Saturday 13 August 2011

IS IT ALWAYS THAT IMPORTANT TO FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS?



I'm so pleased with these dahlias in my garden. They started their lives in those awful dried out packets that hang on stands in DIY stores. 3 for the price of 2, you know the ones I mean.
My first attempt at growing dahlias, I brought them home and eventually put them into pots.
Some weeks later I watched Monty Don on BBC Gardeners World, show how to pot up dahlias and grabbing my instructions that I hadn't looked at before, the next morning I was out in my garden retrieving my plants from the bottom of their pots and having another try.  
I had been wondering why they hadn't been growing but thankfully I got it right in the end.

I suppose it's a bit like my Mum who years ago was baking a cake but realised when she'd put it in the oven, that she hadn't put the eggs in it. 
Never mind, easily remedied, out it came, eggs were added, then put back into the oven. What's the problem with that?

Mind you, not so good when on another occasion she was rather heavy handed with the eggs and added the whole thing. Finding bits of shell in your dundee cake, was not the best, but certainly didn't do us any harm.

My mum is actually a really good cook, her father was a chef. Perhaps Charlotte takes after that side of the family.


She made this delicious apple crumble on Wednesday. We cut up the apples together and weighed out the ingredients for the crumble. I left her in the kitchen, rubbing the butter into the flour while I kept an eye on her sister . When I got back she'd got the consistency perfect, had added the sugar and spread the lot over the apples. All we had to do was pop it in the oven.
I must get her trained in the art of clearing up now!

Monday 8 August 2011

MORE FINGERLESS GLOVES!


I'm getting into my stride knitting these fingerless gloves now, shame the same can't be said for my photography!
I do wonder if the green haze is a result of the reflection of the sun on my new kitchen worktops?
or is it that I'm being lazy and clicking with my iphone which is always on hand and not the camera which is always somewhere where I am not?
Anyway, I'm really pleased with the gloves, they're both the same size and fit a treat. 

Going through my knitting bag I've got so many odds and ends of Debbie Bliss baby wool that I thought I'd use them up and knit some squares. Eventually they'll get sewn together for a small blanket either for me to put over my feet in the winter while watching tv or for Charlotte & Jessica for their dolls, It all depends on how big or small it turns out.