Thursday 29 July 2010

Oysters, Vintage shopping...and knitting


I finally got the socks finished! It only took me a month! I'm pleased with the results though - just got to wait for it to get cold enough to warrant me wearing them. They're the first short row heels I've done and quite enjoyed it. They are a lot quicker to do and less fiddly to pick up the stitches than a heel flap. They are also my first toe-up socks, and I don't think I'll be doing that again if I can avoid it. The cast on is really fiddly to get a good tight toe, and on the first sock, I cast off too tightly and couldn't get it over my heel to wear! Had to unpick and consequently have messed up the back of the cuff. Bit annoying but not really that noticeable when they're on. Here is an underexposed photo that better shows the lace detail. It was simple but effective to achieve that was quite quick to grow once I got into it.



Last weekend was the Whitstable Oyster Festival. Click here to see more photos from their website. I got this picture from Google images. It's rare to see street food looking so classy, but people all along the harbour were eating from plastic plates bedecked like the one seen here. Perfect with a Whitstable Oyster Stout. M and I had takeaway whitebait with a squeeze of lemon. A first for us in takeaway form and one I hope will one day be adopted more widely.

A highlight for us in Whitstable is always Keam's Yard. It's a little lock-up gallery on the beach that is crammed with a mix of interesting new art and vintage furniture. It is rare for us to come away empty handed and this time was no exception. We found this lovely little art deco enamel electric fire. It has a couple of red bulbs in the bottom, but would need a bit of electrical work to make safe. We are planning on leaving it as a decorative piece. It fits in brilliantly in our front room which is painted entirely white with polished floorboards and prime, bold design dotted around. That's the idea anyway...



Finally, I've been making sample squares of crochet and knitting for a while now, especially when I was first learning. It gave me chance to try different techniques without commiting to a whole project. The plan was eventually to stitch them all together to make a sampler blanket. This week I decided I had enough to make a decent size blanket for the car, so set about it. I also have lots of other projects in the pipeline and wanted to move on from this one. As you can see, Tilly is ever helpful in these matters.


Despite cat interference, which at one point involved both cats fighting and wrapping themselves in it mid-stitching, I finally got it finished. I think my favourite pieces are the slipstitch colourwork knits towards the left of the picture. The left edge, second square up is a zig-zag design, then there is the blue/white diagonal striped square and the cream/orange greek design.

Here it is adorning the back seat of my beloved motor. Lovely.

Saturday 17 July 2010

Currant Affairs

No photos today, I'm afraid. Forgot to take my phone or camera to the allotment. Doh! Today was the day of reckoning for our currant bushes. We have been on the allotment for a few years now, and inherited massive gooseberry and blackcurrant bushes, and about eight crowns of rhubarb. We had until now just left them to do their own thing (knowing nothing about soft fruit) and could rely on a good crop each year. This year however, reeling from neglect, we have been punished! The gooseberries have done much better than we initially thought, with a yield of about 3lb. The blackcurrant was however a resounding disappointment. I decided we needed a drastic prune to improve the fruiting for the future (possibly not next year) and to tame the beast taking over half the plot! I cut back about half of it as directed by the trusty BBC Gardeners World website. It looks great and I've made a coulis for dinner with the scant fruit available. We'll have to wait for winter to tackle the gooseberries and rhubarb.

Working has been very poor for crafting and reading in general. I've not done that many sessions this week, but paired with trying to get trim and being a good friend, I've not had many minutes spare. I'll have more to share soon - I hope!

Exciting news. Ta da di da da: We are off to Canada for a month next year. All booked and no changing our minds now. We tend to stay in the UK for camping holidays and festivals for our usual holidays, and then once every 4-5 years we have a big trip. The last one was a road trip round the south island of New Zealand, and this time it's Winterlund in Ottawa. Can't wait!

Saturday 10 July 2010

Flowers!




This week has been interesting for me. After a long enforced rest brought about by sickness, I returned to work. Great for self esteem and bank account, but a bit of a shock to the system if I'm honest. Glad to report it felt much easier by the end of the week. The unfortunate side effect of actually having a job (of sorts - I'm self employed and book work where and when I can) is that I don't have so much time for crafting and blogging. The horror! Because M and I have relatively little time together, we have decided to make the weekends count by making an effort to go out. Today was gardening day.

As I have said previously, we are lucky enough to have an allotment rented from our council, and M works incredibly hard to put veg on the table. Up until recently we have shared the plot with friends, but now work the whole area. M has allowed me a raised bed to plant flowers, the idea being that we don't have a sunny garden at home in which to grow things I like, and it will help to encourage the bees. Above are pics of todays work, and below are stock images of the flowers I have planted. If you have never smelled chocolate cosmos, it is a revelation. Gorgeous. We have two types of lavender for cakes and scented pillows etc, marigolds for colour and edibilty and other bits for pure prettiness. There is a good range of foliage for year round interest (they seem to say that a lot on gardening programmes) and I think they all have long flowering periods so we'll have colour all summer. Next to the plot we have a home-constructed obelisk with sweet peas, and a small bush made up of lemon balm and oregano. M has also planted sunflowers along the end of the plot which will look lovely. I wonder if he'll let me grow a globe artichoke... (they're huge but pretty AND edible)

So, we have down the middle:
Gaillardia 'Goblin'
Liatris spicata 'Kobold' - otherwise known as a 'Gay Feather' (tee hee)
Euphorbia martinii

Lavenders in 2 corners:
Lavendula 'Blue Star'
Lavendula 'Fathead' (tee hee again)

Other larger plants:
Cosmos 'Chocolate'
Petunia 'Littletunia Ultra Purple'
Marigold 'French'

Small filling/trailing plants:
Brachycombe 'Blue Champion'
Bacopa 'White'


Lastly, on the allotment front, our little patio apple tree is doing rather splendidly this year:



Apart from finishing one sock, I've not got much more to report on the craft front. Photos only permitted when I have two! We have discovered via Radio 4 that there will be a vintage design festival at Goodwood next month. Check out the website - 'tis FABULOUS. We have booked a day ticket for the Saturday and can't wait. Now to plan outfits for the occasion. Mmm...