which I’m really looking forward to.

I’ll tell you all about that next week – the blog post will be on Wednesday next week and I’ll tell you about the Brioche workshop then too!

Til then, take care and make time to do some of what makes you happy. K x

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Snowdrop

The first snowdrop is in flower in the garden! It’s called Gabriel and is one of the earliest, always flowering before Christmas. Seeing these always lifts me – they are so delicate and yet so very resilient. I couldn’t understand how they survived the frost and snow until Mum told me that they contain their very own version of anti-freeze.

Why are booster jabs like buses? You wait for ages for one and then two turn up at once! On Sunday evening I received a text message giving me an appointment date in January for my booster. Then, yesterday evening I got another text offering an opportunity to book one sooner if I wanted to, by clicking on the link. So, my booster jab will be happening this afternoon! Don’t worry, the whole text message thing isn’t dodgy – I’ve had all my notifications from NHSWales this way.

This has made me replan today a little, just in case I feel a bit ropey later on, but that is a benefit of being self-employed; I can organise my time to suit, which makes me very lucky indeed.

The knitted baubles are in the post, as are two wooden coasters that were ordered last night. If you are thinking of ordering a kit or anything else that needs to be posted for Christmas please do so by the end of this week (17th December). The lady at the post office thought I should sell the baubles (I’d need to develop my own base pattern to do that, but that is fine), although I’m not sure people would pay for the time/skill involved. Would you purchase one of these? If so, what would you be willing to pay? Answers in the comments please!

My sock knitting is on schedule as I finished one yesterday and started the second. I should get some more done later while I wait for my jab.

I’ve also made progress with two of my Fasten Off Yarn-a-Long pattern purchases! Gridlock Mitts by Karen Butler is now into the main colourwork (that was during Only Connect last night).

Water Dragon Wrap/Shawl by Red and the Wolf Designs is skipping along. I began with 140 sts and currently have 340 sts on the needle. The increasing will continue for a while yet and that will mean the rows get slower, but it’s great telly knitting!

The first deadline project that was due at the end of November has now had its first tech edit and has come back to me to be checked. This is where I get to see if I can remember how to use ‘track changes’ in Word…

My other secret deadline project (so no pics) is also coming on, though I haven’t touched it for a couple of days while I’ve been knitting other things – I’m still totally in love with the yarn though and plan to knit a lot of it in the next few days!

And… I’ve been swatching for another design and I’m really quite excited by how it’s working out. The submission deadline for this one is early next year and I’m keeping everything crossed that they want it. 🤞

It’s getting a bit scary again out there with Covid-19, so please take care and do the things you know will keep you and your loved ones as safe as possible. K x

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It’s Too Darn Hot!

I made it to my mum’s! It’s only the second time I’ve seen her since last September and I brought a homemade loaf with me which has almost been finished already. The air-con in the car was very pleasant during the journey so I didn’t notice the effects of the 29 degree heat until I arrived and got out of the car. And it carried on getting hotter. By yesterday afternoon the temperature gauge in the garage was reading over 34 degrees!!

We knew it was going to be hot while I was here, so at the weekend Mum had sensibly suggested that I didn’t made chutney in the middle of a heatwave. I’ve got the ‘store cupboard’ elements and jars at home, she is handing over the very enormous and beautiful cooking apples and garlic that she’d got in for me to take back. We both have the same preserves book:

Front cover of Home Preservation of Fruit and Vegetables published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in 1968 (12th edition)

Mine is about 50 years younger than hers, but it’s still in print because it’s brilliant) and so she went through the recipe with me, pointing out what could easily be tweaked and adding more info to that given in the ‘method’; “Until required consistency is achieved” is a little vague for me, but Mum said that it can take ‘a while’, but it won’t reach a setting point like jam or marmalade and as long as it blobs off the spoon in the same way as you’d like it to land on your plate then it’s done.

So, instead of sweltering in the kitchen I had a potter round the garden this morning – it’s amazing. You see that Paper Bark Tree (Acer grisium) – the really tall one? She grew that from seed. I know!

A photo of my mum's garden showing the Acer grisium that she grew from seed.

I’ve also helped sort through a few bits and pieces and swapped the handspun yarn that Mum chose on my last visit for the much softer Polwarth. Although she’d really liked the changing colours of the first yarn (that WAS my first yarn off my wheel if you remember) it had too many over-spun sections to create a soft enough fabric when knitted. This one definitely has the seal of approval.

A handspun skein of Polwarth wool in shades on blue and sea-green on a white window-sill.

My own knitting that I’ve brought with me is the Brioche + Mystery by Suzanne Sommer. I’ve got all four colours in play now and I’m very much enjoying it.

A close-up photo of Brioche +Mystery in progress. Dark purple and light blue fill most of the image, with olive green and magenta stripes outside it.

My own MKAL, Into the Vortex is nearly at the halfway point (that was quick!) and Part Three spoilers will be published on Thursday. For now, here is Part Two.

Parts One and Two of Into the Vortex MKAL on a dark wooden table.

Both the yarns are by Riverknits, the first one (shown last week) is Chimera and the dark blue is Nene 4-ply. Both gorgeous yarns to work with.

The courgettes were gorgeous by the way – as was the gooseberry crumble. The blackcurrants and redcurrants will definitely be picked once I’m home – possibly a very early morning or late evening job if this heat keeps up.

Stay safe, stay hydrated and treat yourselves gently, Kx