Allotment in winter

I made my first trip for ages to the allotment on Sunday (the allotment, aka lottie, has, like everything else in my life, been somewhat neglected of late - I blame the builders!)  I swear there's some sort of witchcraft going on there - it's the most Zen place in the entire universe - I can feel myself relax the second I walk through the gates.  My trusty assistant was with me, helpfully available to lean on me every time I tried to take a photo or to tell me, with a look of desperation in her eyes, as I tried to hold her, naked bottom pointing to the ground, legs in the air, that she didn't, in fact, only need a wee...

'What's this, mummy?  What's this?' 'Why, that's perpetual spinach, darling' (pause for proud moment - yes, I can identify that mystery green leaf, even though I haven't been here for an eternity)

I was absolutely amazed at how much is still growing away there:

I think this is broccoli of some sort. Or it could be a cabbage.  I'm not so proud of myself now.  It's definitely a brassica of some sort

('Look at may waife's brassicas'... Name that film.  Extra points for this one, it's tricky)

 

Okay, this one's another brassica.  Cavolo nero?  Anyone?

 

I know this one!  Yay.  This is definitely blackcurrants.

Right, this isn't a brassica and it isn't a currant, I can say that with certainty.  It's a leek.  Or it may be garlic.  It's oniony, whatever.

And obviously the trusty old rhubarb is sprouting away already:

Crikey, we still haven't eaten our way through all of last year's rhubarb crop - I'd better get on with it or we'll be disappearing under some sort of pink-stalked mountain.  

Crumble, anyone? x

PS - thank you, you lovely lot, for your comments on my last post - it's so great to know you're all still out there - I really do appreciate your words and have been quietly reading all your blogs in my absence, even though I'm not always very good at commenting x

All star blanket ta-dah!

I've given up waiting for the sun (this weekend has been notable in that we have had 'only a very little bit' of rain) and so I've taken some gloomy photos of my latest make, so that I can legitimately get cracking with the next one.  Is it normal to feel that I can't start my next blanket (for it has to be a blanket - I do love them so) until I've blogged about my last one?  That the project isn't really done until it's been posted?
So...here it is...my all star blanket.  Ta-dah!!!!!

Can you see the slightly serrated effect along the edge where the grey colour joins on to the cream?  I really love this stitch, which I think is called saw stitch.  It's made by doing a double crochet, chain one, miss next stitch, double crochet, chain one, miss next stitch, double crochet...etc and I think I'm going to use it for my next blanket.  I'm picturing lovely irregular width stripes in creams and greens and pinks, and I'm picturing me tucked up underneath it on my comfy, comfy new sofa, crochet hook in hand, glass of wine nearby...

But back to the blanket in hand:

I first saw the design on Pinterest and loved it so much that I bought the book - Crocheted Gifts: Irresistible Projects To Make And Give by Kim Werker - I have to point out here that I'd debate the validity of the word 'irresistible'; this is probably the only thing I'll make from this book - but for me it was worth buying it for this pattern alone as I just love it so much.  It's written in American terms and so I found it easier to translate it first - I get in a right old muddle when things are written in American, my poor old brain can't cope - and as it turns out, I nearly couldn't cope with this pattern even when it was written in English!  The first star-in-a-circle-in-a-square took me about an hour of head scratching and frogging and muttering under my breath, but I'm pleased to report that I could knock them up pretty quickly once I'd got the hang of them.

I used Rico Creative Cotton, which I bought from here, and I needed: two balls of each of the two star colours; four balls of the light blue circle colour; sixteen balls of the main cream colour; and one ball of the grey edge colour.  The finished blanket is about the same size as the top of a single bed (excluding the bit where the pillow goes) and middle absolutely loves it.  He loves it so much, in fact, that it travels around the house with him - he even has his breakfast wrapped up in it (yes, it really is that cold in July...) and that makes it extra lovely for me.

And as if all that crocheting wasn't enough to satisfy my urge to make things, I had a very busy two hours at the allotment this morning harvesting a tonne of rhubarb, some strawberries, sweet peas, marigolds and a mountain of blackcurrants. My afternoon was spent turning this:

...into lovely jars of blackcurrant jam.  Oh, in fact, if I listen very carefully, I think I can hear my toaster calling me.  Yep, it definitely wants some attention and, frankly, I am powerless to resist the lure of a slice of toast with loads of butter and a thick layer of this yummy jam.  Soz, gotta dash... x

Muddy strawberries and little pots of lovely

My small attempt to bring a little bit of summer to my soggy neck of the woods...

...and proof that, despite all the rain, some things are managing to survive in my allotment:

(ha ha - look - it's actually sunny in this photo.  That was in the bright spell we had from 4.00 - 4.15 a week ago yesterday.)

I love these little jugs of flowers that are gently shedding their petals all over my house, they cheer me up a bit when all I really want to do is hide my head under a duvet and sob 'where, oh where is the sun???'

Strawberries help a bit too, especially when they're served with a vast mound of cream with icing sugar and vanilla.  These babies, however, were presented with a side serving of mud, courtesy of small, who mistook the trug for a bucket and helpfully emptied a trowelful of earth into it:

They actually tasted amazing once I'd thoroughly washed them and cut the wildlife out of them.

And here's a peek at something else that's been making me smile when I see it:

...it's not middle's drunken-looking teddy (ah, he does love that bear - aka 'smelly ted' - he's lost almost all his stuffing, has more repairs round his bottom than actual fabric, and stinks like something you might find if you were to have a rummage around at the bottom of a wheelie bin, but he's as much a member of the family as middle himself).  

Can you see what's just behind the much-repaired bear's bum?  Eeeeeeee - it's an in-use all star blanket!!! More on that when we get our next five-minute sunny slot so I can take some photos. x

PS - Just to say that I'm sorry I've been so rubbish at commenting on blogs lately - I can't leave comments from my phone (which is how I read a lot of blogs), trying to comment from mr n's ipad makes me want to weep with frustration, and the laptop usually has a small boy attached to it.  I do read all your lovely blogs and I am constantly inspired by what I see and read, so thank you x

Allotment update

What do you think of Lulu?  I think she's just a little bit great - Small is convinced that she's a fairy.  She sits and keeps watch over the big concrete raised beds at the entrance to the allotments and I love the fact that since I last visited the allotment, someone has been in and given her a full makeover.  She's got her summer frock on, clearly.
My allotment partner, Mrs Hen, and I managed to get a rare couple of hours together at the plot on Sunday, which was great.  It had been a while since I'd been able to get down there and not only was I feeling guilty, but I was slightly worried that the entire area may have been over-run by rhubarb (it's a good job I love the stuff - it's positively rampant!)  I have actually found the most amazing recipe for rhubarb and vanilla jam, which I'm planning to share with you in my next (and, coincidentally, my hundredth) post.  Get your jam pans at the ready gals, it's a winner!
I thought I'd share some photos of what's appearing on our patch with you, to prove that, against all the odds, things are indeed growing:

Comfrey, which is an excellent green manure.

Fennel, which is delicious with fish.

Redcurrants - mmmm, puddings...

And peas (ugh, revolting little balls of green) - the best thing about these is that they are grown up twiggy peasticks.  Was there ever a better name for a piece of gardening paraphernalia?

We also have blackcurrants, gooseberries, raspberries and strawberries in the fruit section - and cabbages, broccoli, potatoes, onions, garlic, shallots, beetroot, chard, runner beans and borlotti beans in the veggie section.  Obviously we've had to plant some flowers too, so we've got sweetpeas, marigolds, nasturtiums and calendula.  If any of this actually makes it on to my plate, I will not only be extremely proud, I will be more than a little amazed.  I am a rank amateur when it comes to gardening - my ineptitude is matched only by my enthusiasm (I cling to the thought that Mrs Hen knows what she's doing, or at the very least that she has a book that will tell us what to do).  The man who has the plot at the bottom of ours clearly recognises this as he saunters casually up to us every time he sees us and then proceeds to tell us what we've done wrong since he last saw us.  He then tells us how we should be doing it and how it won't work unless we follow his advice to the letter.  Mrs Hen is cracking, I definitely heard her muttering about the possibility of there being a body under her patio very soon.

And then, in an amazing spurt of outdoorsy eagerness, I actually cycled to the allotment today (pause for proud swelling of chest and slight wince at sore bum).  My 'to do list' went something like this:
✪ drop off tall canes for beans
✪ water cabbages
✪ dig over bean bed ready for planting
✪ spread wee all over shed floor (note to self: check for holes in plastic bag really thoroughly before relieving oneself in said bag and especially don't open shed door to dump bag of wee on ground while your trousers are still round your knees.) x
PS - to those of you who may be thinking that weeing in your shed is odd and wrong, I ask this question: 'why else would there already have been a latch on the inside of the shed door?'  Hey??

Pants: the revenge

Apologies for the slight disappearing act - I've been hidden under a pile of 'big guwl pants'.  My very grown-up two-year-old has decided that she doesn't want to wear nappies any more, she wants to wear big girl's pants.  Fairenoughski, you might say, but the only drawback is that she doesn't actually have a clue about the whole 'wee in the potty, not your trousers' business and so, after five hundred changes of clothes, two miraculous wees on target and one poo that prompted the comment 'look mummy, it's like a snake!  I made a wiggly worm' we gave up on knickers and have reverted to good old nappies.  Much of the past couple of days has been spent in the following way: daughter strips completely (why??), sits on the potty, gets up after two nanoseconds, tells me she's done a wee, I look, tell her that no, she hasn't done a wee, she sits down again, gets up after two nanoseconds, tells me she's done a wee, I look, tell her that no, she hasn't done a wee, she sits down, gets up again after....  You get the idea.  When we actually ran out of clean trousers to put her in, we put a hold on baby-led potty training.
In between bouts of toilet-related fun, I've been trying (and mostly failing) to get some time in at the allotment between downpours.  Everything seems to be going berserk at the moment - everything needs planting/pricking out/staking/weeding (lordy, the weeds are sprouting like mad) all at once, and it's been rather tricksy to get anything actually done because it's been so blooming wet!  My assistant didn't mind the rain though:

All great fun, until she splashed a bit over-enthusiastically and got mud in her wellies.  Then we had to go home.
I've also been experiencing a bit of crochet-fest lately.  The squares for my all star blanket are piling up nicely:

I also felt the need to make some granny squares (or 'stash-busters' as I like to call them):

I've made twelve of these now and am currently joining them to make the front of a cushion.  I'm thinking of backing it in some lovely brushed cotton that I've got, but I'm a bit puzzled about how to join fabric and crochet - does anyone have any suggestions?
And finally, the boys wanted me to photograph this for you all to look at:

It's a good job I took this photo when I did - a split second after I took it middle aka 'Captain Clumsy' knocked the table and all the soldiers fell over, prompting the sort of heated discussion that only two brothers can have.  (Gaaaah - is it me, or do all brothers argue all the time?  Please say that it's normal, or I might have to take myself off to my bedroom for a weep).
And then, because I'd taken a picture of the boys' toys, baby (who I really feel needs to be re-christened.  I'm thinking Foghorn Lil might be a good name, but maybe I'll just call her 'small') wanted me to take a photo of what she was playing with:

So there you have it - life in my neck of the woods.
I just wanted to say thank you so much for your comments on my last post and to my new followers and I'm sorry I haven't had much of a chance to get round to replying or visiting you - I'm planning a bit of a blog-blitz tomorrow to rectify that, but in the meantime, thank you so much for visiting me - it's so brilliant to know that you're all out there! x

Winter blahs

Ugh, I'm having a massive attack of the winter blahs today*.  Blah, blah, blah.  Big, fat, ploppy blah.

Blah one - one of my absolute best, most lovely friends moved a long way away on Friday and I am veeeeery sad about that.  She and I saw each other almost every day for the past six years - during which time we both had babies, we both had worries about our children being bullied, we discovered a mutual love of John Lewis, tea cakes, Chanel perfume, White Company lamps and white wine amongst other things and we discovered that we are both, in fact, sweaty buffoons.  I mean by that, that we get ridiculously intimidated by other people, jibber incoherently, go a bit red and sweaty and walk away feeling like we've made a complete tit of ourselves and then spend quite a considerable amount of time angsting over that fact that said intimidating person probably thinks we're an idiot.  I think if you too are a sweaty buffoon, you will be nodding in understanding and sympathy with this, in which case I salute you and say 'welcome to the club'.

Blah two -I'm currently experiencing a wellie crisis and I'm getting a bit fed up with it.  I need wellies, I spend a lot of time pelting about in the mud with my boys and I have an allotment (eeeek - did you see how I slipped that in there??)  It's a long and boring story, but it involves wellies that rub my ankles, wellies that perish after about five minutes, wellies that leak, wellies that I can't squish my sturdy calves into (when I lived in Lesotho I met a woman who said to me 'aaaah, you have beeeeg legs.  They are gooood legs, like mine.  You can walk well with your legs'.  She meant it as a compliment.  I felt like sobbing into my rucksack.  It's a cultural thing.)

Blah three - Yarn.  Horns.  Dilemma. 

Blah four - my daughter pooed on the floor this morning.  She did it in her pyjamas and it fell down her trouser leg onto the floor, where she trod on it.  This was my fault - I neglected to mention to Mr N that she was without a nappy as I swanned out the door to work.  Ooops

Blah five - I took loads of photos of my little heart chainy buntingy thing this morning - I think it looks really pretty in the hallway, but all the photos are really noisy and some are a bit blurry (I obviously took them before my morning cup of tea had kicked in) and I'm just annoyed about that.  So it's just the one photo today - I hope you can get the gist of it.  Soz x

* This is an expression that I have shamelessly copied from Lucy Attic 24 - I think it may be the best expression I have heard for a very long time.

PS - do you like the way I've used blah colours for my bullet points today?