TA DA!

Oh yes....
oh yes....
it is finally a ta da - a full blown TA DA!

I wanted to make something for my dear Himself and knowing his love for native wool jumpers, 

decided to knit something JUST for HIM.

I cast on after much trepidation and loads of searching for the perfect pattern.

It must rate as a well traveled wip - going with me on nearly all my walks,

Every time we stopped for a brew,

 my knitting would come out and enjoy the view 

as I managed a row or two....

... some times my knitting could be found posing on walls...

 Pepper loved it then and loves it now....

 

My knitting even came along to a woolly weekend show 

as an example of what could be made out of native wool.

Then..... suddenly......

I stopped knitting.

And started sewing pieces together.

And picking up stitches on my circular needles

And making the neck..

Then Himself was wearing it!

And suddenly my non demonstrative and non exhibitionist husband 

was posing for me, 

and turning round and round

so I could take photos

lots

and

lots 

of photos

And we were both grinning!

And I might have even been heard going squeeeeeeeee with delight! (several times)

Aaah - just did it again :)

Happy??
Oh in deedy deedy deed!

Allotment soups

For some years now, I have with ever decreasing enthusiasm, been growing vegetables. Each soggy summer assisted the slug invasion, the rotting of plants, blight, mold, scab and to add insult to injury - pathetic crops for the amount of effort I put in. So at the beginning of this year when the winter seemed to be dragging and spring was cold and wet, I came to the decision not to grow anything in my alittlement (it is very small - too small to call an allotment!) so I planted only sweet peas, nasturtiums and borage.

Then summer came. Not with a whimper but with a BANG!! Sheesh. 

Himself's uncle came to the rescue. His alittlement over the summer got busy and produced copious amounts of vegetables - more than he could soup and freeze so he invited us over for cake and coffee and a share of the spoils! 

So far, we've eaten or frozen - leek and potato soup, parsnip and butter bean soup and thick farm house veg and pearl barley soup. (Recipes either used from or inspired by various River Cottage hand books)

Just perfect for lunch on a cold and wet weekend - dunking hunks of bread with lots of licking of fingers - bliss :)

What soups do you make?

Do you dunk hunks of bread? (ooh so naughty)

Do you find it warms you right down to your toes?

Go on spill the beans (or soup them!)

Oh yes - I had a super-bumper crop of sweet peas, nasturtium and borage - thank you for asking......

Bring on the heavy horses

There are some things in life I love unconditionally......

Mare and Foal entry winners

 
 Mare and Foal Winners

 It has been a long day and he's tired.

 Young mare in all her braiding and ribbons.

  Best in Show overall Winner

Ahhh....wonderful.

Happy happy.

It's SHOW TIME!

Hi,

at this very moment it is a dull, wet and windy Sunday afternoon. Eldest and girlfriend have morphed into couch potatoes on the settee, Himself is upstairs covering himself with plaster dust, Youngest has been doing his homework and I have gone all homestead and been making soups, jellies, pickles and cheese cake. 

However, yesterday was a completely differently kind of day!

I was helping/working at the Hodder Valley Agriculture show with the company stall. It was a looooong day but most enjoyable. We were SO lucky with the weather. But let me start at the beginning :)

I had to be at work for 7.30am on the Saturday (what??!) I got there just after 7.50.....oops.

My little car was stuffed to the gunnels with seats, gas bottles, banners, coffee, tea, biscuits, bunting, boxes with my colleague and I squished in the front. Two vets who were also manning the stall had similarly crammed full cars. When we landed at the show grounds I was the only one in a little car, every one and I mean EVERYONE else had 4x4s, landrovers, tractors, gas guzzlers and they just cruised over the field. My poor little car carefully picked his way to our stall (a partially erected tent....) and the only way I could park was to drive THROUGH the tent and hide my dear little car behind. I was cheered by the stewards as I drove through! Our spot was in just the right place, with an excellent view of the showing ring with the cattle stalls behind us.

The four of us then at double time finished erecting the tent and setting out our posters, urn, tea and biscuits and...our crowd puller.....a barrel of beer brewed at a micro pub in our village - a sure fire winner for thirsty farmers.

As the time came closer for the cattle classes to begin, the cow stalls were a hive of activity. Prize beasts were primped and primed, their coats washed at the cow-washing-station then blown dry with a special cow-hair-gel being applied to make their coats fluff up and look curled. I was fascinated!

 

Then once the bovine beauties were ready, they were haltered up and walked around the ring - with varying degrees of success. Some animals walked sedately while others leapt about, dragging their red faced farmers puffing and cursing behind them.

Some of the handlers were seasoned show hardy folk but there were a few novice ones too. 

There was an awful lot of...aaaws and aaaahs when this little tot took her heifer round the ring (with her super protective dad in a supporting role).

There was an awful lot of bull going on! 

And our crowd pulling pints (ok ok not quite pints) certainly did the trick, we had a steady flow of farmers and visitors through out the day.

More show stopping stuff soon :)

Visual delights, its show progress....

I'm still on with things from the woolly weekend.
This time it a visual feast - so sit back and be prepared for a photo-fat edition!

A fair proportion of the fleeces, wools and garments of offer were the muted hues of undyed sheep fleece but dotted in between these natural tones of the native sheep were spots of fantastic colour,  just behind us was a stand just bursting with zingy shades filled with tops and fibres for the felter and spinner - simply candy for the eyes! I had decided not to be drawn into this wonderland of possibility.........

 

...however, I have to confess my steely determination not to spend wavered at this point - did I buy something? Of course I did! Can you guess what finally made me open my purse and hand over some hard earned cash??? Answers at the end of the post :)

Opposite us hung a 'sampler' of epic proportions! There were a variety of examples of knitted squares, a crocheted one, felted squares and surround the centre,  the picture squares were images screened on to fabric then needle felted to create a multi-textured wall hanging. All the wools used were from native British sheep.

I kept visiting (but managed not to spend) a button emporium of unimaginable delights! It was like a sweet shop - only without the calories :)

In between the muted tones of the native sheep fleece were spots of fantastic colour, one stand just bursting with tops and fibres for the felter and spinner - simply candy for the eyes!

And my purchase?

A drop spindle.

Happy happy me :)

Let the music do the talking

On Sunday I had gone to the Harrogate British Wool Weekend helping on the Rare Breeds Trust stall. Well, I say helping, once I'd helped walk in (be dragged by) the 8 rare breeds sheep, all I really did was knit Himself's final sleeve (yessssss FINAL sleeve!!) and chat about the North Ronaldsay wool I was using to any one willing to listen.

For some of the time I wandered around chatting with stall holders, one of which was the Jamieson & Smith stall. I'd originally found out about this company when reading Kate Davies' blog - Needled. So I went over and chatted about their wools (gorgeous) about Kate herself (they adore her too!) and about needle felting (still not something I fancy - looks a bit too like self mutilation with the rather vicious looking tools!)

Any hoo - Jamieson & Smith buy their wool from Shetland crofters and farmers which helps support not only them but also the rare sheep that supplies the fleece.  They were such lovely folk, happy to chat and not try and push you into purchasing anything. They were more interested in 'selling' information and encouraging crafting - my kind of 'hard sell' :)

The Rare Breeds stall was diagonally opposite the 'Sheep Roadshow' stand, which for most of the day was quiet but would sporadically erupt into a noisy demo. A loud fanfare followed by music would alert visitors that a demonstration was about to start. A loud and cheerful farmery type came out and his patter would be relayed through over-loud reverberating speakers.....it went something like this.....

Tra la la (the final count down music) la la doo dit doo doo, trall a a a .....blah blah blah whoomwa hummmummubblah blah ha ha ha ha ha!
Then a large ram would come out to more fanfare followed by applause then the shearer boomed happily away explaining in a loud but completely unintelligible waffle about this particular animal. This continued until four rams were in place and then he would get a 5th animal - a female and chat away as he demonstrated shearing.

The rams, so used to all this activity, would just ignore this and cud away until it was their turn to shine.  Each ram then had a trick that it performed to music. One nodded his head in time with the beat, another would paw in time with the music, a third swayed from side to side and lifted each front leg and the final would do a sort of 'moon walk' - all to much applause and appreciation. On the second demonstration an hour later, I watched the shearer rather than the sheep and he was guiding their actions by either swinging a bucket of sheep nuts or by tapping his own feet then rewarding the animal with a treat. Clever.

Yes, these really are real sheep -
From L - R: Lying down - Lincoln Longwool (he nodded his head to the music), Norfolk Horn (he swayed and tapped), Scottish Blackface (he 'counted' with his feet) and the Suffolk who did the moon walk and finally Sean the Shearer!

The Scottish Blackface was so laid back - I just had to photo him!

More woolly happenings will follow, once again, it is late and I am off to bed!

Have a lovely day hawthorn xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

How was it for ewe?

Harrogate Woolly weekend?

It was baaa-vellous, ram packed with woolly goodness, we were lamb-asted with sheep shearing, spinning, weaving, felting, knitting, crochet, fleeces, fibres, tops and I was there - not as a visitor but as a helper on the Rare Breeds Trust stand. It was brilliant :) We all took turns in manning the stall and would swap around which allowed us to wander around and see the other stalls.

A part of my 'duties' was to help walk in the sheep as they were part of the display. Each one a rare breed and a precious link to an ancient animal. If was great fun being part dragged and part led in by Ronaldsay, Hebridean and Boreray sheep.

If I am honest, it was not as busy as I expected it to be and the general consensus was that at present there is an excess of fleece and fibre shows at the moment and the market has been saturated. Which is a shame.

However, it did mean we got to chat to most of the other stall holders and get a chance at the free workshops!

A dear dotty friend and myself chose to do a felting 3D form workshop. We have both felted before so we felt a bit naughty doing the introductory course but once we got our hands soapy and our fibres began to take shape - we just got on with it and enjoyed ourselves!

1. Dear Dotty-friend making her felted purse

2, The beginnings of my 'pebble' bowl

3 Finished 'pebble bowl on our stall along with my knitting and crocheted hat to show how Ronaldsay wool works up

4. A collection of makes by us - my pebble' bowl, Dotty's purse, another Rare Breeds member's coaster

It is late - and I am surprisingly tired - so I'll stop here - but I will share more stories with you soon!

Guess where I am going this Sunday??

I can't wait!

A true tale of the Unruly Wellies

For years now, every time we go through the back door, we trip over a pile of wellies. Himself or I pick them up or I screech at which ever son has just stepped out of his boots and left them there in the doorway.

The next time we walk through, they have fallen over again ready waiting to catch us.

It's worse in winter. The wellies cluster menacingly at the door just waiting to trip up any unsuspecting visitor.

Today, I finally reached wayward-wellie-boot saturation levels and look what happened!!

Before - an unruly wellie-boot pack loitering with intent....

Himself made me a boot rack this afternoon

 and set it up in the yarden near the gate

And voilà!

Quiet and well behaved boots.

Happy? Moi?

OH YES!

ps - please read through the comments - 

see if the second one along makes you laugh out loud like it did for me!! 

Dear TTML - I do love you! xx

Birthday pizza pies

A little while ago it was Youngest's 13th birthday - good grief 13 ! Where does time go? Any way, he'd requested a mates-and-movie-night to celebrate his birthday.

I'd asked him what he'd like to eat and he rattled off a HU-U-U-U-GE list of ideas of which one of them was 'home made pizza'.

Now, we have this fairly regularly as it is a family favourite and to be honest I wanted something different for a birthday meal. Later, whilst ideally trawling through the net, saw an image for 'Pizza pies'. I knew instantly that this was the way to serve pizza to a bunch of lads, it was so simple and fitted the bill.

I have to admit to using a bread maker to make the dough which was then kneaded and rolled it out but instead of flattening into a large round and loading up with the topping - lots of mini rounds were made.

 I kept the topping simple with just a thick tomato, garlic and onion sauce and a 'stretchy cheese' (sorry forgot which one we bought).

But this is where it changes, I damped the outer edge of these mini pizzas then pulled them to the centre, folding then pinching shut to make a sealed pizza 'purse'. These were then cooked as normal for 10-15 minutes at 200 deg c and when golden brown brought out to cool and eat.

The first tray I made, I'd not sealed the little pies properly so some of the sauce and cheese escaped but this only seemed to make it all the more yummy. And when you bit into them they kept their shape and didn't collapse - since then I have made them again and the boys love 'em!

Youngest was delighted and they were the first of the birthday treats to be scoffed. Phew!

Well, back to work, boys will be back to school in a day or two, autumn has definitely landed and Himself has swept the chimney in preparation of warming evening fires. I'm looking forward to those.

Winter is a good time to craft (if it wasn't for my college work.....hmmmmmm, got a list of chrimbly crafting to try and fit in too) Hey ho!