Frisian Frillies

While I'm working on Brea , some news from the allotment... Unfortunately, my tomatoes are no more... They succumbed to phytophtera, potato disease. Last week they looked gorgeous and healthy and when I got there yesterday, the leaves were all blotchy, and some of the fruit already had started to get mouldy. Luckily, I've got some plants at home, in pots, so we should get some baby tomatoes in a while... We'll see how we can prevent this next year... The carrots also wanted to tell me something: DIG DEEPER!! They'll probably be turned into carrot cake, to make up for the pain I put them through... Plans are in progress about what we're going to do next year. This Autumn, we'll be purchasing some trees and bushes, like brambles and plums, and bulbs! To put under the trees and enjoy Spring properly. I can already see it now: while we're digging away, turning the soil and sowing our crops, lovely flowers line the borders... Oh, and this was my boy this afternoo...

One of the bags from 25 bags to knit I loved, was Loveheart. I had to adjust the colours a bit and did not put a pocket on it, but daughter was delighted with it! It's now at school, being used as her gym bag. I just got some acrylic leftovers and doubleknit the yarn, with a lighter pink for the front and a darker for the back (I ran out of lighter pink). The heart was knit intarsia and then embellished with some sparkly yarn and a picture frame border. Now, 24 more bags to go... ;) Wee S and me also went to see my cousin M, who just had a second girl. I had knit another Celestine (number 3) for her, of course, in pink!

A whole lot of smooshy goodness - who doesn't love Malabrigo??? This is Azul Profundo. I used just over 2 skeins. The edging Just in time to wrap myself in it watching the closing ceremony of the Olympics (If I will watch it, that is...): my Jeanie! Unblocked it is about 155 x 45 cm long and wide. I did change the top and bottom edging, because I found the description very illogical and just knit cables like on the sides and then incorporating one stitch from the main body every row. Much less fuss and nice edging! As soon as my poor legs (we went to town this morning on the bus and walked back, then I biked to the allotment, did loads of hard graft and biked back...) are a bit better, and I've picked up all the yarn my kids have thrown around the house, I will put Jeanie out to block it. The reason there is loads of yarn lying about, is that I'm going to knit some fun bags, both for the kids and for me (and lo and behold, Mister Man wants a tote bag, with the Marillion Mar...

Thanks for making this great video, Froukje !

Having an allotment means a lot of work, both outside, in the garden, but also inside, in the kitchen. We've been eating courgette (baked, cooked, in the oven), beans, beetroot and rhubarb already, and I've also been busy preserving stuff. I got a lovely recipe for Courgette Chutney from Tijm , and when I saw some people collecting rosehip from the roadside, I thought: why not! So, I grabbed a bag, picked some hips and set to work... And JUM... JUM!!!! The stuff smells like a cross between tomatoes and squash whenever you cook it, and getting the pips out is a b******, but add sugar and a miracle happens! JUMMMMMMM!!! Did I say it was JUM?

...what he wants you to make, and you are already dreaming of knitting a nice Henry , or even some manly Herringbone socks , but no, he wants a Cthulhu. Pardon? Yes, a Cthulhu, some dark monster-god-thingie in the roleplaying world. So, you swallow, show him your stash and he selects a yarn. And this is the result, after an hour of crocheting. A nicely decorated dice bag. Man happy, me happy.

See what came out of the woodwork... We found Lodewijk... And this was hiding in my moms attic... An old ex-Yugoslav spinning wheel, in need of some TLC, but the wheel turns, so it should work with only a ribbon...

Did I ever post the link to my blankie ? Well, here it is! And a few pictures to show you how it's getting along. Thanks to a few days' rest, my elbow is a lot better, remarkable, seeing the work I did in the garden! The chutney is 'resting'. But ehhh, don't I need pots and jars for that!? Ehhhh, I'm off to pick Hannah up from my mom's in a bit, and I bet she has some stashed away. And some sugar... I used all of it for the chutney, and now there's none left to make custard for my (bi)weekly rhubarb crumble... Piccietime! Yes, new book! Cooooool: Van het land, by Alma Huisken . A true inspiration for when the weather is not good enough to go digging in the garden. It just about fits on the coffee table And then Sam sweeps it all away... My favourite gifted yarn block!

As I have a mild case of elbow-RSI at the moment, my knitting needles are on a break. But that doesn't mean I'm just sitting on my arse reading books or watching the Olympic Games, noooo, time to weed!!! My heavens, that combination of loads of sun and loads of rain has caused havoc in the garden!!! Have a look on our site here: Eat weeds (I'm not uploading any pictures here because my laptop battery is running out - I'm not lazy at all.... hahahaha)