miss marie's miscellany

Peapods

My peas are podding! Hurray!

Crochet books acquired!

I bought 2 new books to expand my knowledge and jazz up my crochet repertoire.

 The first is this one, 200 crochet blocks by Jan Eaton.

 It's a crochet reference book. It contains an amazing array of different patterns, granny squares, blocks of colour, textured patterns.......just about everything you could imagine. There are lots of ideas and examples for matching different patterns together to make one's one design, so this book would be good if you don't want to stick rigidly to a pattern or like making your own up.  I've wanted a compendium of squares and blocks since I started enjoying crochet and I'm looking forward to trying some of them out in new projects.

The second book is one I have seen mentioned on quite a few crochet-loving blogs; it's 100 Flowers to knit & crochet by Lesley Stanfield.

Firstly I just sat and oohed and aaahed at the beautiful flowers; what a wonderful array. If you have read this blog for a while, you'll know by now I love flowers! I couldn't resist trying to re-create what I see and love  in the garden in crochet or knitting. I attempted the Lazy Daisy; it's not perfect by any means, but I felt a little daunted by the patterns, so I'm pleased that I could make something, anything, from this book. 

It's definitely weighted in favour of knitting, which perhaps makes it an expensive buy for those exclusively into crochet.  But I think it demonstrates beautifully the possibilities of how delicate the results of working with wool can be.

There will definitely be some summer holiday crocheting going on here!

I'd be interested in hearing anyone else's views on these books. Did you find them helpful/informative and have the patterns been successful in your projects?

Summer flowers

Lots of summery sunny flowers today. The garden is full of colour at the moment.

Hope they make you smile and brighten your day.

Highland castles

I've been away, working in Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. I go there because of my job twice a year, and always have a good time; it's a beautiful part of the world, with lots to see both historic and picturesque.

Here is the view looking up the River Ness towards Inverness Castle.

The weather was lovely (apart from one day when it poured and was chilly- the unpredictable Scottish climate! )

Here's the view looking the other way down river; eventually if you follow the river this way, you reach Loch Ness.

Yesterday,I decided to leave the city and visit Cawdor Castle which is only about 14 miles from Inverness. If you cast your mind back to school English Literature, you will remember that Macbeth was the Thane of Cawdor, although in actual fact, Macbeth was born in the early 11th century and the castle was built in the 14th century, so the events of the play could not have happened there. But despite Shakespeare's poetic licence, the castle has a magical and mysterious air about it, one could imagine the 'Scottish play' to have taken place somewhere like this.

A burn runs alongside the castle, and next to that a wood with some enormous trees, Scots pine and oak.

I decided not to go inside the castle, purely for reasons of meanness! And to be honest, I really wanted to see the gardens which are beautful and plentiful.

There is a walled garden, quite formal in style.

In the sky, you can just see a plane taking off, as the castle is quite near Inverness Airport.

I love this combination of pink and orange, very bold and eye-catching.

There were paths edged with laburnum trees and bluebells.

An interesting sculptural fountain hidden away behind thick hedges which you had to push through to get in - a secret garden.

The planting around this was all white which looked lovely and set off the fountain well.

Next to the castle was a more informal garden

with this beautiful covered path with wildflowers at the side.

Some of the gorgeous flowers we saw

I'd love to know the name of this last plant, if anyone can identify it for me. From a distance, the flowers look square, almost like Scrabble tiles!

Let's have one last look at the castle.

Yes, it does look like a fairytale castle!

.

May collage

I made a collage of photos I've taken over the last month. 

I think I'll do this every month, as it's a nice way of summing up events of the last 28-31 days. I also did one each for March and April which you can look at if you click on the collages sidebar thingy.

Columbine

I love these aqualegias or columbines. No planting or sowing on my part , they are wildflowers which grow every year bringing some lovely colour to the garden, and I love seeing where they'll appear.

purple 

 white 

pink

and this beautiful red one which I haven't seen in the garden before

It's a lovely sunny day here. Whatever the weather, I hope you have a great weekend.

Hearts for breakfast.....and pancakes too!

A morning of baking. Nothing nicer than something straight from the oven. Above you can see Baking Powder Biscuits, a cross between a scone and a biscuit, and very nice they are too. I think the magic ingredient is the vegetable shortening (I use Trex) which gives them  lightness and crispness. They are best eaten on the day they're made.

You need; 

10 oz plain flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

4 oz vegetable shortening

6 fl.oz milk

Pre-heat oven to 190c or Gas Mark 5. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. Rub in the shortening till the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add milk, a little at a time and mix to make a stiff dough. Turn out onto a floured surface and roll out to 1" thickness. Cut into your preferred shape, place on a greased baking tray in the oven and cook for 12-14 minutes, until golden brown. Cool slightly on a rack and eat while still warm.

Delicious with a little butter and jam.

This other recipe comes from  Joy the Baker,  a great food blog I enjoy.  Fantastic recipes, great photos and funny too, well worth a look. 

These are my 1st attempt at her Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes.  I'll definitely be making them again!

Delicious.

After the rain

Trio con brio

I found this cheeky picture of a piano trio au naturel. It's by Beryl Cook. I know her paintings are not for everyone;  I was with a friend in Glasgow Modern Art Gallery and she just didn't like the Beryl picture we were viewing, didn't think they merited being there, whereas I think they are funny and full of life, real life. Victoria Wood sums it up neatly,'Rubens with jokes'.  These voluptuous ladies look so caught up in the moment of their music-making, the shedding of their clothes has freed them from all inhibitions.  This picture makes me smile.

Busy bee

I've been busy for the last few days, so not much time for posting. In between real money-paying work, I've been toiling away in the garden, getting the grass cut and doing lots of  weeding. A bit of drama.......yesterday afternoon whilst gardening, I was stung on my forearm by a bee and had quite a bad delayed reaction to it. I didn't think anything of it at the time, made sure the sting was gone and cleaned it up. But I had a concert last night and by the end of it my arm was much more sore and swollen (perhaps holding one's arm up in a cello playing position for several hours wasn't helpful? Unavoidable though!)

Yuk! The white pasty flesh doesn't make it look any better. Note to self; a light fake tan might not go amiss! Anyway, medicine has been taken and ice-packs and lotions applied and I'm well on the mend now, thankfully. But do watch out for those bees! 

On a more positive note, I have managed some crocheting, a new project. I bought some new wool and together with a few bits from my stash, decided on this colour scheme.

And I sat for a while this morning making these

Which will turn into something cushiony for the bedroom, I think.

And I had to show my new shoes.....

They do seem to tone in with my crochet very well. I've had my eye on these for a while, and now the weather is more summery, I feel I can justify the purchase!

And just to keep the purple harmony going, here's a lovely rhododendron from the garden...... looking good!

Wishing you a happy weekend!