I thought I ought to get a bit more work done on the various bits of knitting that will be entered in the Jedburgh Flower Show in September, so I started yesterday by clearing one of my sewing tables, and covering with a heatproof pad
this is the rubber-backed stuff that your Granny protected her beautifully French-polished dining table with. I used a sticky roller to remove stray bits of thread
first, I pinned out a tiny matinee jacket
covered it with a piece of white cotton fabric
and gave it a gentle steam press
then I did the same with a much bigger white matinee jacket
the white and pink baby blanket, pinned out and pressed in the same way (I also did the cream blanket, but I forgot to take a photo of it!_
these little shoes needed to have their little ankle straps added
the first one done
I had a hunt through my button drawer (what, doesn't everyone have a button drawer?) and found these little ones
but I didn't think they looked right, so I tipped out this jar
and found these two tiny heart buttons - perfect
in the same jar, I found these dark pink ones for the white jacket
and these paler ones for the turquoise jacket. I followed the pattern, which instructs you to sew the buttons on the top band, and then use press studs to hold the front together - it's a bit of a faff and next time I will do normal button holes
one of the garments on the schedule is a snood, so I had a look through my stash and found this delicious Noro yarn which has been in my stash for several years, so it must be about time to use it
in contrast, the navy yarn is a cheap and cheerful supermarket buy, but it has a lovely glossy finish
in my knitting basket, there is also this tangle of pieces, which will become a hooded child's jacket
I made a start to the first snood last night - it is much darker than this - my camera just doesn't like taking photos of blue things!
so, on to this morning, and waiting in for the telephone engineer. I thought I would make good use of my unexpected morning at home, and first I did they ironing. Then I prepped some strawberries and measured out the same weight in jam sugar
I zapped the strawberries for several minutes
until they were starting to soften and give up their juice
then I stirred in the sugar
and zapped them some more, until setting point was reached
using a jam funnel makes it so much easier to fill the jars
four jars of delicious homemade strawberry jam, which will be eaten in no time at all
now, I could lie and say that I also whipped up a quick batch of scones ...... or I could tell the truth and say that I bought them in the garden centre some weeks ago and popped them in the freezer! They were defrosted in time for our afternoon cuppa (sadly there was no cream in the fridge!)
but what about the engineer, I hear you cry! Well he didn't turn up (short pause to put more money in the swear box!!). But the phone is working again. How? Malcolm did some research online, went and bought a specialist tool in the local diy store (such a specialist tool it cost him 23p) and checked out the wiring in the various sockets. He found a wire that seemed to be wrongly attached, removed it ........and the phone has been working since. Hooray for practical husbands, and a great big raspberry for TalkTalk!!