Glennie Knits: January 2011

Our gorgeous old plum tree has had a bumper crop this year. Most years we get a strong wind just as the blossom is setting and most get blown off. This year it's been a race between us and the birds. Normally I make chutney but in all honesty I just couldn't be bothered with all the cutting and mess as it was sooooooo hot the other week so I've made pickled plums which just seemed so much easier - pricking them with a toothpick and then pouring the boiling vinegar, pickling spice, ginger, cloves etc. mixture over them in the jars was very easy! Lets just hope in 2 months time they taste as good as they look!

Issie has been in seventh heaven doing "bird" watch trying to stalk and catch them as they get carried away eating the plums (don't you just hate it the way they do one little peck per plum?) What she fails to realise however it that she is wider than the birdbath so hiding behind that is a dead giveaway and as she launches into attack mode they have ample time to fly away .... Here's an action shot!

Here's my "to do" list for my 3 week Xmas holiday:

1. Weed the garden
2. Read the house/home magazines that I skimmed through most of the year
3. Look into getting a bee hive for the garden
4. Do some gardening, rather than just looking at the weeds
5. Buy a market umbrella to replace the one that was half broken
6. Stop knitting baby girl items and start knitting some boy ones
7. Knit some toys - essential for mid season and summer markets
8. Make beautiful salads
9. Make some different meals - did you know that most people have only 8 dishes
they cook regularly? Go on, count them up - and be honest!

Here's what did happen ...

1. Didn't do
2. Did
3. Didn't do
4. Did
5. Didn't do
6. Didn't do - knitted more baby girl cardy's !@#$%
7. Bought the fibre for stuffing but didn't knit the toys!
8. Did - including one with couscous, pine nuts, basil, feta and raspberries .. yum
9. Did

Had this vision of multi coloured flowers around the bottom of a little cardy .. but once finished they looked all wrong so I unpicked the whole border and made cream and pink ones. The border at the back has gone a bit stretchy because of the unpicking and resewing but that's the joy of a hand knitted one off garment - isn't it ???