Easter Break

Winter is still hanging on and the days are cold between 2-5 degrees celsius, but now the hour has sprung forward to British summertime the days are longer. The birds are singing and the sun is shining, if you can find shelter away from the wind the sun has warmth to it. Over the Easter weekend we visited my family in Dorset and on Saturday went down to Durlston Country Park near Swannage.

 There is an Earth timeline walk charting the earths formation and change from molten ball of lava through to the beautiful place it is today. Along the path there were big stones nearly six foot tall with fossils in them and this was the most stunning (top right). We visited the castle which housed a cafe restaurant - booking before you go for a meal is essential as it is quite small. If you want morning coffee or afternoon tea you can sit on the balcony if its not too cold. The views from the top of the castle were beautiful, this is looking towards Swannage and Poole (top left)

 Below the castle there is a stone planet, which was carved in 1890 by George Burt, stone mason and former owner of the castle. The stone earth records the world which has seen many changes since in names and borders. From the position of the globe you can look up to see the turrets of the castle.

As we had not been able to have lunch at the castle we moved on to Swannage for the remainder of our day. Passing the Swannage steam railway and just in time to see the arrival of the steam engine pulling a train packed with families on Easter break travelling down from Corfe Castle or Norden Station where there is a big carpark. The engine seen shunting back to the end of the station line is BR Standard class 4 80104 the picture below shows the same engine just coming into the station approach.

 We had lunch on the seafront at the Quayside Restaurant upstairs in the Mowlem Theatre. The food was delicious and beautifully presented.

The tide was in and the wind was blowing straight off the sea so it was very bracing but the sun was out so it was lovely to be there.

 On our way back through the town of Swannage Em found a friend! Jeremy The Macheosaurus Rex who has his own facebook page. He was outside The Pottery Place on his own surf board how cool is that!

The remainder of the Easter weekend were spent with the family. Amongst the Easter decorations are the two lambs I knitted from Jean Greenhowes Christmas booklet one is cream and the other rainbow splash (King Cole yarn) 

 

Hope you had a good weekend Jane x

Weather

Whether the weather be fine,

Or whether the weather be not,

Whether the weather be cold,

Or whether the weather be hot,

We'll weather the weather

Whatever the weather,

Whether we like it or not!

It's been a funny old week. On Monday it snowed all day but didn't lay properly 'til 6pm, by 9.30pm we had been notified by school that Tuesday would be a snow day.

We spent it wrapped up cosy at home, I was busy knitting, Em was doing art work and Tony was working from home. Late morning the sun came out and melted all the snow. 

Wednesday was back to normal but we had an activity day at school, this meant that some students were out on trips to Brighton, Goodwood Sculpture Park, Arundel, London - Love Through the Ages Poetry conference, Lion King and Solihul to visit Landrover. Others were taking part in school based activities: Business enterprize day, Disability Awareness and coursework catch-up for the year 11's.

Friday was comic relief dress up in the 1980's - Most of the staff were in costume and students came in 1980's costume or home clothes.

Knitting completed this week for Easter decorations are two sheep from Jean Greenhowe's Christmas Special booklet. Having made the cream one I had to try something different, so mimicking the sheep of the South Downs I made one with black face and legs, then for a change used some oddments of King Cole Splash so sheep looks as though she has been touched by the rainbow.

Finally tomorrow would have been my Grans birthday, she died in 1991 but I still think of her often, she taught me how to knit, she spent many hours knitting beautiful cardigans for me to wear to school and at home. She was a very skilled knitter and could knit a pair of sock for my father quite quickly. She once showed me how to unravel an old hand knit sweater to gently steam the curly wool straight again for knitting, how to lengthen the sleeves on a jumper, to knit an outfit for my doll as part of my primary school needlework classes. She stopped knitting when her eyesight began to fail due to the muscle in her eye not working properly. I also love, crochet and sewing which my Mum taught me. I taught myself how to cross stitch from books borrowed from the library.

Hope you have a good week Jane xx

Time has Flown Again

I hadn't realised it was so long since I last posted but I have been busy knitting.

Earlier in the year I knitted a rainbow cosy for my little teapot I use at work. Everyone admires when they see it on my desk and it makes me smile because it is so bright and cheery.

At the end of the summer holidays I finished the ripple lap blanket off that I had started a few years back. I love it because it keeps my legs and feet warm in the winter whilst watching the tv. I made it using the ripple pattern from the crochet stitches book I have and the yarn is the DK baby wool i had left over and wanted to use up.

In November I made a  cowl for Em, the first one in King Cole red aran yarn from a pattern on Ravelry

Then i crocheted a cowl in purple also for Em. This one was an adaptation of the Purl Bee pattern I started with double the starter chain and used two balls of King Cole yarn similar to Galaxy but without the sequins. It was an acrylic yarn which didn't tickle.

My final piece for this post is the beautiful Owl Sweater from a pattern by Kate Davies which can be found on Ravelry click on the word pattern above to follow the link. Em decided although she loved the eyes for the Owls that they would catch on everything including her hair as it is quite long now.

 That's all for now, back soon I hope

Jane

Halloweeeeeeeeeeeeeeen!

Half term is here and school and College are on hold, time to kick back and take it easy. Late mornings, lazing about the house -well mostly as Tony still has to work. Saturday was spent in Dorset visiting family, Sunday was a lazy day with a visit to the cinema in the evening to see 007's latest movie Skyfall. Outstanding film and loved every action packed minute Daniel Craig was everything one expects James Bond to be.

With the arrival of the cooler weather here my yearning to knit has returned. I finished off a lovely ripple scarf which I knitted in Regia Sock yarn. Presently I am crocheting a ripple blanket for me to use in the evenings whilst watching tv. Today we have a house full of teenagers celebrating halloween with scary movies, costumes and pizzza. Just off to warm up the pizzas. Happy Halloween Jane x

The Royal Wedding, Camping and Work

May Day bank holiday weekend was not only the Royal Wedding, for which I was glued to the television for most of the day; it was a beautiful ceremony filled with very special moments of happiness between the Royal couple which was a joy to see.

It was also our annual joint Scout and Guide Camp at Petworth Park. The theme was the Royal Wedding. We had lots of activities, wonderful weather and great company. This is a view of the park around the lake complete with deer in the distance and geese in the foreground. A photo of our mess tent decorated with bunting. I knitted a crown teacosy for the weekend to keep my tea pot warm. I found the pattern on the website of the designer Debi Birkin. It took me approximately a week to knit up in the evenings and I added a lining by knitting another layer of purple to go inside. The cosy was very popular and raised many admiring comments over the weekend, and kept my teapot lovely and warm.

Work for the first part of this year has been an unhappy and stressful environment to be in, as we are facing cutbacks and possible redundancies. Hopefully the situation will be resolved in the next fortnight or so, but in the words of the WW2 poster we will keep calm and carry on. I hope you have a good week Jane x

New Year, New Horizons

Its the New Year we are back at school, the budget is going to suffer huge cuts. We've been warned there's a real risk of redundancies and possibly a re-organisation. What delightful news to start the year!

So I got stuck into some knitting, a new pair of gloves in Regia red wool. Not too much knitting at a time as I don't want to upset the hand - the bruising is healing. The gloves are to replace a pair that Em bought me for Christmas but they spectacularly unravelled on our day out in London. They were only pocket-money gloves, but they went back to the shop for a refund and grumble.

I read the book Chocolate Wishes which Ali gave me for Christmas it was a lovely read - not too heavy going, I have also read the same authors book - the Twelve Days of Christmas. On the TV my favourite series at the moment is Zen although this coming Sunday is the last one! I like his style, good looks and his co-star is stunningly beautiful.

Our first week back at Rangers and we spent the time doing a couple of activities from the Girlguiding World Conference pack which is taking place later this year in June in Edinburgh, talking about rights and beliefs, then making a diversity web, which was finding out about things in common with each other with a ball of wool to pass back and forth creating a web of diversity. It was great fun with lots of laughter and giggles. Hope you have a good week. Jane x

Thank You!

Em would like to say "thank you everyone for your birthday wishes, I had a lovely day at school with my friends filled with hugs and birthday wishes. My friends and I also had a cool day out in our local town, we visited our favourite shops and had lunch out to celebrate my birthday."

Em has been busy in her food tech lessons recently, she made a macaroni cheese - dairy free with gluten free pasta. This week she made a Quiche Loraine also dairy free, she used soya milk and soya cheese in the filling and pure spread in the pastry. Much to our surprise it was a tasty success with not much discernable difference to the normal Quiche.

Following on from my knitted cabled wristys, I started knitting a scarf to match. I struggled to find a pattern that looked right, so I used the cables from the wristy twisting in opposite directions for the scarf. I have used one and a quarter balls of the four ply yarn doubled up, and I'm really pleased with the result, I still need to keep knitting though as its not long enough yet. I hope you have a good week, Happy crafting Jane x

Snow!

The snow arrived Tuesday night / Wednesday morning as it did right across the lower half of the British Isles, so we woke up to 8-10 inches of the white stuff. School was shut and has remained so for the rest of the week due to the inability to run buses and get along the local roads. We are, it seems, one of those rural communities which is almost cut off. We've no post, the buses aren't running throught the village, the bin collections haven't happened and of course we haven't, and won't see, a snow plough or gritter because we are not an A road or Motorway. Until yesterday morning no deliveries of milk or bread had made it into the village either. But in true british style we've been helping each other out, checking on the elderly neighbours then slithering off to the shop to find out what supplies there are available. We haven't been able to get out of our driveway or road as you can see from the photos. The only people who have suceeded are two neighbours with 4x4's. Meanwhile school have kept Em busy with so much work on the VLE that she hasn't had chance to build a snowman or play in the snow! Then yesterday afternoon, she had to build a sculpture in the snow for art, she had to research Andrew Goldsworthy and then sculpt something using his work as inspiration. She decided to mimic his stone balancing in snow, now she has to photograph it as it melts! Thats not happening much at the moment, although there are some spectacular icicles appearing on our guttering. We have enjoyed our time at home altogether, but the novelty has worn off now. Tony says "It is so frustating that we are stuck at home unable to get to work or anywhere else". The enforced time at home has meant that I have been supporting Em with her school work and trying to get a little crafting fitted in around it all. So far I have managed to finish my socks - Yipee! I hope we might get out to the village centre this morning on foot. See you all soon. Jane x

Progress on Knitting and Stitching

Thank you dear friends for your kind wishes for Em, she did come down with a chest infection over half term, she recovered in time to go back to school. Then Wednesday I got a phone call to say she was in sick bay feeling sick, dizzy and faint. So she has been off school again for the rest of the week with a horrible tummy bug. She recovered in time to help with the Guides Jumble Sale on Saturday - They were raising money for Sight Savers which is The Lions and The Rotary clubs in partnership with Moorfields Eye Hospital working to save the sight of children in Ghana, Africa. They did very well but we don't know how much was raised yet. Today was Rememberance Sunday with Church Parade, so the Scouts, Cubs, Guides and Brownies all attended the service and wreath laying in the village. During half term I knitted a Robin Hood figure, which a friend at work had requested from the Jean Greenhowe Book of Favourite Toys. I then made a little ghostie for Em to cheer her up as she was feeling so ill. Tony managed to find me the October issue of Simply Knitting magazine when he went up to visit Ali, so I could knit a Pudsey Bear. He is the mascot for the BBC's Children In Need Appeal, which is held every November to raise millions for childrens projects both at home and overseas. Finally I have been busy with my cross stitch, I have done more work on the sampler for my friend who is leaving school in early December. I hope you have a good week, and thank you for leaving me so many lovely comments. Jane x

And The Winner Is ........

Using a random number generator the winner is Willow.

Congratulations Willow, can you email me your details so I can post you the parcel of goodies. craftyconundrum(at)tiscali(dot)co(dot)uk.

I have been busy with some cross stitch this was a birthday card from the front of a magazine which I stitched for a friends 70th Birthday. She was delighted with her card and even plans to put it in a small frame. My next project started out as a small jumper for Alice's bear Timber, but I had to stop, so I could knit something Em needs for her birthday on Sunday. I won't post a picture yet as it would spoil her surprise but I will post one after Sunday. On Monday our new bed arrived and it is just lovely, our old one had become very uncomfortable and my back was beginning to play up. I had a back injury 5-6 years ago and it has healed but sometimes it grumbles. I am happy to say it has almost stopped being painful since our new bed arrived. I hope you have a good weekend, happy crafting. Jane x

edited to include: Two awards which have been given to me by Duckie The Lovely Blog Award and the Your Blog Is Fabulous are so lovely and I'm very grateful to Duckie for them both. I love reading her stories, she loves keeping us on the edge of our seats. I would like to pass both these awards on to all of you who read my blog especially you are on my side bar but also to any new readers - please leave me a comment so I can visit and say hello. Jane x

A Heap of Warm Woollyness

Encouraged by my wonderful blogging friends to have a go at knitting a cardigan or jumper, I decided to frog a shawl that I had lost heart in and use the yarn to make a cardigan. I looked at Knitty and found some lovely cardigans, further exploration of the web turned up Knitting Plus with lots of patterns for the larger person. I finally decided on a Sirdar pattern I had used before. So far all is going well but there hasn't been much blogging going on. I just need to finish the sleeve and then the border/collar and I'll be back. Writers block struck and no more thoughts bubbled to the surface!

Finally Saturday evening blogging mojo crept back. Emily was making some biscuits at school on Friday morning, she did her usual substitue of dairy-free ingredients and made some delicious Apricot and Cherry Stars which fortunately I photographed before they all disappeared.

The recipe for Apricot and Cherry Stars, courtesy of school:

100g Vitalite or dairy free margarine,

50g Caster Sugar,

150g Plain Flour.

7 Apricots.

7 Cherries.

Method:

1. Oven temperature Gas no5 or 190 Celsius

2. Flour the baking tray lightly.

3. In a bowl cream the sugar and margarine until pale and fluffy

4. Add the chopped apricots and cherries.

5. Fold in the flour gently

6. Ease the mixture together into a ball using your fingers.

7. Knead the ball of dough lightly on work surface

8. Roll out the dough and cut out biscuits using a star shaped cutter.

9. Bake biscuits for 10 -15 minutes until golden brown.

I have also finished my cardigan and I love it. I used chunky wool - Magnum Chunky Acrylic / Wool mix by King Cole. I think the next one I make, I shall shorten the sleeves a little but otherwise I am very pleased with it and it only took me two weeks.

Gardening and Knitting

Today as the weather started so warm and sunny I decided to do some gardening whilst Tony hoovered and washed his car. Em hopped in and out between us chattering all the while, I cut back the climbing Hydrangea as it was headed for the roof! Trimming it to 8ft tall. Today was a good time to prune as it has just finished flowering so it now has the chance to set some flowerbuds for next year. My next victim was the climbing rose that is just showing in the upper left corner of the photo, It was planted by my father-in-law Peter when he and MiL moved here in 1985. It was a cutting from a plant in the garden of their previous house, I think it may be called Excelsior. There was a lot of old wood which needed removing and some new shoots needed tying in. This afternoon with Tony's assistance I attacked the Pyracantha as it had become too large and unruly. After a bumper year of berries last winter it hadn't flowered at all this year so I'm hoping the prune will also help it to think about flowering next year.
Last weekend whilst visiting my parents my mother gave me a doll of mine which she had found, her name is Matilda and the jacket and bonnet she is wearing was my very first knitted garment. I learnt to knit in primary school, we started on a scarf each and gradually learnt different stitches along its length made in grey wool. When I finished my teacher decided I should knit a jacket for my doll, this was a big jump as I had to learn to do moss stitch and understand garment shaping. I had a lot of assistance from my Gran but I managed it and I knitted a bonnet too, it still looks ok and it's approximately 34 years old. Jane x

Easter

We spent Easter weekend in Dorset visiting my parents. Alice was home from Uni and is enjoying her Easter holidays at the moment. We have our school Easter break from the 4th April for two weeks. Despite the weather we had a lovely weekend and managed a couple of egg hunts with the National Trust at Lytes Cary Manor and Barrington Court, both near Yeovil. The weather was so cold and wet that I didn't take my camera so I took these photos with my mobile phone. (Sorry for the poor quality) Over the weekend I planned to knit myself a pair of socks but I changed my mind when I saw a pattern for a Leprechaun in a magazine. It was a perfect gift for my friend Debbie. Debbie had given me an Easter egg. On the previous Monday a couple of the 6th formers had come to school dressed as Leprechauns because the theme for St Patricks day was green clothing. However we all teased her that she was seeing things. I made him (Seamus) a speech bubble introducing himself and left him on her desk this morning. Seamus was a big hit with Debbie and he even brought Debbie to lunch to meet the other staff.

I am delighted that my Bunny, which I made for the Bunny Hop Bunny Swap which Lucy organised, has now arrived in Holland at Heleen's home. I can now show you a couple of photos I took of bunny before I sent her to Heleen, but I think Heleen's pictures are much better so pop over to her blog and have a look.