Rona tah dah moment

TAH DAH!!!!! Rona was finally finished today .

I replaced the collar and finished the ends, sewed on the buttons and VOILA. Just within 7 months this was actually finally finished. I made it a bit longer and a bit looser /wider fitting than the pattern. Comfy like. For fell-walking and rambling in the countryside.

It's also used up quite a bit of stash from the 1980's: some Rowan scottish tweed ( the pine green) , some designer DK wool from Rowan bought in Liberty in 1986( burgundy and purple) and I added to these with 2 tones of felted tweed: shade 133 and 167. The paler brighter pink- which also looks tweedy- is made from recycled textiles.

I designed my own version of the raised flower square as I didn't like the central hole that the pattern had.

The sleeves are just the perfect length for me- I added a few rows of granny striping and a cuff border of dc rows to match the button bands and collar.

It can be worn loose- with layers of t-shirts under for walking/ice skating or nipped in with buttons at the waist for a little shaping. Hourglass- wise you know?

I had fun striping the yoke and inserts and am rather pleased with the final choice of collar stripiness- do you like it? I DO!

With Miss E at school I was trying to get some nice daylight photos......

Hey this is fun!

Bye then see you again soon? OMG does my bum look big in this? Spot the waist button instead:

nice little detail- I'm oh sooo happy with it.
C U L8ER.

Shake it ,BE HAPPY

B HAPPY- that's my motto especially as I have had a bit of a **** week, or actually it was only a few days. I have risen above it and the above snood-2-b has helped. Pattern from Inside Crochet magazine - the issue that came out the month before 5/11/2010 NOT the 5/11/2010 one. 4mm hook and DK Mirasol space dyed pure wool- more in a later post.

Last Monday: Made the SLOE GIN. Recipe from BBC Food- googled it. First sterilised my newly purchased Kilner jar but then put all the sugar and all the sloes into it, forgetting that there would now not be room for the 1 l of gin? Ah well. My gin bottle was a 70cl one anyway.

This was how much gin did NOT fit into the Kilner jar. So I sterilised some jam jars and made the rest up as I went along. Unrefined castor sugar, pricked sloes and gin in varying proportions.

This is the Kilner jar after one week of alternate day shaking: shake it, shake it and wish it well.

See the gin is already turning a bright red? Between the sloes?
And here are some jam jars, it took 3 of these to finish the gin.

450 g sloes, 225 g castor sugar - plus at least 6-12 extra tablespoons for the jam jars, 600g more sloes, and a 70 cl bottle of gin. If it's too sweet at Christmas or New Years we can always dilute it with a bit more gin, or rum or brandy?!
Made more X-mas puds today and yesterday, for presents. Got all adventurous with ingredients- tried to use Pimms and berry cherry mixtures that contain white chocolate cubes in them too. Had to fight off Miss E as she tried to kidnapp the bag to eat those. Varied the fruit too, kept the usual cranberries but used more mixed fruit, more mixed peel. Here it was after soaking.

Then all mixed up with the breadcrumbs,suet,beaten egg and flour.

Parcelled up as a pudding: ready for steaming. It's been steaming 4 hours now( by midnight)

Of course we've had plenty of these: alas more noisy than the pretty ones. Last week and all Friday, Saturday and tonight . Been driving the dogs to endless barking.

Pippa cross and still barking at bedtime yesterday. Evening barking is done from the sofa, but Lucy has to be let out into the garden constantly to bark at the sky.

Crochet Christmas ( or maybe birthday...) presents being worked on and providing much contented happiness: a throw for Miss E. Different colours from the family one: no purple and more oranges,greens and a yellow. It's a sunshine throw.

Lucy curled up beside it. Usually she climbs into my place as soon as I leave the sofa and grumbles much when I come back and ask her to move. The Amanda Quick book is one I have hardly been able to put down this weekend: lovely reading.

Been busy Saturday: tried 2 new W'rose carded recipes: a fried salmon and a potato gratin and yum yum yumeeeeee they were delicious and went down a treat. JJ did a nice stir fry with pork ribs today and likes to repeat mum's baked apple ( in the oven with raisins,butter and brown sugar) recipe. I do feel that eating nice food is just such a great simple way to feel really HAPPY again. Sleeping well or relaxing in bed with cuddles is another (free!) way as is a nice outfit or making something , or even walking the dogs- as long as it doesn't rain.

Was very lucky today: cuddles with JJ: 7 AM- 8.30 ISH, then with Miss Y before she went to choir in church, then I was a doggie sandwich with a dog pressing against me on each side: I was reading at first but then dozed off again. Then Miss E woke up and had a cuddle too, finally I did get up and the day got going. Very relaxed, Very HAPPY.

Here's RONA : these are the last rows of the collar not yet ''frogged''. There were 8 pink rows: so 24 rows in all. I'm probably ripping these out tomorrow to start and re-do it in more pale blue rows, a few dark blue and much less pink.

Little bit sad though: the stitching was so neat? And it's not undoing well, the yarn breaks.

OOOOOH! And what's this? Another little HAPPY project for today: a Christmas pudding tree decoration. Chocolate bamboo dk with a 4 ply cream wool topper. Holly leaves and Berries to follow: so I hope to see you soon for the finished item and the pattern?

HAPPY STITCHING!