Pottering

It's the Easter school hols here and we're being spoiled on two fronts. Firstly Dr husband is taking his belated paternity leave, and secondly the weather is warm and sunny! In the past I've felt a bit of a failure on school holidays and weekends if I've not managed to accomplish something fabulous every day. Generally this results in very grumpy, stressed and tired people inevitably leading to a wasted day and an argument. Far too slowly I've come to realise we all have far more fun if we try not to climb a mountain, but rather spending the day simply and together instead. The last few days have been spent pottering in and about the house and garden, playing and chatting. The glorious sunshine is set to extend into the weekend and hopefully beyond meaning we can expect a lot more pottering before the end of the holidays!

Sowing seeds...

Crocheting in the sun...that lovely cotton yarn is being used for a blanket!

My new herb garden in a lovely wooden wine box ...

Tea Time

The start of the week had more glorious sunshine but sadly by today its a washout - just in time for the school holidays as always! This week has involved a lot of baking, but I'm also pleased to announce that my sewing machine has been out this week for the first time in 10 weeks!

I've experimented with an old family favourite for this week's tea-time treat. Being Welsh, the traditional Welsh cake is a family staple - I can't remember a time without them. For those who don't know, the best way I can describe them is somewhere between a scone and a cookie. Traditionally they are cooked on a bakestone or griddle, best eaten warm and in my house slightly burnt! I always put sultanas in mine, but recently, inspired by an episode of The Hairy Bikers Mums know best I have deviated from the unadulterated form. The Cardiff mum who was featured shared a recipe in which she replaced the raisins/sultanas/mixed fruit with ... white chocolate and cranberries! Admittedly such a combination is a marriage made in heaven in my book, but in a Welsh cake? I was dubious, especially as it seemed to be meddling with an age old recipe! Tried - I did. The result - I ate my words.

I used my own trusted recipe rather than the version from the Hairy Bikers BBC webpage, replacing the sultanas with, quite literally, a handful of dried cranberries and a handful of white chocolate chips. In a word - divine!

New Wool

I am not getting on with the previously mentioned acrylic yarn - I intend to complete the stripey blanket though, and I may surprise myself with the end product! I have in the meantime aquired a brand new cotton yarn from my favourite wool shop First4yarns - Nature Classic Cotton by Adriafil. I've used Knitcol by Adriafil several times in the past for sock knitting so I fancied trying out their cotton, especially given the fabulous colours available. The 5 balls I ordered have sat unused for the better part of three weeks while I contemplate what to do with it all. I had considered a 'patchwork' granny square blanket or a ripple. However, during night-time baby feeding web-based research I came across a possible candidate - the Copenhagen cushion. I LOVE it!!! I ended up ordering 2 further balls of the classic cotton this week in a 'natural' colourway in order to make a start. It's a little yarny gift to myself - I had hoped to get to Wonderwool this weekend, but after a manically busy week for all of us, I think it's probably unlikely. Hey ho, there is always next year and some online wooly retail therapy instead!

Sunshine in a jar!

The glorious weather has come to an end for the time being. Yesterday and today have been dull, dreary and rainy. Breakfast time yesterday morning was grey and miserable and to add insult to injury there was no jam in the house to have with our toast! Madam Sophia was not best pleased but was pacified with some of my mother-in-law's crab apple jelly, normally reserved for sunday roasts. While frantically searching for something to put on madam's toast, what do I find in the cupboard but a little bit of leftover summer - homemade lemon marmalade, unopened and intact.

While on holiday last summer I sampled the most divine lemon marmalade in a small B&B. I am not a big fan of marmalade as a general rule, but in my then pregnant state it seemed like nectar. On our return home I searched high and low for lemon marmalade with no luck - everything was either orange, grapefruit or lemon with lime. Nothing else would do and so to satisfy my craving I made my own - finding a recipe proved difficult so in the end I adapted an orange marmalade recipe. I can't remember how long the craving lasted but obviously not long enough to open the very last jar. In the miserable rain it was a little sunshine in a jar.

The Unveiling

Today I can share with you the completed 'Giant Rainbow Granny Square' and I LOVE it! It has been the most pleasurable project, which is praise indeed from someone who never really liked crochet - until now!! The giant square was made using 15 different colours of Rico Creative Cotton.which at £1.50 a ball, is truly bargainous. I absolutely love this aran weight yarn and their colour palatte is absolutely fabulous - the depth of colour is wonderful. The whole blanket only required one and a half balls of each colour so I have plenty left over to make a co-ordinating cushion. This project initially started as a small granny square that grew and grew, changing colour for each round. The edging is simply three rounds/rows (I'm still not up on the crochet jargon) of double crochet in three different colours. I'm now off to start a cushion cover - although I am quite taken with the idea of hexagon motif experimentation next...there aren't enough hours in the day to accomplish everything I want to - neither are there enough hands!

Thursday Battenburg

Not much going on here on the crafting front, however, it's bake, bake, bake instead as well as plenty of coffee on the patio in this GLORIOUS weather!

Thursday morning Battenburg - my favourite cake:

The aftermath of the double choc chip muffins and coffee in the sun:

Yarn Snobbery

I have a confession to make - when it comes to wool, I am an unashamed snob. I love natural fibres and get far tooooo excited about them. I've been known to buy yarn purely on the basis of its content and feel, and for many years I have frowned on synthetic fibres. Just before I had baby boy, I took a jaunt to my not-so-local woolshop in Port Talbot. It's a fantastic, albeit unconventional shop, located above a film rental shop on the Sandfields estate, with literally floor to ceiling shelves of wool. They stock everything from the well known brands to the more 'boutique' type yarns - from cheap colourful acrylic to high end designer yarns - something for every taste and pocket. On a whim, I decided to try some of their acrylic yarn for a stripey crochet blanket at the bargain price of £1.70 for a 100g ball. Initially I was unconvinced - I didn't like the squeekyness of the yarn against my designer crochet hook, nor did I like the stitch definition. However, with a larger metal crochet hook and slightly looser tension I am liking the overall effect. The blanket it still in a slow experimental stage so I will reserve full judgement until completion. For now, and for me, I will consider it an education!