Good bye ... Hello

Days of driech weather have abounded, low cloud and wind tossed trees. Puddles and reflections, mud and slush. It has been, so far, a damp and  rather mild winter with the briefest of moments of snowy winter wonder. 

In the past I have been pulled down with the gloom and retreated into myself, revelling in mawkish self pity while I yearned for summer and sunlight and sunshine.

This year, as we slipped from summer to autumn I began to feel that looming dread, that sharp unreadiness for winter and the cold and damp. 

Today, while out walking with Moss and Himself, I had a rather gentle realisation that the usual seasonal melancholy which had been prevalent during autumn, had stayed in autumn and did not come with me into winter .... now, on the last day of 2021, after days and days of dreary weather where rain and wind plagued our every move ... I seemed to have survived - unscathed and - if I am perfectly honest - feeling quietly contented and happy. 

I hope that this is indicative for 2022

I hope that things can only get better. 

I wish you love and joy, 

peace and health 

and a kinder 

and more gentle New Year xxxxx

💜💙💚💚💚💙💜

Good bye 2021

Hello 2022 

See you 'on the other side!!' 💜💙💚💚💚💙💜

Blanket making season

During this gentle nothingness that Twixtmas seems to hold,

there is a definite change in the winds,

a sharp wintery scent in the air,

the need for cosy and comfort and love.

These feelings coincide with and herald the start of blanket making season.

It seems to appear when crafting is no longer in secret

 (shhh its a gift for ....) 

or with a deadline 

(stitching right up to chrimbly eve) 

then out comes the stash wool ...

along with a twitch in the fingers

and the need to be doing 'something'.

Colours are arranged and played with and a hook selected.

A return to a favourite pattern (Seaside stash busting blanket) from Coastal Crochet blog.

Except these days 

I just pick and select the pattern I want to do

 rather than follow the exact prescriptive recipe. 

There are some rows I never (ever EVER) want to repeat..... 

Ever.

The final essential tasks before the blanket can be started - 

a mug of tea,

my laptop to check the pattern,

may be a slice of chrimbly cake

or a last mincepie,

 then I can begin.

Some rows fly,

where the pattern just falls from my hook without so much as a glance or the need to count,

other require a little more attention,

one or two do need me to watch closely 

but they all add up and the initial little brown twirl of stitches

becomes a ribbon,

then a scarf,

now a small knee blanket.

I was a little unsure of the colourway

when I first started,

but as she grows, so does her personality!

Now, as she sits on my knee

with joyful stripe after joyful stripe

falling off my hook,

I love her more.

I know she already has a home waiting 

so, kettle on,

I have more to do.

Gentle Twixtmas to you, dear reader, 

stay safe and stay warm and let's celebrate blanket making season! xxxxxx

Baby it's cold outside ☃🎵🎶

There's been snow over night - a soft wet slush and the garden is full of the sound of rain dripping and sloppy snow dropping off the trees. There is a bitter damp chill to the air - the sort that makes you pull your coat tighter around you and your toes curl with the cold.

Christmas, just like that, was over with a blink of an eye - this year is will continue to be a gentle spread out affair, the meal was on the eve, then my folks, Youngest, pressies and a shared lunch on the day. Now, during twixtmas, Eldest and his girlfriend and Youngest's girlfriend will return (restrictions and isolations permitting) and they'll find their gifts under the tree. A good excuse to make brownies, share stories and sip warm drinks around the fire with the family.

Himself, as I type, is in the kitchen making 'Sunshine Soup' - a butternut based thick and warming soup that we'll have for lunch. The scent of sautéing onions has drifted into the dining room where I am working and is rather enticing.

I'm painting - a birthday commission - won't show just yet as it is a surprise but I will share the first step ....

So, that is today in a nutshell, a quiet day at home, gently doing simple things which I have to say, I am rather enjoying and the best of it all? The complete lack of inane festive songs and jingles on the radio - aaahhh, yes bliss!

Hope your day is as kind and as loving xxxxxxxx

Today

A chilly walk to deliver the last of the village cards.

The lighting of the Swedish Angel chimes and cooling of the yule cake 

Finishing off the handmade gifts.

Making leek and potato soup in the slow cooker. 

Cooking veggie lasagne and sticky toffee pudding.

Wrapping the last few pressies.

And displaying the last (yes the few remaining uneaten) gingerbread stars in a wreath.

And you?

what are you up to today?

We're are about to set off for our chrimbly meal with my folks,

we eat ours on Christmas Eve.

Wishing you all a gentle, loving, peaceful

and kind Christmas, 

I'll pop back during 'Twixtmas' and say hello

with love and jingle bells

kate

How dough you do it?!

Idly, a few nights ago, I came across a rather beautifully (probably professionally) gingerbread 'wreath' covered in iced gingerbread stars. I gazed upon this gloriously made confectionery and thought ... I want to try that!

So quick as a I could, I purchased some star cookie cutters and informed my co-conspirators (although at that point they did not know this is what they had become) and after a bit more research into recipes, I found the ones I wanted. One which produced a gentle hint of ginger in a golden biscuit and a second richly spiced punchy one in a dark dough.

The ingredients purchased, the dough made and chilled in the fridge overnight,  the cutters washed and ready - all that was needed was my co-conspirators to land with their icing kits and cookie cutters and their best icing ideas!

This afternoon we started. There was lots of rolling of dough, cutting and cooking in shifts, cooling and stacking until we were ready to mix the icing and blend the colours.

Some of the biscuits had windows cut into them and boiled sweets were crushed and added to make stained glass window panes.

We had tree and star shaped windows and the bubbles and dimples made the 'glass' look soooo good!

We all sat around the diningroom table and with mugs of tea and icing bags loaded and ready, we began to decorate the stars and festive tree shapes. The early decorations were stars and snowflakes but as the afternoon wore on slightly more wacky decorations began to appear  ..... headphones, Sydney Opera House, the cat and the dog, squid, Santa, flowers, and other strange designs!

We chose to make the colours wintery and frosty and had great fun adding (one drop at a time) the blue or the black to the lavender or three drops of blue to the white until we had the shades we were after.

Eventually Eldest's girlfriend was defeated and I had to go into the kitchen to start cooking the evening meal, leaving Youngest and his girlfriend to complete the icing and eventually all 130 (ish) biscuits were decorated and ready for their photographs! I say 130 - ish, we did not count them at the beginning, so we did a tot up of what we had 'sampled' as the afternoon went on and added them to the survivors on the table.

Then in the evening, after we'd eaten and washed up - we sat around the diningroom table again and played a boardgame and ate biscuits ... lots of biscuits... !

I think we may have started a new tradition although next time, I will probably make less dough - chuckle.

Feeding the soul

 

Saturday was planned on being a quiet day apart from Himself and I getting our boosters first thing. We would spend the rest of the day gently biding our time while arms hurt and potential heads ached.

Then Youngest put in a request for help to collect his plants and computer and some furniture from his uni house. So after we'd been jabbed, we jumped in the van and drove up through large drifts of thick  grey mist and met up with him. After chatting and cradling mugs of hot tea, we loaded the van with his things then drove down to the docks for Moss. (Well, for us too - we love walking around that area and even though we knew there'd be no views, we still wanted to breath in the salty freshness).

The air was laden with fine cool droplets which swirled through the trees and drifted over the water. It had a damper effect making sounds seemed distant and hollow. The lapping of the sea against the boats felt almost as if a memory while bird song was paper thin and faint.

Dog walkers appeared out of the gloom and we nodded our heads in solidarity on our dog exercising duties.  A distant tractor's engine crackled and faded as we followed the old railway track.

Along the basin, where the narrow boats and the sea going yachts berth for the winter, water fowl paddled through the gloom with the occasional 'yark' or 'breeet' call seemingly bouncing off the water and rolling on to the shore. 

Moss of course wanted to swim and managed a quick paddle, rinsing off the mud from her legs and losing her ball in the process. Oh well, it had been a foundling in the first place - may it bring joy to the next dog who finds it.

I love reflections and the otherworldly images they give and even in this half light there were plenty to please me.

It was a short walk, but the difference it made was wonderful, Himself and I (and Moss) got back in the van and began the two hour long trip home.