Confessions of an Oxfordshire stitcher: WARM SUNNY AUTUMN

Hi , oh my goodness I am sooo SORRY that I have been away soooo long!
And above is a silly photo where I do NOT look my usual smiley happy self?! BUT it is a TAH DAH, because you see I have had that cowl pattern PUBLISHED! Yes really HONEST, it's in issue 46 of INSIDE CROCHET, available to buy TODAY! Or at the moment, THIS MONTH anyway.

http://www.insidecrochet.co.uk/blog/issue-46-arianna-cowl/

until the November issue comes out which will be near the end of October?

It being autumn now and a very kind friend at Towersey folkdancing gave us all some of her homegrown apples so I made a Dutch Apple Taart , but used a heart shaped mould for fun.

Nice and deep and filled with yummy apples and raisins! Recipe link in a former post or try this:
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=dutch+apple+tart+cake&oq=Dutch+apple+tart&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l5.6103j0j8&sourceid=chrome&espvd=210&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8
or this:

http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/9157/appeltaart--dutch-apple-tart-.aspx

Being a relatively lovely day and JJ popping home between a job at 6 am and a job at 8 pm Saturday 5th October we went to Marlow: feeding the geese and walking the dogs:

Then a bit of shopping: been dying to try out the furry gilets at White stuff: but I didn;t like this one?

But I did like this Mill Hill cardigan.... Don't I look daft doing a '''selfie''?

In the evening , almost all night there was a ban on the kitchen so I watched TV on my desk top and there was teenage baking going on in there: oh the mess and the machinations....

But among this some divine chocolate cake and a supreme raspberry cake were produced:

And then, and then.... TA DAH! I FINISHED crocheting KOS just before midnight and tried it on!

These are sunny photos taken today when it was 20 degrees in sunny sunshine in our garden! On the 6th October?!!! Just afterwards I walked the dogs and Pippa would not walk, it was too hot for her, bless.

Ok so now wer'e going back a little, time travelling backwards to a quick visit to Hobbycarft in Oxford where I liked these buttons:

Oh and these as there's a dachshund!

Then there were MORE dachshunds- but I was sooo good, I did not buy, ... yet.

And fun BOODLE yarn- I wanted to record the colours so I can do some designing...

Further back we go in our own little TARDIS: 22 SEPTEMBER NOW, another SUNNY afternoon at a weekend.

I went SLOE picking! LOOK! Ready to freeze a bit as they were a bit firm but plentiful, still they need a frost to bring out the flavour for the next batch of sloe gin!

Also with a glut of our blackberries from our own garden this year: I made blackberry and apple compote and served it with custard. These were the ones the birds didn't eat and the ones Lucy could not reach...
She eats all she can reach and stands on her hind legs , frint feet on flower pots to reach and pick them herself. Such a fruit loving hound!

The sorry for the look, the visuals here, Umph doesn;t look much! But the Broccoli soup from Nigella's Express cook book was made again and was fabulously DELICIOUS!
IT PERKED ME UP AND FED ME WELL for at least 3 days!

Then that weekend or the one before, one starts to forget, I made two, yes TWO banana loaves from a WW cookbook, as we had gathered 8 very black looking sorry state bananas in our fruit bowl.

Doesn't look much but the slices were such a lovely TREAT!
WEIGHT WATCHERS fast and fabulous book: Banana Loaf I think or try
http://www.queenofeverything.co.uk/2012/02/06/mary-berrys-banana-loaf/

I chose Mary Berry because Miss E is a fan....

But make sure the bananas are over ripe and you add cinnamon, mixed spice , lime juice and a touch of vanilla? Oh yes and I use BROWN sugar! Demerara or dark bown muscavado?

Also on that sunny weekend in September we went CYCLING! Late afternoon, we didn;t leave till after 4pm as the evenings were still light then.

We cycled the LARGE orange dots part only.

And as we were whizzzing along Miss Y and I , on our / borrowed DUTCH bikes, I had so very little time to stop and take a photo so this is just a tiny taste of a LOVELY three hours pedalling in lovely countryside in the sunshine. And safe, NO cars!

Oh yeah and long before the bike ride I had a hair cut and my hairdresser decided on a change of style....
SCARY! Now I recount a hairdresser visit as worse than a dentist so you can imagine?
And I took a photo because it only EVER looks this good on the day SHE does it?

It's my ''DIANA'' coy smile? I wanted to see the film but was so busy I missed it! Waiting for the DVD to come out now.

This is a Sirdar knit in a window, but I though it should have been CROCHET!

And a recent treat: OOOOOOOOOOOOH! SUBLIME SUPREME SSSSSOFTNESS SCOOCHINESS this is IT! 100% BABY alpaca.

And ending with a little forward planning: I have started to write a few Christmas Decoration patterns:
Here's me painting Hobbycraft polystyrene balls. With red cadmium paint.

And when it was dry I made THIS: MY THIRD and final TAH DAH for today:

This will feature in a class as Bicester and/or similar units I hoep to design and sell, but in early December I'll write and demo this pattern RIGHT HERE on this blog, OK?