A holiday!

Phew! I had a week off and it was SO needed! I hadn't realised until a couple of weeks ago that I'd not had a week off this year. I usually have one in May but that didn't happen because I couldn't afford a holiday after buying the business partners out and then I usually have one in July but couldn't justify it because the shop was so busy and I had too much to do. I've had a long weekend off and I've been more savvy about lessons so I often get two days off when there are bank holidays but there's something about having a whooooooole week off isn't there? It's not going to be a long blog this, because I did nothing! Well, nothing that I can talk about really. But I'll just update you on the important bits like cake. :)

So I had a million little jobs to do. Like get to the bottom of the laundry pile that's been getting worse and worse for weeks because Chris only washes his own clothes and uses mine to make up a load, the big bastard. So I did my clothes (and his because I'm not a wanker) and all the towels on a hot wash because he doesn't do that either... That took a couple of days because there was nowhere to dry.

I then got out all of the projects that I haven't finished and decided to finish one. It's a blanket in the Drifter and the Authentic that I've been doing for a while, not that long really, a couple of months. I started it because the chair that Toni sits in in the living room doesn't have a blanket and it feels sad. And she's always cold. I don't have a proper photo of it sadly, but here it is with her on my bed:

That was all done and dusted by the second day - ends sewn in, blocked and dried. Have I ever told you how quickly the Drifter and Authentic dry? I think it's to do with the acrylic content. Perfect for t'babbehs and for blankets. Boom.

By the second day, I'd started my main project for the week. Which is one that I can't really tell you about but I can show you my office for the day:

I can't tell you how much I enjoy working outside but it wasn't warm enough to stay for long. Oh well. This was the day I made my first cake:

It's a chocolate beauty with homemade jam in the middle and nutella on top because Chris ate the chocolate that was going there, the bugger. Turned out surprisingly well and was mostly gone by the next morning....

The second cake was.... slightly less brilliant - mostly because I made it up:



A general cake with an orange smashed up in in. I baked it for longer than normal because it was wettish and it turned out fine. Marmalade in the middle and icing made with icing sugar and orange juice:



Chris didn't like it as much so it lasted longer than an evening...

And the final sweet bake of the week was my orange meringue pie! Toni and I had decided to make a chicken pie one of the days (and Chris has a bean burger pie that we made him) and they turned out great. So we decided that there should be more pies in the house and went through the pie book that my mum bought for Chris last Christmas or for his birthday or something. Anyway, of course it was supposed to be a lemon meringue pie but we didn't have enough lemons so I did oranges instead with a bit of lime juice to make up for the acidity. So far so good. But the orange bit was thickened with corn flour which we always have in the cupboard but we didn't this time. In my head though, custard powder is mainly corn flour so I put that in instead, and again, not as bad as you think! The problem came when in the book they told me to use cling film on the pastry for the blind bake BUT THAT SHIT JUST MELTS! It melted into the pastry! Is that right?! Is that normal!? Isn't it supposed to be baking parchment?! Who knows! I salvaged the pastry that I could, so there was less than there should be and carried on regardless. I'm gonna call that extra plastic nutritious. The real problem was that I left it too long in the oven, only like two minutes but apparently that matters.



Hmmmmmmm. I didn't like it but Chris did so let's hope it's gone by the time I get in.

This also happened:



I can't tell you what it is, what it's made out of, what it's going to be or when. But you can just appreciate the back of fairisle because it's good isn't it!? Even better now it's blocked. I kinda want to use the back instead of the front. Hmmmm. We'll see. More later, hopefully this week.

On Thursday the freezer broke properly so I persuaded Chris to get a different and better and smaller one. Which made space for a shelf or two in the little out housey thing that he has. And I filled it full of my favourite things!

 Wine, beer, drills, chutney and plants. No wool though, I have other shelves for wool. 

And finally, I'm getting to the end of the glut of tomatoes. It's been ridiculous! Absolutely ridiculous! I have enough for a salad tonight, some made into sauces in the freezer (about three big tuppawares full), some still on the plants red and more green, and then a big bucket of green ones. And I've got down enough that I'm not longer feeling overwhelmed. I also pulled up the last courgette plant to make way for the pumpkin plant which doesn't seem to be doing great but what do I know?

And that's about it. I left the house once to get drunk and come back and demand chocolate. Apart from that I sat in bed and knitted, washed the dishes, baked things and generally did nothing. How perfect is that!?

This week I promise to get my Yarndale blog finished and I want to talk about some of the new stuff that's in and the patterns and I want to get back to Pattern of the Week. Ahhhhhh. So much to do, so little time, feeling a lot more like I can cope with it.

Love Eleanor. xxxxxx