Hooks and Needles

I've had a busy week since adopting a 'bites of the elephant' approach to housework and home organisation in general, but I am pleased with how manageable it all feels and with the results! I have a brief window between the girls' lessons and helping T with his workbooks, so my peppermint tea is here and I have taken some photos of my recent projects that have been finished:

This bowl/jug cover is from Nicky Trench's book, Cute and Easy Crochet, and it is a big version of the jam pot cover. I carried on with the rounds rather manically during a particularly harrowing episode of Call the Midwife, and increased when it sort of looked like it should (difficult to recreate I know!). I then threaded beads on to a length of cotton and double-crocheted round, letting a bead drop every 8th stitch. The beads are glass ones made by fellow CCG member Nicky's sister, and are beautiful colours - and suitably weighty.  Over tea and welshcakes yesterday afternoon, Nicky and I discussed various projects and we are veering more towards herbal salves and foraged foods as spring approaches. I have been using the shampoo bars we made a few weeks ago that have olive oil, beeswax, avocado oil and egg yolks in them. I used the rosemary hair rinse that Nicky had made and it has worked brilliantly! I spritzed it on after rinsing and towel-drying my hair and it was an instant detangler, plus my hair feels wonderfully soft.

On the sock front, I finished the February fair isle socks, and also the ones in the sweet pea yarn:

I am really enjoying knitting socks! I've a new pair on the go at the moment which are from quite a complicated pattern but they are looking good and are for a worthy recipient so I don't mind at all, and being only 50 stitches with DK yarn, are knitting up relatively quickly. I've also brought a pair of Nicky's socks back to finish off for her as I do seem to need about 4 things on the go so I can ring the changes. The kidsilk wrap is growing, but I want it really wide and luxurious so I am not rushing that at all.

Due to the rat infestation I have moved all the poultry down to the other end of the garden and decanted the contents of the compost bins/rat hotels in to old plastic sacks. I will leave the bags to stew for the summer in discrete groups as I don't want to encourage the rodent population to take up residence in amongst them. The ducks have taken to waddling out of the garden and dabbling around in the drainage ditch outside my house which is disgusting, and hardly safe (especially with the chap and his Staffies that regularly ride up the road), so they have been shut in their run. It is now on grass though and they have been making little trenches with their beaks around their bucket. Jean is laying eggs too :-)

Anyway, Tristan and his chemistry workbook need some attention before Rosie goes to tea with some friends from the local school. Back soon with more projects to show you!

Craft update

I've been quite busy with various little crafting projects - like the bee stitch knitted jacket for my one-cup cafetiere:

I also knitted a little bee skep with attached felt bees. I had made an egg cosy in the same design but then gave one to a friend who said it was so nice he'd keep it on his desk as an ornament...so...

I might make a couple more to sell on the stall later in the year. I have also been doing some embroidery on my knitting needle case, which I need to finish as my knitting needles are strewn all over the floor. I wanted to do some flowers and foliage but so far I have done a sweet briar rose:

Nicky came over yesterday for a much-needed CCG crafting session, and she showed me needle felting, button-making and other such inspirational stuff. We made some lavender bags with dried lavender from my parent's garden:

The top one is for Rosie as it's made with the fabric she chose, and the bottom one is for my mum as it'll match the quilt I made for them ages ago. I've also been beetling away with my granny squares:

I've got a way to go before it's finished. I'm tempted to do a really big square in the middle and little ones round the edge but I'll see. I've also had an idea about doing a picture of Henry the cockerel in either needle felting or embroidery. He's so colourful and magnificent, I'll keep an eye out for his colours in threads or combed tops!

I've tried to do some home-ed with the children but as we all seem to be a bit out of sorts and getting on each other's nerves I have declared today an inset day! It's always tricky the day after their dad weekend so discretion being the better part of valour, I'll concentrate on some gentle activities to regain some harmony.

Party Time

Today was the day of the CCG Christmas Party! It was a select gathering but all the members of the Guild attended - and as the Country Crafters Guild consists of Me and Nicky, it meant we could have 3 Heston Blumenthal pine-sugar dusted mince pies each :-)

Yum. We also discussed the projects and crafts we'd like to complete/try/attempt. I'd like to have a go at needle felting and Nicky is contemplating knitting an Afghan throw, and of course, there will be the seasonal produce to preserve. We decided to press on with the Sock-a-Month challenge by casting on our January socks!

I am absolutely loving the yarn - it's British blue-faced Leicester wool from the Natural Dye Studio and feels lovely and soft. The colour is gorgeous too; I am really in to my greens at the moment!

Earlier on in the day I wanted to make the most of the mild weather and try and split one of my lupins as I need some space to fit other plants in and also need to do some dividing so I can populate my new border. I took out one of the smaller ones but it was still quite a whopper:

However, I took some tiny plants from the base, a bit like this one:

and potted them up in gritty compost and trimmed the leaves right back. I have no idea if they'll take, but I've put them in the greenhouse and I'll see if they produce some roots.

I love seeing a tray full of cuttings! So full of promise. The greenhouse is also being used for another purpose; I had lost Ida the hen earlier in the day and eventually found her in there having a bathe in the slightly drier earth. Mary also took advantage:

So as you can see they really appreciate my recent purchase of a fancy dustbath and perchery station with oven-baked sand :-/

The bees enjoyed the relative warmth too and I thought I'd give them a feed and use up some old waxy honey cappings that have been sitting in a tupperware on my worktop since the spring. I diluted it with hot water and popped it in a dish with a bit of sponge so they didn't drown, then placed one in the sunshine near the entrance of each hive:

I did also get round to giving the bathroom a thorough clean and Rosie said it looked much better and not so haunted...a reference to the cobwebs!!

So, it's now time for a podcast and a few more rows of the socks :-)