A long tail and tale.

It may be a silly or small thing to some people but I am very excited this evening because I have taught myself a new skill. I can do long tail cast on, thanks to pressing the stop start buttons on UTube and The Knitting Answer Book. Last Wednesday I had taken this book with me as it is a small format to knitting group so I could cast on the Puerperium Cardigan. The pattern specified long tail cast on, however it was very unsociable and difficult at the group to try and follow the printed page so I gave up and crocheted squares instead. 

This evening I realised it is knitting group tomorrow so I needed to have cast on this cardigan as I also hadn't touched the second sock where I am in the middle of turning the heel, again not a project where I needed to concentrate. 

The pattern casts on at the neck, I have cast on and knitted the first row.  

All part of my mantra which is keep learning, not just skills, but knowledge, ideas, methods. Even if I become a teeny bit excited when something works out. The elegance of the cast on appealed to me, it seemed a good method to for this left hander. 

Yesterday (Bank Holiday Monday) I tried out a new recipe, it was for shortbread, taken from the weekend paper and an article about the new WI cookbook. Firstly, find newspaper, then the right supplement, cut out recipe, read ingredients, tick have them all. Next fine the right tin and measure it, this involved searching for a metric tape measure, upstairs to sewing basket which is as far from kitchen as possible, take tape downstairs noticing ironed tablecloth on the way so take that down too, take off dirty cloth, put in washing machine for overnight wash, put on clean cloth. 

Back to tin, yes, it is right size, so tape measure back to sewing basket, in kitchen clear worktop, notice teapots need emptying so do that. Two teapots as I have builders' tea and Ian has green tea at breakfast. 

Gather ingredients, start measuring out, even sieved the flour twice, once while weighing, then into mixing bowl, then measured butter and tried to cut it into even sized cubes in preparation for rubbing in. Third item to be weighed was caster sugar but it had to be mixed with flour before butter was rubbed in, sugar was still in the weighing bowl so had to fire up the electronic scales to weigh sugar so it could be added before butter cubes. Why didn't the recipe list the ingredients in order of use? Another niggle for me was that recipe was all metric measures, I don't have an eye for metric measurement, whereas I can 'see' imperial quantities. Yes, I know it sounds daft but it makes life simpler if one knows how much to weigh out. Who forced everyone to use metric measurements in domestic cookery, maybe that is why I have tended to use old recipes. 

Anyway, the shortbread worked, quite crumbly, a quick handy store cupboard recipe. What I didn't tell you was that at the same time as I was racing around the house I was catching up on Woman's Hour the subject was craft, why it is popular today, why Design and technology appears not to be encouraged in schools, difference between craft and design, not sure sound of a sewing machine on the radio really worked, thankfully one can look  at the website to see what one heard.  In the kitchen                                      two pints of milk were simmering on the stove, with a noisy milk saver drowning out the iPad sound. It was too much, trying to do three things at once, make yogurt, shortbread and concentrate on listening. Thanks to Podcasts we both listened to the programme over lunch instead. 

When recipes say preparation time is five minutes there is no allowance for searching for the recipe, cutting it out, measuring the tin, getting ingredients out, weighing them and then rest of packet to the cupboard. No mention of whether one should line or grease the tin, I didn't but the biscuits turned out easily. 

Here they are in their buttery goldeness on the kitchen table cloth. If this glorious weather continues perhaps biscuits with morning coffee in the garden tomorrow.  

Home and away.

It seems a long while since I posted here, guess it is a case of round to it, I am suffering from a very bad cold, lots of sinus pain, sore eyes, achey bones, no energy so am lounging on the sofa trying to be witty here. 

Two weeks ago we escaped from Pixie Towers to Tenerife for a week, stayed in H10 Las Palmeras hotel. Apart from a few walks around the resort we sat around the pool and gardens. The reason for going was to find warmth and sunshine, I have to take calcium tablets daily because of the inhaled steroids for treating Bronchiectasis and Asthma, am at risk of osteoporosis, hence the need to top up Vitamin D. There was a great variety of food, plenty of fruit, grapes with pips in, vegetables cooked differently from home so it was fun to taste whilst eating very healthily. 

Now you may, or may not wish to know what I did whilst lounging around the pool (didn't swim) so I started the book club choice, The Shining by Stephen King. Started yes, but didn't get very far, depressing, gloomy and a bit scary so went downmarket, read Judy Astley, In the Summer Time, found a copy of Katie Fforde's The Rose Revived and started that. As the cover said, perfect holiday reading and it was so.  

Didn't neglect knitting, am working on a Joseph cardigan for my friend's granddaughter, have allowed for slow progress so making it in 12 to 18 months size, as this little poppet is wearing 3-6months sizes at present. 

On the flight both ways managed to crochet quite a few Attic 24 granny squares, I am using up double knitting yarn for this blanket. It will not be an heirloom, just practical to throw on garden seat, in the car or extra warmth on the futon. 

Of course going away means catching up on TV and radio, it took till yesterday to sort out the soggy goings on in Ambridge, doesn't help that I cannot distinguish the new actors from their colleagues, I think the 'old' Tom was a better actor than his replacement. I keep listening, it is hard to break a halo of nearly thirty four years. 

The Great British Sewing Bee was another catchup, I was fascinated by the use of old Singer machines so have spent time the other evening looking at my Mother's K99 Singer, here with the key tied on with the original piece of string. 

I discovered the machine was Scottish made, registered 25th November 1945, I knew it was made just after the war finished so is older than me, it was my Mother's pride and joy. What I didn't appreciate was that she had the attachments inside the lid, along with an extension for the left hand side. I don't think the attachments were ever used, it will be fun to try, instructions are in the tiny original handbook that lives in a compartment on the right. Martha has asked for a sewing machine once she has settled in her own property, it may be easier for her to have my Singer 747, it does a variety of stitches, can go backwards, embroider and a variety of stitches. At the knitting group yesterday there were discussions about sewing machines - we talked about almost everything except knitting - some one else had a Singer 99, it was agreed the very modern machines have too many dials, controls and buttons. My mantra is increasingly KISS, (Keep It Simple Stupid). I intend to start by making something fairly simple, until the skills I haven't used for thirty years come back. 

I have joined a Ravelry group that posts about antique machines, compared with some my nearly 70 year old is a youngster. Someone in Oklahoma picked up on this so I am in correspondence with her about old sewing machines, I never fail to appreciate the benefits the web has brought. 

Black and white and read all over.

Looking back at my life I am aware that I have had a love of acquiring information and learning, not just in a formal setting but from all sources as well as the corn flake packet scenario. There were always newspapers in my childhood home, apparently when they set up home my parents had a serious discussion about which newspaper to have delivered, they chose the Daily Express and of the three London evening papers we had The Evening Standard. For those even younger than me I may have to explain that both these papers were quite different in 1950s than today, they were selected to be suitable to be read by my sister and I. Apparently my paternal grandparents wouldn't have a Sunday paper as that meant people had to work on the Sabbath, my Mother's logic was that they shouldn't have a Monday paper either for the journalists and printers would have been working on a Sunday for the next day's edition.

 As my parents read them first and papers was broadsheet I became expert at reading upside down print, no separate supplements then to share, no colour, dense text and Stop Press. What happened to that, well today look on line for the latest Test score. Little snippets of memory remain, talk of Mr K, Mr B, Ike, the fashion drawings by Robb, later the articles about new cars ending with a "Will it fit into your garage?" question. Cars also of interest from a young age, walking to junior school I admired a new Morris Minor with cream body work and narrow red stripe. My Morris Minor was Alaskan grey, so boring. No wonder when I worked in a reference library I used to devour Motor and Autocar magazines, especially the line drawings showing all the engine and parts.  Not that I really  understood/understand how the engine works, all that talk of dinner plates working together went over my head. 

Back to newspapers, at secondary school we had a newspaper wall at the back of our classroom, as I went home for lunch I would return with relevant cuttings from the previous day's evening paper, at one time we were studying Charles 1 execution, it was the end of January, a mention was made in the paper of the anniversary.  One of the prefect roles was to be in the school office in the early morning before the secretary came in, to answer the phone and take messages, in between I read The Times, fascinating with advertisements on the front page, like our local paper Richmond and Twickenham Times. 

My fascination with print extended to magazines as well, my father managed to obtain the first Enid Blyton magazine for me, my cynical self didn't trust it as an illustration in February showed a girl in a short sleeved jumper, to my mind she wouldn't have been warm enough so that killed the whole story for me. Later Girl magazine arrived, full of beauty tips of how to make one' s hand soft using granulated sugar and olive oil. My Mother's magazines were more interesting, She was a monthly but the order for that was cancelled when a supplement "Everything you wanted to know about sex but didn't dare ask" was published, to be replaced by Woman. Like newspapers, so different from today's offerings, two short stories, a serial, knitting patterns and the Wooden Spoon cookery column and the mysterious agony aunt. 

The photo shows what brought on this rush of nostalgia. Lounging around this Sunday evening it appears to me that I have spent much of the weekend reading newspapers, two Saturday's, one Sunday's and one free local delivered today, published on Friday.  Usually it is one paper a day, maybe City-AM a freebie and if we can, we grab an Evening Standard, in Waitrose yesterday another heavyweight paper went into the trolley, yes we spent more than £10. :)   Yes heavyweight, loads of adverts for stuff we don't need or want but lots of adverts means business must be booming somewhere. When the economy was dire the papers and magazines were thinner, well that's my theory, maybe like the urban myth of  the skirt length on the Abbey National logo. 

Of course I didn't mention the magazine that went into the trolley yesterday, maybe more on magazines if I have time along with reading for Book Club, knitting and crocheting. 

A light on my latest project.

From BHS we purchased a new lampshade for an onyx lamp base, the shade was just cream, no embellishment so I dug out some of the crochet cotton I had ever since I learnt to crochet at evening classes when I was in my twenties. 

The trim was just a chain the length of the circumference of the shade, plus a little bit, then working backwards and forwards in double crochet until we thought it was deep enough. The work was joined into a circle and pulled over the shade. I had thought it would need some PVA glue but it has stayed in place. 

Quite pleased that I have designed this, used materials I had, these bought back memories of the evening classes again.  The Internet, knitting shows and  groups have replaced evening classes for yarn work, but there must be other subjects where an old fashioned class would be helpful in acquiring or learning skills. Ian wanted to learn wood sculpture, he is experienced in carpentry and making models in wood, he enrolled for a Saturday class in the subject, then the class was postponed, then cancelled as the adult college couldn't find anyone to teach the subject. 

Preserving January traditions.

Ever since childhood I have been aware that January is when marmalade has been made in my parents household and later in my own home since when  I have missed just one year. A more recent tradition has been for our Seville oranges to be bought in a local greengrocers, Cousins in Twickenham as one of the cousins go to Seville to buy the fruit. This year Ian was chided for being a bit late in buying the fruit, this was Saturday 17th, at one time this would have been early as my Mother reckoned the oranges were available late January and early February, now it seems immediately Christmas decorations are down one is into slicing fruit and squeezing pips. 

I find extracting the pips, cutting, squeezing and finely - but not too so - slicing the fruit very relaxing and meditative, rarely do I put the radio on, I sit at the kitchen table, work through the oranges first then the lemons whilst my mind wanders. So calming. The fruit is left to soften overnight, sometimes longer if the next day is busy. This evening about three pounds of fruit was cut up, the last of our purchase, I had thought we had bought a bit less this year but as the first batch yielded 19 jars, my second 12 jars I think once again we will be giving quite a bit away in the hope we bring some culinary delight to the recipient. 

When our son was very young, he pronounced marmalade as Mummielade, we were very amused when he asked very seriously what was Daddylade like! The first time he saw identical twins he said 'Oh look, snap babies' and quarrelling was 'fighting with words'. 

As we hadn't finished all of last year's batches, I decided to make a Marmalade cake to use some more up, the easy all in one recipe is from Michael Barry's Food and Drink Cookbook. Have just looked at my signed copy, didn't realise it was published in 1991, it has Imperial measurements first and the inferior metric afterwards.

Marmalade and marmalade cake. Just remembered that my Mother used to make cake on a Saturday evening, by the time we were about 12 my sister and I would also bake. For a while I haven't made cakes but I enjoy the process, it is good to be able to offer a visitor a slice of cake, for we don't have biscuits except at Christmas, also I know what ingredients have been used rather than chemicals with long unpronounceable names. 

The day just gets better

Not long after I had posted my blog Ian came home very pleased, he had popped into our local hospice charity shop and found this book, Sarah Dallas Knitting. It is published by Rowan in 2005, tried to photograph it. 

Not sure how to rotate photo, since updating iPad to 8 point something the ordering of photographs seems a touch chaotic, some duplicated, some I can delete, others I cannot. Editing seems a bit random too. 

The book is lovely, not sure it would have been purchased new, I like the idiosyncratic way the projects are arranged by four colour themes, the patterns don't appear too difficult either. I suspect Ian has bought all the knitting books from this charity shop, he knew I didn't have this one, sometimes he calls to check first. 

The knitting progress continued at the Knit Whits knitting group, The leader, Sally Cadle sorted out the problems I had with the heel of the socks I'm making, same pattern and yarn as this pair I made for Martha using the same instructions for sock knitting with magic loop. I managed them, why are these going wrong? Certainly I need practice in picking up stitches, not only for socks either, as this is not the first time Sally has helped me out picking up stitches. Utube here I come! I have so much sock yarn to use. 

Little things mean a lot

Our kitchen overlooks our back garden so it it is inevitable that we look out to see new growth and maybe view some birds returning to our feeders. Apparently the high winds blowing a bamboo plant have sent the little creatures scurrying away, we have trimmed the side shoots but the birds are slow to return. 

This morning something else caught my eye, some bright yellow plants, now I thought every piece of the blank canvas out there had been covered with flowers last Autumn, additionally there are I have been told hundreds of bulbs to add to the kalaidascope of colour but these yellow delights were new. 

Not very clear pictures, sorry folks,  had to pop out in the rain using my phone to capture the moment. It turns out that on Saturday whilst enjoying a Mummy-&-Martha day wandering around Peter Jones, Ian was buying plants at the local garden centre. Didn't spot the new plants yesterday, felt guilty as I was in the kitchen. 

Later today Kingston Garden Services are coming to discuss haircuts for some of our trees, especially the yew and bay. 

Just adding, I bought myself another shade of blue Rowan big yarn to add to the stash for a cushion cover I plan to crochet. That is after I have finished the socks I'm making, the decorative crochet to trim a lampshade and then there is the red lace wrap that has not had the attention it deserves.