By Helen

treble, treble, treble…

The building work is going well.  I can see the finished results although they are still a week away, and after that comes the decorating, the flooring and the tidying.  Oh goodness the tidying!  After that comes the cushions, lots and lots of cushions to crochet and sew together.  I am looking forward to it soooo very much.  I already have the colours in minds that I am going to use.  It will come of little surprise that purple features quite heavily, as does teal, burnt orange and rich deep berry and earth colours.  I can’t wait!  I have started some of the cushion covers, just some simple crocheted granny squares, similar to that I crocheted for my friend a while ago.  There is something really soothing about crocheting a granny-square; the repetitive nature of crocheting treble after treble after treble…

I am crocheting with Zauberball yarn, like with the last cushion I crocheted, but this one is going to be two large granny squares, rather than lots of smaller ones.  I love the colour change of the yarn.  I love the colours contrasting together.  I love the bursts of brightness against the deep purple tones…

taking time out, part one…

Last week Si and I decided to take some time out and go on an adventure.  Or more to the point we decided to leave the builders to get on with it while we has some grand days out.  Can you guess where we went..?

No?  Here are some more clues…

That’s right, we went to London.  We spent a glorious weekend exploring the sites of our capital city.  We wondered the streets and visited Westminster Abbey (you might remember a small wedding took place their last year), Tate to look at the amazing Pre-Raphaelite exhibition and shopped at Liberty.  Wow!  What a shop.  The inside was as amazing as the out…

You might be able to guess my favourite department..?

And yes, I did buy some yarn…

After the busyness of London, we travelled out to Cornwall, to stay with Si’s Mum and Dad.  I’ll tell you about that another time.  At the moment I am quite tired.  The last ten days, haven’t been the easiest.  The river Ouse, in York, flooded (is still in flood) and lapped its way to the end of my street.  A massive, mass-IVE, MASSIVE tank you to everyone who kept their fingers crossed: it worked and fortunately the river didn’t actually make it into the street.  A massive thank you also goes out to the City of York Council workers who worked through the night sandbagging and pumping out, without them...well you can imagine what would have happened.  Plus, going away leaving builders in the house inevitably lead to phone calls!  I’ll let you all about it later…

looking forward…

Looking forward to crocheting this…

…yarn by Blue Heron Yarns, that I bought last year at Harrogate.

Looking forward to seeing the sparkle and colour changes…

…crocheted into a ripple scarf.

Looking forward to this…

…becoming my new shower-room.

Looking forward to this…

…becoming an en-suite for guests staying at my home.

Looking forward to this…

…becoming a dining / sitting / garden / crafting (yes crafting) room.

As you can imagine we are having lots and lots of work done on the house, so posting might be a tad sporadic over the coming weeks.  Stick with me; I can’t wait to show you all the crocheting for the new room (the one we can’t decide what to call).  There are lot of other exciting crochet project which I want to share with you…

merry berry…

After August’s failed attempted at crocheting a flower of the month, I put real effort into crocheting September’s.  I have to confess what I came up with, isn’t technically a flower – more of a berry.  But you wouldn’t get the berry without the flower first, so I guess that is ok?  I also decided to carry on the Autumnal theme, started at the beginning of the month.  Here’s what I crocheted…

Can you tell what it is?  I hope so.  Here’s a closer look…

Yep!  It’s a crocheted Bramble!  What could be more Autumnal that brambles and apples, the very best ingredients for a crumble, to put on your porridge or morning pancakes, to make into jam?  I won’t be making any jam this year, like I did last year, on the grounds that Si and I have failed miserably to eat all of last year’s supply.  Must try harder!

fabric flowers: going solo…

Do you remember the fabric flowers which I made, on a course at Grace and Jacob?  I finally found the time to have ago at making fabric flowers on my own; going solo.  It is one thing making gorgeous flowers with the safety-net of a tutor on-hand; to see you through your muddles.  It is quite another thing to make, equally, wonderful flowers in the comfort of your own home, with no safety-net, no tutor.  Fortunately, at the course, the very talented Bryony had given us hand-outs; so with those in hand and fabric circles cut I was ready to make flowers.  I started out by making the flowers which we made at the course.  And you know what?  They turned out rather well…

With confidence growing I decided to experiment, using different sized petals to make single flowers…

The one which I am the most proud of is this…

What do you think?  I just love this; I think that it is my favourite fabric flower to date.  I love its size: it is teeny-tiny small.  The flower is only just the size of a penny!  Yes a penny…

So, so cute.  I want to make more.  I want a whole florist full of fabric flowers!  The perfect excuse to but more fat-quarters! 

Ramshambles...

Often when I go shopping for yarn, I end up at Ramshambles.  So, I thought that it was about time that I gave you a proper introduction to the wonderful Aladdin’s cave which is Ramshambles.  For those of you who don’t know the fabulous city of York; Ramshambles, as the same suggests, is situated on one of York’s most famous street; the Shambles.  Once on the Shambles, who can’t miss the shop…

Pop inside the shop, and you are in for real treat.  The shop is quite literally stuffed to the rafters with all different types of yarn…

The stock changes regularly, giving you the perfect excuse for frequent visits!  Ramshambles has just opened a workshop, the Wool Rom, for classes and clinics.  Katey and all her staff are brilliant at offering guidance and advice for when things aren’t going quite to pattern.  Ramshambles is the perfect place to stock up on yarn.

Go on next time you are in York visit Ramshambles...

a really great yarn…

I love how the world so often provides us with things which perfectly complement each-other: strawberries and cream, coffee and cake, and stilton and port.  I also love how the world provides us with opposites; day and night, light and dark, hot and cold.  So, it stands to reason after my resent purchase of the world’s worst yarn, I would come across the world’s best yarn.  Okay, the yarn in question might not be the very best in the world; but in my world it is up-there, right and the top.  The yarn crochets the cutest little flower brooches…

What is the yarn?  I here you ask.  It is a baby alpaca, merino mix, which the very talented Debbie Bliss has combined together to bring us Paloma.  It is fantastic!  The yarn has already been worked together once, and looks almost plaited…

Do you see what I mean?  If you look closely at the green and purple, can you see how the colour isn’t solid?  It is a blend of different colours and shades; this just makes the yarn even better. The yarn isn’t new to me, I actually first came across it at Harrogate, last year.  I crocheted it into a Christmas tree.  Then in the true tradition of yarn, it was put away in my stash draw and forgotten about.  I stumbled across it a few weeks ago, and it screamed crochet me into a flower.  So that is what I did!  I crocheted with a small hook (the recommended is 10mm) and love the result which looks almost felted.  Perhaps the best thing about the yarn is the range of colour which is available….

Go on treat yourself, to some Debbie Bliss Paloma, you won’t be disappointed

happy, happy, happy, September...

I love September, I know that I said that last year.  Yes, I will say it again next year.  I can’t help it I love, loVE, LOVE September.  September is special.  You have the promise, still, of summer warmth and sunshine. There is a hint in the air that the world is changing and very soon we will be treated to a kaleidoscope of colours from the trees as they turn towards their Winter rest.   The evenings start to draw in, as night lengthens and day shortens.  I love that too.  I even love the thought of dark, cold nights, snuggled under jumpers and blankets in front of an open fire, eating stews and fruit crumbles. I can’t wait.  In celebration of the colours to come I finished crocheting my granny square cushion cover.  I am sooooo pleased with it, ready for the ta-dah moment…

It is made from Zauberball yarn and I love how the colours change, just like those of Autumn.  The colours remind me of one of my favourite childhood books, the Brambly Hedge, stories, stories about mice that lived in hedge rows.  Now my only problem is choosing where the cushion should take pride of place…

Hope that you enjoy your September just as much as I will..? 

crochet sunflower pattern...

August has been soooo very busy, I am afraid that there is no crochet flower of the month, this month.  I simply have not found the time.  That said my month has been quite flowery, with the fabric flower course and my crochet for Yorkshire Day.  Instead of bringing you a new crochet flower of the month, I thought that I would share with you the pattern for last month’s Sunflower…

Here goes, using dark brown yarn to crochet the Sunflower’s centre

Round 1: into a magic loop 2ch, 9dc, slst to join…

Round 2: 2ch, 1dc into each ch, slst to join…

Round 3: 2ch, 1dc into same dc, 1dc into next dc, *2dc, 1dc,* slst to join…

Round 4: 2ch, 1dc into same dc, 1dc into next 2 dc, *2dc, 1dc, 1dc, * slst to join…

Round 5: 2ch, 1dc into same dc, 1dc into next 3 dc, *2dc, 1dc,1 dc,1 dc,* slst to join and fasten off.  Weave in any ends to secure.  Crochet two of these…

To make the petals, use a lighter coloured yarn. 

Round 6: join the two centres together using  double crochet…

When you are part way round joining the two centres, lightly stuff them…

Then finishing joining together…

Now crochet the rest of the petals..

Round 7:  7ch and slst into dc…

Repeat this all the way round, until you have finished your Sunflower…

I used a garden stick as my stem, which I covered using green yarn slip stitched around it.  I planted my Sunflowers in plasticine and then covered the pot with a simple crochet cover in rainbow colours for extra cheerfulness.  I’ll share that pattern later: if you want?

Go on crochet yourself some sunshine!

 

baking up a treat…

It seems like ages since I blogged about baking, in fact it was way back in June .  That is not to say I haven’t baked since then, I have baked lots and lots.  This last week Si has been a bit under the weather and I have to confess that I am not the best of nurse-maids.  I get frustrated, even though I know it is not his fault that he is feeling unwell.  I get annoyed that we don’t eat together; Si seems to have existed to toast and tomatoes soup (from a tin).   Tonight I am going to tempt him with chicken casserole with herby dumplings.  Yesterday I decided to stop feeling frustrated and really treat myself.  I decided to bake something just for me.  I decided to bake an old favourite, something that my Grandma used to bake.  I decided to bake really posh sausage rolls!  I scaled back the recipe so it was just for me, just for one, and this is what I ended up with…

I would encourage you to make these, they are wonderful, perfect as a treat.  Here is the recipe that I made, just for me, but it is really easy to scale up to feed as many hungry mouths as you have.

For one person, you will need:

• 3oz plain flour
• A pinch of mustard powder
• 1 1/2oz of butter, or margarine – whatever you have to hand
• 1oz grated cheese
• 1 egg – separated
• Water
• 1 sausage – skin taken off
• Chutney – I used some of my homemade tomatoes, date and apple chutney from last year

This is what you do:

• Put the flour, mustard powder, butter and cheese in a bowl and rub together until the butter has incorporated into the mixture.
• Add the egg yolk (keep the white you will need it later) and mix in.  Add a little water to combine the pastry together
• Chill the pastry and then roll it out into a rectangle shape
• Spread the chutney over the pastry rectangle
• Spread the sausage meat over the chutney
• Gently roll the pastry towards you, to make a big sausage roll
• Cut the sausage roll into to equal slices and put these onto a lined baking sheet
• Brush the egg white over
• Pop in the oven and cook at gas 7 for 15 minutes then gas 6 for a further 15 minutes
• If you can leave to cool for a few minutes (I struggle with this)

Enjoy!