Crimbo Limbo

Posted on December 31, 2023 by The Little Room of Rachell

A walk, very muddy and windy, blasts of fresh air, perfect post turkey and Christmas pud etc on Boxing Day. Seven miles of revitalising and invigorating walking. Happy!

Wandering around the sales. I bought this really cute Christmas tree decoration. Who really can resist a clothed rabbit on a mistletoe bicycle? Well, not me anyway. Also, earrings from Accessorise (traditional purchase post-Christmas, 50% off. Why buy any the rest of the year?!) and a really nifty card purse in mustard yellow. I just can’t wear the colour as a main item, it makes me look jaundiced, but I do like it for accessories like gloves and for useful things like purses.

Knitting! I did some knitting! We were watching The Repair Shop at Christmas (BBC) the other night and as usual I was deeply impressed seeing the skill of the crafts people, not to mention their patience as they tackle the trickiest of items. Then came the Secret Santa sequence and there was a little shot of one knitting a dog coat for another. Something ignited and I jumped up to grab my stripy blanket and find my needle ends. I can’t remember the last time I knitted this blanket. My poor little hands have been working so hard rolling out dough for Chelsea buns, lebkuchen and using an icing bag, wrapping presents, baking and cooking, chopping vegetables for soups… they’re tired and achy. But I thought I would do a little with the old knitty sticks and see how I got on. I LOVED it.

A train trip, this photo taken as we sped past Honeybourne, Worcester. It was a really quiet train, I don’t think trains heading in the opposite direction to London were in the slightest. We picked the right way to go. As we travelled I listened to an Uncanny podcast about a mother and son renting a very spooky, noisy house with a mirror coming off the wall and scrambling footsteps going upstairs at all hours, plus a lot more.

Gloomy on the outside, Worcester Cathedral has a Christmas tree festival in full swing, it was full of sparkle inside. And much creativity.

The main areas of the cathedral are decorated beautifully with Christmas trees and fresh floral displays. I bet Carol services sound fabulous with the acoustics of the building

Like this a lot but I was itching to tidy that stray book up

A fishy Christmas tree made by the Worcester WI for the Clean Rivers campaign

I could have spent hours looking at all the items on this tree

A very old letterbox outside the cathedral

A much needed sit, a cup of tea and a tasty salted-caramel crispy. A chilled three quarters of an hour before the train left. My sparkly Christmas nails captured as I looked through my photos.

Visiting family and enjoying a glass of champagne, a late Christmas celebration, I was waving my hands around as I chatted and dropped a hulahoop straight into my glass. Did you do anything silly like this?!

Some more knitting, two nights running. Wow! We listened to John Sessions reading Charles Dickens The Signalman (on Spotify Premium) the log burner roaring away, many candles flickering, choccy cookies to share, mugs of lemon and ginger tea for me, whisky for Someone else. Perfect Crimbo Limbo evening.

I love this week between Christmas and New Year, where if you’re lucky enough not to be working the days and nights blur. It’s a time to get out and enjoy some fresh air and exercise, with a little bit of wandering around the shops without any pressure and stress of necessarily doing any shopping, spending some more time catching up with family, hunkering down in the evenings to watch festive tv and films, read, listen to music, audiobooks and do a little craft, or just stare into the flames. Perfect.

Yesterday I had an email with my blog stats from the last year. I realised this morning that this blog is nearly a teenager. I started it 12 years ago today! I had a goal to learn to finally learn to crochet. As blogs were HUGE in 2011 I thought I’d join in with my own online diary charting my progress. I also secretly fancied being included in a crochet magazine, but never admitted that to anyone. I achieved both of those goals, and far more. Then dibbled along carrying on posting, bit by bit, year by year. Suddenly it’s a dozen years later. The stats tell me that although I’ve only posted 17 times during the year, there have been many, many thousands of views. It is absolutely staggering to see the number.

THANK YOU so much for continuing to read and for taking the time to comment, or message me privately. I really appreciate this and know I wouldn’t have carried on without the interaction, or knowing people are still enjoying what I have to write and like to see my photos, even with a reduced amount of crochet and other craft.

I’m not sure what the last day of 2023 will hold, I suspect a lot more rain as I listen to it patter against the windows. What are your plans? Whatever you do I hope that you’re feeling well and happy, and that you’ve had a good Christmas and Crimbo Limbo week.

Here’s to another year. See you on the other side! 2024, already. Aren’t we lucky?

Autumn begins

Posted on September 1, 2023 by The Little Room of Rachell

It’s technically the first day of autumn in metrological terms (which I think is really all about neatness of calendar dates and forecasting the seasons.) Autumn in England lasts for September, October and November, then deep in the winter on the 21st of December we are suddenly at the shortest day of the year with fewer hours daylight but the days then start to lengthen again by two minutes per day. We all start looking forward to spring. I’m not wishing my life away, but it is nice to think about spring and which seeds to buy. The garden centre already has a full array of spring bulbs on display which you’re meant to plant any time from August onwards, for flowering in April or May. I’ve just come across this autumn list from our Met Office. I was surprised by number eight.

Did get some blackberries! But not enough for BB gin jam making, they’re now frozen waiting to be paired with bramley apples.

For Christmas last year I was given a box of 50 Tea pigs Darjeeling Earl Grey teabags. They got somehow pushed to the back of the top shelf of the cupboard, which I can’t reach and can’t see into. Recently re-discovered, I’m drinking a cup now, only my second. I can’t recommend them enough! The smell alone is enough…

White sourdough and cheddar & sun dried tomato. The cheesy one was buttered and eaten in the garden with my cousin in exchange for a favour on bank holiday Monday.

I think this weekend is due to be sunny and warm again. Hurray! There’s a chilli festival tomorrow and a family bbq on Sunday, wearing sandals again will be perfect. Yesterday I met a friend for tea and cake and a wander. I discovered all sorts that he’d gleaned from a recent local tour, but it was in misty rain and we both got quite wet. I saw a woman wearing tights and boots, there were lots of umbrellas up and an array of raincoats. I’m NOT READY! We’ve had such a patchy summer. I’m hoping that once the schools go back the sun will start shining, it often does that. (Mainly to torment the poor staff.)

Tonight’s dinner will be a sedate meal of salmon, spicy bean salad and homegrown pea shoots. We mutually agreed first thing this morning that tonight needed to be Thursdayish as we’d already had Friday, with new to us gin (Whitley Neill Distillers Cut Dry, good with a squeeze of fresh lime juice and wedges with plenty of ice) then Rioja with a curry. It was a combination of tiredness from a late late night before and the rainy weather. As usual the other portion of aubergine curry, with leftover pieces of chicken from a dansak has made a fabulous cold brunch.

The gin was only £5; as a thank you my mother in law bought me a scratchcard and also one for herself. Neither of us have a clue about them and the rules seemed really complicated. It wasn’t until I checked out a YouTuber, who basically just scratches off the silver on £20 worth of cards and calls it entertainment (!), that we checked hers again properly and found that she’d won two lines of £5. She shared half with me so: £5 scratch-card winnings, £5 of Nectar points and it was on special offer for £15 for Nectar card holders! Good timing, as there was NO GIN in the house. Not even a miniature. This is an unusual state of affairs.

No crochet has happened yet, my hands are too sore still, but I’ve got some good books. I’ve just been approved for the advanced copy of Nina Stibbe’s new book, so what I was reading has been abandoned. I’m not meant to talk much about it yet, but it’s her diary and is putting me off doing other things. I always have this issue with entertaining diaries, because you can’t do the “when I reach the end of the chapter I will get up / head out / do my physio exercises / wash the dog / pick the beans etc because there aren’t any breaks. I keep on reading and reading. Before I know it May has turned into June, and then I realise I’m totally engrossed in August.

Harvest time

Apart from pea shoots I’ve also been trying sprouting seeds in some purpose made jars I was given. They have blackout covers, but this was the last day when I wanted them to green up a little. The seeds are from a mixed selection of varieties from Verdant Republic. They were tasty eaten with a salad and are apparently full of really healthy micronutrients.

This week a long-term blog reader told me that my blog posts are long. Too long. I feel it’s all a matter of personal preference. Too long? Read in a few goes, or not at all. I’ve been catching up with some of my favourites and realise they’re partly my favourites because I do gravitate to long meaty blog posts, with lots of photos, that I can linger over and enjoy. (Lately: Ginny’s Small Things, Alicia’s Posy and Lucy’s Attic 24.) A mere paragraph or two can be frustrating and if it’s interesting, I find I want more. If someone habitually writes short posts I will save them up and read half a dozen at a time in a batch. Like a diary. Far more satisfying.

Kate of Fox’s Lane blog has just published a brand new longish post, after a hiatus. As usual her photos are sublime and capture some of her life on a smallholding in Victoria, (the link keeps disappearing, I’ve added it at least a dozen times.) I now really want to try heating water for tea in a pretty kettle on the log burner this winter. Her post inspired me and is why I found myself launching straight into writing about it being our first day of autumn. She’s so right – I too don’t want to be ‘told’. I just want to read about ordinary things. What someone’s making, cooking, watching, or reading, how the garden is looking or where they visited at the weekend. I used to love the Nothing is Ordinary hashtag in the early days of Instagram. Blogging for me is reading about the small things, but that’s what life is about, isn’t it?

How are things with you?

Why I still love blogs

Posted on November 9, 2020 by The Little Room of Rachell

I was reading someone’s blog a few weeks ago and she said that although she uses and enjoys all the socials…Instagram, Twitter and Facebook…a lot, she will never ever stop reading and following blogs. This statement really resonated with me and I’ve been mulling it over.

Inspiration and pretty pictures are great on Instagram. I get a lot of that from IG, as well as exchanging quick, sometimes funny, messages with peeps. But blogging is different; to me it’s 3-D rather than 2-D. I think because the longer that you read, the more you get a sense of someone and what they’re about. You can feel you really have a relationship with them, sometimes it’s completely one sided. Often it’s mutual and becomes a source of warm friendly messages from the other side of the world, the other side of the country, or just a few miles away! There are a few bloggers who I’ve ended up meeting, a few have become very good friends.

Seeing what they’re making take shape from the first few stitches chained or cast on, to progress pics as time goes on and then the finished item is like watching a wonderful slow tv programme.

I haven’t even really mentioned all the tutorials, the patterns, useful tips and the sharing of links! A helpful blog will tell you the yarn they’ve used, link to the pattern or their Ravelry account etc where you can find out even more.

It’s not all craft – I tend to follow blogs which also post lifestyle content. I like to know what they’re cooking, what they’re reading, maybe see pictures of their garden or walks they’ve been on recently. A few pictures of their city, town or village maybe too and I’m hooked!

Later I read someone else saying about blog comments. She said she really values and appreciates the time and the effort it takes people to leave them. She was glad that they were still generous in writing to her. I had a feeling that there was a little bit more behind it, that she’d noticed the mega amounts of comments she used to receive had significantly gone down in the last few years. We exchanged messages about it. I suspect it’s mostly a time and immediacy thing. A quick double tap to ‘like’ a post on Instagram gives instant feedback. Perhaps people maybe don’t want to put long messages out there on public record. I know I’ve often privately messaged in response to heartfelt blog posts, or with a silly but friendly response.

Incidentally I sometimes find reading one blog post at a time as they’re published a bit lacking; I really want to read a whole batch of posts and settle down with a mug of tea and have a good read. Do you do this too?

Then I began to wonder why it was that I wasn’t advertising the blogs that I read on my own? A few years ago I remember taking the widget of links off when I reorganised things, and I’m not quite sure why I didn’t reinstate it. If I’m serious about loving blogs still, I wondered if I should be advertising the ones I follow? Then others might do the same and refresh their lists, so current blogs are still getting attention and a bit of publicity. After all, there’s no point having loads of links to non-existent or inactive sites. I needed to put a refreshed list up, so that’s what I’ve been working on.

I dip in and out of many more blogs than those I’ve linked to so far, but I wanted to share my must-reads. Even if it takes me six weeks or months to catch up, they are the ones that I read and have followed for years. It’s quality, not quantity for me.

I came across an old crochet blog the other day, I think I was following a link to a pattern on Pinterest, and it had not been updated for years. The blog list was amazing! It included all the people I followed in 2009/10 when I discovered craft blogs and blogging. I felt like I’d discovered a precious time capsule. Is it daft to feel kind of nostalgic for those days of sitting in front of a slow lap top, its noisy fan whirring as I caught up with what people were making, at the end of a busy day? Now (well, pre-March 2020) I’ll jump at speed from page to page while on a bus or train, waiting for an appointment to come up or when I’m on a break. Things have really changed now and nostalgia aside, I’m happy to have a fast little computer in my handbag or pocket, whenever I want it. Magical really isn’t it?!

It was sobering to realise, looking through my previous list of links, how many of my favourite blogs aren’t active anymore. Some still post once or twice a year (better than nothing) some have deleted their blogs completely, with handfuls of untethered pictures still floating around the Internet, others attempted to start new blogs to reflect where they were now (then) but if you search for them, they are just a blank page with a title. One domain has been taken over by a Korean handbag seller. The new blogs just never took off. The initial enthusiasm of blogging leached away over the years. They felt like they’d said the same things over and over again. The rhythms and routines of the seasons and years became a drag, not a comfort. They were bored with their own words and pictures. I get it. People move on, hobbies change, lifestyles change, relationships end and priorities shift. Work can leave little time for planning, photographing and writing something and sending it off into the ether. It takes time and energy. If blogging begins to feel like a task and work, it is far from fun. (I don’t feel like this. If I did, I’d be gone!)

Off the top of my head, these are some blogs that I used to love:

Pink Milk, Greedy for Colour, Cozy Made Things, Crochet with Raymond, Le Monde de Sucrette, According to Matt, Foxs Lane, Dottie Angel, Little Tin Bird and Rachelle Blondel’s that I think was named after her grandparents i.e. Ethel and Ernest or Olive and Stanley. I can’t remember their names! So many more, who will probably come to me as soon as I press publish.

I never sit down at my laptop to read blogs anymore. I never post mine from my laptop anymore. I usually dictate my posts because it saves my hands nowadays. I publish my posts mostly on my iPhone, and read others’ blogs on my iPad. Sitting back down at my laptop today reminded me of years ago when I started this blog; it felt old fashioned to type actual blog names into a search bar. I enjoyed seeing a full sized screen of pretty pictures, there are also the sidebars that you don’t really get to see on a mobile view. (My new blog links are at the bottom on the mobile site, by the way.) The lap top reminded me that dodgy ill lit photos you can get away with on an enhanced all singing all dancing iPhone or iPad, do not necessarily look so well on a laptop!

So what about you: Why do you still read blogs? Do you also think they offer something more than other social media? Have I missed something obvious? Which are your favourites, are your blog links up-to-date? Do you have any you want to recommend? I’m up for a bit of a blog tour, if you want to lead the way.

* Yes, I got a bit carried away in my own photo archive by the end. I forget what I’ve made!

2018

Posted on December 31, 2018 by The Little Room of Rachell

Today is my blog’s seventh birthday!

Here’s my very first post on New Year’s Eve 2011. My blog content hasn’t really changed at all from what I proposed on that very first post. I still enjoy writing it and sharing my photos, thank you for reading. It would be like pointlessly talking to myself, if not for you.

Hello and Welcome to new readers. I’ve felt surprised, and frankly delighted, that so many of you have started following this blog during the last year, even with the minimal craft content. Thank you also to my regular readers, I know some of you have been coming here for years now. I love hearing from you.

This year I haven’t been able to make much, as you know. I injured my hand in April and I am (not) enjoying a period of enforced rest from all craft. Of course it’s also affected other aspects of day to day life. I’ve had to learn to ask for help, and accept that there are just things that I cannot/should not do. Things are definitely improving, but it’s very gradual.

Reading last year’s round up post I see I did tempt fate by confidently stating I’d have at least one finished sock to show at the end of this year. Has this year been all about the curse of the sock….?

If you fancy seeing my previous annual round ups, they’re all here:

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Has anybody been with me from the beginning?

I hope 2019 is a fabulous year for you, that you are happy, healthy and content.

Happy New Year!

16 for 2016

Posted on January 1, 2016 by The Little Room of Rachell

*~*~*Happy New Year!*~*~*

It’s 2nd January, 2016 is all brand new and shiny! I love the sense of possibility and brand-new-notebook-and-pen feeling the first few days always bring.

As I wrote my 2015 gallery post on New Year’s Eve, I realised that there were lots of planned crafty things I hadn’t done during the year. I’m going to write down a list of 16 goals for 2016. This is mainly to make sure the ideas and plans I have don’t get left aside. I’ll maybe revisit the list as the year goes on, or just sum up how it went at the end.

1: Re-edge my Rhubarb Ripple blanket properly

2: Learn how to tat lace.

I bought a tatting shutting in the end of summer sale in John Lewis (£1!) the packet hasn’t even been opened.

3: Do something with my blocks from my 200 Blocks CAL

There are roughly 125 as we quickly realised the book’s title is slightly misleading. But 125 are plenty and I’m quite embarrassed that as the organiser of the CAL I never did get around to joining any, or all.

4: Knit socks, or have a go

5: Dye some yarn

For Christmas I received a dyeing kit and some extra undyed merino sock and DK yarns.

6: Use my sewing machine again.

7: Attend a workshop or class (any)

8: Join a Knit & Natter group for a session

9: Knit something with one or more of my new skeins of yarn

10: Finish the ‘My Designs’ link page I started a while ago

11: Turn the failed hexagon a day blanket project into something else

12: Make another small cotton pot-holder

New saucepans with metal handles mean pot holders are necessary, not purely decorative.

13: Embroider something again

14: Make up the finished X stitch things

15: Decide about the Yorkshire blanket….redo? Undo and recycle? Give away?

16: Use up a good chunk of my yarn stash

It’s mostly leftovers from all those blankets.

If you also fancy writing 16 for 2016 please add a link in the comments below, so we can read your list too.

Have a very happy New Year all.

This and That

Posted on November 21, 2014 by The Little Room of Rachell

This new Siri is not nearly is sexy sounding as the old guy (yes, we have male voiced Siri) plus his sense of humour sucks! (‘Sucks’ – too much Glee while crocheting. I need to watch something that’s going to increase my vocabulary, not the opposite?!) If you dictate a stupid question, you get a stupid answer – but this was important stuff.

This genuinely made me cringe and yelp a bit when I saw it the other day. Urgh, the thought of dog lick is foul. Cats are fine though…

Ah yes, I totally agree.

Everywhere I go I seem to end up stumbling into ‘Christmas rooms’ and this was one of the biggest and the best. It was so lovely I was singing along to Let It Snow and realised there were at least half of a dozen others joining in too.

There’s a thingy on the left which you can just see, where you can put you head up into after crawling under half the table top scene. It’s for children really I suppose and I wasn’t brave enough to have a go, but how cute to see the trains going past your nose and Santa flying past. Can you spot him?
Funnily as I’ve been looking at this as a large sized pic on my iPad, I’ve noticed a few things are leaning or have fallen down. The ice skater makes sense, maybe the couple of cool kids leaning against the rink is a deliberate move, but I’m not sure about the other thing.

Winter’s definitely on the way when you see sprout sticks appearing in the farm shops. Roast chicken with roast potatoes, parsnips, sprouts and carrots, homemade stuffing with steaming hot gravy over will be happening on Sunday.

I’m going to crochet the border and darn the ends of my ripple over the weekend. The end is in sight!

There are thousands of blogs out there but I’ve realised you can only really connect with a certain number. When one becomes inactive, especially if you’ve followed them for years, you naturally begin wondering if the person is okay. When I started mine I connected with quite a number of people who were also new to blogging. We’ve been in touch for nearly three years now, but lately I’ve realised quite a few of these are only posting sporadically, or have stopped completely. I’m wondering if there is maybe a natural end to a blog? People get busy and interested in doing different things. I know I’m not posting much at the moment; but how many photos of the same ripple blanket do people want to see anyway? Have you also noticed your favourites dropping off?

More importantly: what are you going to be eating at the weekend? I do love details like this.

Happy weekend everyone.

Inside Crochet magazine

Posted on October 30, 2013 by The Little Room of Rachell

At the end of last month I was contacted by the Deputy Editor of Inside Crochet magazine, the message said “Hope you don’t mind me getting in touch, but we’ve been enjoying your blog here at Inside Crochet and we were wondering if you’d like to be interviewed for the ‘Our Favourite Blogger’ feature we run every month in our news section?”

I don’t think I need to describe the feeling at being contacted by such a quality magazine like Inside Crochet do I? But I can tell you that I did some of my Zebedee bounces which I reserve for very special occasions.

I tend to chatter freely, but I must admit I have uncharacteristically stayed schtum for weeks and weeks, waiting for the magazine to come out. Well I’ve had some tweets and messages over the last few days saying my blog has been spotted in the magazine, so in case you haven’t seen a copy of issue 47 yet…