poppies and bbqs??

We had our Christmas fair fundraiser for our village church yesterday. The weather was so mild that a bbq was set up outside in the courtyard and did a roaring trade selling 120 burgers!
As I loaded up the car with my homebaking for the cake and candy stall I noticed this poppy had just bloomed. These poppies normally flower in May/June and have faded by August so it's a bit of a surprise to see it now. Climate change ? What's that? This time last year we were knee-deep in snow and the Christmas fair had to be cancelled as the roads were unsafe, we couldn't keep the carpark clear of snow and the paths were like ice-rinks!
I had a brilliant time at the fair, helping in the make and take craft area for the children. The kids were decorating porcelain trinket dishes and I was setting the ink with a hairdryer then gift-wrapping their pressies for their grannies and grandpas. It was tremendous fun. My cakes were sold as were the two scarves which I had put on the craft stall.
We raised £1,300 for the Wind and watertight repairs fund and are very close to our target of £70,000. (we have more than £65k I think).

No doubt the weather will change this week and I won't have any more plants being confused by the mild weather. A shame really, as after last winter I would be happy if we only had a light dusting of snow for one afternoon in January!

The Killing II

Saturday night TV just got good again as Sarah Lund, Denmark's best detective and inadvertent knitwear promoter has returned to UK screens with another puzzle to solve against the backdrop of political intrigue and threats of terrorism.

So we sat down with some Danish lager and I made sure that my knitting was subtitle friendly (a simple beanie for the Christmas shoeboxes) and prepared to be led astray, confused and misdirected through the bleak Danish landscape. Wonderful stuff!!
The Radio Times even has the pattern for this season's red sweater, and I'm sure that many fans will be casting on pdq! Awesome!

Meanwhile in daylight hours I'm battling against the billion billion leaves which fall in my garden every Autumn. I sweep them up then more fall off the trees. Today I emptied the leaf mulch bin and put the mulch on two freshly weeded flower beds  so that
a) it helps the beds and
b) I have somewhere to put the next gazillion leaves!!

I need to buy some more garotta powder to speed up the composting process in the leaf bin. Garrota is ammonium sulphate and while I know that some gardeners just pee on their compost heaps (usually after a trip to the pub and a few pints of beer!) I would much rather buy the powder than be the talk of the village!!

I've not been blogging about football recently, largely because it's been so depressing. While Newcastle are flying high at 3rd position on 25 pts, Sunderland are languishing at 15th on 11 pts. D is dumbfounded by Newcastle's current success (despite losing 3-1 to Man City yesterday) but I'm disheartened by my team's poor form. We had a goal-less draw at home yesterday against Fulham. Sigh.

Still, at least the brilliant Sofie Gråbøl is back and the leaves have been re-arranged in the garden!

gains and losses

the warm spring weather has meant that the garden has been looking very colourful for quite a while now. The poppies were in bloom on the 1st of May which is more than three weeks earlier than last year (25th May) and the aquilegia are in full flower pretty early too.

I've planted most of my seed potatoes in the tatty sacks and put some bedding in as I was clearing weeds (french marigolds, lobelia and petunia so far).

I'm delighted with the allium flowers too. This is the first time I've grown them and I love the crazy ball of tiny flowers. I didn't buy giant alliums as I was worried that they wouldn't stand up to the stiff breezes that we get round here, but now I think that they might and I'll try some bigger ones next year.

Sadly the harsh winter has killed off some of the shrubs: I've lost a hebe, a buddleia, a lavender and all three New Zealand flax plants. The flax plants were some of the first plants that I bought for this garden 5 years ago and I liked their spiky strangeness so it's a shame that I'm going to have to clear them out.

I've been a bit distracted by volunteering for the Day Centre in our village so I've not had as much time to knit/crochet as I would like. The Day Centre hosts a weekly lunch club for older people, it's great fun and I enjoy having a good blether with the (mostly) pensioners. I started off just helping in the kitchen, serving lunch and clearing up, graduated onto occasionally prepping and cooking the soup and taking a turn on the laundry rota and now I'm on the committee as Secretary. Last week the conversations centred around the election and the latest fashions. It's heartening that people don't really change as they get older: if they were interested in politics in their younger days they tend to keep that interest, and if they were avid followers of fashion then they still like to keep up with the latest styles and colours. Amazingly enough, despite their many and varied health problems they're a pretty cheerful bunch. I think they're brilliant.

I made some progress on putting together Seraphina at the weekend while listening to the football. The penultimate matches of the season saw Man Utd win the league and West Ham get relegated. It was pretty exciting stuff and I did have to rip back a bit on the collar on Seraphina as the drama increased. West Ham needed to win, and were winning 2-0, but then threw that lead away and were beaten 3-2 by Wigan. It was riveting radio commentary, but not very good for keeping my mind on the knitting. The last round of games is next Sunday- I'll have to try to have Seraphina finished by then!

it really bugs me

The beautiful spring weather is continuing, 15C on Thursday and back to 19C yesterday, so more gardening for me and more chances to appreciate the butterflies, bees and ladybirds as they potter around my garden with me. Wonderful!

As I walked the dog on Thursday evening I noticed the bats flitting about the trees. This should have been my clue. Bats flit about to munch on the juicy midges which loiter in the woods. The midges loiter to munch on any warmblooded creature foolish to walk around at night. Er, that would be me then.

Yup, I was an all-you-can-eat-buffet for a tiny annoying creature and his pals which bit me 6 times on my right forearm. The bites swelled up so much that I had to take anti-histamine tablets as calamine lotion wasn't doing much to reduce the swelling. So I'm having to heavily douse myself with insect-repellent before I walk the dog at night, and hope that the bats eat more midges!

When not providing dinner for small beasties, I've been to sitting in the garden and getting some knitting done on Seraphina's sleeves. I'm doing them at the same time so that I get the shaping done evenly. They're coming on nicely, nothing to bug me there!

nice to bee in the sunshine

after a wet and windy morning, the sun came out this afternoon and I enjoyed sitting in the garden with a friendly bumblebee.

I managed to get some knitting done on Seraphina's sleeves while the bee just sat around! Tsk tsk! It was 19C though (66F) so I can't blame the bumbler for deciding to soak up the rays rather than visit the flowers.

I'm pleased that there is a lot for my bee to chose from though- dozens of daffodils, the forsythia is in bloom and the bleeding heart (dicentra spectabilis) is flowering already!

The sunshine is set to continue for a few days, so I might get the chance to get some weeding done and plant some potatoes. (The seed potatoes are chitting as I type!)

My dog Megan likes to help in the garden while I'm pottering on- she chases the squirrels away and chews twigs for me (so useful). She was a bit nonplussed though by seeing me knit outside - she kept coming up to me to inspect what I was doing and giving me quizzical looks (as much as a dog can anyway).

Thankfully the bee didn't inspect my handiwork or fall into my mug of coffee either. That would have bee(n) dreadful.

Spring!!!

The first day of Spring and I have my first daffodil in the garden! yay!

It's a balmy 15C outside (59F) too. I know this won't last, the weather is so changeable it could be back to 5C at the weekend, but it's lovely to have some sun and for the air to feel a bit warmer.

We had a surprise visitor in the garden on Saturday. As Jen was coming back from her paper round a pheasant appeared and walked up the path in front of her! It didn't stay for long though. Just as well really, I don't want to have to start making pheasant nesting spaces, or keep the dog out of the garden. A Labrador Retriever and a pheasant might be an explosive combination!

Blue Monday? Green Tuesday!

Apparently yesterday was Blue Monday, a day when people feel at their lowest, the weather is pants and the credit card bills for Xmas are hitting the doormats.


I must admit, I hadn't noticed. It was a mild, sunny day (hurray!), I got some stuff done outside, I even washed the windows and I enjoyed a non-icy walk by the river with my dog. I had a pretty good day all round!


Today was also a pleasant day, about 6C with some sun, so I spent some time listening to podcasts while tidying up in the garden. It's great to be be able to see my garden after all that awful snow and ice. I pruned some roses, cut back the lavender, inspected the  green and white crocus shoots coming through and filled in some huge holes that Megan had so kindly dug for me while burying her toys. sigh.


It was good to be out in the fresh air and sunshine and I enjoyed listening to Knitting Pipeline. Paula is a keen knitter as well as a piper and features some beautiful music. Well worth a listen to!


I tried a new recipe for dinner tonight, Delia Smith's Normandy pork with cider although I took the recipe from her 20 year old cook book which uses slices of apple in place of the apple sauce and double cream instead of creme fraiche. And the cider was replaced IKEA's apple and cloudberry drink (4.5% alcohol).


It was appreciated but not as much as the Pommes Anna from earlier this month!

better late than never

while I was clearing up leaves today I saw this lovely bloom in my garden. I wasn't expecting to see anything other than the winter jasmine in flower so I was thrilled to see this pretty little thing.

I normally keep a record of everything that I've planted and where I've planted it, but at the moment I can't find my notebook- I must have had a moment of madness and tidied it away- so I can't remember what it is.

It brightened up a tedious job though!

brightening my day

it's too gloomy and damp to do any tidying up in the garden (I've still had an apple though!) but thankfully the last of the roses make a wonderful splash of colour outside.(I've no idea what the variety of rose is, it was part of a job lot that I bought 4 years ago)

The latest Inside Crochet has arrived and there's so much that I want to make. I know that Jen would like the cover dress, but that will have to wait until after Christmas. My queue gets ever longer!

Oddly enough, I also have a strange desire to crochet a santa's beard  (designed by Rebecca Velasquez) but I'm not sure who would be the lucky recipient.

It would have been tremendous fun to have had one of these in the dressing up box when the kids were younger.

Still, it might be worthwhile making myself one just for a laugh!

feeling berry good!

I started tackling the autumn tidy-up today- there's a billion leaves covering the grass, decking and shrubs so I'd better get a move on before we disappear like hedgehogs underneath them all.

The leaves aren't massively photogenic though, unlike these berries on the pyracantha. Red berries always look so dazzingly bright.

After a couple of hours of leaf raking, weed pulling and spider annoying I took a lunch break and had a freshly picked apple from one of the trees. Newly picked apples are so juicy and delicious!

Thankfully there's still quite a few to pick as I think I'll be busy in the garden for a few days clearing the leaves, putting in some evergreen shrubs and heathers, and teasing the slugs.

I'm about halfway through the alpaca lace scarf, it's going quite well with the lifelines, thankfully. I'm enjoying making the scarf and while I've been gardening I've been wearing a scarf that I got in a Secret Santa swap two years ago . It's very cosy and warm, and as it's a keyhole scarf I can wear it snuggly round my neck and not get it tangled in the rake or the compost bin ! Thank you Secret Santa- I never did work out who sent it to me, but it is very much appreciated!

pretty things

I finished Jennifer's Eton cap today- huzzah!

The patttern was well written and I'll certainly look out for more designs from Laura Martos.

Jennifer looks fab in it, and it will keep the chill out while she's waiting for the school bus at 8 a.m. The mornings are certainly much cooler now. She still won't wear a coat yet though.. maybe next month. sigh.

Before I cast on for some almost matching fingerless mitts for her (same wool and beads, but different pattern on the cuff) I'm trying to get a bit more done on my landgirl tank/vest. I'm nearly finished the collar on the back then I can cast on the front, which shouldn't take as long as there is a very deep v- neck.  But there's so much that I want to make! I need to spend less time playing silly computer games and crack on before the weather turns really cold (well. that's me told!)

I got a lovely surprise in the garden today. I'd planted the gladioli corms quite late, and only expected them to green up and not to flower, but today I saw this. How pretty! Much like my daughter.

simple pleasures

I'm really enjoying knitting the Eton cap for Jennifer, the pattern is so clearly written and it is knitting up beautifully in Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino.

I had a lot of fun threading the beads onto the wool too after I'd learnt about the clever beading needle which splits in the middle to make the eye, rather than having the eye at the end, like traditional needles. Now I feel the need to bead everything in sight!

I decided to treat myself to another Addi circular needle with a short cable which is brilliant for knitting small circles, and the Addi points whisk through the soft cashmerino like the proverbial hot knife through butter. (Which is just as well as Jen is keen to get this hat!).

Two packages of flower bulbs came through the post too and I'm looking forward to planting tulips for the spring and cyclamen for Autumn 2011.  Watching the new shoots push through the soil is as satisfying as watching a piece of knitting grow.

Keep it simple, Susan (or stupid, whichever)

ooh pretty!

I've spent several hours yesterday and today harassing the weeds in my garden. I don't have an enormous garden, thankfully, but the combination of a weeks holiday and two weeks of wet weather has meant that the weeds have been partying like its 1999, or even 2010.

I have a large plastic sack (about 50cm by 50cm) which I drag around as I tackle the weeds and I filled it completely with convolvulus TWICE ! That stuff gets everywhere! The flowers are pretty, but not when they are strangling my carnations!

On the train back from London on monday I was reading Red magazine, in particular an article on gardening which suggested a more relaxed approach to gardening- little and often and deadhead the roses while sipping some chardonnay! I couldn't have had any wine, no matter how nice, while I fought the bindweed. I'll stick to a nice mug of tea- when the weather's warm I like Lady Grey, when the weather is hopeful of being warm I like Earl Grey, and when there's no chance of the dark clouds shifting I need a mug of strong coffee! I'll keep the wine chilling for when I down tools!

I've been making some progress on the Angee socks. The Manic Purl podcast gave out a tip a while ago about using a cookie sheet to hold lace charts, so I fished out the least used baking sheet and held down the patterns with some fridge magnets from Innocent drinks  (which reminds me, I must make some hats for this years Help the Aged /Innocent bottles appeal)-  I can balance the sheet on my lap while I'm sat out in the garden sipping my tea and taking a break from the bindweed. Thank you Manic Purl!

There's also a magnet from Green Eyed Monsters which makes the prettiest hand dyed sock yarn, and if you look carfeully you might see that the stitch marker is a LEGO head- it's Indiana Jones's Dad! I bought a couple of these at IKnit London, I think they're great fun, small LEGO pieces turned into stitch markers.

Today I've planted some pretty flowers to take my mind off the convolvulus- pelargoniums, mini-dahlias, dianthus, lilies and a bronze fennel.

As I put the flowers down to take a photo a bumble bee flung itself into the centre of one of the mini dahlias and stayed there for nearly an hour. I think it approved of my choice!

glowing

the sun came back- yay!! and I got on with lifting the daffs from the tubs and putting them out of the way beside the compost bins so that the tubs are ready for the beans to go outside.

I don't lift the daffs from the beds, they just die back . 

I enjoyed the new flowers that came out today- the first poppy, the first cranesbill geranium. Poppies are so fabulous, such a brilliant colour and such delicate petals. The geranium blooms seem to glow as light falls, such a wonderful shade of purple/blue.



The wall behind them is the wall of the old schoolmaster's house. The village school was built in the 19th century, and closed 35 years ago (it's now a recording studio). The wall is old, but I don't think it is the original wall. 

It keeps the heat in that part of the garden in the summer but is a frost trap in the winter. The redcurrant is growing well and has more berries than last summer and I think it prefers this spot, so I need to get some more.

So after a busy hour with the daffs and putting some gladioli corms in pots I felt like I was glowing too (after all, horses sweat, men perspire and ladies merely glow)

dazzling

I managed to get the last of my seed potatoes planted today before the rain started.

Bah! I've had to put socks on and wear a sweat-top too.

It's not fair, it was 30°C on Saturday  (only 13°C today) and I was getting used to the warmth and the sunshine and the garden was looking dazzling.

So I'm having to knit inside today and console myself with mugs of tea and a ginger snap (a cookie, for non UK residents), and I love dunking the ginger snap in my tea!

Inside, the beans, sweet peas and sunflowers have started to sprout and outside the wildflower/bee mix is showing signs of life too. Hopefully the sunshine will be back soon and I can relocate outside to crack on with my knitting.

un-bee-lievable!

I was having a lovely time weeding, planting bedding annuals (marigolds, pansies and lobelia) and moving plants from smallish pots into bigger pots when I heard a distinctive humming from one corner of the garden.

I crept over and noticed a bumble bee disappearing into its nest hole in the ground. After all my efforts to catch a bee and get it to live in the bee house and there's one living at the opposite end of the garden! I give up.

I've sown some seeds too- tagetes, viola, californian poppies, sunflower and nasturtiums. I've got some "bee mix" too which produces wildflowers and I think I'll sow some honesty too. As there is a bumbler in residence now, I'd better give it plenty of flowers to feast upon.

Sadly the harsh winter has cost me two patio roses, a large hebe, a passionflower vine and a fuchsia. Oddly enough the small Japanese acer has survived.

It was surprisingly cool while I was gardening, even though it was sunny, so I wore my Meret to keep my head warm. I often wear it at night when I'm walking the dog, but not usually at 2pm in a sunny garden.

time traveller

while I await the no doubt imminent arrival of the TARDIS  in the garden complete with a crazy Time Lord I'm enjoying a bit of a time travel through literatureon my own.

I found a brilliant copy of Odyssey at the library last week- a dramatisation by Simon Armitage and enjoyed travelling back to Ithaca in 1190BC. this version is quite graphic in the violence- there is a lot of screaming when Cyclops eats a sailor, so it's not suitable for young children.

After that I came forward in time to listen to The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer, which is on Forgotten Classics.

I read a lot of Heyer when I was in my late teens but I don't remember this one which she wrote while still a teenager herself. I love the details of the Georgian clothes, the lilac silk coats for the men, their high heels and wigs.

Now I'm in late Victorian England enjoying the cheery tale of Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K Jerome, read by Ian Carmichael.

This is such a whimsical tale, a delightful contrast to the blood and gore of Odyssey and the swashbuckling romp of The Black Moth and is keeping me going until I see that familiar blue box in the garden.

Garden news- beans sown today- tendergreen and annabel; sweet pea flowers sown.

bee-yond bee-lief

our first bee, Bee-trice, didn't stay in the bee house for long so I've spent the last week or so trying to catch another bee and my attempts have bordered on the comic.
I can only catch a bee when it is hovering close to the ground, and the bees are only out when it is sunny, so there have been days when I haven't seen any bees, or when I have seen them they have been flying over high fences out of my reach. I think word is out among the bees that there is a mad woman  bee catcher out to get them.
Paranoid? me? Well, when a bee followed me along a path for 8 yards before hiding in someone else's garden I started to get suspicious.

When I am at the pc, it is amazing how many bumble bees have been banging their heads against the window 2 feet away from me. Yesterday a bumble bee in flight stopped in front of me, about 4 feet from the ground, flew in a circle around me, stopped in front of me at the same position and then flew off! I am a marked woman! (Even David has been warned- a bumbler flew into his head!)

I did manage to catch a bee (Bee-yoncé), and she slept in the bee house overnight and has since left. It might take a few years before I can get a bee to live in my garden but I shall persevere.

After all it's take two years for the amphora pot/bird's nest to be investigated by a wren or a blue-tit, but this year I have seen a wren go into it, probably to peck at the spiders. I think the ceanothus next to it needs to grow a bit more so that the wren feels more secure and maybe in a year or two it will be used as a home.

In the meantime, I will keep catching bumble bees and trying to persuade them to live in my garden to pollinate my fruit blossom. (I'm not trying to catch honey bees, as the bee house is not a hive and it would be wrong to take someone else's bees. I'm not trying to collect honey- in fact I put a dab of honey and some sugar solution in the hive to feed the bee overnight, I just want to get more fruit on my pear and apple trees.)

I've made some progress on my Landgirl top, the ribbing is done and I'm now knitting up the back (it should be the front first but I made the ribbing too narrow for my front so it is for my back instead!! ). I'm enjoying using the ornaghi filati, it feels very soft and the ribbing feels lovely. I should be crocheting a wallet for a swap and I'm nearly done but I've mis-laid my hook Augh!! Wonder if the bees have have taken it??
mad woman

baking & blooms

another visit to St Mary's Pleasance today as there were tea & cakes on offer to encourage more people to visit the gardens.

Our kids were off doing other things so it was a chance for D and me to stroll through the gardens together and to have an uninterrupted natter over a plate of fresh scones , jam & cream and a pot of tea (yum!).

The gardens are a re-creation of the 17th century gardens and were restored in the 1970's when St Mary's church was restored too. it was a very pleasant hour for us both ( before the heavens opened and a huge storm broke over Haddington with rumbling thunder and several lightning flashes.!)

I'm still practising with my hook and have taken this pattern from Let's Get Crafting - Crochet (by Susie Johns). I've made a little bag (A Pooch's Purple Poop Pouch) to keep the poop sacks in when I walk the dog (the empty sacks, obviously!). I think I'll make a sunnies case next before I do the next Pratchgan square

While I was making this I was listening to the dramatic chase scene in Oliver Twist as Bill Sikes tries to flee from the angry mob. Gripping stuff!

new to me

Yesterday we had newly picked rhubarb made into rhubarb crumble to celebrate the third anniversary of living in this house.

While I've been tackling the weeds in the garden today I've been enjoying some podcasts which are new to me. The Knitmore Girls put up a long list of podcasts which they enjoy and I tried a few new ones.

Brass needles gets a Vulcan salute and "Live Long and Prosper" for a great 'cast and also Miss K's self restraint in not blabbing about the new Trek movie (which we will probably see at the weekend in order to avoid the footy results).

I'm now a huge fan of Stitch it! too. I know this has been around for a while, but I thought it was about Cross Stitch not knitting (duh). I'm enjoying listening to Meghan's chat about gardening while I tackle my own garden.

The Manic Purl is good to listen to, and I can understand Chrissy's addiction to Monkey socks. I haven't quite gone into a yoga trance while knitting them, but give me time!

I like Eric's voice on Sweaters for Dragons , his practical tips and his perspective on knitting for/ by men.

To satisfy my craving for SF there is a new podcast from the Starshipsofa's space dock The Sofanauts where Tony and various SF writers and enthusiasts talk about SF news events and debate topics such as "Is this the end of SF print?" "Is Alternative history SF?" and "Can computer games be literature". I enjoy Tony's enthusiasm for the genre and it's great to listen to such amazing people as Larry Santoro, Amy H Sturgis et al.

I love trying new stuff: new yarn, new patterns, new restaurants, new recipes and new podcasts!