My New Project – yarns to be used.

For my new project, I am using a selection of yarns. The first is a combination of the rolags I bought at Festiwool, Hitchin and some grey merino I had in my stache.

I am also adding in some of the very white Polworth fleece, which I hand-carded recently:

I also have some purple and grey merino which I will work in.

This is how the finished project will be: a short waisted button-up cardigan with a large collar:

So far I’ve done the back up to the armholes in a plain purple merino. First picture gives the true colour and the second picture shows the detail with the flash turned on:

The flash sure makes a difference, doesn’t it. The first pic is very accurate.

This project will not be finished quickly. I am still spinning the wool into yarn and in between I am working on other projects. However, I will come back and show you as and when I finish each section. I don’t have enough of the purple to finish the back so I may use the mixed purple and grey from the armholes up. Let’s just wait and see shall we.

Meanwhile, five weeks to go until my new grandchild appears. It’s getting exciting. Pity they are in South Carolina. We won’t be visiting very soon!

Oma

Happy Birthday Larry

The cottage is buzzing with birthdays! Larry has just turned 70 years. Amazing that he’s lived that long…? no just kidding. Happy Birthday darling and many happy returns.

No, I didn’t stay up to see the New Year in, but I did hear the fireworks, which started here at about 10 p.m. They didn’t keep me awake either.

Happy New Year to all my followers.  I hope 2015 is a good one for you. Any plans for the New Year?

Oma

My English cottage garden – December 2014

 

Hello everybody, I hope you enjoyed your Christmas. New Year still to come!

I am loving my Christmas present – a new shed! I’m so delighted with it, I could almost eat it, if you see what I mean.  It has been invaluable for putting the excess Christmas food in during the last week or so and the extra milk which I ordered over the Christmas period. The shed was put up a few weeks ago, but I wasn’t supposed to go inside it. I cheated! Still never mind, it didn’t spoil anything and now, every morning, I go up the path and peek inside to check on my geraniums, which are over-wintering in there. The baby ones, you’ve seen before, I keep indoors on the window sill but I don’t have enough window sills for all the others. At the last count there were over twenty of them!

The shed is going to look grand when the lilac bush comes into flower in the Spring and I will be popping back to show you when the buds are evident.

This is the view from the inside, from the door. Geraniums on the right and at the back?

Here’s a closer look:

Four chicken nest boxes! Yes, I’m going to get some more chickens in the Spring. I kept chickens before, for ten years from 1990 to 2000 when their housey fell to bits! Now it’s time to have another go, I feel. I miss my hens a lot and can’t wait to get some more.

Here are some more pics around the garden this week:

View from the inside of the shed looking out, south:

The woodpile:

The holly:

Pots of herbs by the back door. In the large pot are bluebells. I had to move them to make room for the new shed.

I think you can tell how excited I am, can’t you?

Have a lovely Sunday.

Oma

Merry Christmas everyone.

My turkey is defrosting in the shed; my mince pies are ready and waiting to be eaten and some of the other jobs have been done. Others are still waiting (mops brow). So it just remains for me to wish all my followers a very Happy Christmas. I appreciate your visits day by day throughout the past year. It means a lot to me to see your comments and I hope you will continue to dip into my life, here in England, during 2015.

Tale care!

Oma x

Christmas Cards

We have received some lovely Christmas cards this year. Even now they are still coming, one or two a day. I don’t think the custom is quite so popular as it used to be but in this house at least, they are all most welcome.

The question is, ‘what to do with them?’ I have some pretty hang-ups and I clip my cards onto those. Here is one of them..

I slot the cards in and secure with a paperclip, otherwise they sometimes fall on to the floor. How do you display your cards?

The cards I like best are the ones of the three kings. I’m not sure why but I love those. They are mysterious. It’s all about following a star wherever it leads and having trust and faith that the star will lead us to the right place at the right time and of course in the case of the birth of Jesus, it does. Maybe it’s the anticipation of what will be found at the end of the journey. Christmas is a lot about journeys. So many people are on the move, trying to get to their loved ones at Christmas or just escaping from the place where they usually live. Mary and Joseph were making a very long and arduous journey on a donkey – not the best way to travel when you’re pregnant, is it!

The three kings are on camels, again not a very comfortable way to travel. We in this day and age travel mostly by car or bus or train. Aeroplanes too are buzzing about in the sky. We all pray for good weather so that we can make our journeys safely. We watch the weather forecasts at every opportunity to see if snow is forecast or ice or whatever we dread the most.

For myself, I am not travelling this year. I am staying by my own hearth. Here it is:

You are virtually invited to join me in front of the fire as I and my family prepare to enjoy the Christmas season. As you can see, we have chomped our way through most of the chocolates in the advent calendar already! There are just a few left.

Oma

Preparing for Christmas

It’s time to start the preparations for Christmas, isn’t it! Time to find or remember where you put the decorations, the Christmas cards, ribbons and bows and of course the Christmas tree. Time to make that all important cake and start the shopping… I’ve noticed that my branch of Sainsbury’s is getting busier by the day. There were very few free spaces in the car park this morning. On the shelves there is change!  Familiar items have disappeared for the time being to make room for all those special treats we come to expect at this time of the year.

One of the places I love to visit is Poplars, the garden centre, which is a short drive from where we live.  They always put on a good display for Christmas and each year there is a different theme.  This year’s theme is The Snow Queen and you can see her in the picture below, sitting on her sleigh with the reindeer in front.  There is a Santa hut for the children. It gets more spectacular each year.  The restaurant does good business with mince pies galore and a view of the Christmas trees for sale just outside the window.

 

Garden centres do big business over here these days.  They have changed enormously since the days when they were just nurseries. Now they are grand and full of all sorts of delights and it is possible to spend the whole day in them.

We bought a new Christmas tree for this year. I think it’s a little bigger than the previous one but we are restricted by space so it is still small. I may need to buy some new baubles for it (yeah) but must wait and see. First I need to assess the situation and where we’re going to put it etc.

Will you be having a Christmas tree in your home this year? Have you decorated it yet?

Oma

Celtic Tree Month of Elder

 

We are just into the Celtic Tree month of Elder, an enchanting small tree…

‘The tree is said to have within itself the ‘Elder Mother’, called Elle or Hyldemoer in Scandinavian and Danish myth. She is said to work strong earth magic and according to legend, avenged all who harmed her host trees.  No forester of old would touch elder, let alone cut it, before asking the Elder Mother’s permission three times over and even then he was still in dread of her possible wrath.  Likewise, in many country districts of Europe and Britain, wise people will show respect by touching their hats when passing elder trees, in continuance of ancient custom.  Certain North American tribes also believe that elder is the Mother of the human race.

According to legend, witches would often turn themselves into elder trees, and one famous witch-tree turned a king and his men to stone, thereby creating the Rollright Stones in Oxfordshire, England.  This ancient piece of folklore tells of a Danish king, on his way to battle for the English Crown with his warriors, meeting the witch and asking her what his fate would be. The witch replied:

Seven long strides thou shalst take,

And if Long Compton though canst see

King of England thou thalst be.’

Source: ‘Tree Wisdom’ by Jacqueline Memory Paterson

 

Steam Train passes through Leagrave Station

Last week we went to our local railway station for an important event. Dylan and his dad came too. We were going to watch a steam train come through and it did, on time and at speed! Here it is:

 

 

At the end you can see Larry ducking to get out of the picture.

Dylan had never seen a steam train live before.  He wasn’t sure what he was going to see. He asked his dad if it was going to be like Thomas (the tank engine). Isn’t that so sweet? At the event, he was frightened, which is not surprising, after all he has only just turned four. He is used to seeing the electric trains go through but this was something different and it did go very fast.

It was a first for Larry too. He had never seen a real steam engine in action either and he found it very exhilarating.

The last steam engine to pull a passenger train in England was in 1968. It was the Oliver Cromwell and it went from Liverpool to Carlisle.  Is it really that long ago?

Do you have any memories of travelling on a steam train?

Oma

 

My Memoirs – Remembering the fallen of World War 1

My great-uncle, William Harry Davis, was born in 1879 and baptised in 1882 at St. Peter’s, St. Albans. Later on, with the death of his father, the family moved to Hart Hill Lane, Luton, Bedfordshire. On 4th August 1906 Harry (as he was known) married Mary Edridge. There were two children born – Stanley and Gladys.

Harry went to France with the Queen’s (Royal West Surrey) Regiment, but was killed on 16th February 1916 in Flanders. He is buried in the Cambrin Military Cemetary, Pas de Calais, France, grave reference F9.

I have found out this information through family research. I didn’t know the story beforehand. Harry was part of a very large family of Davis’s. There were about thirteen children. My little nanna, Ethel was the youngest and her brother Harry was next but one up the line with Mabel in between.

I didn’t see my dad for a large part of my life because he moved to Australia when I was fifteen. I didn’t see him again until I was thirty-two years old. If I had known my dad better during those years, I expect I would have heard these stories frequently. I do know that my dad, whose middle name was Harry, was named after his Uncle. I know that now but I didn’t know it until I started researching.

When I heard that The Royal British Legion were offering commemoration for the fallen soldiers in World War 1, I decided to remember my great uncle in this way. I am hoping they will put a poppy on his gravestone, since he is fortunate to have one. Not everyone did.

I have no contact with this branch of the family. Does anyone on here know of them? All I know is that Harry and Mary were married in Northwood, Middx. but since he spent a large part of his growing years here in Luton, I felt it appropriate to remember him here.

Who are you going to particularly remember on November 11th?

Oma

Goodbye and thanks for the fish.

This is my first car purchase, all on my own. It is (was) a Vauxhall Corsa and it’s ten years + with 110,000 miles on the clock. It’s been a brilliant car and if it’s possible to do so, I loved it very much. It did 30+ miles to the gallon and was easy to maintain. Now it’s been sold and will give someone else a few months or maybe a year or two of pleasure.

Goodbye little car. It’s been great knowing you… sob

Am I being overly sentimental? Do you get attached to your cars?

Oma