MAKING great fires in the log burner! Does that count?
COOKING warming veggie curries; pumpkin & chickpea and a peanutty aubergine recipe
BAKING Scottish Shortbread. Delicious!
SIPPING a few hot chocolates lately. Well, it’s cold. 3° yesterday, 2° today. Brrr!
READING Mad Blood Stirring by Simon Mayo (and listening to it on Spotify)
WAITING for snow. First snowfall nearby last night
LOOKING very wrapped up when out. All the woollies. Wearing my rainbow bobble cowl at the mo and wrapping my purple Hitchhiker scarf on top when I go back to the car
LISTENING to The Battersea Poltergeist and Uncanny podcasts by Danny Robins
WISHING Christmas presents magically bought and wrapped themselves
ENJOYING lights and sparkle when out and about
DISLIKING Christmas trees and decs up in early November. Soon it’s going to be Christmas from the day after Halloween…
APPRECIATING any sunny blue days
EATING toasted goats cheese, rocket & red onion chutney toastie in a favourite cafe today
LIKING the mocha that always accompanies it. Strange combo maybe…
South Kensington, London. What a beauty
LOVING heated car seat and stirring wheel. A car with gizmos
BUYING a Star Bar recently, then dropping the last bit in the gutter
MANAGING to forget about a third of all I need to remember
WATCHING Ant & Dec in Australia. They make me laugh
HOPING for a good December
LISTENING to be audiobook of Mad Blood Stirring by Simon Mayo (on Spotify)
WEARING black jeans, green top
VISITING The V&A: Gabrielle Chanel, Fashion Manifesto
NOTICING how one person with a (very) loud voice can dominate a space. Shoulders went down in the cafe when they left
FOLLOWING …it’s macabre, but so many death announcements today …Shane MacGowan, Alistair Darling, Henry Kissinger and Dean Sullivan (Jimmy Corkhill in Brookside, a particularly English soap opera)
SORTING photos. Where do you store your digital photos? Cloud? Lap top? External hard drive?
GETTING organised with lists, but not much action
COVETING I can’t think of anything. A chateau maybe? A castle?
FEELING relaxed
HEARING a buzz of conversation, South Oxfordshire accents
How are you? What are you up to at the moment? Tell me three things?
The garden is full of roses, they obviously approve of the weather
I finished the coastal cowl, hurray! I really loved this simple pattern when I made the first rainbow bobble cowl and without even really thinking about it, one day I picked up a ball of yarn and started another. I LOVE the texture of crochet bobbles, plus with so many it’s a really warm fabric. I wore the other a lot in the cold weather we had before it finally turned warm in late May. It was a really cool spring. I think the coolest on record, but now it’s pretty hot today we came close to 30 degrees. There had been large cracks appearing in the fields and flowers in the garden have been drooping. Last week, driving through Devon a local radio DJ said the reservoirs there are lower than they should be this time of year.
However, at the weekend we had torrents of rain, thunder and lightning storms. The kind where we had to stop a car journey because there was such a lack of visibility. It was so dramatic that I filmed it. Anyway, now I shall put my cowls away and know that I will appreciate them both in the autumn and winter. (Pattern is from Simply Crochet, issue 128. Designed by Sue Pearson. If you can download Libby or Pressreader, and have a library card, Simply Crochet magazine is there for free, at least here in the UK.)
Next I am going to get out all my half finished (or should I say half started?!) projects and decide what to do next. I don’t think there’s all *that* many actually, I was pretty ruthless at unravelling and donating bits and pieces to charity shops in the winter. I know there is a stripey knitted blanket to complete, a knitted cowl and a glittery shawl / scarf thing, plus crochet circles I was crocheting using up odds and ends of Hayfield Spirit yarn. I can’t wait to get to the point where I have absolutely nothing started and I just work on one thing at a time. It’s how I used to craft and I much prefer it. What do you do? Do you start lots and lots of things and enjoy the variety of picking up something new every time? Or, do you work on one thing until it’s finished and then start something new?
Hey, hey look what I found in a secondhand bookshop. It has an absolute wealth of craft and recipe books, it’s a good job I don’t go there very often. I’m going to be really cagey about where it is as I don’t want to advertise it here and lose a source of treasure! Let’s just hope the locals aren’t too crafty…(but spend lots of money on other genres, to keep the shop afloat.)
What are you making, have you found any charity shop treasure lately?
MAKING Still crocheting my coastal colours cowl. I haven’t done a lot of anything crafty recently, April was ‘a bit of a month’ to use typical British understatement! I’m focusing on it now, and then will try to finish the Coast blanket next
LIKING Sitting in a holiday cottage crocheting and watching the lead up to the Coronation from 9:30am, just for a little while before going out. Then, it absolutely poured on and off all morning and so plans to walk, or go anywhere were shelved until the afternoon. Crochet, tea and the whole of the Coronation service (though not the balcony and fly-past) followed. I really enjoyed it all
COOKING Tray bake fish with olives, lemons & cherry tomatoes. I swap the fish, sometimes using haddock, or cod and last week it was salmon. I eat the cooked lemon too. See John Torode’s recipe
BAKING Sourdough rosemary focaccia. Woah! This is so good, it’s left to prove in the fridge in the tin overnight so develops an amazing texture. So good I made it twice in as many weeks
SIPPING I did Dry Lent once again and since then haven’t really drunk much alcohol at all, unless you count last Friday night’s spiced rums? No, we probably don’t count those, as it was holiday refreshments
READING A novel I saw recommended in Good Housekeeping magazine. I’m not entirely sure about it at the moment as it’s quite chick-litty, not my usual genre really. It’s One Moment by Becky Hunter
LOOKING A bit funny? Woolly slippers, no socks, joggers and one of my favourite bright pink patterned tees. Open windows and a rather cool day, but too lazy to go fetch a hoodie
Cowslips are everywhere, we’ve recently walked alongside a field full
LISTENING to Weightless by Elbow, on my liked songs playlist on Spotify
WISHING for free train travel for a year, including the sleepers. I’ve wanted this for ages, since someone once said they get it through their job working for a rail company
BAKING Sourdough pitta bread regularly now. I have now stopped buying any and freeze half of each batch. It’s always handy to have emergency bread in the freezer. You can defrost them in the toaster then warm them. I can’t recommend them enough. So much tastier with the sourdough flavour, than the supermarket equivalent
Part of the first batch, now I make them half them the size, weighing the dough for accuracy still
ENJOYING Warmer weather, it’s very on and off at the moment but my flowers have doubled in size in the garden
Parsley seeds are growing well on my sunny windowsil
BUYING A variety of seeds, plant labels, the May issue of Gardeners World magazine mainly for the 2-for-1 Garden Card, a sprouter (actually this was with the last of a birthday garden voucher), pots, bottle top waterers, propagators, compost, top soil, plug plants … it’s that time of year again
The Cotswold Sculpture Park has reopened, hurrah! GW mag 2-for-1 card still accepted. ‘Despair’, the detail on this is incredible
OBSESSING Over seeds and sprouts and microgreens. I’ll show you a few pics, but if you’re interested keep an eye on stories for progress pics on my Instagram
Look at the roots on these microgreens! Grown in a hydroponic sprouter, they have replicated the pattern on the base of the section in which they sat Mung beans in a soup mug covered with muslin, after 8 hours soaking. I think we’ll eat them before the roots grow so long this time. When they looked like tiny tadpoles they were at their crunchiest and sweetest, that might be the time to add a few to salads
APPRECIATING Salads for lunch again with home sprouted beansprouts! Delicious with this dressing and toasted pumpkin seeds
MANAGING To produce mouldy and rotten peas, instead of pea-shoots, in the new sprouter. So I’ve gone back to growing in soil, I’m not sure about hydroponics for those. I have put my first lot of lentils (puy) in it today though, we’ll see how they do
WONDERING If you know that sprouted lentils are meant to be good for chickens too?!
Mustard, mizuna & beetroot, they are packed with so much good stuff. You’re going to be seeing grown microgreens and sprouts for sale and I predict there will be an explosion of sites about how to grow them For sale from the shop pictured below, in Chichester. Spotted on Monday
EATING More chocolate, Easter always gives me a taste for it again. The less I eat, the less I fancy any
WAITING for my pea shoots! They’ve just starting to show. I can’t wait to eat them
WATCHING Annika. (I’ll generally watch anything Nicola Walker does, apart from the Marriage thingy with Sean Bean.) I’ve only watched the first episode on UK TV Play, it’s free with ads, and Annika breaking the fourth wall, quoting literature is refreshingly different. Have you seen it?
WATCHING Would I Lie to You? But nearly at the point where we watched the latest series, it’s the best thing after an urgh day. It makes us laugh so much. (Newer series is on the BBC Iplayer. Old ones on UK TV Play for free, with ads)
Bluebells
HOPING for sunnier days please, today we had everything: a dramatic hailstorm, torrential rain which was so heavy I had to stop the car, then weak sunshine and super fluffy white clouds in a blue sky
NOTICING A MASSIVE spider by the bed this morning. The spider pot (an old ricotta tub) and birthday card was fetched from the bathroom cupboard, along with Someone to pop it outside as I was only wearing a towel. Then I peered out anyway, as it was walking along the garage roof. I warned it not to even think about coming back in again
FOLLOWING The weather forecast
Inside The Gothic Temple at Stowe, a National Trust property. It’s a holiday let and this was an open day so visitors to see what it’s like inside Stunning. Spooky at night I would say
SORTING Seed packets. Oregano, carrots, beetroot and lettuce need to be planted soon
GETTING Teased by a friend, Lucy, for taking my beansprouts away for the weekend
West Wittering beach
COVETING Raised vegetable beds
FEELING Pressed for time. I need to add photos, change and go to take someone for their Covid Booster (and ummm collect the 34 tomato plants, including a few which look suspiciously like pepper or chilli, which were babysat for the long weekend. I thought taking a freshly baked fruit cake for a Coronation Street Party would be a fair exchange. In retrospect it went as well as I’d anticipated, haha
I’ve enjoyed crocheting this bobbly cowl. It’s definitely been a slow project as rows of mostly double crochet do not grow at all fast, but there was absolutely no rush to complete it. I took my time, I have to do that these days anyway.
I saw this pattern in Simply Crochet magazine issue 128, it was one of those challenges where they give two designers the same yarn and set them to make a blanket, an accessory, or a toy. And Sue Pearson’s bobble cowl jumped out at me. I’ve long enjoyed making bobbles, as I love the texture that they give to accessories in particular. Long-term readers might remember the bobble mitts (see here) which I made years ago. Cor, they were featured in Simply Crochet issue 10. I’ve read the mag since the beginning. (Nowadays through Press Reader or Libby library apps for FREE.) It made my day that those mitts later sold in a Cats Protection charity craft sale.
I’ve never done reverse double crochet before, also known as crab stitch. Have you? It’s perfect for a firm, attractive edging. That’s definitely going on my do-again list. If you wanted a simple edging for a blanket, it would work well.
For some reason it was taking me far too long to translate the instructions into leftie crochet terms. I realised part of the problem was I couldn’t think through how I do double crochet, going in the usual direction, let alone in reverse. Without actually doing some double crochet my brain couldn’t grasp it. If you get what I mean? So, I undid a few switches of the previous row, double crocheted them again and straight away it clicked. I realised what I had to do, only of course going backwards, from right to left as a left hander.
Happily I have quite a bit of Hayfield Spirit, autumn, leftover, so I can make some more granny circles (see my last post, here.) First I need to carry on crocheting my little flowery contribution to a spring yarn bomb. I’ll show you those very soon, as they need to be with the organiser by Wednesday the first. Next I’m off to make some stamens. (It’s not everyday I find myself typing that!)
Have you just, or nearly, finished making something? Or are you surrounded by too many half started projects?
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Post could also be titled ‘Reverse double crochet for a left handed custard brain’
I was merrily bobbling along the other day and paused to check everything over, because occasionally one bobble will be out of step If I’ve lost concentration at any point listening to a podcast. Then while pausing I realised that it was probably long enough. A quick measure and it was over 60 cm. Suddenly it was done! Well, nearly. I’ve crocheted one row of doubles along the top edge and then I have to do a row of reverse doubles, aka crab stitch, to finish off. And then repeat on the other edge. I’m really pleased with this, mainly because of the beautiful Hayfield Spirit autumn yarn. But also because I love bobbles. It’s been so cool to see the lovely colours appear. Works really well with the pattern doesn’t it?
I’ve also been making granny circles out of some spare yarn, just when I fancy doing a little crochet, but nothing too tricky.
Very rainbowy aren’t they?
Time to read a little more of Ian Rankin’s Rebus (#22) before I seize the day.
Visiting: Blenheim Palace to see the rooms decorated, the theme was the story of the Snow Queen this year, magical and so Christmassy on 23rd December. Perfect
Making: Mulled Cider, again
Making: Rainbow salad sprinkled with mixed seeds, a lot of crunch drizzled with a lemony, sesame dressing
Staring: at the beautiful sunsets
Cooking: Spicy rice with mixed peppers, mushrooms and tender-stem broccoli later. I need another meatless meal, it’s come to that point in the week. I found a Facebook memory which said similar on this day a year or two ago. Though I opted for fish pie back then
Visiting: Waddesdon Manor Christmas on 18th. The Manor was decorated nicely, but the weather for the outdoor market and illuminations eeek! It was only 3 degrees with pelting rain for the whole time. I became cold to the bone, brrrr!
Reading: a very promising advance reader copy of a novel to be published next summer. It’s about a heist planned by an all women team, in London in 1905. As I read I keep seeing it as a film, the writing is very cinematic. If the other half is as good I’ll tell you more about it near the publication date. I really hope it continues to be this good, I’m enjoying it so much
Wondering: about joining a book club but unsure I want to read others’ choices, especially as the first of next month is by Matt Haig. I’m not a fan, so far
Looking: at the sparkles on the Christmas tree
Listening: to music
Wishing: for a happy and healthy New Year for me and mine, you and yours too
Enjoying: crocheting by the Christmas tree, my bobble cowl is really growing. I can do around 40 minutes at a sitting, a couple of times a week. It’s slow crochet, but better than no crochet
Appreciating: the texture of this ball of Hayfield Spirit yarn, it’s got a crunchy crispy texture and great stitch definition
Sipping: Twinnings Spicy ginger tea. Tasty and warming while I am
Eating: Artisan du Chocolat salted maple caramels, bliss!
Liking: Crimbo Limbo very much; this chilled out time which is like no other during the rest of the year between Christmas and New Year
Loving: Carols From Kings College Cambridge, such a Christmas Eve tradition, did you watch it too? I know it’s broadcast around the world. Did you join in with Hark the Herald and realise it was pitched too high, for the choir boys? Tee hee
Buying: tea bags, peppers, red and yellow tomatoes, hovering over reduced parcel toppers and eco friendly twine for next Christmas and thinking “Nah! I can’t face it buying it all again.”
Feeling: reflective
Managing: a verbal Gold Star from my excellent physio therapist yesterday, for my “self-mobilisation”. December has been a challenge; full of exercises, walks, hot water bottles, massage, stretches, Sarah Keys Back Block stretches before bed. If you know, you know…
Watching: Ghostbusters, Knives Out, Ghosts Christmas special (made tears roll down my face at the end remembering those who have gone), Mortimer and Whitehouse Gone Fishing Christmas Special, The Snowman, The Snowman and the Snowdog (Someone is always so sad when the dog dies) Mrs Brown’s Boys (terrible, but traditional) The King’s Speech on Christmas Day (not the film, the actual King.) Tonight it might be Detectorists Christmas special or the second Knives Out film or…
Noticing: it’s lighter later, or is that wishful thinking? It’s lighter 2 minutes earlier every day from 21st after all
Hoping: those who have been unwell over Christmas will be much better soon
Wearing: relaxed house clothes, leaning against a hot water bottle. Prob unsafe, but far more comfy than a lumpy wheat bag
Following: our own agenda this week, while calling in to see older relatives regularly, we know we’re lucky to have them
Sorting: out how to use my new Contigo mug
Getting: lots of lovely things to use, drink and cook
Coveting: another year of Spotify Premium, mine ends on Sunday. I’ll miss it
Hearing: Holding onto You by Olivia Broadfield, one of the tracks on my ‘Soothing’ Spotify playlist, but it’s Goal of the Century which still makes my heart lift everytime it begins to play. I’ve been gradually adding to the playlist for years, it’s gorgeous. Perfect for Crimbo Limbo week
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How are you? Have you celebrated Christmas, had time to chill, or is it work as usual? Either way I hope you’re healthy and have escaped the lurgy. I’ve know so many have been affected this week, I’ve sent much love and healing vibes to them.
It’s my blogging birthday on New Year’s Eve on Saturday, eleven years! 11. WOW.
The Little Room of Rachell 
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