Sleep

Sleep and I have a love/hate relationship. 

I love sleep and hate to miss it (this is something that was accurately predicted by my Mum when I was a child but was instantly dismissed as the ravings of an obviously insane woman).  Now, however, I seek sleep instead of avoiding it and often find it elusive....maybe why this is being written in the middle of the night... 

So, the other night I randomly decided to Google 'Insomnia' and found this image by Mark Hess, a prefect portrayal of how I felt at the time!

 

Being a person of little imagination I am often humbled by the creativity that some possess and even more by their ability to translate their imaginings into a form that others can appreciate.

As often happens, my googling sent me off in an unexpected direction and I ended up in the world of surrealist art.  Surrealism had never settled in my mathematical brain until then.  I was surprised to find myself gazing into images for prolonged periods whilst trying to comprehend their meanings.  It was both unexpected and enjoyable...but not at all conducive to sleep!

Maybe next time I will try to count sheep - or the far more attractive shepherds ;-)

Sleep well.

xoxox Valula xoxox

What's the Plan Stan?

 Some things I'd like to get sorted today...

1.  A few more rows on a baby hooky blanket that I've been commissioned to make

2.  Finishing seeming the sides onto Little-Man's hoodie

3.  Pick and pickle the beetroot in the veggie patch

4.  Come up with some cheap and cheerful kids crafts for the free of charge 'Kids Corner' that I am running at this weekend's Michaelmas Festival.  All and any suggestions would be very gratefully received!

5.  Order some tags to sew onto the gifts that I make

6.  Buy a couple of school books for a class that my Little-Woman has decided to attend

7.  Pay for the next 6 months of refuse and recycling collects

8.  Have a chat with Father Christmas and find out how he is going to fix Dolly-Daydreams poorly eye.  Apparently Father Christmas can do anything so he is perfectly capable of giving this treasured little lady some first aid....

9.  Do my hubby's accounts (if I type it small enough maybe it'll seem less pressing)

So, I'd better get on!

xoxox Valula xoxox

P.S.  Just a quick update - I decided to do another batch of chutney as we still had loads of apples left.  When doing so I realised that I had misread the quantities for the first batch...it required 1/4 oz of dried chill, not the 4oz that I used.  That would explain why it was so hot...... hehe!!!!

Planning

Hello all!

I am amazed at how quickly time zips by these days.  When I was a child a week seemed to last forever but these days it's the end of the week before I've even got my head around it being the beginning of the week.  I dread to think how quickly time will pass when I'm really old and wrinkly, will it be like Warp Speed in Star Trek?  Will the whoosh of time passing me cause my wrinkles to flap around my ears like someone in a wind tunnel???

Anyway, the thoughts of rapidly passing time has got me looking forward to Christmas.  I truly adore the festive season so my thoughts aren't silent grumbles about presents/decorations/shopping/lots of people.  I'm happily mulling over in my mind what I'd like to get or make for my nearest and dear.  It is probably advisable that I make a start on one or two woolly gifts given that I not the world's quickest hooker.  And, this year I'd like to make make some dried orange and salt dough decorations instead of just dreaming about having a tree adorned entirely with homemade decorations.  I quite fancy the idea of some festive bunting too.

My search of gift ideas had lead me to spend quite a lot of time on Ravelry.  It is only in recent weeks that I have really begun to discover all this amazing site has to offer.  It is quite inspirational.   The only problem is that I can't knit and surf at the same time ;-)

Link to the pattern and designers info for this little beauty

Is anyone else planning their Christmas crafting already....or is it just me??

xoxox Valula xoxox

Treasured Times

Many moons ago one of my sisters asked our Dad why there were no green horses.  It was no doubt one of the 4000 questions that she had posed that day and an ordinary parent might have tried to fashion a child-friendly explanation based on evolution or God's creation or something.  But my Dad was (is) no ordinary parent.  

Dad took a different approach.  He wrote us a story. That was the first of many.

Most nights our bedtime story would be one that he had written for us that day.  We were treated to brand new, never been heard before stories filled with adventure, excitement and gallons of imagination - that had been written just for us!  Truly amazing.

My childhood was incredibly special and magical.  Even at the time I knew that I was a very lucky kid.  I excitedly awaited our nightly tales and slumped with disappointment if Dad hadn't had chance to write one for us (no off-spring pressure there...poor Dad!)

Years have passed since then, my Dad is now a Grandad.  Despite much gentle off-spring pressure I haven't succeeded in persuading him to craft a tale of two for my beautiful kiddos.  Even if he'd conceded and e-mailed me a story it wouldn't be quite the same as being read to by the author whilst snuggled under the covers.

Then it occurred to me, new material might not be an option but the old material certainly is.  So I scanned my bookshelves until I found it...

Actually it wasn't the book I had in mind but on reflection I don't think it really matters.

My children are enchanted and enthralled by the story so far and for me it is a heartwarming trip down memory lane.  It's difficult to explain how truly special it feels to me, I am privileged to be able to share such a treasured and defining part of my childhood with them.

As I mentioned before, my Dad is no ordinary parent.  xxxxxxx

xoxox Valula xoxox 

Stumped

My latest project has been going quite well and I have thoroughly enjoyed working on it.  There is a therapeutic element to knitting that I never expected.  To date my experiences of working with two needles have been a little stressful or just plain boring. 

As the choices locally were limited (and being way to impatient to wait to an internet delivery) I bought some chunky yarn but it didn't measure up to the worsted weight that the pattern was written for.  It probably would have been a good idea to buy some bigger needles in order to get the gauge right but I didn't...no idea what size I would have needed.  As a compromise I decided to knit a significantly bigger size but adjust the length to Little Man's size.

  

such wonky stitches :-)

Once the front was attached to the back (thanks to google explaining how to do a three needle cast off...woo-hoo!!!), I thought it'd be a good idea to try it for size.  But....hmmm...the neck hole looked a little on the small size.  We did manage to get it over the Little Man's head and he was only left with some minor friction burns on his forehead.  He promised me that it didn't hurt too much. 

Undefeated I cast on for the first of the sleeves but even at the bigger size my boy child would need to have wrists equivalent in size to a child's doll.

So, I have two choices...

1.  rip back and re-do the neck and do some research on arms.

2.  put the Little Man through a Willy Wonka-esque shrinking machine

It's a tough call.

xoxox Valula xoxox

Edited:  Just been doing a little interwebbing and I think ALL of my knit stitches are twisted because I've been putting the needle into the loop the wrong way..... ooops. 

End of summer

'nuff said!

xoxox Valula xoxox

Misadventure

Afternoon folks.  Hope all is good with you today.

It's miserable and wet here, which incidentally is perfect weather for a little crafting - every cloud does have a silver lining.

There are a couple of things for you today.

Firstly, the apple chutney adventure was excellent.  Even those of dubious culinary capabilities, like myself, can manage this one.  If you fancy having a go you'll find the recipe here.  I left the chillies and ginger in until the chutney had cooled so it is quite hot but that makes it all the more delicious when combined with fresh crusty bread and a cool thick chunk of cheese.

Secondly, I have decided to close the kitchen here once and for all.  It is for the best really.  From now on (despite having a lovely veg patch bursting with organic home grown goodness) we will only eat things that are brought to us by a waitress or delivered in a box.  The closure is in the interests of health and safety.  I have been officially classed as a hazard to myself and others.  The apple chutney had lulled me into a false sense of security.  Whilst basking in the glow of success I foolishly decided to make some Thai Red Curry Paste.  Big Mistake. Big, Big Mistake. Who knew that the chillies would be SO hot or that their hotness would stay on your hands after a thorough washing?  I didn't, not until I gently brushed my finger against my eye and rubbed my nose.  OH MY LORD.  My eye clamped firmly shut whilst simultaneously watering profusely and it burned like my head had been set on fire.  The pain significantly increased when I prized my lids apart and washed it out with water.  Natural child birth was less painful.  Eventually the pain did subside thanks to the application of an ice-pack.  My Little Woman took a photo of my eyes so that you could appreciate the intensity of the horror-film-evil-creature redness but unfortunately I can't show you because I look too rough - way too rough - and my eyebrows are just feral.

So, there will be no more kitchen shenanigans here (Him-Indoors looks much relieved I can tell you).

Big Love.

xoxox Valula xoxox

Fruit Leather

Yesterday the me and Little Woman went on a bit of a cooking mission, it was one of those spur of the moment things.  She decided to join in whilst I was cooking dinner so I thought, what the heck while she's interested we'll do something with all the apples we'd been given.

The Oracle (a.k.a. Google) suggested that we make some fruit leather and we had the ingredients in the cupboard!  So, my lovely Little Woman set to peeling the fruit mountain of apples.

The recipe is really simple...

Peel and core the apples,

Add a little water and cook until soft and mushy

Throw in some lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg (all to taste)

Cook a bit more

Blitz it with the blender until smoooooth

Then spread the mixture on a wide flat tin covered with microwave safe clingfilm

Put in a heated oven (about 60oC)

Leave to cook for 8-10 hours

And, that is what we did.  The apple mush tasted DIVINE and the house was filled with delicious smells - much deep inhaling was done.

Now - if you are planning on trying this at home - may I offer a word of advice...please start it early due to the long cooking time.  Don't start it at, as we did, at 4pm with the plan of whipping it out of the oven around 12 or 1 am....

Because your plan may fail as ours did.  Yes, that's right I fell asleep.  Quite soundly asleep.  So, our apple leather was cooked for, oooooh. around 17 hours.

Our fruit leather is awfully lick-able...very tasty.  But please DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CHEW IT unless you have the mandible strength of a Bull Ant otherwise the 'mouth workout' will cause you're jaw muscles will grow to such proportions that you will develop a jaw line that any cartoon super hero would be proud of.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bullant_head_detail.jpg 

He-man!

It is leather in the truest sense.  Now I'm just not quite sure what to do with it.  Do I cut it up (with an industrial saw) into tiny pieces that the small ones can suck?  Or do I donate it to the local shoe-making for use in super-tasty foot ware?

Today's cooking adventure is going to be Apple Chutney.  How can it possibly go wrong? ;-)

xoxox Valula xoxox