Pastel granny squares

I rarely go into town these days, but when I do I always have a quick look in Abakhan. Last time I was there I found some Twilley's 'Freedom Gorgeous' in the bargain bin, discounted by 50%. I felt the need for an easy project, so I bought 10 balls with which to make granny squares. It's a bamboo yarn so a little bit splitty, but not so much that I can't work with it. And, anyway, I like bamboo yarns for their slight sheen. I bought 7 different colours and 10 balls in total - one ball each of lilac, teal, beige and yellow and two balls each of blue, pink and green. 

I'm intending to use one ball of each colour to make as many 4 round granny squares as I can. The duplicate balls will be used for bordering the squares once they're joined. 

Each granny square is made using three colours with the fourth round being the same as the first.  Being a statistician, I've worked out that there are 35 colour combinations if choosing 3 colours from 7 and I'm going to make at least one square with each colour combination. This might be slightly sad, but I don't really care! 

I'll be joining the squares after I've made them all. Me and join-as-you-go don't really get on. I am not easy going enough about colour placement.

Other weekend news involves missing the school Summer fair for an emergency trip to the dentist following a scooter accident (on the way to the fair) and two chipped front teeth - newly erupted second ones, unfortunately, but, well, these things happen I guess.

It's also my wedding anniversary tomorrow. I always miss not having my wedding dress when our anniversary comes around - it got red wine spilt down it and I claimed on the wedding insurance. In return for their payout I had to send them the dress for 'salvage' (whatever that means!). It broke my heart to send it off as it was the most beautiful item of clothing I've ever owned and fully made to measure (when you're as short as I am an off-the-peg wedding dress just isn't going to fit). It was beautiful French lace with a pale rose sash...

I can't really complain though as I was sent enough money to buy a brand new one and I doubt I'd ever have worn it again!

I hope you're all having a great weekend x

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Edited to add: seems like I'm not the only one that likes to work out individual combinations of colours. There's a good combination/permutation calculator on the 'mathsisfun' website that will produce a list of perms/combs if you want it to. 

A teepee and a recipe for ginger flapjack

I made a teepee for the children a couple of weeks ago, using a tutorial from the 'Sew, Mama, Sew' blog. It was very easy to make as no sewing was involved, but it's not had much use because of the weather we've been having (apparently, by the 12th June it was already the worst June on record as far as the weather was concerned). With the exception of the bamboo poles, I got everything I needed to make it from Abakhan. It could do with some decoration, but I think that's best left to the children.

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Here's a recipe for ginger flapjack that I've adapted from a plain flapjack recipe I found in an ancient (1970s) 'Good Housekeeping' cookery book. It only makes 8 or 9 small pieces, but you could easily double or triple the recipe to make more. 

Ginger flapjack

4oz oats

2 oz butter

2 oz sugar

2 tbsp golden syrup

1 tbsp syrup from the stem ginger jar

1-2 pieces stem ginger, chopped

note that a UK tablespoon is 15ml.

Oven temp :: 180°C, 325°F, gas mark 4

Grease and/or line a 7" square baking tin.

Melt the butter, sugar, golden syrup and ginger syrup over a low heat. Add the chopped stem ginger and the oats. Mix well then put the mixture into the prepared tin. Spread evenly and bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. Cool in the tin and then cut into squares.

I always use 2 pieces of stem ginger and even the children will eat it, but then I totally ignored the storage instructions printed on the jar that stated 'once opened keep refrigerated and eat within 4 weeks' so I daresay the ginger may have lost some potency. We don't seem to have come to any harm from eating the contents of the jar that have not even been refrigerated never mind eaten within 4 weeks, but in the interests of health and safety, I should probably say this is not to be recommended!

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Once again, I'd like to thank the people that commented on my last post. Your kind words are much appreciated.

Getting back to normal...

It's been almost 4 weeks now since my brother died. I don't talk about my family much here, but I mentioned my brother briefly in a post I wrote a few months ago. We hadn't seen much of each other over the last few years, but following the text he sent in March he worked hard to build some bridges. More text messages came first, followed by phone calls and then a visit. I thought it'd be difficult to let him back into our lives (it was his decision to leave us all behind) but in the end it was incredibly easy. I still can't believe he's gone. Thank you to those who took time to comment on my last post, it means a lot.

So now we are all trying to find our way back to normal. Some days I am ok and on others I find the tears come all too easily. I guess it'll just take time and I'm glad I have the children to look after, to force me to get out of bed in the morning and to force me to remember to make meals. 


It's been difficult to focus on the good things in life. It's difficult to explain, but the good things in life don't seem to make any sense when you're grieving. I remember lying on the bank of the River Lune looking up at the blue sky and thinking that it didn't make sense that the sun was shining when my brother was dead.


Anyway, comfort comes in the shape of close family and good friends. And the children, especially the children. Just things like finding them ballet dancing to Queen's greatest hits (yes, really) before school in the morning, getting a roll of paper and the paint out for an quiet hour in an afternoon, 

and teaching #2 to ride a bike with pedals.

Yes, I know it's a 'girl's' bike, but he doesn't seem to mind!

I've even got my crochet hooks out again having rummaged through the bargain bin at Abakhan for some new yarn. More about that next time.

For my brother...

Oldshoremore, Sutherland. 

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind always be at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

and rains fall soft upon your fields.

And, until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

x

Summer comfort food...

chocolate raspberry pavlova. Lots of it. 

I cannot bear a dry brittle meringue, so I deliberately under cooked it to ensure the centre stayed gooey. It tasted like chocolate brownie.

The recipe is originally from Nigella Lawson's 'Forever Summer', but you can find it on-line at Nigella.com