- and I love it so much I might just have to keep it myself!!
Oh well, back to the wheel and start spinning again for my Christmas presents.
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
Dyed and Gone to Heaven
Well, here's the finished, dried merino/silk :-
- and I love it so much I might just have to keep it myself!!
Oh well, back to the wheel and start spinning again for my Christmas presents.
- and I love it so much I might just have to keep it myself!!
Oh well, back to the wheel and start spinning again for my Christmas presents.
Sunday, 16 October 2011
Dimanche Dyeing
Today, I announced I was having a "day off". This doesn't mean I get up and do absolutely nothing, it simply means I don't do "jobs", except for watering the garden, hanging washing out, cooking, washing up etc. Outside of that time, I have a day off.
Sundays in France are supposed to be sacred - every few years we get a letter from our Mayor reminding us that if we want to do "jobs" that make a noise on a Sunday, please do them between 10:30 and 12 noon. That leaves me free to card, spin, knit, dye etc. all day long! These are classed as "un-jobs" - why? - because they're enjoyable!
Today I decided to dye the 2 skeins of merino/silk I've had loitering for the last two weeks. Stupidly, I forgot to take photos while I was applying the dyes, only remembering when I put them in the steamers for processing.
Why is it, that whenever I plan to dye something, it never actually turns out the way I'd imagined? The blues were supposed to be much darker than this, and the pinks maybe not so bright, but actually, I like the colours as they turned out. The problem is, will the person they're destined for?
At this point (half cooked) I start to get a bit panicky - the colours actually look very subdued and I wonder if they're going to work at all.
But, when it's all finished, colours set and washed, it's probably going to be OK after all.
Mind you, who can tell how it'll knit up?
The skeins are currently hanging up, drying. But I want them dry NOW!!
There is one drawback to this dyeing lark though . . . guess who forgot to buy the rubber gloves?
Oh well, it'll wear off!
Sundays in France are supposed to be sacred - every few years we get a letter from our Mayor reminding us that if we want to do "jobs" that make a noise on a Sunday, please do them between 10:30 and 12 noon. That leaves me free to card, spin, knit, dye etc. all day long! These are classed as "un-jobs" - why? - because they're enjoyable!
Today I decided to dye the 2 skeins of merino/silk I've had loitering for the last two weeks. Stupidly, I forgot to take photos while I was applying the dyes, only remembering when I put them in the steamers for processing.
Why is it, that whenever I plan to dye something, it never actually turns out the way I'd imagined? The blues were supposed to be much darker than this, and the pinks maybe not so bright, but actually, I like the colours as they turned out. The problem is, will the person they're destined for?
At this point (half cooked) I start to get a bit panicky - the colours actually look very subdued and I wonder if they're going to work at all.
But, when it's all finished, colours set and washed, it's probably going to be OK after all.
Mind you, who can tell how it'll knit up?
The skeins are currently hanging up, drying. But I want them dry NOW!!
There is one drawback to this dyeing lark though . . . guess who forgot to buy the rubber gloves?
Oh well, it'll wear off!
Saturday, 15 October 2011
Another Cotton Update
Thought you might like to see how the cotton seed pods are coming along. The largest, pictured below, measures 1.25 inches in diameter.
I came back into the house and "squashed up" a cotton boll, and it measured about 1.5 inches diameter, so not much to go. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the good weather will continue (and it is forecast to stay warm) until it manages to ripen. For the last 4 days we've had 30 deg C. - today is only 29 deg because of a breeze, but we have full sunshine.
I'd be so happy to just get one cotton boll out of all this, to prove a point if nothing else. (A friend, two years ago, laughed at me for trying to grow cotton - he said I'd never manage it!) Please, please, please let me prove him wrong!! - preferably this year if that's OK.
The last of our summer visitors have now left, and I'm getting the house back to normal - washing done, most of the cleaning done (I can't settle to clean when there are people around, so it gets left), but still a large pile of ironing. After that, there will be spinning, there will be knitting, there will be dyeing. In fact this is sitting waiting to be dyed, so would like to get on with it in the next few days.
This is merino plied with a strand of tussah silk. It was spun quite finely as I need a lace weight yarn for a special project. Can't tell you what it is yet, but I have 470 yards of supersoft lustrousness. Let's hope it's still as nice after I've dyed it!
I came back into the house and "squashed up" a cotton boll, and it measured about 1.5 inches diameter, so not much to go. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the good weather will continue (and it is forecast to stay warm) until it manages to ripen. For the last 4 days we've had 30 deg C. - today is only 29 deg because of a breeze, but we have full sunshine.
I'd be so happy to just get one cotton boll out of all this, to prove a point if nothing else. (A friend, two years ago, laughed at me for trying to grow cotton - he said I'd never manage it!) Please, please, please let me prove him wrong!! - preferably this year if that's OK.
The last of our summer visitors have now left, and I'm getting the house back to normal - washing done, most of the cleaning done (I can't settle to clean when there are people around, so it gets left), but still a large pile of ironing. After that, there will be spinning, there will be knitting, there will be dyeing. In fact this is sitting waiting to be dyed, so would like to get on with it in the next few days.
This is merino plied with a strand of tussah silk. It was spun quite finely as I need a lace weight yarn for a special project. Can't tell you what it is yet, but I have 470 yards of supersoft lustrousness. Let's hope it's still as nice after I've dyed it!
Thursday, 13 October 2011
Blogoversary!
Today is my first blogoversary - I can't believe it's 12 months since I started on this journey. To celebrate, I thought I'd do a post about our friend's daughter who has just spent a week over here with us.
Meet the Artist
Caroline is Ted's daughter. Ted is an old friend of ours who lives in southern Germany. Two years ago they met for the first time in 40 years at our house here in France - there's a story here to tell, but I'll save that for another post.
They were both here last week for a short holiday together, and Caroline had brought some work with her. She has been commissioned to paint some murals for a restaurant in Marbella, Spain and thought it would be a good opportunity to do a little bit of painting in the sunshine on our patio.
The restaurant is called Picasso, so they wanted all the paintings to reflect him, his life, his family, his work etc.
She finished this one in a day.
I was amazed at how 3D the painting looked when it was finished. These are based on Picasso's pottery.
The next one is one of Picasso's mistresses; the fish are so colourful because it will be put in a children's area along with some of the others.
The paintings she did here were all relatively small in comparison to the main murals. The following one has already been delivered and (I think) installed at the restaurant :-
This one must have taken weeks. The detail is amazing. Note the Picasso-like objects on the table. Picasso is shown as a small boy on the left of the painting, and the little girl next to him was his sister, who died quite young. Above are his mother and father (he was also an artist, but, when he saw the quality of young Picasso's painting, said he would never paint again - the picture shows him discarding his palette and dripping paint onto the shoulder of the man seated at the table).
The next mural isn't finished yet - Caroline's gone home to re-start work on it.
After this one is completed, she still has two major murals to paint - lots of work to keep her busy until the deadline in December. If you're interested in art, other work and updates on this project can be seen on her website www.carolinemarsland.co.uk. But if you're ever in Marbella, you could always drop in on the Picasso restaurant and have a look for yourselves.
As a parting gift, Caroline painted this for us. She really is a cat person (she has three of her own), which my cat spotted immediately and rarely left her side the whole time she was here!
She accentuated his girth a little bit, but not much, ha ha!! Little slob! (Jak, that is)
So, that's my first blogoversary post . . . no cake, no candles, no cards . . . but the painting of Jak more than makes up for it! Thanks Caroline.
Meet the Artist
Caroline is Ted's daughter. Ted is an old friend of ours who lives in southern Germany. Two years ago they met for the first time in 40 years at our house here in France - there's a story here to tell, but I'll save that for another post.
They were both here last week for a short holiday together, and Caroline had brought some work with her. She has been commissioned to paint some murals for a restaurant in Marbella, Spain and thought it would be a good opportunity to do a little bit of painting in the sunshine on our patio.
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| Action Shot! |
The restaurant is called Picasso, so they wanted all the paintings to reflect him, his life, his family, his work etc.
She finished this one in a day.
I was amazed at how 3D the painting looked when it was finished. These are based on Picasso's pottery.
The next one is one of Picasso's mistresses; the fish are so colourful because it will be put in a children's area along with some of the others.
The paintings she did here were all relatively small in comparison to the main murals. The following one has already been delivered and (I think) installed at the restaurant :-
This one must have taken weeks. The detail is amazing. Note the Picasso-like objects on the table. Picasso is shown as a small boy on the left of the painting, and the little girl next to him was his sister, who died quite young. Above are his mother and father (he was also an artist, but, when he saw the quality of young Picasso's painting, said he would never paint again - the picture shows him discarding his palette and dripping paint onto the shoulder of the man seated at the table).
The next mural isn't finished yet - Caroline's gone home to re-start work on it.
After this one is completed, she still has two major murals to paint - lots of work to keep her busy until the deadline in December. If you're interested in art, other work and updates on this project can be seen on her website www.carolinemarsland.co.uk. But if you're ever in Marbella, you could always drop in on the Picasso restaurant and have a look for yourselves.
As a parting gift, Caroline painted this for us. She really is a cat person (she has three of her own), which my cat spotted immediately and rarely left her side the whole time she was here!
She accentuated his girth a little bit, but not much, ha ha!! Little slob! (Jak, that is)
So, that's my first blogoversary post . . . no cake, no candles, no cards . . . but the painting of Jak more than makes up for it! Thanks Caroline.
Monday, 10 October 2011
Napoleon and Neddy
When we went to the organic farm to get the lamb (and pumpkin!), we happened to meet these two characters. Just get a load of those ears!!
This is Neddy
and this is Napoleon.
Favourite food - grass
Favourite treats - apples
Favourite past-time - roaming around their field in the sun
Favourite friends . . .
. . . each other!
Naughtiest habits - well, they weren't about to tell me that, now were they?
This is Neddy
and this is Napoleon.
Favourite food - grass
Favourite treats - apples
Favourite past-time - roaming around their field in the sun
Favourite friends . . .
. . . each other!
Naughtiest habits - well, they weren't about to tell me that, now were they?
Sunday, 9 October 2011
Pumpkins
My pumpkins failed to put in an appearance this year and they are sadly missed. We keep passing gardens which have lots of them laid out on the vegetable beds, just to taunt me.
The other day, we visited an organic farm to buy some lamb for one of our visitors, and Louisa gave me a large pumpkin to take home (plus a couple of butternut squash). Here it is in all it's glory :-
Sorry about the "turn right" printed on the photo - we've had horrendous problems trying to turn the photo around because I took the photo sideways. This was the best we could do - at least the pumpkin is not on it's side any more.
Anyway, it looked just too perfect to cut into . . . but, it had to be done!
A few years ago we went to a restaurant in Scotland and had pumpkin and chilli soup, and it was so, so good I decided to try and make it myself. This is my version, hope you enjoy it :-
Chris' Pumpkin and Chilli Soup
Olive Oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1-2 red chillies, sliced
Medium-sized pumpkin, chopped
1.5 pts vegetable stock
Small tub half-fat creme fraiche
Salt and black pepper
Saute onions, garlic and chillies in oil for a few minutes, then add pumpkin. Give everything a good stir, put lid on pan and sweat over a low heat for 5 minutes. Stir in stock and simmer gently until all vegetables are tender.
Liquidise soup in food processor, or press through a sieve. Pour back into pan, stir in creme fraiche and season to taste.
Re-heat, without boiling, and serve immediately with a few croutons* sprinkled on top.
*A nice alternative to croutons is to slowly roast the pumpkin seeds in oil with salt and pepper until they are tender and then sprinkle some of these on top of the soup. The rest make a delicious snack when you're feeling a bit peckish!
The other day, we visited an organic farm to buy some lamb for one of our visitors, and Louisa gave me a large pumpkin to take home (plus a couple of butternut squash). Here it is in all it's glory :-
Anyway, it looked just too perfect to cut into . . . but, it had to be done!
A few years ago we went to a restaurant in Scotland and had pumpkin and chilli soup, and it was so, so good I decided to try and make it myself. This is my version, hope you enjoy it :-
Chris' Pumpkin and Chilli Soup
Olive Oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1-2 red chillies, sliced
Medium-sized pumpkin, chopped
1.5 pts vegetable stock
Small tub half-fat creme fraiche
Salt and black pepper
Saute onions, garlic and chillies in oil for a few minutes, then add pumpkin. Give everything a good stir, put lid on pan and sweat over a low heat for 5 minutes. Stir in stock and simmer gently until all vegetables are tender.
Liquidise soup in food processor, or press through a sieve. Pour back into pan, stir in creme fraiche and season to taste.
Re-heat, without boiling, and serve immediately with a few croutons* sprinkled on top.
*A nice alternative to croutons is to slowly roast the pumpkin seeds in oil with salt and pepper until they are tender and then sprinkle some of these on top of the soup. The rest make a delicious snack when you're feeling a bit peckish!
Tuesday, 4 October 2011
Thieving BarStewards!!
Eric was checking our UK bank account last night, and noticed £89 had been removed from our account to SNCF (French railways). We don't use trains (or not yet, anyway), and have certainly never used our credit card to book anything with them. He was quite puzzled so rang up the bank help line. They told him there was actually another payment awaiting clearance of £70 - SNCF again. Then, they said, actually there's another payment a day later, but we blocked that one. Don't worry, they said, you'll be reimbursed, but in the meantime, YOU'LL have to ring SNCF to find out what's going on.
(At this point, I left the room with visions of bulls and red rags in my head.)
They then said he'd also have to ring their fraud department in order to have the money reimbursed. Phone numbers were written down amidst lots of mutterings.
Today, he rang the fraud department and explained what had happened. They proceeded to tell him that they thought it very unlikely to be fraud and that he must ring SNCF himself.
(Quick departure . . . red rags etc. . . . steam emerging from Eric's ears)
Of course, SNCF hadn't a clue what he was talking about, but actually said they didn't think he should have to do all this himself. We tended to agree.
Back to fraud squad (ha ha!) and, very long conversation later, they agreed to reimburse the two amounts.
What we don't understand, and the bank couldn't help with either, was how could SNCF, who had never had any dealings with us, especially our credit cards, debit our UK bank account with not one, but two amounts, and actually attempt to take a third. And, if they thought it was all above board, why did the bank block the third payment?
Lloyds - you need to do better!
(At this point, I left the room with visions of bulls and red rags in my head.)
They then said he'd also have to ring their fraud department in order to have the money reimbursed. Phone numbers were written down amidst lots of mutterings.
Today, he rang the fraud department and explained what had happened. They proceeded to tell him that they thought it very unlikely to be fraud and that he must ring SNCF himself.
(Quick departure . . . red rags etc. . . . steam emerging from Eric's ears)
Of course, SNCF hadn't a clue what he was talking about, but actually said they didn't think he should have to do all this himself. We tended to agree.
Back to fraud squad (ha ha!) and, very long conversation later, they agreed to reimburse the two amounts.
What we don't understand, and the bank couldn't help with either, was how could SNCF, who had never had any dealings with us, especially our credit cards, debit our UK bank account with not one, but two amounts, and actually attempt to take a third. And, if they thought it was all above board, why did the bank block the third payment?
Lloyds - you need to do better!
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