It's amazing what you find...

... when you tidy up! I cleared out the ottoman today, er, one of the ottomans (ottomen?). This is full of cake boards and boxes, and ribbons and a bit of fabric and a big carrier bag, tied neatly at the top. Couldn't remember seeing this bag so imagine my ecstatic joy when I untied it and discovered this little lot. Woopee doo daa!!!

It's mostly double knitting (oh how I love double knitting) and is a mixture of Rowan and Colinette. There's also some Hipknits, Hand Maiden, Koigu and some very pretty hand-spun stuff. Yummy scrummy! Of course now I just want to knit something with it all - any ideas? Think I might just browse Kaffe Fassett's pattern library and decide on something.

Because you know I have vowed to cast on 4 things this holiday.

One thing has already been cast off and another is very close so things are looking good for number 3 on the list.

I'm going away for a couple of days now to mum and dad's. Will get lots of knitting done there - so will have loads to show you when I get back - scarf, amazing painting, new arrival, more jam and a cake or two (but not the edible sort).

Be good. And don't forget to tidy up, it's amazing what you might find!

Saturday pudding and the return of an old friend

With all the fruit picking that's been going on this week, you could hardly expect anything else other than Summer Pudding could you?

On Friday we were all set to have a barbecue. The table was set, the coal was lit and I was sorting out the salad in the kitchen thinking, 'Hmmmmm, it's getting a bit dark out there'.

And then it rained. We don't normally have monsoon weather here in the Fens, but on Friday night, the monsoons arrived in force. A whole hour of torrential rain, followed by glorious sunshine. Needless to say, we had an indoor barby. Good old British Summers. Don't you just love them?!

If you've been with me for a long time, you may remember this post. Well, I'm sure this is Ding come to say hello to us. Or possible Dang. But then again, he looks remarkably similar to Dong, so who knows! He was enjoying the rain. He obviously didn't have soggy sausages for tea to look forward to!

Fireman Sam cake

This has been a nightmare! So fiddly and really quite difficult. However, it's now done and on the whole I'm pleased with the finished result. Hope the recipient will be. It's taken about 17 hours to make and is for our electician's grandson - he charges us about £20 an hour. Wonder what he'd say if I gave him a bill for £340!!!!! Whilst this is not a cheap cake, it's nowhere near that much!

It never ceases to amaze me though that people will pay so much for a child's birthday cake. Special occasion cakes fair enough, but this always seems a bit excessive to me. Not that I'm complaining of course!

I have now decided though that never again will I make a shaped cake. They are a pain in the bum to ice. Give me round or square any day of the week!

Fruit picking

Well, I managed to tick another thing off the list! Youngest son was staying with a friend which gave eldest son and myself chance to go fruit picking. (Whilst youngest is quite happy to eat fruit, he is less keen on picking it!) We managed to find a PYO farm fairly near to us in Peterborough, so we loaded the car and headed off for the 40 minute journey.

Now my skills at finding places are legendary. I have the world's worst sense of direction. All street signs were rendered useless yesterday as the trees have grown so tall they are covering every single blinking road sign. We got so lost. So very, very lost. Someone appeared to have moved the A1 (that's a very big road in case you don't know) and hidden most of the little roads too. Whoever would have thought that so many teeny weeny roads existed in Peterborough. I think we found every one.

However, we eventually found the fruit farm (nearly 2 hours and half a tank of petrol later) Here's the strawberry field (ooh, I wish you could smell that smell!). It was lovely there and the strawberries were so easy to pick - hundreds of them, took us just half an hour to pick far more than we needed!

There were lots of other fruits too, raspberries, blackberries, blackcurrants and redcurrants. We had a great time, and got so very sticky (well done mum for suggesting taking a bottle of soapy water).

This is what we picked. And I've used it up already! Strawberries for pudding, blackcurrants in the freezer, and lots and lots of jam. (No more pictures of jam - you must be bored of them all by now).

It is now at crisis point though. I have used my last jam jar. Mind you, as I have now run out of places to store said jam, that's not such a bad thing is it?

Come back tomorrow for a cake picture - it's been a tough one this time.

Holiday resolutions

Made more jam yesterday. Very delicious and such a lovely colour. I'm now running out of jars though, couldn't bear it if I actually had to buy jars.

Today was the last day of the school year. I hate this day. Saying good-bye to all the leavers (although to be honest they've been shockers this year!) and staff who are moving onto new jobs. It's very much like new year - rather the end of the old one, if you get my drift. The 6 lovely long weeks holiday are something to really look forward to, so I have made myself a mini resolution list.

1. Go fruit picking
2. Make more jam and chutney and marmalade
3. Cast off at least 3 things
4. Cast on at least 4 things (yes, I know, I know...)
5. Tidy up the Stash Basket
6. Tidy up the airing cupboard
7. Sew buttons on all my shirts and cardigans that need them
8. Lose 3 stone
9. Become more realistic about life
10. Lose half a stone (see, number 9 is already achieved!)
11. Cook healthy food for children instead of asking if beans on toast is ok because I want to knit not cook
12. Visit friends
13. Phone friends unable to visit
14. Take children on exciting educational visits (eg cinema)
15. Win lottery to be able to afford number 14
16. Buy lottery ticket
17. Do ironing as it comes off the line

Think that should keep me going for the first week don't you? How about you? Anything exciting planned?

Yarn Diet

Way back in February I decided to go on a yarn diet. Things had got out of hand at the Stash Basket and I decided that enough was enough. Too much money was being spent and not enough was being seen in the way of finished knitted thingies. And since then, I promise that I haven't spent a penny on yarn (I do not count knitted jumpers that I can felt as yarn Warren!)


But you know what? The Stash basket is over flowing yet again. And it's brilliant! So many kind people have felt sorry for me and have sent me so much yarn. Fantastic! This latest addition to the collection is from the ever marvellous WMK. It's come with a booklet of patterns, so I don't even need to wrack (rack?) my brains thinking what to make. Perfect!

Of course tonight I should really be making a cake, but oh dear me, I don't have enough margarine so will have to knit instead. How sad.

I urge all of you to go on a yarn diet too. It's done wonders for me!

Oh and Warren? The bet is off. I think it's too unfair that you trusted me not to buy any yarn for 6 months - although I haven't bought any, it's cheating a bit that I still have loads of new stuff in the basket. And I don't cheat.

(You know the card game 'Cheat'? Well I could never cheat at that, always being rubbish at lying, and I always won anyway.) Smug cow.