A Bit of Work and a Lot of Roses

Those of you who despaired of me ever publishing another pattern will be glad to hear that I've started working again. I'm only doing about half an hour at a time but it's a start. All this week I've been writing up my pattern for a lace version of the Ten Stitch Blanket.

It's hard going as a) I knitted it a while ago so it's not fresh in my mind, b) my notes for it are scattered all over my current notebook and c) it took me a while to remember how to use my pattern writing software. I've got as far as the garter stitch I cord edging now though so the end of the first draft is in sight.

I've also just started work on a new bunting pattern to go with my Spring, Autumn and Christmas bunting patterns (no links for these as they messed up my formatting). This one will be inspired by Summer and, so far, I've sorted out the colours I'm going to use and knitted the first of the twelve flags.

I used my cross stitch Summer sampler from Little Dove Designs to find the colours for this one as they're probably going to be displayed together.

This is a straightforward project at the moment as I can just copy my pattern for the flags from the other patterns. The tricky part will come when I have to design little knitted motifs to represent Summer. So far, I've though of an ice cream but I can't decide whether it should be an ice lolly or a 99 cornet. For the non-British, this is a vanilla ice cream with a chocolate flake stuck in it. Personally, I would never touch the whippy sort of ice cream often used for these which is the work of the devil. 

While I'm on the subject of ice cream, you might like to try my late Mother-in law's lemon ice cream which has got to be the easiest recipe ever. You take equal quantities of lemon curd and double cream (I use a 300g jar of the curd and 300 ml of cream), whisk them together until they're well mixed, pour into a container and freeze. That's all there is to it. You don't need to take it out of the freezer in advance as the spoon goes into it straight away and it's very, very tasty. The amounts I use fill one of these square 750 ml boxes.

Now for a rose update. No sooner had the first one flowered than all the rest decided to get their acts together and join the race. I give you ...

Kew Gardens

Buff Beauty

and the wonderfully named Tottering-by-Gently

As you can see, this last one is in the front garden by the railings, showing off to passers by. Just along from it is The Poet's Wife which isn't in flower yet but is absolutely full of buds.

Meanwhile, the first rose of this year has got lots more flowers on the way.

Lady of Shalott

I love my roses but I'm also fond of the common flowers that some call weeds. The grass out the back is getting long and tatty now but it can't be cut before the ox-eye-daisies have flowered and they're very nearly there, along with some woodland buttercups. Any day now ...