Thimbleina

knitting around

 

I have managed to knit this Christmas tree ornament (don't ask me how I can't remember and it was so fiddley). I knitted the bottom half then stuffed the polystyrene ball in then knitted around it with dpns. I don't think it turned out bad to say I didn't have a pattern. I looked at a few free patterns on the internet but they were either crochet (which I am not very good at) or knitting and then sewing up around the ball and I wanted it to be seamless, I saw someone had done some on a blog but didn't give a tutorial and I can't remember who it was now but they looked so much better than this one. This looks better in real life as it is a silk hand dyed yarn so has a sheen to it and the colour isn't even. I was going to sew things on but I like the simplicity of it.

Anyway have to snuggle up on the sofa with Mister T now as he has a terrible cold and all he really wants to do is sleep - poor thing. Although I may get a bit of hand sewing done while I'm there.

Christmas production line

 

We have a Christmas card production line going here involving copious amounts of glue and ink, I'm not sure the card can stand the weight. At this rate I think this year they will have all the cards ready for the amount they want to send out. Lady A and Mister T are doing a sterling job, just the writing to do now!.

Hope you all are having a great weekend

Origami Christmas

 

I just looked at Domesticali's blog before I was going to go to bed last night - big mistake she had posted a tutorial not only on making a Christmas decoration but also it was Origami, I could not have been more hooked, so I had to make one there and then(even though I really needed sleep). Well here it is, it still needs to have a string added to hang it, but I can see more of these coming in different papers. So hop on over there and give it a try for yourself out of an old magazine - great recycling idea. 

A postie package received

 

I have been a part of the Aqua and Red Fall swap over hosted by Sara at peas and bees and  Apron Thrift Girl. My swap partner was Junk girl and this is the package that I sent to her which she has now received. This package was not as easy as I thought it was going to be. It was to be thrifted items but trying to find anything which wasn't breakable and Aqua was near on impossible so I had to improvise and send some things that I made like the scarf with the aqua flower brooch. I shall interested to see what some of the others that took part came up with. I also made a red gift bag, dishcloth and there was a french postcard and some gratitude cards along with some buttons from my collection. Also not in the photograph was a copy of 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' which was a penguin classic with a pale aqua cover. 

A package of hats

 

Off to the Post Office tomorrow to send out some packages that I have been putting together along with my other Christmas crafting. (shall let you see the others when I know the people have received them)

One of the packages is two hats to Soulemama's caps to babies in Haiti. I know it isn't a big contribution, but it was all the t-shirt material that I had on hand and I did make two others for other babies being expected soon.

If you haven't yet seen this website go over to get the pattern and see if you can help out. 

Off to knit again - I think my fingers are starting to sieze up is this old age setting in or too much knitting??

There is some crafting going on

 

Yes although I haven't shown you recently but I have been knitting up a storm for Christmas. A collection of hats bootees, scarves etc I need to move on with it while I have the bug for it. I am slowly getting down that ever long to-do list. As I have been crafting I didn't replenish the homemade biscuit stock soon enough and the wolves were at the door so a little trip to Waitrose for their beautiful cakes (a treat not had very often). You will only see two in the picture as the little people couldn't wait for theirs any longer they had been so long without homemade biscuits they were desperate

Remember, Remember 5th November...

 

... gunpowder, treason and plot

I know it isn't the 5th of November and that it wasn't last night but we went to the bonfire party last night and this is the best photo I managed of the fireworks which everytime one went off Mister T shouted Aaahhh!!! it is really the first one he has been too although each year for at least a week you can hear them going off at night and see them out of the windows. There wasn't a bonfire or a guy fawkes burning on top which I missed as when I was little I remember the lead up to bonfire night which we always seemed to do on the 5th regardless, we would find some old jumper and trousers and stuff them with newspaper to make a Guy Fawkes and some of the kids in the street would drag theirs around asking 'penny for the guy?' to make some money, often the guy would be dragged around on the homemade go kart or in a wheelbarrow. Then on bonfire night mum would bring out the homemade bonfire toffee which would almost pull your teeth out and make toffee apples as well as the shards that we ate. We would have jacket potatoes dripping with melted butter and hot mushy peas with mint sauce and stand outside in the backgarden eating and freezing while dad would light the bonfire by looking back probably some fairly dangerous means and the Guy Fawkes would be put on top to disappear into the smoke. We would have allsorts of fireworks, catherine wheels, rockets, traffic lights etc and each have a sparkler to make patterns in the night. What fond memories

A peek back to 1984

 

 

 

A few pictures from inside the Twinkle annual of 1984 which I bought from a charity shop yesterday as requested by Jemma who is obviously younger than me as she remembers this actual annual from when she was small. I would have been too old for it in 1984. It is sooo girly I love it and so does Lady A - I was suprised she hadn't completely hidden it from me.

Have a great weekend - we are off to a bonfire party if the weather is okay so if I remember to take my camera I might be able to show you some pictures 

Ribbon and more

 

I was given a few hours off from being mummy today so went to do some of that shopping and browsing that I am unable to do when I have Mister T in tow as he is normally trying to wreck the shop and we have to leave very fast before we get evicted.

I found this gorgeous ribbon well it isn't silky texture it is a cotton texture, but will look great when wrapping some Christmas presents and for putting on the top of Christmas cookie bags.

Also had time to hunt around a few charity shops and found a water jug for the dinner table and a few lovely books for the kids:

 

All this for £2.30 - what a bargain.

I now know what to do with some of those apples

 

I still have quite a few cooking apples to use up, but they are keeping well in the rather cold garage.

I found a cookbook in the library with a few appley recipes. I have shown you another book by the same lady (a dinner lady at a school in the same county that we live in).

Another great recipe book which has recipes in for everyday use for people with kids to cook for. The foreword is written by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

I made the carrot and apple soup yesterday which was really tasty and really easy just onions, carrots, apples and veg stock.

Also this dish which is called Apple Whirligig.

 

This again was a really easy dish and one that the kids helped to make. Just apples cut up on the bottom then 2 tbsps of jam mixed with a little water and poured over the top . Then 50g of butter, mixed into 115g of self raising flour to make a breadcrumb type of mix then add 3 tbsps of milk to bring together to make a dough. Roll dough out to make a rectangle, spread with jam(I used strawberry) then roll like a swiss roll and cut up and arrange over apple then bake in oven for about 15/20 mins at 220degrees celcius (quite hot oven). Then serve with custard. The recipe in the book did say put caster sugar in the flour but I forgot and it didn't need it with the jam