Tuesday Ten

Ten Material Wants

1. A new phone. A Samsung Tocco, to be precise.
2. More of this nail varnish. I've had the red stuff on since Friday and there are no chips yet.
3. A gardener. It needs weeding. I can't be bothered.
4. One of those growing roof thingies for the garage, instead of the cracked, leaking asbestos we have at the moment.
5. A couple of pretty lever arch files and a clipboard - preferably something in a bright colour, with (guess what) polka dots.
6. A Nintendo DSi. Not a great deal of point in me owning one because I wouldn't use it ever so often - but I would use it on all my travels, which are extensive.
7. A pair of walking boots. This is more of a requirement, given that I'm planning Yosemite hikes.
8. Some more Galatea yarn from Yarn d'Amour, in Skye Blue, so I can add sleeves and less of a daring neckline to the tank top I'm making and wear it as a sweater instead (yarn this soft should be next to the skin, imo).
9. A new easy chair for my classroom, to replace the one the caretaker made me bin after it was covered in smashed window glass last year. These days were made for sitting in the sun on my fire escape.
10. New shoes. Any new shoes will do, as long as they fit and are comfy and pretty. Shoes are always on the wishlist.

One Local Summer week 3

One reason why I love participating in this challenge is that I get to read what other people eat and it gives me ideas. Most of my meals seem to revolve around eggs and potatoes with whatever seasonal veg I can find, so it's really interesting to see what other people come up with.

Inspired, I decided I'd have some meat in this week's meal, and in fact we ate local two nights in a row, thanks to a stop at Springleaze farm shop on the way back from Brighton on Sunday. That night, we barbecued - burgers hand made on site from cows reared on their own farm, and locally produced sausages (I had Old Sarum, which were pork and redcurrant and possibly the nicest sausages I've ever had), and bread rolls.

Last night we ate up what was left of the sausages with onion marmalade produced by these good folks, some mashed new potatoes and some yellow beans, and then I had some lemon meringue pie for dessert, since Springleaze sell their own homemade cakes. I also have some Marshfield Farm ice cream sitting in the freezer. I feel very lucky to live so close to Marshfield Farm because local ice cream might be difficult to find, otherwise. A scoop of ice cream may have made it onto the pie - I'm not going to lie to you.

My tomato plants are getting quite big now, as is the basil plant I bought a couple of weeks back - but it's the courgette that's really making a success of itself. The plant has nearly covered up it's neighbouring tomato already.

I did have a bit of a growing disaster last week though. Mr Z split up my lilies for me earlier this year and there was a little one on its own in a small pot that was still alive but obviously not going to flower. Mr Z made me come and look at it last week, and at first I thought there was a big mushroom growing in the pot but no...

It was a fish.

A salmon, to be more precise - a huge chunk of cooked salmon on top of the poor plant, and most of its skin, dangling over one side of the pot. Now, I know Bristol is technically coastal, but it's not really and in any case I live on the wrong side....I can only assume that (a) I pissed off the neighbours, (b) they had a big food fight or (c) (and most likely) a seagull fished (haha) it out of a bin and dropped it during one of the spectacular midair battles they have over the choicest bits of food.

My lily was killed by a fish. How many people can claim the same?

Recent FO

I was going to try and pass it off as a weekend FO but I actually finished it a couple of weeks ago and only just got round to writing about it.

















Pattern: Ribbed Lace Bolero
Needle: 5mm Knitpicks
Yarn: Patons Smoothie DK in a gorgeous red shade - the colour is quite true in the picture even though my skin looks like I had a nasty accident with fake tan (which, incidentally, I don't use, because it makes me smell like feet). I bought 8 balls in an online sale and the stuff goes FAR - this only used a little over one ball.
Mods: I did k2tbl instead of skpsso or whatever it is. I hate that decrease. k2tbl looks so much neater.

I knitted this in a fit of pique, when I realised I had knitted the whole back of the cardigan I wanted to knit at the wrong gauge and probably wouldn't have time to rip it and knit it correctly. I decided I would knit this bolero in a day so that I had a back up - but I got bored with it after about 75% was completed so it actually took 5 days, and then it was Rav day and the new gorgeous blue yarn came into my life and the red cardigan has been temporarily forgotten about - though now I come to think of it, I would like it for my summer holidays.

I wore it over a new stripey dress to my friend Beccy's wedding this weekend and thought I'd get a nicer picture out of it, but sadly Mr Z put his camera away before I put the bolero on, so you'll have to put up with the grainy camera shot for now.

One Local Summer week 2

No picture this week, sadly - it was such a hurried end to the week and I'm still superbusy!

I was lucky enough to be able to work from home on Friday, as I had exam board standradisation and this year it took place online. It all went very smoothly after a few technical issues - but I only had 25 minutes to cook myself some lunch.

I boiled up some Maris Piper new potatoes with some fresh mint from the garden, roasted the last of the asparagus (local asparagus has now disappeared from the farm shops - BOO. It is such a short season!) and then poached some eggs in the potato water, so they came out quite minty too.

I got all these things from Whiterow Farm Shop, and I also picked up some strawberries grown in Cheddar, some Somerset yogurt from a Guernsey herd, and some locally produced rhubarb and ginger jam, which, combined, made a very delicious and local dessert.

Sadly I had to wolf it all down speedily and get back to work - which is what I'm going to be doing with today's local barbecue. But that's a meal for another entry....

I am getting the feeling that being a team leader for the exam board is going to mean less work later on, but far more work now. I got back from Beccy's wedding (more on that later) several hours ago and have been hard at it ever since. I need a nice picture of Tahoe or Yosemite taped to my computer monitor to remind me why I'm doing it.

Oh well, at least real work got a whole lot easier from Friday. I've got so many spare hours this week I'm bound to find time to fill you in on the trip to London when London had no tubes, and the trip to Brighton with the dodgy hotel and the sunburn.

Tuesday Ten & UK Rav Day

Ten Good Leisure Activities

1. Knitting...duh!
2. Looking at knitting magazines/patterns
3. Surfing the web (mostly Ravelry)
4. Facebook Scrabble
5. Having a gin and a nap
6. Baking cupcakes
7. Reading historical novels
8. Shopping
9. Blogging
10. Playing MarioKart on the Wii

Marking starts with pre-standardisation on Thursday - and the other team leader for my paper is about to jump ship which increases my workload by 50% (and my money....but still...) - so leisure time is going to be in short supply for the rest of the month, I fear.

I had an awesome time at UK Ravelry Day on Saturday, in spite of having to drive up in conditions which have hitherto only been experience by Noah, imo. I learnt how to knit Faireisle - much, much easier than I thought, especially when I discovered I didn't have to twist the two colours every time I changed....





















...and I did some shopping at the market stalls, where I saw these two very wet creatures...





















...they are alpacas. Their owner said we shouldn't feel sorry for them, since they are from the Andes and cold, horrible weather is what they love.

I bought...

• 3 skeins of aran weight Australian merino from a little Welsh Company called Yarn d'Amour, in such beutiful variegated blues that I want to weep
  
• 1 skein of 100% silk laceweight in dark purple
  
• 5 skeins of DK alpaca blend - 4 turquoise and 1 pale green, for a bit of a jumper with a Fairisle motif
• Some Sock Stop, which you squirt onto the bottom of socks to make them non-stick
  
• Some buttons - exactly the buttons I have been looking for for both the pretty lace cardigan I haven't touched for nearly a year, and the Central Park Hoody which is still awaiting its button band. I have literally been looking for buttons such as the ones I bought for years.
  

...and I got 2 skeins of Blue Sky Alpaca alpaca-silk blend as a thank you from my knitting group buddies who came along in my car. As if the £30 petrol money and cake weren't enough!

Here's the haul....






















I haven't been able to resist the aran merino (which does not look one tenth as amazing in this picture as it does in real life) and am about halfway through making it into a cabled tank top already. Because everyone needs and aran-weight wooly cabled tank top in June.

One Local Summer Week 1

It's that time again!



This week - eggs and potatoes from Whiterow Farm Shop nr Frome, and asparagus bought from the same shop and grown in South Petherton. That asparagus pops up all over the place - it's been in most of the farm shops I've been to recently (except Springleaze who, for one glorious week, were selling the stuff they'd grown on site, which was of unparallelled quality) AND my local green grocer up the 'wood.

It was a good meal. The potatoes made particularly good chips and I dressed the asparagus with a little black pepper and Balsamic vinegar, and a sliver of Pecorino Romano produced by Jon Thorner's which is that SW company which produces a variety of local fare and distributes it to all the farm shops for selling. The Pecorino Romano is, unfortunately, of Italian origin, though - but asparagus season is so short and the combination of the two so spectacular that I decided being Jon Thorner's label was good enough for me.

I went to Turner's farm shop this week too, for some Hobbs House bread and veggies, and picked up a white aubergine, which I've never had before. I also bought some courgettes there and have whipped up some ratatouille for lunches this week. I got chatting to the lady serving in Turner's about their production, since I was amazed at how big their veg patches have grown since my last visit. The veg I bought wasn't grown on site, but the lady said they are growing more and more all the time and it won't be long until they get chickens again. And since this article suggests that ethical and local producers are the only growth industry these days, hopefully they will go from strength to strength in the coming years.

Tuesday Ten

Ten Summer Essentials

1. Sunglasses. I have four pairs, currently, and am on the lookout for a nice pair of aviators - although since I do that irritating wear-the-on-the-head thing and aviators get caught in my hair, I might just go for another plastic framed pair instead.

2. Hammock. I have spoken of the wondrous hammock before. It is particularly lovely on nights just like this one, when indoors is far too stuffy and the grass is a little too twilight-damp for lying on.

3. Sun cream. I burn with alarming regularity. On the way to Mother Hand's last week I was forced to stop at every shop we passed until I found some for sale, just because the sun was beating down on my arm through the open car window and I could feel it getting ready for red. Also, sun cream is like a conductor for tanning - the higher the factor, the browner I go. Bizarre. I'm the only person I know who starts a holiday on factor 20 and goes UP to factor 30 when a base tan has been achieved.

4. Iced tea. A new one for me, this, but I have to say, those yankees know what they're on about. I've avoided it in the past since I don't like black tea, but then was struck with the idea to make fruit iced tea with the many varieties of fruit and herbal teas I have stockpiled over time. Totally refreshing - even more so now I've weaned myself off adding sweeteners. Not as sharp as diet coke and more interesting than water.

5. Hair clips. This time of year, I start to fantasise about getting my hair cut into a chiselled, cool little bob and feeling the wind on the back of my neck again. At this point, I go and fetch a big crocodile clip and whip the whole messy lot up into a makeshift French pleat, et voila....the long hair survives another year. Mr Z cheers, not remembering that when I have short hair, far less of it ends up in his food.

6. Cool showers with the window open. The window's behind the shower head, so this involves a little curtain-rearranging to protect my modesty, but there's nothing like a cool shower in a breeze.

7. Sun dresses. Like, a whole breed of dress, just for summer. Amazing.

8. Boots Cucumber and Aloe Wipes. I buy them on three for two or whatever offers they have, and keep them on my home desk, my work desk, in my car and my handbag, by the bed, the sofa...

9. Fans. This makes me think of an old 7-Up advert with the tagline, "I don't go anywhere without my fans..." and I know the feeling. I've got a desk fan which I try not to use since I'm quite certain it guzzles electricity like nobody's business, and a smaller, cuter, Bloomin' Breezy which is very handy for work and runs off the USB. This year I intend to get a handheld fan - not an electric one, just a flappy one - for my handbag.

10. Flip flops. I have just splashed out on a pair of Havainas, since my ski trip buddies were all sporting them and extolling their virtues. I had held out, since the not-very-comfy, turned-my-feet-black £2 Chavda pair were still going strong...but then, today, I was running to the exam hall with some glasses my tutee had left behind, when I tripped and fell, and snapped the toe post of said flip flops. So, yknow, I had to order another pair. I will have about 4 pairs now but they are the ultimate summer footwear, if only because they don't create gigantic white bits on tanned feet, like my Birkis do.


I couldn't believe it when I tripped over. In front of three girls, too, who were sickeningly nice about it - to my face, anyway. I then had to walk into the exam hall, and right to the back, with one flip flop on, carrying the other. Luckily I was able to fix it up with a bit of hairy string I keep in my desk for doing floor graphs, so I didn't have to walk around barefoot all day.