on a roll....bringing back elevenses...

just over a week later and I'm back again...what's going on?!

Well, following on from my teacosy sucess last week I went one further, this week I made two teacosies and found a good cause to raffle them for...


...last Sunday morning I hosted a "Tea and Talk" event in support of the Mental Health Foundation...that's my kind of fundraising, none of that sweaty running about or (God forbid) dangling upside down from a length of elastic above some whitewater rapids...no, no, no give me elevenses (much underrated in my opinion) in my kitchen with a bunch of friends and a tableful of tea and cake anyday...

The full spread...mmm

...and just LOOK at this maple, chocolate and walnut swirl my friend Bert (Bert the Baker, nice ring to that actually) made for the occasion...particularly delicious heated up was that one...swoon...

with only 3 days notice lots of people turned up, ate cake, drank tea, bought raffle tickets from the ever eager Ms Reva and contributed £117.07 to this great cause...

here's the teacosy winning team, Amarapuspa and Jill with their prizes

I've also set up a Justgiving page and I'll try to put a widget on the sidebar in case anyone who wasn't there fancies throwing a few bob into the pot, as much or as little as you like...I might even run an online teapot and cosy raffle for those who support the cause that way...oooh, yes, now that might be a good idea...what do you think? Fancy a teapot and cosy to call your own?...

hmmm....that took a while...

...I know...I know...it's a joke...veritably...

...however, I AM still alive [apparantly]...

...and I even knit something last week : a pretty orange eco-wool tea cosy to keep my friend's tea...ummm...cosy...now Ms Bester wants one, but without the spout and handle holes, to wear as a nice bobble hat...sounds good to me

it's proving a funny old year...I'm hoping things will settle down soon and I'll be able to get back to crafting and connecting with my much missed crafters blogosphere...fingers crossed...

in the meantime...this is post 97...about a year ago I promised to make something nice to give away at post 100...watch the space as they say [at this rate of going you've only got a couple more years to wait!!! ]

long lost annie XXX

a log cabin and lots of tea...what could possibly be nicer...

doesn't that look strange?

I was paired with Laura for Vonnie's Time for Tea swap. Laura is a graphic artist (currently looking for a job - GO snap her up - she won't be around for long) and jewellery maker and just look at what she sent me

gorgeous buttons...part 1

gorgeous buttons...part 2

fabulous print...part 1

fabulous print...part 2

excuse the awful photos of the prints - those dark patches are to do with my less than perfect photography skills, NOT the prints

there was also some tiptree jam (love it) and some chocolate...unfortunately one of the parcels Laura sent (yes, I had installments of wonderfulness all last week!) got damaged in the post and tea and some other bits and pieces she sent got lost, but still a wonderful swap package I thought. Thanks Laura.

I broadened my horizons for this swap and made something I have always wanted myself, a soya wax candle in a vintage china teacup ...I tell you these are making me damn happy at the moment...

I have this tutorial to thank for revealing to me how easy it could be...

I also made Laura a merino wool tea cosy from the yarn Mia gave me for my birthday, in a new variation for me, two by two rib, it may be my favourite so far...

I sent some rose quartz and green aventurine stones for Laura to play with too

Great swap. Thanks Laura and Vonnie.

so to log cabins...have wanted to make a log cabin square forever (at least it feels that way) but been too nervous...project improv forced my hand as the charity square was due last week, and had to be log cabin. I cut the strips the weekend before and happily sat down the night before the deadline, filled with false optimism, thinking maybe I'd manage two or three squares...come midnight I couldn't even see straight, managed to sew a couple of pieces on wrong side out and had a paltry one square to show for all my efforts.


It was a LOT of fun though, and now, finally, I can say I have pieced a log cabin square. I hope there will be many more where that came from as I do love the randomness of the pattern that emerges when you don't think two much about the fabric placement...I like this Improvisation business...it's just my cup of tea...

wishing you a sweet and happy new year...

a colleague of mine introduced me to the Jewish tradition of apples dipped in honey at Rosh Hashanah in order to symbolically invite sweet things for the year to come. Being a bit of a magpie when it comes to appealing customs and rituals I brought this one home and shared it with the kids and Mr G way back then (October, was it?). When it came to the recent New Year's Eve Ms Reva, she of the amazing memory and attention to detail not to mention adoration of all things ritualistic (now, where could she get that from I wonder?) asked when we would be doing the apple and honey thang. With yours truly around she didn't need to ask twice.

There being no reason not to we adopted it in for our (non-Jewish New Year) New Year's Day brunch. We wished for sweet things for 2009 and that's my wish for you too. Have a great 2009, wherever you are. Honey coated or not.

(The brunch was great too...apples and honey, home made pancakes, scrambled eggs, smoked salmon, bagels, cream cheese, croissants, bonne maman jam, lashings of tea and copious amounts of coffee from Mr G's xmas pressie espresso maker. Mmmm, now that's a custom that has taken firm root chez milkwood...)

I've been absent a lot of late. Real life has got me in its grips and is squeezing me tight. Work is busier than ever, the kids are growing and seem to need more rather than less of me. It's ok, it's just taken me a bit by surprise. Ms Bester starts nursery at BIG SCHOOL next week and I can feel her quiet trepidation. Ms Reva is back to school tomorrow after an illness blighted Xmas and I can hear her not-so-quiet feelings on the subject!

I did quite a bit of knitting coming up to December 25th though, some of which has been passed to its recipients and can be shown.

My dad had some health issues last year, which he has met head on (as he does everything in life, amazing chap my dad) and now walks an hour or so early each morning. I walked his daily route with him on my last visit, riverside in Co. Cork. Every day I think of him taking his constitutional and so this Xmas when faced with the dilemma of what to get the man who needs nothing and wants less I decided to knit him a scarf to wear while walking. A multi-directional diagonal scarf to be precise. There were a couple of nerve wracking days waiting for the sumptuous Noro Silk Garden to arrive but arrive it did and soon those needles were clicking and clacking on the bus, in the doctors waiting room, at Ms Reva's Xmas carol concert, on my bike (oh no, actually I didn't go quite that far) and he received his parcel a little after the big day (I blame the Irish Post!).



That Noro Silk Garden is a lovely yarn, and I like these manly colours, very suitable for my dear dad. They match exactly the colours he likes to wear. I hope he has many many hours of warm walking and feels the love in every stitch. (Shame I don't have a photo of dad wearing it on his walk, maybe he'll send me one...hint, hint)

The aforementioned colleague (with the apples and honey) has recently taken to knitting after a 26 year hiatus. A rekindled passion responsibility for which she lays squarely at my door. I am happy with this and am quietly hoping to recruit more workmates to the dark art. They are mostly male software engineers more interested in World of Warcraft and techno-gadgetry but I hold out a glimmer of hope. Mia knit lots of hats for Xmas and helping her find a pattern on ravelry we came across this particularly fetching ribbed beanie which I surreptitiously managed to knit up for Mr G for his stocking.
The yarn is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran and it's lovely. Amazingly I knit most of it while sitting watching TV with him and he was still overcome with surprise when he unwrapped it. All I can assume is that he thought I was knitting yet another tea cosy.

Speaking of tea cosies, there were a few of those on the needles too. One for Jane which I forgot to take a photo of but which I hope will keep her tea toasty warm while she is recovering from her leg operation on Wednesday and not wanting to have to make the trip to the kettle too often. And one for an undisclosable recipient who hasn't yet received it. Ooooh, nothing like leaving on a note of mystery eh?...

you know that your child has been living with a blogger for too long when...

...the first thing she does upon receipt of some postal goodies is dash off immediately in search of the best available light and arrange them ready to be photographed...


...goodies from Helen at Angharad, there was also an old fashioned peg ready for some peg dolly action but the apprentice blogger decided to omit that for a reason known only to herself...

I had no idea what Ms Reva was up to, quite thought she'd lost her marbles in fact (now I know how my overmilkwood-mates must feel about me on a regular basis) until the penny finally dropped. Then I just felt an overwhelming sense of pride...(ahem, you know I'm kidding, right?...right?)

Thanks Helen, for the unexpected goodies for the kids as well as for my lovely giveaway prizes, which I have so far managed to keep for myself, thanks in no small part to the distraction of the peg dolly goodies.

If you planned it that way it was both cunning and immensely successful!

A word about the fabric in the background there: it is a piece of 50s barkcloth I managed to pick up in Jubilee Market one Monday morning - I LOVE 50s barkcloth - we had a wooden holiday chalet on the Irish coast in the 1970s which was still rigged out from the 50s with curtains and cushions etc in this and it always takes me back to those really happy times - if anyone knows a good source for the stuff PLEASE let me know...(cos, like, I really need to start collecting something else you know...)

Apart from photo shoots with the baby blogger I've been engaged with making a doll quilt for the Doll Quilt Swap No 5 (first one I've joined in with)


I used some of my favourite fabrics and made an attempt at a flying geese pattern. Don't look too closely though as if you do you'll see my geese are a little random and not so keen on flying in military style formation

Pesky birds!

I enjoyed making it though and have great plans to make quilts for the girls, and even one for my own king size bed one day. Whoa...hold on there girl...

(you can see more DSQ5 pictures over on flickr)

What else? oh yes...every cloud has a silver lining...as you may recall I lost my fancy dangled harmony option needles on a train from Liverpool and so have been a bit stumped on the knitting front (well, until yesterday when the replacements finally arrived - Hallelujah!). I was forced into using some old plastic ones from the days I used to buy up lots of vintage knitting needles on ebay which brought me the very pleasant experience of knitting with red malabrigo on pretty green needles...

...was almost worth losing the needles to enjoy those contrasting colours together...

In the background there you can see my lovely Cath Kidston bag sent by my even more lovely friend Katy when I moaned about not being allowed to be in her draw due to being a UK resident. Always worth a little moan I reckon. Thanks Katy. Mwah!

The knitting ended up as a tea cosy for my old school friend Siobhan. She had requested a red one as recently as November 2007 (my ability to procrastinate knows few equals) and I managed it in time for a belated Birthday Present this year. Happy Birthday dear hope you like it!

The weather in London this month is a strange mix of beautiful, clear crisp Autumn days and dark days of non-stop miserable rain. Last Sunday was one of the former and we got out to the woods, taking coffee and bagels with us.

It was a lovely little excursion and one I hope to repeat often this Autumn and Winter.

Hope you are managing to enjoy Autumn (or is it officially Winter already? I always get confused) wherever you are, or Spring I guess, if you happen to be down southerly ways...

a short post about knitting...

Here is the great reveal of my nephew Isaac's knitted gift as he has now received it all the way over there in the land of Switz...it's a kimono cardi (I call it) based on this baby bulky asymmetrical cardi pattern (scoot down the page a bit and you will find it - is a great pattern) The yarn is blue sky alpaca organic dyed cotton, in Fern and 'twas knit on 6mm (harmony options) needles...



apparantly it is a big hit with the little tyke...

awh shucks...............

I have some bad news to report on the knitting front however.I was at a conference in Liverpool recently and brought another kimono cardi I was working on with me to while away those train hours there and back ( this time in a lush purple bamboo yarn...oooh, my mouth waters at the memory). I made it back to London only to find that I'd left my knitting bag on the train somehow (it was late, the train was crowded, I was tired). Numerous calls to various lost property departments have yielded nothing and I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that I've lost an almost complete cardi, along with a couple of sets of harmony needles and cables, and various bits of knitting paraphanelia that happened to be in the bag (that I have lovingly accumulated over my knitting career).I couldn't bring myself to report this until now as it would have ended with me bawling and wailing over the computer. I've gotten through this post without drowning the laptop in tears so I must be coming through it at last (excuse me while I run outside and scream, LOUDLY)

Ahem, back now. Thanks for waiting.

The fact that my (well rather Katy's) teacosy was featured on cuteable this week has helped in my recuperation...thanks Lynsey

I'll be back shortly with a report on what I liked at Origin, which I dragged a rather unwilling Ms Bester around yesterday morning...it was fun, in that unique way that craft shows and irritated (because they are not at a playground or eating icecream) small children can be...

...special people...tea bliss...swap goodies...

as I mentioned it was my friend Nich's birthday...we visited at the weekend bringing tea(bliss*) related gifts for Nich :

• one finished teacosy in Noro Silk Mountain - tick
  
• one tin of Fortnum & Mason Regent's Blend - tick
  
• one jar of F&M chocolate covered florentines - tick
  
• one copy of Tea Bliss (which will either make him laugh hysterically and wonder if I have lost my mind or will change his life forever) - tick
  

and a rather special little gift for his lovely wife whose birthday it was recently also...

"oldfingers family " by tenfingerworkshop (felted habitat by yours truly)

we spent some sunny days in their pretty country garden, enjoyed a bbq or two and a walk through the bluebells...unfortunately I forgot my camera so no photographic evidence exists and the only photo of the teacosy on the teapot is in Nich's camera as I write...don't fret, no doubt I'll post it (totally out of context) one of these days...

in other news on the milkwood front I received a beautiful parcel from Diane in the heart of Texas...we were doing a Vintage Swap exchange arranged by Meridian...and I was delighted to receive some vintage gloves (which Ms. Reva insists are so lovely they should only be used for a wedding) and a very pretty swarovski crystal necklace...I'll unveil what I sent Diane as soon as I know she has received it safely...

Thank You Diane!

*a lot of the bliss was mine I must admit as provided a perfect opportunity to spend a recent lunch hour in the glorious Fortnum and Mason foodhall - my god they do an overwhelming amount of beautifully packaged tea!

tales from the white coated and safety goggled world of tea cosy knitting...and some other stuff

as some of you may know my day job involves working in a male dominated industry in an office full of men...now one of these men values the restorative qualities of a nice cup of tea (as I do myself) and along with certain other redeeming features of his this shared passion for tea (well, for time away from our desks making sure the kettle has boiled, at least) has ensured that we have become good friends over the past 8 or so years since we met...Anyway, Nich turned 40 this year. When I enquired what he would like as a gift he asked for a tea cosy, as he'd been given a shiny new tea pot for Christmas...

...(exhibit A)...
(note the attractive fossil)

I jokingly told him he would need to furnish me with dimensions if he wanted a snug fit in his custom built cosy and he duly turned in these...

...(exhibit B)...
(note the attention to detail - though I did have to work out the circumference myself, can you believe that?!)

He is now convinced that the knitting practice is one so scientific that it involves not only the most precise measurements but also the wearing of safety goggles and a white coat (although I think he may be secretly hankering back to his previous existence as a research chemist). Which makes me laugh...very few things could possibly be less scientific than my bus knitting...

anyway, the cosy has been cast on and will be unveiled at the weekend...watch this space...

I am again overwhelmed by the number of comments to the last post...it was great to read about everyone's favourite seaside treats and I am now more determined than ever to get myself to Portugal to check out the wonderful clams, squid and other seafood mentioned, along with the chilled white wine...now that sounds like my kind of place (not until I've shaken the half stone or so I put on over my four days in France though...unbelievable! never knew one moule could have such an impact!!!). The British contingent do love their fish and chips and sandwiches it seems, while seafood also figures large for the North Americans. To be honest it ALL sounded delicious to me.

My new friend the random number generator tells me the winner is no 16, which appears to be Varenia (whose stitching looks a lot more professional than mine - oh dear...). So Varenia, drop me an email with your address and I will pop the lavender sachet in the post to you in sunny Southern California.

It was, as always, lovely to discover new blogs out there and I'll be popping by them all to say hello as soon as I can...

I'll leave you with a sneak peek of something I've been playing with recently...just to add a bit of colour...


ps time for a tea tasting update...I invested in some Russian Caravan tea today (the kids were intrigued by the name) as suggested by a number of people previously - mmm, I quite like it. The smokiness isn't as pronounced as in Lapsang Souchong (obviously as it is a mix) but adds a lot to the flavour...I could quite like this one...might try with just a dot of honey, if that isn't against the tea drinkers code of course

a first attempt at blogging...

I'm starting this blog in order to try to keep my "creative" side alive
my hope is that by posting project plans and progress as I go I'll manage to keep things ticking over, well more so than I normally do at least, I guess we'll see...

so, I went to the Knittin'n'Stitchin show at Alexandra Palace last weekend and bought some yarn (or "wool" as my mother would have said)

the plan was to make a teacosy and a scarf and then see what else unfurled itself from my imagination

have managed the teacosy so far and am quite proud of that as having not knit anything in about two years I managed it in two evenings in front of the TV, and had great fun with a Loopy stitch at the top

it's a little small for my big green teapot and a little big for my small spotty teapot - think I feel a spot of middle sized teapot shopping coming on...

let's see if I can get a picture or two up