Wordless Wednesday

21 December, 2011 | Photographs | tags: cotton, handwarmers, lace, tea.

“Tea Leaf” Handwarmers
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knit with my tea-dyed yarn…

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3 Things to Enjoy in October

1 October, 2011 | Inspiration | tags: autumn, hottie, music, tea.

3 things that go together: bonfires, The Bonfire Band, and Lapsang Suchong.

Autumn means bonfires! In addition to knitting, here are a couple of things you can enjoy while awaiting combustion:

1. The Bonfire Band is a delightful London-based band whose music makes me smile every time. This is one of my favourite songs of theirs, and one that I think captures their lighthearted ways. It’s called “Good Times” (in Londontown), and it’s a reworking of Bob Dylan’s “Hard Times in New York Town”. Give it a listen & download it on iTunes if you like it.

2. Lapsang Suchong, if you haven’t heard of it before, is a strange tea which has a distinctly “smoky” aroma, a result of its being dried over pinewood fires. Admittedly it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but if you like the smell of bonfires, I strongly recommend you give it a try.

For best results, indulge in all three (& knitting) on the same day! :)

P.S. Thank you to Al & Mr. Jingles T.B. for making many of my slideshow photos possible!

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The rose was awake all night for your sake

15 September, 2011 | Photographs | tags: art, england, poetry, rose, tea, watercolour.

A few final, idle touches of England. The wind-blown rose reminds me of Maud, but then, as it’s one of those poems that is so musical that you memorise it without even realising, I find lines (both floral and florid) going through my head quite often.

Come into the garden, Maud,
For the black bat, night, has flown,
Come into the garden, Maud,
I am here at the gate alone;
And the woodbine spices are wafted abroad,
And the musk of the rose is blown.

John William Waterhouse - The Soul of the Rose

Tea & roses go beautifully together too, in tea rose perfume (still my favourite), rose hip tea, and Cath Kidston mugs. My mug was the first thing to hand when I wanted to try my new Pentel water brushes (Amazon UK | Amazon US). They’re great fun, and perfect for travel-sketching or for watercolour doodling when you can’t be bothered to get up and fill a couple of glasses with water. And it just occurred to me that they might come in handy for spit-splicing too, though I tend to use my tea for that!

By the way, if you would like to do your hair like the lady in the painting (& I spent most of my teenage years striving very unsuccessfully to look Pre-Raphaelite), then you might like this video. The fishtail or herringbone plait that Sam demonstrates is also the one I used for the braided tie for the Cornflower Hat, so you’ll be a step ahead!

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If I Was Bored

3 April, 2011 | Life, Literature | tags: 2KCBWDAY7, blog week, music, tea.

After the knitting needles & the yarn, the one staple of my knitting time is TEA. Turkish tea, English tea, herbal tea, horrible tea, over-stewed, under-brewed, too hot, too cold, in a cup, in a saucer, in a mug, in a glass. No milk, no sugar, thank you.

I never watch TV, but I do sometimes watch films or Youtube videos if I’m knitting something easy like, say… a Minty? Otherwise I almost always either put on an audiobook, or tune in to BBC Radio4. In Our Time is one of my favourites, and now that they have such a generous archive on the web, I often listen to old episodes I missed. Here’s one on tea, for example!

I do occasionally read while knitting, if the knitting is simple & the book is obliging. At the moment I’m reading Aurora Floyd by Mary E. Braddon.

I usually knit on my own, but of course, I’m never lonely. ;) I mentioned that I recently started a knitting group & that’s been great fun. Even if none of my friends are around, I do sometimes take my knitting to a café, just for a change of scene. That’s one great thing about city-living.

I’m certainly not very ceremonious about knitting. I wake up, put the kettle on, sit down, and start. Especially if I’m excited about a project, this poses no problem. Throughout the day, the knitting is interspersed with a million other activities so that I never get bored (being a Gemini, this is essential): checking Ravelry, answering correspondence (usually tardily, oh dear! :( ), paying attention to my parents, writing, tinkering with the site, going to Ancient Greek class, messing about in Inkscape, writing up, charting, laying out, and proofreading patterns, taking photos, etc. etc.

I also love listening to music, and probably spend at least 30mins every day doing nothing else. (And having two consecutive blog posts with lyrics for titles is nothing to me!) I admire people who can write an essay while listening to rap. If I’m writing up a pattern and listening to anything with words, I will start writing the words. My favourite music commands all my attention. If you want a boost of energy or motivation for the new week, I recommend you turn off the lights, put in your earphones & listen to this:

Thanks for reading, dear knitters! I hope you’ve enjoyed my posts for Knitting & Crochet Blog Week 2011. It’s been a great opportunity for me to reflect & to discover amazing new blogs. Thanks, Eskimimi, for organdising such a Great Online Event! Now I’m ready to start all over again!

Here’s a list of my week’s posts (or click here to read them all):

Monday: A Tale of Two Yarns
Tuesday: Swallow Your Pride
Wednesday: Room for More
Thursday: The Lost Patterns File
Friday: The Lonely Knitter’s Companion
Saturday: Her Ribbons & Her Bows
Sunday: If I Was Bored

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Wordless Wednesday

16 December, 2009 | Photographs | tags: hat, sea, silk, tea.

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How My Knowledge of Fiber Saved My Life

10 November, 2008 | Yarn | tags: fiber, fire, Life, tea, wool.

Last night I was sitting on the sofa by a lovely roaring fire, typing away at my blog post. My boyfriend had gone down to the pub with his friend, and I was all alone in the small Welsh cottage. As I got up to get myself a mug of tea, I glanced at the woodburner and noticed that the candle that had been left on top of it (note use of passive) looked a bit lopsided, so I thought I’d better take it off there and put it to one side. The saucer was full of hot melted wax though, so it was rather tricky to do, and I noticed that the flames were licking away at that side of the burner, making it even hotter. Not knowing a whole lot about fires, I opened the woodburner door to try to rearrange the logs. Woosh! The flames licked out of the hinge and one side of the woodburner caught fire. It finally clicked that there was hot hot wax dripping down that entire side of the woodburner. In a few brief moments, many thoughts ran through my head:

- My God, the fire is outside the woodburner.
- Maybe if I leave it, it’ll just burn up.
- I can’t call my boyfriend.
- How am I going to tell him I burnt his house down?

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