red hair she had and golden skin

Hello! How are you? The sun has begun to shine here in Cornwall and the snow is trickling away albeit very slowly. Our local schools have reopened and it is almost business as usual. We are certainly grateful that the drinking troughs in the fields have defrosted and will be even more pleased when our cows are able to graze freely again. Even the chickens' drinking water had frozen over. But now rain is forecast and, for once, it is welcome.

Enough of the weather though, what else is happening around here?

Well, yes, she does still knit..... just not very quickly. I'm working on a pattern from Susan Crawford's A Stitch in Time entitled 'To Set Off Your Summer Frocks'. One more front piece to finish up and then it's on to the seaming. You'll have to excuse the picture - my ends are showing.

I have the perfect outfit in mind for this one. A floral tea dress, red stockings and red shoes. It'll be fab. Please, please let it turn out the way that I want. I usually have a picture in my head when I start a garment, always convinced that this one will make me look just fabulous. Doesn't always work out that way though.

This cardigan does seem to be shaping up quite well so far though. The mannequin's measurements are almost mine - she's the 'nearly-me'. She's carrying her assets a little near the top to be an exact match but maybe I would have looked like that in Edwardian times. Perhaps. I do love the hugely puffed sleeves, don't you? They took so much wool to knit and did seem to take forever but then there's a magical couple of decrease rows right near the top and - zoom! - they're done.

The cold snap has motivated me to get on with a little sewing job for my workroom window. I love my workroom window which looks out over our farm fields. Kep, the farm dog, is always sitting outside, below at the farmyard gate looking out for any visitors. He loves visitors - he greets everyone with that special collie dog 'smile'. Have you seen a collie dog smile? They're very good at it and like to show all their teeth - they way we (people) do when we're happy. The wary visitors ask "Are you sure he's pleased to see me?" I say, "Of course he's pleased!" I can't vouch for other dogs though, so be warned. As well as watching for visitors, Kep also waits for us when we leave the farm. He checks Lily the Land Rover on my return to make sure I bring back the same number of children that I left with. Counts 'em out and counts 'em back in again.

The long and the short of the window is that it needed some kind of curtaining and a roman blind fitted the bill. The red and white spotted fabric was bought on an impulse back in the summer and it took a little while for the perfect project to percolate to the surface. And now it has. It feels good to use stuff up and the past year has seen a good amount of stuff used up or passed on to a good home.

More red dots, though this time they're cranberries. I roasted a pheasant for lunch on Sunday - it's the kind of cold weather food that the Aga does really, really well. Not everyone was madly keen on the notion, indeed reality, of eating pheasant so I concocted a variation on a nut loaf. A variety of chopped nuts, some breadcrumbs, herbs, a little cheese and the beautiful, jewel-like cranberries. I use dried cranberries which look somewhat shriveled and a tad unappetising in the packet but, when cooked, plump up beautifully and polka dot the dish. There was none left at the end of lunch which I take as being a good sign.

Time now though for a spot of knitting.

Cheerio for now! xx

Posted by Anita at January 11, 2010 08:33 PM