Snow,hats and a bit of recycling

Snow, snow, snow everywhere again, a couple of feet ( 45-60 cm) deep this time.It's all so very very PRETTY!! Idyllic really- just so festive and enchanting!!! Chance of a truly WHITE CHRISTMAS very good indeed. The above is at the Celtic Manor House Hotel in South Wales just across the new Severn Bridge, this weekend.

Oh no! I did not mean to look this grumpy, but maybe it was a premonition of what was yet to come???( see A 34 BELOW) Show the snow I said, while JJ was complaining for us to hurry up....

Even sickly Miss E just HAD to pop out of the car and record the sheer snowiness of it all.

We'd all been to a Christmas party at the above hotel, where dragons dominate and where despite the 5 star rating the Christmas party food was abysmal and they made us share double beds with our children???? A family room consisted of 2 double beds apparently: hardly comfortable with 2 children along who cannot share? JJ slept on the floor in the bedspread and I had luckily brought along a spare duvet so just about managed to share with Miss Y, but she tossed all night so very little actual sleep was gained. Miss E was full of cold and sneezed her way through the night: alternating between asking for extra blankets and standing on the - lovely- balcony to cool off. The breakfast was delicious and in a lovely setting, to which the sunshine and deep snow contributed but still: FIVE STARS?????

This is my first aran cabled hat: crocheted from a pattern by Aaron Matthew Asmussen and made from navy wool from THE HEMA!!! That will mean something to any Dutch folk reading this. This particular wool was posted to me from Holland in the early 1980's, most likely between 1981 and 1983. And has lived in storage ever since. I was only sent 5 or 6 balls of 100g of what is porbably an aran thickness.

This one took a large part of the 100g, I used a 5mm hook and followed the pattern to the letter.

It fits me and reached just halfway across the ears. Miss E also has been wearing it to school- before she caught her bug- it's ''cool'' enough for a preteen of 12.5 at a smart grammar school for girls.

It's really lovely to make and it is the FIRST pattern I have BOUGHT on RAVELRY. It amazed me how easy the purchase was! The pattern- along with another 5 or 6 of his other textured relief pattern hats has been lurking in my favourites files on Ravelry since about February of this year..... The navy hat weighs 86g, the yarn was 152m to 100g so it took 131m of yarn.

Here's the almost vintage wool: it was 4.75 guilders a ball, way before the Euro replaced national currencies. It has the most wonderful slogan on the ball-band:

BOL OVER,GELD TERUG, which means if you were left with an unused ball you could take it back and get a refund for it. Aaaah, bless those were the days.

Actually I do think Masons in Abingdon do the same in 2010?! They also put wool by for you.

This hat,modelled by a large pudding bowl, was made in ''baby aran'' , 100% acrylic but I had to use a 5.5 and 6 mm hook to work the cables and it's still pretty stiff: it stands by itself! If you see the yarn as a strand it look more like a chunky yarn and a big one at that, aran indeed....

Lovely crown pattern isn't it?

This one's a Christmas present, I just hope it will fit the recipient!

Then with a 5.5mm hook and an Cygnet chunky yarn from Mason's I made this burgundy one: from a ball of Cygnet 75%wool and 25% acrylic chunky yarn. I gave it a crabstitch border and may well line the bottom 50% with a fleece fabric. It reaches below the ears
as in this very cold ( -6C) weather you don't want your ears exposed!!! For a shorter hat you can turn the edge into a brim. This yarn was 148m in 100g and the hat weighs: 86g

Something happened with the camera- this one's a deep green! but I showed the picture as the cables show up so well? This hat was made on the A34 as yesterday we drove home from South Wales and a 2 hour yourney took over 8 HOURS!!!! 4 or more of which were spent in a queue of cars on the northbound A34 just South of Oxford. Luckily the kids had a movie to watch on the I-PAD and I read a novel and then made a hat from scratch. JJ e-mailed on his blackberry and complained a lot. We subsisted on buns and pastries ''liberated'' from breakfast - which JJ had laughed at but was only to happy to EAT later...- and we had lots of water due to my hoarding instincts I had brought them along. '' Just in case''.

In one part it was 1 jack-knifed lorry in the snow- but further up it was 5 such lorries and they closed the road for 3 hours.So this is the A34 snowbound hat. Same yarn as the burgundy but in a lovely deep dark green. Somehow this one weighs 92g. Same chunky yarn and 5.5mm hook. Looks slightly longer and narrower than the burgundy one ...

Here they all are: ta dahhhhh. 2 more to make before Tuesday for my presents. One in a navy tweed aran and one more. For a family of five. The HEMA hat stays with us. I may make one with earflaps next, shorter but with flaps and a cable running down the centre of the flap....

And I may make a beret too. Just maybe. Do they need bobbles adding do you think? Or shall I keep them as beanies? Finally bef0re I got sick with this ''throat and fever and chestiness'' bug - which I had for over 2 weeks and then I had an adverse reaction to Erythromycin as well- awful stomch cramps and I still have pains now whenever a meal is due: ie when my stomach is empty.

Anyhow I was saying: BEFORE all the illness I made a new seat cushion for my computer chair- which is a lovely whicker armchair meant for a conservatory someday- I cut a thick pad of foam in the right half moon shape and then sewed a cover for it from old jeans in the attic.

Cut into strips and joined lengthways.

I played with the colours and the side strip is of darker jeans. There's lovely memories here:

I included jeans of my girl's as 4 year old toddlers and my maternity jeans too! There's a zipper in the back part and it fits both the foam pad and the chair beautifully!

No more woven reed patterns on the skin of my legs and ...!

Piccie of completed cushion in chair to follow soon.

WISHING YOU ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR with lots of happy baking, making and crocheting in 2011!!!

I may be back before then but I can't say for sure as it's the school holidays now.

Have FUN! AND LIVE WITH PASSION! ( so yes OK , I have new 6 CD set of dear ol' Tony Robbins)

Ampersand= &= and

The above is a few moments of pure BLISS personified. Fresh flowers, a happy dog,a stollen slice and a cup of hot Earl Grey Tea in a fun,perfectly shaped blue stripey mug.
It was earlier this week when I had not yet succumbed to a chest cold.

This is Miss Y who is home sick with similar cold, but hers includes high temperatures and a raucous painful cough- a bit like croup- and a loss of voice. Outside we have snow ( a little) and it's minus 3 degrees C. My event in Southampton was cancelled for which I'm truly grateful for I would have gone ( a 7 am train!) but instead I could linger under divinely comfy duvet until after 10 am. Lucy pressed up against me since 8.15 am of course as soon as she'd had her breakfast.

Last weekend we had a dinner party to celebrate Miss A passing her eleven plus exams and I spent a blissful afternoon in the kitchen preaparing the food, which included this upside down caramalised apple tart- above I am caramalising the castor sugar- it's more like frying/cooking it in lots of butter until it all turns a deep brown and if you let it cool you get rock hard toffee.

The radio was on Heart and somehow they played lots of great music- inc golden oldie songs and a lot of ballads and I really enjoyed myself. Inspired by Nigella and her obvious pleasure at being in a kitchen preparing delicious foods for loved ones. I used a recipe I hadn't used since 2005 with lovely step by step photos. It turned out OK, some parts had too little of the lovely sweet doughy pastry I had spent so much time kneading and a little too much runny toffee sauce but it looked great: VOILA!

I'd like to share the recipe but not sure that's allowed so I give the references instead: It's from LOOK&COOK by Anne Willan : Fruit Desserts. Published by DK: Dorling Kindersley.

& is called an ampersand: did you know that? I didn't and that's what I learned today. I have to learn something new EVERY day and that was it and yes also how to download and transfer photos from my new ( birthday) camera onto my PC. I've had it since April but it wasn't the model I wanted- JJ thought he knew better-so I am finding it hard to use and mostly still prefer my old camera. 318 photos transferred and some- especially scenic country side ones are strangely blurry- not something I ever did before?!!

ANYWAY back to AMPERSAND- this came from my current obsession which is watching '' the Gilmore Girls'' on E4 . Perfection in escapism tv.

& was mentioned when Paris finally gets asked out by Tristan and I just had to go look it up in a dictionary as I did not know what it was. So both Miss Y and myself learned this.

The ripple blanket for Miss E is coming along very speedily but the bad news is that the supplier is not stocking all those colours anymore so we'll have to see how far I get with what I had already stocked up on. At worst I'll have to use other wool DK's to add stripes at either end to make it work. I found some King Cole merino DK and Cygnet merino DK and may be tempted by some Debbie Bliss cashmerino as well.

My crochet pudding has been stalled by the little felted holly leaves not working out so well so I have to experiment a bit more and the circles scarf photos are waiting for a next blog-post.

As well as Paris, Brittany, Canal Boating and Toddler cousin photos to catch up on soon.

Best moments which are virtually guaranteed each & every day are those from walking the dogs: here is Lucy rolling around in the snow- earlier this week. Diary catch up : this week was amazing because : 1. dancing- English folk on Mondays- was so much fun & 2. Miss Y sang beautifully at the Christmas Festival and was a narrator so she read out very nicely the finding of a place to sleep and the BIRTH of Jesus. Aaaah- I cried buckets.

Bought felt- but could not get the cinnamon colour I desired- to make little stags and ginger-bread men for the tree. More to follow.

Week before that was the busiest ever: Monday a presentation at the school about a trip to an outward bound centre, Tuesday : Child Health conference in London, Wednesday : Boden Sale at Waddesdon Manor which was manic, and working from home, Thursday : Oxford X-mas shopping and 4 hours work and then a Recycled Fashion Show at the Wycombe Swan, Friday morning the results from the eleven plus exams came and I was buying cakes etc to celebrate at the school, full day work and DVD's with popcorn as a girly at home evening. ( JJ was away) Saturday I was cooking all day and we had a lovely evening, Sunday Miss Y had Christmas festival rehearsals and a party too. PHEW.

Looking back at those snowy days

Hello again, I'm back at last!
Fingertips split open in those frosty days and could not type, also kids off school a lot due to snow so we have had some fabulous ''family times''.Snow stayed from 5th January to 16th January and for the first few days it was very much enjoyed.

Lucy loved it.

Pippa loved it although slightly less so than Lucy who kept rolling in it!

Everywhere was so BEAUTIFUL...

Not our snowmen but those of some sculptural teenagers:

Lots and LOTS of sledging was done, me included: WEEEEEEEE!

The town was transformed.

We walked everywhere, once school was open again. Pulling our sledges with school bags and shopping.

Dogs looked on at the kids playing in the snow day after day.....

So fascinating did the windowsill prove to be that it's Pippa's preferred perch all day long ever since!
So that was our 11 days of snow and quite a bit of hibernating inside as well as all the fun in the first few days! It was fun but we're oh sooo glad it's all gone and we're back to normal: for now.

There's lots to catch up on: there's frost photos, cuttlebrook in the snow,recipes for applecakes and ''Holy Balls'' ,some crafting and some quilting and crochet too so I hope you'll be able to visit again soon!

SNOW!aMAZING AMOUNTS OF PURE WHITE POWDER SNOW

S.N.O.W.!!!!!!
After the truly amazing frosts we had yesterday with the temperature at dogwalking time ( 8.30 am) at -6 and by 4pm it was still only -4: those frosts gave all branches a set of white ''spines'', it looked like there were white ''thorns'' everywhere and when you touch them they melted away.
After that THIS! Been snowing since 6 pm, now 21:42 and we have at least 4 inches I'd say...

It keeps falling off the branches, they cannot hold anymore...Lucy LOVES it, been out every 15 minutes to dash about and catch the large falling snowflakes in her open and upturned mouth.
Then she snuffles down into the deep powder and eats some more.

Kids are ecstatic: surely there will NOT be school tomorrow? The sledges are propped up ready by the front door- fetched from the garage while we can still get into the garage....

FUN SNOWTIMES FOR TOMORROW- we hope.

Curtains are being kept open so we can stare in amazement and wonder: snow like this in Oxfordshire has not been seen for quite a while.

JJ is stuck in a hotel in Chester: snowed in. Mum is OK, we have chatted on the phone she has food supplies; milk,bread and eggs and enough oil and wood for heating and open fires and had promised not to venture out in case she slips or falls.She too is watching the snow fall on the beautiful Hamphire hills and keeping the curtains open as it's just sooo ....beautiful.

Breathtaking.

A . White. World.

Quiet. Silent. No cars. Pure , white, innocent. No roads or gardens can be seen, the white blanket covers it all. Soft powdery, downey whiteness.

Will blog again when all the playing in the snow has been done, blogging holiday 'till then. Bye!

SNOW on the last- and thus cancelled- day of school in 2009

SNOW!!!There's LOTS of SNOW!!!!! ... is the cry that awoke us this morning: VERY excited children dancing around in PJ's. Here is the table ''laid'' with a snowy tablecloth ....

Oooooooooh I'm sooo excited says Miss E ready to go outside to play: we just heard her school is closed on the radio...Santa let her have her new down gilet early and I made the hat, pattern will follow soon!

Too cold for the fingerless gloves today.... no good for making snowballs!!!

Miss Y in her Santa down gilet too, hers was chocolate brown, very cosy. So cosy she didn't feel the cold while making a Snow Angel....

Can we come in now? Time for HOT CHOCOLATE!!! And daddy made a lovely log fire too: Bliss!

TA DAH! This is the finished tote or bag for Miss E, she is sooo pleased with it, it almost got hi-jacked to go to school yesterday!!! Oh no! Santa said you have just a week more to wait!

Santa merrystitcher is not sure if it should have been 6 cupcakes, in 3 tiers? a 3 THEN 2 THEN 1 arrangement? or should I have added some words? Like YUMMY?

Not sure , I have my doubts but not too bad for a first effort? I do like it?

Definitely the fish are OK! Much better with BUBBLES!

And inside we have a large zippered pocket, a ring with tab for keys and a mobile phone/sunglasses pouch all sewn into the lining.....PHEW! It closes totally with velcro.
One happy present finished and many more to go! Bag, stocking, scarves,oooh too much to mention I'd better get on with it.

Bye for now, Pippa checking progress of the postman in the snow. Been baking so will share a recipe tomorrow: savoury oatcake bites!