ECF

Of course, there were millions of chocolate shops in Belgium, but the window display of this one was phenomenal....

Chocolate Pirates of the Caribbean!

Heee!! Happy Friday!

Berry good

Tis the jam season! Strawberry and greengage. The strawberries were on special at the supermarket because they were a few days past eating best, but ideal for jam. I am not a huge fan of strawberry jam and always have difficulty getting it to set (this time was no exception). But it is tasty enough.

The greengages were bought for eating, but were a bit mushy, so in they went for jam - my first try at greengage jam and it worked a treat! It is lovely, tasty rich jam. I had to do some searching for recipes, and there was some conflict on the net about what to do. Here is what I ended up doing, and it worked well: for every 100g of fruit, add 20ml water, and boil gently like you are stewing fruit. Once it is soft and cooked, add in about equal parts sugar to fruit (although I prefer to add as little sugar as possible, and this worked well at around 10% less sugar than fruit). I also added around 4 pits, 1 per 100g of fruit, for the cooking part (removed before bottling). I cooked this until it reached setting point, and ended up with one full jar and a little extra for immediate eating. Yum! By waiting just a bit for the jam to cool, the fruit setttled throughout the jar well.

A long yarn...

I finished dyeing this yarn a while ago, but haven't got 'round to blogging it. This is my Walnut yarn:

The darker, rustier yarn is the second dyeing, where I used a vinegar rinse prior to the dye bath. I really like the two colours individually, although I am not sure about them paired. They are sitting waiting for inspiration for knitting. Maybe a hat?

This is a gorgeous gift from my upstream Secret Pal, Esmerelda, to say thanks. Such an unexpected and wonderful gift - thank you!! I have been unable to resist and started knitting already! It is a bit of a secret, so I won't show you until it is done (or unravelled in despair!)

Pageant of the Golden Bough

Warning: Picture heavy post (again!) When we arrived in Brugges, we discovered that we were just in time to see the Pageant of the Golden Bough. This pageant occurs every 5 years, and has done since the middle of last century (I have misplaced my little book, so I can't remember exactly, but it is around then). The pageant tells the story of Brugges, using the marriage of some Burgundean nobility (Margaret and someone else!) as a central theme. Initially I was a bit underwhelmed, but I have to say, it was an amazing sight! I have millions of pictures, so I tried to pick just a few of the best. There was even sheep & a weaver! Brugges was a textiles area, so there was lots about fabric and textiles. It was pretty crazy - there were 3 wise men, giants, Norse fables about swan men, King Arthur - the whole gamut!

The pageant walked past us for nearly two hours! There were lots of kids in it, who looked pretty tired, and so many animals that were very well behaved! Some of the horses were spectacular, and fairly highly strung, but it all looked very organised. It was an amazing thing to stumble across. Sometimes the best things about holidays are like that - the things that you happen upon, rather than the tours and plans that you have made.

A return to sewing

Ever since I can remember I have sewn things. The first needlework/craft I did was embroidery, which my Nan taught me. I loved lasy daisies, but most of all, I loved satin stitch. It was great. My nan used to crochet lace edges to my doilies and hankies. I still have a few. But sewing was always there, and as I got to be 12 or so, I started to make my own clothes. Many of my attempts were disasterous, and there were many tantrums and fights with my mum. My memory of sewing from a pattern using a machine is that it was the hardest thing in the world to do. There was just too much to think of, and you had to be able to plan ahead, which apparently I couldn't do very well.

As I got older, I went back to making clothes a few times, mostly when money was hard to come by, and material was cheap. Some of my efforts hung around longer than others, and I still have a few pieces in my wardrobe that are efforts from when I had to do professional placements, but wasn't really earning anything.

I have recently come back to sewing, but not because I don't have any money. This time it is because I can't find the clothes that I like! I know, in this day of mounds of cheap clothes, especially in the UK, you think I would be spoiled for choice. But I am a bit fussy (me?!!!) and I just can't find simple, well made, well fitting clothes that suit me.

So I invested in some lovely cloth, hauled out the poor old uncaredfor machine, and voila!

Now, its not the best picture, I apologise. I wore it alot in Belgium, but being the one with the camera, there aren't any pics (ok, there are pics, but they are 'orrible). I will try and get some next time I wear it. Also, it has a big crease down the middle as I hadn't washed it at this stage. The brown at the bottom is the lining. I am not all that fond of the hem seam, and probably should have slip stitched the hem, but then I wouldn't have been able to wear it! As it is now finished and wearable, I can't see that situation changing. The zip is ok, not terribly tidy, but ok considering I lost my zipper foot (oops!). Anyway, I had fun, I love my new skirt, and now I have a bit more confidence to get onto the other fabric (which is even prettier I think!).

And mum - it goes great with the sandles and little sleeveless top you gave me when I was home!

Public Art Brussels Style

Warning: Photo heavy post!

I loved Brussels. Every review I read and every person I spoke to warned me that it was a dull city. Maybe I am a dull person, but I thought this city was great. It was a city I could easily live in. There were big plazas and small laneways, a wide range of cuisine, everyone eating outside until the wee hours, fun and frolics without public drunkenness, a great pride in local produce, funky small boutiques and outlets, and not so many high street stores. It was clean, engaged the old with the new, and was generally a great place to be (except don't even think of driving around here - it is madness).

Anyway, there was quite a bit of public art, the most interesting of which took the form of many large, building sized murals.

And some was just odd...

We've been away...

Can you guess where?!

Funny Knitting Brains...

This is amazing....you really need to check it out. I don't care if you knit or not, it is fantastic!
http://neuroscienceart.com/

Enjoy!

Walnutty adventures continue....

An update on the walnut yarn:

As suspected, it is not chocolatey brown, but it is pretty (I think!). However, as an unremorsefully curious person, I have decided to continue on the quest for chocolatey brown, and have put one half in for another lot of dyeing. After reading some more, I saw that people were using vinegar (either as a wash prior to dyeing, in with the walnuts while 'brewing' to avoid mould, or after as a dye 'fixer'). I decided that I would give my yarn a vinegar/water bath prior to dyeing. Also, the second time I have soaked it for longer. I also used more uncracked walnuts which I think have given out more dye (it looks more blackey green in liquid form this time). Whatever happens, I think this current colour is nice. It had a woolwash wash to try and get some more of the sheep smell out and soften it up a bit, and very little colour ran from it, so I am pretty happy that it is in there fairly permanently.

ECF

Inspirations from nature...

Walnutty Adventures

Last weekend, we went to the Woodlands Festival at the Harcourt Arboretum. It was our first visit to the arboretum, and I thought it was great! The Woodlands Festival was smallish, but very good. Every stall holder that we talked to was enthusiastic and friendly, and clearly passionate about what they did (even the icecream man!).

There was a display of owls - this Barn Owl was really something gorgeous!

This gorgeous horse was demonstrating how they use horses to harvest timber in a less destructive manner than using machinery. She was fantastic!


There was a stall by a spinning, weaving & dying guild ( think from Oxfordshire, but I can't find anything about them online). There was a lovely lady who was spinning, and we talked about natural dying. They had a display of fungus dyed yarn which was incredible! Anyway, I bought a little handspun white wool (unbelievable price of two pounds per 100g), and set to work!

I wanted to dye without a mordant to start with. We have a walnut tree in our shared back garden so I collected some of the nuts that were on the ground (including some of the pieces from where squirrels had raided them), and soaked them for a while, boiled them for a while, and then popped the wool in. It sat overnight, and I pulled it out this morning. The walnuts are English (obviously), not black walnuts, and most of the instructions I found were for black walnuts. I have ended up with a lovely colour (I think), but not the 'rich chocolately brown' that others seem to have obtained. Anyway, a few shots of the process:
I have had lots of fun doing this - more than I thought I would! I have no idea what I will do with it yet, but I can see how dying could become very addictive!

Getting in early for ECF

I hope there is sunshine where you are this Friday.

Other People's Stuff

Call me nosey, but have always been pretty interested in Other People's Stuff. So here is a brief outline of some cool stuff I have seen blogwise lately:
Too Much Wool is making a Welsh quilt, and being a great blogger she is giving step by step details. Great site if you are even slightly interested in quilts (mum, I'm looking in your direction).
Brooklyn Tweed continues to be spectacular - check out this gorgeous thing, which is in this edition of Interweave Knits. I am thinking maybe a slightly smaller, more fitted version for me?
I love these, from Dragonfly, and I am definately going to have a go! I have recently bought some fabric to start making clothes again as I have no end of trouble finding things that I like in England (well, that I can afford anyway!). I promise to get some pics up soon - the fabric is gorgeous. Anyway, maybe the scraps could go into one of these bags.
Anyway, sunshine beckons!

More baby knitting

Remember the recent Hello yarns bonnet? Well, it has a friend!

My friend's twins arrived a little earlier than expected, and are still quite small, so I thought that these bonnets might be useful (also, it is still winter there so they might actually use them!). Again, it is knit in Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, with a little bit of pink for the lovely baby girl. Again, I used my size 3 bamboo dpns, which were a gift from my Secret Pal. This time, I ran out of the contrast colour (pink), with only three inches left after the end row, so there is less of the garterstitch rows at the bottom (2 less). Also, I couldn't do the I-cord ties in pink, so instead of I-cord-ing (?) down one side and picking up stitches at the edge of the other side, I picked up stitches one row inside the edge, and then I-cord-ed (!!) in the main colour. It worked pretty well. Also, I had problems doing my initial figure-8 cast on, and ended up with a bit of a 'feature' garter stitch decoration at the top - I decided this looked kinda cool, and worked with the rest of the design. However, I sorted this out for the second one, and am firmly convinced of the merits of this technique. So I feel very smug knowing that I have a gift off for these lovely new babies before they are too old.


This weekend, we took a trip to the Cotswolds Wildlife Park. It was fantastic fun, although we couldn't see some of the animals due to the foot & mouth outbreak. Here are some pics:

Also, we harvested courgette (zucchini), peas (a few) beans (a few more, both dwarf & scarlett runners) and potatoes this weekend. Very satisfying. I hope your weekend was just as fun!

Unposted Purchases

While we were on holiday in Exmouth, Western Australia, my sister in law, my mum and I went down to the shops. There was a good newsagent with lots of stock, and mum and I found this:

(excuse the black blob on the side!) There were two copies, and we snaffled them (I would have bought more for secret pals and things, but there were only two! The sales lady was puzzled as to why I needed two, so maybe better I didn't buy more!) It is great. I love almost every pattern in there, it is lovely and glossy and delicious, and I enjoy looking through it every now and then. I haven't made anything from it yet, but I am hoping to start something soon. I am thinking of a cardigan, although many of the pictures of the cardigans have that nasty bulge between the buttons, so while they are fitted, they bow out between the buttons, not a look that I like much. But maybe I could work around that... anyway, highly recommended, and I suspect you might see more pics from it in the future.