Frivolous knitting!

I saw the pattern, I loved the design, I tried on the sample that someone had knitted to inspire the propective buyer and I was enchanted!  It was a frivolous design that looked fun and the wool was so soft, I didn't need to be persuaded and anyway, I had birthday money!

It knitted up so fast on biggish needles and the pattern was always changing so it kept the interest...in a couple of days one glove was completed.

I got to learn how to knit a rosette as well as a few different stitches I had never tried before....always learning, always more to challenge me, whether it be knitting or otherwise!

Never "blocked" a piece before, don't know why, will probably always do it now,  makes a flatter finsh on the edges, helped by You tube in demonstrating a neat way to do seams....so on reflection, not so frivolous after all!

Finished result, fingernails hidden as I'd been moving mud encrusted paving slabs that day and I was ashamed of the tattered and battered look....My nails will never be  manicured perfection....too much chicken poo and weeding.... Still the gloves look okay, I just need to wear them now...which is, of course the whole point of the exercise!

Spring, watch ya sowing?

"If you do not sow in the Spring, you will not reap in the Autumn"   Irish Proverb

So what am I sowing this year?  What am I hoping to reap as the year comes to an end?

Do I have aims, hopes, aspirations, oh yes, just a few..... :)

Will I be making a list? I expect so...Checking it twice? Understatement....

 The words for the year....Prepared, Productive, Purposeful and Party! All with sub headings and bullet points that elaborate further....  okay, it works for me!

I expect some of it will be recorded on here, working stuff through, living stuff out. It certainly looks like a year full of challenges for the taking. Will be learning to adjust to the rhythm of fast and slow and plan to enjoy both to the full.

Someone once said "Life is like a box of chocolates...." we all know the rest of the sentence....

Whatever I get, I pray I will honour Him and wake each morning with a renewed sense of expectation for what the day holds and how I might walk through it, perhaps meeting some of you along the way!

I had two of these last night!!!!  I just love the presentation with the heart in the middle.

And this is a sculpture called  "Never Let Go" by Jane Osmond which I stood and looked at for ages at New Wine, last year. I only have the postcard, but I loved it!

Just wanted it there to mark the start of the Year.

I wonder, what are you sowing into this year?

Due to popular demand! Butterscotch Meringue Pie

Served this when friends came over for a meal last night. It was one of the first recipes I remember my (future) Mother in law cooking for us. Enjoy!

Butterscotch Meringue Pie


Shortcrust pastry to line an 8"  deep pie dish.

Bake on Gas 5 for 15-20 minutes until sealed

Meanwhile make butterscotch filling:

Butterscotch Filling

2oz butter
4oz dark brown muscovado sugar
1/4pt boiling water
2 level Tbsp cornflour
1 level Tbsp plain flour
1/2 pt milk
2 egg yolks
2 drops vanilla essence

Meringue

2 egg whites
4oz sugar (1 use a 3oz white, 1oz brown mix)

Melt butter in saucepan until frothy
Add sugar and stir until browny and gloopy
Boil gently for 2-3 minutes, keep stirring.
Remove from heat and stir in boiling water, there will be hissing and splattering!
Mix together cornflour,flour and vanilla essence in a bowl with the milk.
Pour into saucepan with the brown sugar mixture.
Stir over gentle heat until it starts to thicken.
Remove from heat, add egg yolks
Cook gently for 1 minute.

Pour into pastry case.

Whisk egg whites until stiff
Whisk in most of the sugar, stirring the remaining sugar in with a metal spoon.

Pile on top of pie filling.

Bake  for 20-25 minutes ish on Gas 4

This is delicious hot or cold.

Simple Woman's Daybook

 http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/2011/01/january-2011-daybook-edition.html

Outside my window…it is dusk and drizzly and the chickens are shut up for the night.

I am thinking...how I can release time to blog more often and do all the other stuff I want to get done in 2011

I am thankful for...great mates!

I am learning that…if my BSL(British Sign Language) is to improve I need to watch See Hear and revise my vocab, one thing I have structured into my week now.

From the kitchen...will come savoury mince in condensed Oxtail soup tonight....

I am wearing...a new, smarter and much more professional-looking shirt for work, even if the neckline is a little suspect for me!!!

I am creating...felt coasters and knitting someone a present.

I am going... to see "The King's Speech" at some point in the near future, not sure exactly when....

I am reading…the biography of Sadhu Sundar Singh and being challenged (yet again!)

I am praying…for a lady imprisoned for her faith

Noticing that…pomegranates are actually not a waste of space, full of pips with no flavour.

I am hearing...dh playing his Airport Game on the computer, but at least he has turned the sound down.

Around the house...there are catkins, but need to buy yellow tulips and daffs and some fragrant hyacinths for a convincing spring feel....maybe Saturday!

One of my favourite things...watching the sky change through all the different blues as the evening progresses to night.

Pondering these words…"What we love we grow to resemble" Saint Bernard (never heard of him, will Google...okay, he was French 11th century)

A few plans for the rest of the week: Finish another coaster, soak some pulses and try some new recipes. Sort out some filing which is lying in piles...organised chaos.  Watch an episode of Band of Brothers and see what else happens spontaneously!

A picture to share:

The view from my back garden one morning in the mist, vaguely see Glastonbury Tor in the far distance, slightly to the right.

Felt Needs

Sometimes you just have to start somewhere and get moving with a concept or a decision rather than wait for it to take shape before your eyes in its perfect form...  I ended last year with a number of embryonic ideas whirring around in my head and twice as many questions following up close behind.  Should I start this, should I change that, hand this over or wait.  I questioned my motives, did a reality check....oh you wouldn't believe it.  My mind seems to be mulling stuff over constantly!  Sometimes I say to dh, if I see him staring into space "What are you thinking about?" "Nothing" he replies..."Nothing???!!" I cannot get my head around this.  Even when I wake up in the night I always have a song in my head...bizarre.  I think I ought to do a play list at the end of the week and see what I listen to when I sleep!

So when it came to this blog, I was stirred up to be more proactive this year, stop waiting for the Muse to come and just write a few of my thoughts and observations down as and when...It doesn't have to be perfect and it doesn't have to look like someone else's. It just needs to be authentically me.

So now here we are entering Week 2 of the year and what do I see? Zippo, the blog pages for 2011 are empty, why? Part of my problem is I want to, but I leave it until the evening...too tired. (I keep chicken hours!)  Rethink...need to book time in, only trouble is: have to be in the mood, capture the moment, obviously going to have to work on this one.

The other thing I am learning is that I have something to offer, I don't need to see other people's creativity as the only way. This felting project began by following the pattern exactly, apart from my own choice of colours, I have been guided by the instructions.  Well no, I have been rigidly adhering to them, except that my knots were more visible than they should be, in my eyes...so I had a rethink and halfway though the design I changed two things about the pattern.  Will it work?  We'll see if the coaster stands the test of time.  I am happier with the result, but it isn't perfect.

So my first attempt is a bit wobbly, but I have two more coasters to make and I will improve as I go, that's the point.  I have learned along the way! Thank goodness I am not a perfectionist, that little curve could really do my head in!

,

Thank you, Jane, you were the encouragement I needed to kick start this blog into action this year. We've never met but little by little we are learning about each other's lives.  Also, hello to the person in Togo who popped in to have a read yesterday! 

So here's to 2011 and what's my word for the year? Purposeful....let's see where it leads.