When all else fails ...

♥

Do you ever get those weeks when nothing quite goes right ? 

When things that should be straightforward and easy to accomplish are suddenly stood stock still, 

right in front of you, resembling a very high brick wall ?

All too familiar to all of us I'm sure .... 

and my last three weeks have certainly been a little challenging at times. 

It started with the f word, flu - it quietly sneaked up on me, 

and after not having had it for about 10 years , it decided to wipe me out for just over two weeks. 

And it was proper, ache to the tips of your fingers flu.

Not even crochet helped !

But, slowly it went and life resumed as normal and I headed back to work. 

All good.

But no, there was another little pile of bricks in the form of a brick wall there too, 

as it seems these bugs and viruses are catching and my work computer was poorly,

 very, very poorly.

So poorly in fact that it had to go to Computer Hospital.

Ok, I thought, that's not a problem , I'll just take my laptop to work and use that.

Well clearly that would have been far too easy !

Quite coincidentally, my laptop decided it didn't want to send or receive emails anymore, 

and that it too was going to take a few days out.

I really love I T when it works, I really don't love I T when it doesn't !

Aaaannnyyyyway .... 

by the time the weekend came I decided that all things electrical 

were no longer my friends and what was needed was some serious Pootling .....

nothing taxing or thought inducing, 

nothing stressful or difficult.

And all it took to turn things around were two tiny little pots of paint, 

a couple of little paint brushes

and an Elf house.

This is what it looked like before ....

and this is what it looked like after a couple of hours of the most blissful therapy.

Of course there had to be a big reveal .....

and all in all , 

I'd say it went down pretty well :-) ! 

Elf loves it.

And then, as is the way with these things, one thing led to another ....

the little blue car

became a cream car

and then it was time to fully embrace the fact that the 1st day of December 

was just around the corner and all the kitchen decorations came out.....

from tiny Christmas cottages

to bells and ribbons and stars

and all the rest of the little Christmas pixies were unwrapped 

from their cardboard box home and 

placed around the kitchen.

 They each have their own place to sit

and some clearly have very important jobs to do !

I love them.

They make me smile every time I look at them

 and in our house they always mark the arrival of December

 and all the festivities to come.

Happy 1 st of December everyone !

♥

Autumn Wrap

Autumn Wrap.

♥

Finally, finally I have managed to get around to putting together the

 pattern for my Autumn wrap.

Flu,work and just general day to day stuff seems to have got in the way somewhat -

but I got there in the end !

I have had the idea for this shawl at the back of my mind for some time now and so 

when I saw this beautiful hand dyed wool by Eden Cottage Yarn

 I knew straight away that this was the yarn I had been looking for.

I wanted the design for my wrap to be really simple and contemporary,

                            made in a stitch that would be easy to do and give a good drape.

These are the approximate final measurements of the shawl.

Anyway , here it is .......

The yarn is a DK and I used a size 4.5 mm hook.
I used 4 x 100g skeins.

The wrap is worked in a TR stitch.

The pattern is worked starting at the left hand corner and worked all the way

 across to the right hand corner.

Start by making a chain of 5.

Work a TR in to the 3rd chain from the hook.

TR in to the next 2 st, CH2 and turn.

As you work you will see that you have one straight edge and one curved edge. 

This next row is the start of your straight edge.

At the beginning of each straight edge row: TR in to the first st and work the row in TR all the way along. At the end of the row CH 2 and turn.

This next row is the start of your curved edge.

At the beginning of each curved edge row: DTR in to the 1 st and then TR in to the same st. Work the row in TR all the way along. At the end of the row CH2  and turn.

Continue working this pattern of one straight edged row, one curved edge row, one straight edge row etc until your wrap is 67 sts ( approx 43cm )wide.

You are now going to just work straight rows ( 67sts ) of TR's, remembering to CH 2 and turn at the end of each row. My rectangle part of my wrap measures 52 cm .

At the end of your rectangle you need to start decreasing to mirror the shape of the start of your wrap.

On your first decreasing row have your curved shape edge on the right hand side and begin your first decreasing row as follows: Work a DTR in to the first st, but leave the final loop on your hook, then work a TR in to the second st, again leaving the final loop on your hook. You will now have 3 loops on your hook, yarn over and pull through all 3 loops. Work in TR to the end of the row, ch 2 and turn.

Your next row is a straight row of TR , remembering to CH 2 and turn at the end.

Continue alternating your decreasing rows and straight rows until your wrap matches the first half when folded in half down the middle of the rectangle.
Finish off and sew in your end.

The next step is to work two rounds of DC all the way around the edge of your wrap, remembering to work 2 or 3 DC in to your corner stitches so that your wrap does not lose its shape.

To finish off my wrap I added a bobbly edge.

There is a full tutorial on how to do this edging over at Once upon a Pink Moon 

I worked mine slightly differently to the original as I worked my bobbles straight from my previous DC round rather than looping one bobble to the other.

And there you have it .... one very snuggly Autumn wrap.

Happy Crocheting.

♥

An apply weekend

♥

 All in all this weekend was a very apply kind of affair.

For several weeks now, as the apples on our trees have ripened they have been picked, 

chopped and frozen in preparation for the arrival of Chutney Day.

And this Saturday was that day !

In the last couple of years it has become a bit of a ritual in our house with the

 finished chutney being much enjoyed for several months afterwards - 

and one very special and very large jar being set aside especially for Christmas.

The smell as it is cooking completely fills the house and the whole day is

 pretty much all about the grand cook up - 

with it happily bubbling away on the hob for several hours.

This years large harvest of apples meant we had two pans on the go -

increasing our output by a full 50% on last year - Happy Days !

♥

The recipe couldn't be simpler, and there is definitely no particular science to it,

 as its very much an everything in all at once kind of cook up.

12 lbs of apples  ( after peeling )

3 large onions

(We also added a couple of pounds of rhubarb to our mix this year.)

5 lbs of Soft Brown Sugar

3 pints of vinegar

8 oz salt

4 oz garlic

Pickling spices ( placed in a muslin bag )

4 oz mustard seeds

6 heaped tsp cayenne pepper.

2 oz ground ginger

2 lb sultanas

♥

We doubled the above recipe and made 35 jars ( all sizes ) of chutney.