New Beady Bed Socks

Inspired by Anna's Secret Santa present to Mia last week, I decided to treat myself to a new pair of beady bed socks, as my old pair are looking well worn (though I still love them, and they're still my socks of preference when I'm in my pyjamas).

I don't usually like socks that are flat-knitted on two needles, rather than knitted-in-the-round on four needles. I don't see the point of not knitting them on four needles. But this pattern works due to the rib hiding the seam once they're sewn together.

The pattern is from the Rowan Home book, and I'm using Rowan Pure Wool 4-ply. This wool appeared at the same time as the Jaeger 4-ply disappeared, and I assume one was supposed to replace the other, but this new 4-ply doesn't quite have the softness or elasticity of the Jaeger.

Anyway, it seems to soften when steam pressed (through a damp tea towel).

I was BOUNCED awake this morning at 7.30am by my sweet little cat Meg. We always open the bedroom window during the night. The window is Velux and is positioned right above our heads and Meg very cleverly stands on the window and jumps up and down so it makes a noise. She also miaows along to the bouncing, just in case the bouncing isn't loud enough (it is). I hasten to add, she has a perfectly servicable cat flap that she uses quite happily to come in and out of the rest of the time. I had already been miaowed awake at 5.30am for breakfast (I know, I'm far too soft). It used to be 6.30am, which wasn't so bad but cats don't know about British Summer Time and Greenwich Mean Time, so it's now 5.30am.

So, I have stayed up, hung out two lots of washing, had breakfast, etc. And what do you think Meg is doing now?

Yep, she's snuggled down to sleep for a good 14 hours. Isn't she cute though? That's how she gets away with being so cheeky. As soon as I look at her I'm so stunned by her beauty and attitude I give her whatever she wants.

Make-it-Yourself Secret Santa

It has become a tradition that the crown court team does a Make-It-Yourself Secret Santa sometime in autumn. I think we first did it four or five years ago, when only Anna and I took part, making a present for each other. We have since recruited more members, though with colleagues coming and going the mix is always different. The only condition for taking part is that you have to make the present yourself. ANYTHING that is home-made is allowed. What I really love is the inventiveness of what people come up with, particularly colleagues whose first reaction when asked if they want to take part is, "But I can't make anything."

The photos I can show are: above, Mia holding up her Beady Bed Socks, knitted by Anna (pattern from the Rowan 'Home' book).

Mia made Katie this delicious bread (we all tried it), with her name lovingly spelled out on top. No need for a gift tag.

Katie made Anna the most delicious, soft oaty, choc chip biscuits.

Jo made me chocolate and syrup cornflake cakes.

And I made Jo this Postcard Pouch! It's a fairly simple design, inspired by Amanda Soule's Gratitude Wrap. Jo LOVED the Go Elephant exhibition that was spread all over Norwich last summer. I was struggling to decide what to make her when I had a lightbulb moment as my sister was paying for her Christmas shopping; the postcards of the Go Elephant elephants were displayed next to the till. I was originally planning to put recycled envelopes in one of the pockets in the pouch, but I couldn't find any envelopes the right size, so I defaulted to postcards in both pockets and added the stamp pocket and a pen holder in the middle. It took me a bit longer than anticipated (I was finally able to go to bed about half eleven last night!) but I was pleased with the result.

I love the outer Amy Butler material, and the velvet green ribbon just finishes it off beautifully.

I also made, for the first time ever, Treacle Toffee! I've wanted to make it for years and never got round to it. When I was a child one of my neighbours made Treacle Toffee every Halloween, and it was a race to go round all the neighbours who made the good stuff first (one did Treacle Toffee, another did Toffee Apples, another did Fudge), before going round the rest of the neighbours who gave out monkey nuts and fruit and shop-bought sweets. The home-made stuff always got snaffled up first.

The Treacle Toffee was the best I've ever tasted, though I did take it off the boil perhaps a little early. I ended up having to roll each piece in baking parchment as it all stuck together when left in a tub. A definite winner. The recipe was Mrs Beeton's

Delight: Gardening

I was encouraged to start gardening by two friends, Janie and Ba, who are gardeners extraordinaire. Last year they gave me a tub of potatoes, which I pretty much just left to look after itself, until the day Janie and Ba said it was time to dig them up, and then I was astounded at all the potatoes that appeared as Hagos tipped the tub upside down over some newspaper and I scooped the Anya potatoes into a blue bowl.

So this year my crop has been well-documented here (pretty much every single tomato has been catalogued), and I had a whale of a time growing tomatoes, courgettes, potatoes, chillies, and parsley. The potatoes and courgette plant were given to me by em, Janie and Ba, but I went to the garden centre mysef and bought the tomato and chilli plants and potted them all up.

Encouraged by my roaring success, I decided to go to the garden centre and see what else they had on offer. This was in mid-August. I found seeds for everything hanging up on a display, and finally bought carrot seeds and beetroot seeds. I ignored the instructions on the back of the packet for how many seeds to pop into each hole in the compost because I didn't really believe anything would come of them.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, the carrots above are the result of those seeds I planted three months ago. I can't describe the amazement and wonder I feel that the seeds turned into carrots. And I know that that is how all vegetables grow all over the world, but growing them myself makes me much more appreciative of the process, and grateful for the product.

My beetroot, on the other hand, failed miserably. I don't know what I did wrong.

But I'm not despondent. It's all a learning process. I have GRAND plans for next year's crop.

I also became appreciative of finding ways to preserve my produce. My Tomato Relish is delicious, and the Plum and Apple Jam (with plums from my friend Sophie's tree) was also a Delight.

Delight: and rediscovering JB Priestley

I first discovered JB Priestley during secondary school, when we studied Time and the Conways, and, An Inspector Calls. Both plays made a big impression on me. I loved the messing around with Time and Narrative Structure and Chronology.

I was lucky to have a great English teacher for four years. He totally ignited my passion and love for literature and writing and poetry. His enthusiasm was palpable and he carefully explained the meaning of everything very clearly.

So I was delighted to discover that a book JB Priestley wrote in 1949 was being reissued.

The book is called Delight, and is a collection of snippets that made JB Priestley happy.

Some of the titles of the pieces include: "Detective stories in bed", "Trying new blends of tobacco", "Gin and tonic, 1940", "New box of matches", "Long trousers", "Suddenly doing nothing", "Departing guests", and "Timeless mornings". Each piece is evocative and concentrates on taking deep pleasure in very small and simple things. Something I prescribe to myself.

So I thought for the next wee while I might blog about the very small things that give me great delight, and the back story to them.

Sylvia Quinn's Pancakes

I decided, at 9pm, to make pancakes. Not the thin French pancakes, but the thick pancakes I had as a child, when we visited our neighbours the Quinns.

Sylvia Quinn made these pancakes, and I loved them. Though I have to say hers looked much better than my first ever attempt. I think my next attempt will be better timed, and I'll reduce the temperature by a notch.

But still, they were extremely nice, and just what I was in the mood for. I had them with my very own Plum and Apple Jam. The recipe came from Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer and the pancake recipe was inspired by the Little House on the Prairie books. Very apt as I'm watching the DVD at the mo.

I had a very good day today. I had a home day, got up at 7am, did some housework, had breakfast, did some work, went to the gym, had lunch, read for a while, did some more work, lit the first fire of the season, watched Strictly, played piano, worked some more, then made pancakes. Now I'm on the couch being cuddled by a warm cat, about to watch some telly.

In Honour of Orange-Striped Friends

After buying my Indigo Cashsoft 4-ply to knit my new TV jumper, I wanted to find the correct hazy stripe to complement it and my imagination fixed on a vibrant yellow-jelly colour. I marched to John Lewis at lunchtime during work on Thursday, only to find they didn't have the colour of Kidsilk Haze I wanted. I checked the Rowan shade cards and lo and behold, I had made the colour up. I then pulled out all the balls of Kidsilk Haze in the display and held them against a ball of Indigo Cashsoft. There were a few colours that I really liked: a midnight blue, a toned-down corny-yellow, but I couldn't quite reject this bright orange, even though I wasn't sure it was the best colour for the project. But being partial to orange/ginger striped things, I bought the ball and it's now incorporated into my jumper. I like it. 

Kidsilk Haze is the most amazing wool. I could easily buy every colour just for its beauty.

Hagos has gone on tour for six weeks. I found it very hard seeing him off this time. Not sure why. And I'll see him once a week for the first four weeks, which is good. And I have plenty to occupy myself with while he's away. I think we were having good fun while he was at home for three weeks, and we wanted the fun to continue.

I have a few nice projects to look forward to in the autumnal months. I got two gardening books out of the library recently and have discovered from them that I can plant garlic and onions to grow over the winter months, which I'm very excited about because I thought gardening was over for the year.

My New TV Jumper

I can barely believe I'm knitting another TV jumper. After TV jumper number four I swore I never would again, but with winter coming on, and having just finished knitting JJ's Christmas jumper I really felt the need for an easy, but beautiful, jumper for myself. In 4 ply.

I chose Rowan Cashsoft because it feels so good, and the colour Indigo because I really suit blue.

This time I bought an extra three balls of wool and plan to knit long sleeves, and if there's any wool left over I will make winter mittens. I have it all planned!

And then of course I want to make my winter coat, and am currently veering towards a deep blue, plain tweed. With a matching blue tweed skirt. Mmmmmm.