Bulbs, Books and a Boy :: Five on Friday

Hello there, the sun is shining but it's a chilly day. Bulbs are sprouting up and it all looks lovely outside. Ignore any weeds, I've not felt like gardening, the soil here is clay so quite slippery when wet. When we go out to fetch coal, or Angus goes out, a well worn path of clay mud appears. You can imagine the mess at this time of year. We do have towels down in the conservatory, but dogs can't wipe their own feet, so it can be a performance letting him out. We have a bowl of soapy water and a flannel... he's not keen but would happily walk in streams. 

1) Bulbs: Glorious Daffodils, more to come. The last photo will soon be a beautiful display of bright red tulips. 

2) Finished book: Afternoon Tea at the Sunflower Café by Milly Johnson. I've read it before, but found it in a charity shop and read it again. It's about a cleaning company, infidelity and revenge, with lots of issues along the way. Milly Johnson always tells a good story with a deeper side gently unravelling. 

3) Library books: Every four weeks, the mobile library visits the villages. I place an order and await notification... then they all appear at once! I've started on Sweet Tomorrow's by Debbie Macomber. Her books are always entertaining, very light and often one of the character's knit. When I feel in a slump about reading, Debbie Macomber gets me back reading again. I love how her books (American) say 'visit with you'. In the UK we'd say, going to visit or something similar... it's not as cosy. Two of the books are non-fiction and the Anthony Horowitz book, I actually cancelled that book but it arrived anyway. I'll scan read it and return it. My eldest son & fiancée brought me the last book in this series for Christmas, so it will be good to roughly follow the story line.  

4)  Audiobook: Echoes in the Cotswolds by Rebecca Tope, book 19 out of 21 part series. I've listened to about half of these on the library app and borrowed the other books to read. They've gone on a bit but they were an enjoyable series. Thea Osbourne with her dog Hepsie (Hepzibar) is a house sitter who is hired to look after the house whilst the family are away. Things always go wrong, often resulting in a body for the police. There are family changes for Thea which create tension at home. Overall a light entertaining mystery.

5) Angus and his hedgehog: A new toy from Johnny's girlfriend, he carries new toys round with him for a while. I was sat on the sofa reading, so he brought me an upside down hedgehog.

What gardening jobs do you do in February?
What are you reading at the moment? 
Do you belong to your local library? 

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Yarn News :: Five on Friday

Hello there, this week on Five on Friday, it's all about yarn. There are a few WIP's (work in progress), a finish and some hand cream to help with the knitting. 

I usually have several projects waiting to be worked on - a washcloth, a garment and a pair of socks are the main ones. If I crochet a blanket, or join the knit a knit-a-long for Lent or Advent, that changes things. I also have a cross stitch waiting to be finished too. It's simpler to concentrate on 2 or 3 and leave the rest waiting. 

1) Blue Jumper - originally knitted in mauve acrylic. I was persuaded by the yarn shop (many years ago), to knit this in a cheaper yarn. I was inexperienced at choosing materials and felt that it was a poor choice. My tension was likely very loose as it was far too big. I've started again in the correct yarn content 50/50 cotton & wool... it's lovely yarn, soft but holding its shape. You do need to concentrate on the pattern, as there's lots of counting throughout.  

2) Purple Washcloth - A finish, knitted in 100% Rico cotton. A good project for taking to Knit & Natter.  

3) Washcloth - knitted in broken rib - 1st row knit, 2nd row alternate knit & purl, repeat both rows. I took this with me to the village coffee morning (monthly). It's in the church hall, the volunteers serve tea & coffee in dainty cups & saucers. They always serve some baked goods, either toasted tea cakes, scones or other cakes. This week it was a delicious cheese scone, with lots of butter. 

I'm the only one that takes my knitting, one month I took the purple socks below to work on. 

4) Socks - King Cole purple self patterning 4 ply yarn. At the moment, I'm still knitting Winwick Mum's Sock-a-long by staying with the basic sock, I'm improving the fit of the sock each time. 

5) Hand care - recently my hands have been dry and cracked, particularly around my thumb. Previously I've used foot cream with Urea in the ingredients. It helped but I was hoping for something a little more natural. I've tried natural beeswax and the Aloe Vera plant rubbed into my fingertips. I've also tried drinking more water, as it seems if our bodies are dehydrated, the fingertips suffer first and can crack open. In the end, I purchased some O'Keeffe's Working Hands hand cream, it's not natural but promises good results. 

Overall taking care of hands, helps with the whole knitting experience. 
I was getting up early to spend 20 minutes knitting, before the day starts. It was nice and quiet, a time to think before the rush of the 'to do' list. It's something that I need to get back to. 

If you have any tips about taking care of yourself to improve knitting, do let me know?
Also any tips for not getting overloaded with projects waiting to be made?  

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In My Kitchen :: Five on Friday

Hello there, I hope you are all ok. 
This week my Five on Friday mostly revolves around food. It has been cold, wet and grey recently with few spells of sunshine. I'm still enjoying the Movement to Music group, I've persuaded my neighbour to join in, so we travel together. You need your wits about you as the start up exercises wake up your brain. When the music starts, it gets easier each week as you remember the routines. I have the songs on Spotify, so can play / practice odd bits during the week ha ha. 

1) On my table - Daffodils bring cheer inside, beautiful delicate golden trumpets, so elegant. This vase (probably from a charity shop) causes arguments over its colour. I say green, others say blue. Having looked at yarn colour bands, it's probably Jade. What do you think?

2) Mackerel Pate - Having IBS and also wanting to eat less processed food, I tend to make a lot of my own simple creations. Though I like mushroom pate and course peppercorn pate (from when I worked for Waitrose around 30 yrs ago), I don't like the idea of making traditional liver pate. I do eat liver, I just don't want to blitz it all up. 
I found this very simple recipe of Mackerel Pate that mixes very quickly with a fork. The chives can be swapped for the green tops of spring onions, also extra lemon juice instead of the vinaigrette if wanted. It keeps for a few days in the fridge and can be used up, on top of a jacket potato.  

3) Sourdough starter - Fed and fermenting ready for Friday's pizza. After rising to over double its height, it's now mixed up as a dough and the starter put back in the fridge. It has had 4 'lift and folds' in the large covered bowl and will now sit in the warm lounge until the morning. Then be placed in the fridge until I'm ready to divide it between 2 pizza plates, topping it with ingredients after an hour. It will be delicious. 
The book that I follow is The Sourdough Whisperer by Elaine Boddy link to see inside. Elaine Fodbod on Instagram is very helpful, any queries, she is sure to help if she can. 

4) Hot Chocolate in my special mug - Not a homemade recipe but a tasty instant hot chocolate drink, free of gums and other UPF (ultra processed food). It may still have one ingredient that others object to, but I'm happy with it. It's all about reducing processed food, not making life difficult. 
A few years ago I bought myself a crochet mug from the yarn shop - for my Christmas stocking. Last December I bought the matching crochet tin. You could store anything inside of course, a biscuit or maybe some clips to hold your work together whilst you sew up your work. I chose the later. 

5) Gluten Free Cheese Straws - Sadly this recipe booklet is no longer available and not on the Dove Freee site online either. These are quick and easy to make, I always make double and happily take 2 or 3 as lunch if I'm out for the morning. I use Dove's plain flour which contains a blend of flour. I've since purchased Dove Freee Cookbook from Amazon (I think), the recipe wasn't in there either. 

I'm finding that many Gluten Free recipes use Xanthan Gum including Dove Freee recipes. I'll let you google how these Ultra Processed Food ingredients affect some people. Also it's interesting to note that they aren't actually food either, It's shocking! 
For gluten free baking, I can of course understand how all the gums and other ingredients can mimic gluten, stopping that crumbly texture... but I actually like the crumbly texture in cakes and biscuits/cookies. Regular cakes can stick around teeth, after years not eating gluten and now limiting it considerably, that's how I prefer baked goods. 

Incidentally the sourdough bread and pizza is made with regular wheat flour. The Whole process of fermenting the wheat slowly, ensures it's easier on digestion and therefore better for Ibs sufferers. Alana from the A Little Bit Yummy website has lots to say about this. She is another very helpful lady with lots of delicious recipes... I have her cookbook too.  

 

Well that's a wrap for my Five on Friday, have a lovely weekend.
Ttfn (ta ta for now). 
Cathy x

 

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Craft & Garden

Hello there, I hope you are well.
Yesterday was the local WI meeting, I went with a friend and met another 2 ladies from my village. One of the ladies, I see at the monthly coffee morning, the other was her daughter. Sadly I didn't win anything in the raffle. After the business (minutes of last meeting read out, any notices, birthday gifts handed out etc) we listened to a speaker, the lady accompanied by her husband talked about their involvement in Tanzania. It was interesting because the WI is not a religious organisation (though we do sing Jerusalem), I'm so used to hearing about Christian involvement in helping other countries - such as Compassion UK in Kenya where we sponsor a girl... that to hear how they manage to find money, mostly from family and friends, then go and help was amazing. 
I felt that I recognised them both, they are around 70+ years, so after the meeting, I went and spoke to them. It turned out that they are indeed familiar, serving in the Co-operative health store in town. It's a partner run store, quite small and not related to the nationwide Co-op stores at all. I think that the work they do is amazing, especially as they aren't part of a big organisation and have no major financial input.

I wasn't really sure what I was going to show you on this week's Five on Friday, it falls in with craft and garden, so here we go.  

 1) A Christmas gift from Mark. It's a wooden Hare coaster which I think is too good to be used. One day I may use it but for now, it sits on the table next to me in the lounge. I love it.

2) Kalanchoe plant, a gift from my son and Fiancée. I hope that it survives for a while... any plants that are needing repotting or look half dead, I take to a lady in our old village. She loves tending to them, whereas I don't. I trim plants as needed and feed them in the growing season but that's all. I did re-pot a Christmas cactus once but the roots never spread into the soil. I once followed the lady's advice for an orchid and it developed growth and flowers. That is my limit though.  

3) Finished Craft Project - A knitted shawl for a lady that I work for. It was supposed to be for Christmas. Anyway it's finished now. It's knitted in James Brett Marble chunky yarn, on size 6 mm UK needles. I can't say that I like kitting on big needles, Aran weight yarn is the thickest that I'm happy to knit.  

4) Angus outside topping up his Vitamin D 

5) The view from my kitchen window at the front of the bungalow and the heather round the back  garden. The view is of the Lincolnshire Wolds, which I can see reasonably clearly, though not any detail. The soon as the camera is pointed at it, it's blurry or looks non-existent. It's a lovely view that I never tire of seeing whilst washing up. The bush needs cutting back twice a year, with sharp thorns all over it, Mark bought some long leather protective sleeves. He chain sawed the top off to bring it to about 5ft tall. It's supposed to stay at 4ft according to the deeds on the property. 

Bye for now.

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