tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19318378953656115712024-03-07T04:54:01.682+00:00The Knit-Nurse ChroniclesKnitting and London life. Not necessarily in that order.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger535125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1931837895365611571.post-84976748938289274562017-01-22T17:45:00.001+00:002017-01-22T17:45:18.467+00:00Lemon and chia seed cakeYes I know, it's been a while! I've been so busy and it's difficult to find time to post on here alongside everything else.
This week I made a fantastic cake and wanted to write it down so that I can remember how to make it again! I've very much taken to chia seeds - I know they are a trend which immediately is a black mark against them, but I love the texture of them when they've been soaked inUnknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1931837895365611571.post-26126874343283407022015-12-29T21:46:00.001+00:002015-12-29T21:46:25.387+00:00Pimlico take two
I first made one of these three years ago - looking back I see pleasingly that it was finished around the same time! It's a great pattern that's free to download from Ravelry and is quite easy to make as long as you can knit in the round. It takes a couple of balls of 4-ply to make - you can probably get away with anything between about 60g and 100g in total.
Last winter I dropped it Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1931837895365611571.post-33246017045027771472015-09-15T21:54:00.001+00:002015-09-15T21:54:14.858+00:00A week in Bladnoch
Scotland was very kind to Jon and I last week when we pitched up in one of the more remote parts of the lowlands for our September holidays - the weather was fine and sunny nearly all week, and our waterproofs stayed firmly in the rucksacks. It was something of a relief considering we hadn't realised quite how little there was to do in the area if the weather had been different. The fact that Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1931837895365611571.post-43379577399859068472015-05-31T21:45:00.001+00:002015-05-31T21:45:17.061+00:00Shoeburyness to Benfleet by bikeWhat better way to spend a rather grey bank holiday than cycling along the Essex coast? Yes I know it might sound a bit underwhelming but I'm getting a bit of a soft spot for the northern side of the Thames estuary, a bit like the southern side took a while to grow on me.
With Jon's home being close to the Shoeburyness line we've been out to Leigh on Sea and Benfleet a couple of times for walksUnknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1931837895365611571.post-34109938352768436282015-05-21T22:48:00.001+00:002015-05-21T22:48:30.822+00:00North Downs Way - Oxted to Maidstone
Our North Downs Way walking has seen quite a few contrasts, and the two sections described below could not have been more different - although to be fair, mostly because they were several months apart!
We'd planned in advance that we would do our third foray, from Oxted to Otford, on 4 January - one year exactly since the day we first met. So even though the weather did not promise goodUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1931837895365611571.post-62176765317334356612015-04-06T16:39:00.004+00:002015-04-06T16:39:31.927+00:00Bank holiday cyclingSometimes enforced solitude is a good thing - not that I've been entirely without company this weekend. But I've had plenty of time to do my own thing and often that involves pottering around, looking at things and finding things. It can be just as much fun alone as it is with others, sometimes more as you can be entirely selfish.
This weekend it started off with a bike ride down the ThamesUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1931837895365611571.post-60060497934346854672014-10-03T18:03:00.001+00:002014-10-03T18:04:37.068+00:00Lakes and the rest
September proved to be the most glorious month of the year so far, and offered those of us without school-age kids (or totally child-free like myself!) the opportunity for a fabulous late-summer break.
Way back in June or something, Jon and I had booked a week in the Lake District, with the optimistic view that we might be able to get one or two good walks in. As it was, we had the mostUnknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1931837895365611571.post-4389480277668345472014-08-22T10:51:00.000+00:002014-08-22T10:51:15.191+00:00North Downs Way and Greensand Way; Dorking to Oxted and back again
Another two-day walking trip saw us setting out from Dorking on a beautiful morning to tackle some more sections of the North Downs Way.
First up was a steep ascent of Box Hill; being earlyish on a weekday morning we met plenty of dog walkers on the way down, but once we were a mile or so from the town, things quietened down considerably.
The views were glorious and expansive and very Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1931837895365611571.post-4295035002888337362014-08-10T12:58:00.000+00:002014-08-10T12:59:46.559+00:00Piccalilli
This came about through a combination of factors. My friend Rowan, who lives in the Kent countryside and has a very productive allotment, sent me home from a visit with tons of green beans and runner beans (not to mention a whole load of other stuff!). A few days earlier I'd been very disappointed with the bar snacks in the local pub, not just the flabby pork pies but also the gloopy Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1931837895365611571.post-88427135187215720252014-07-13T20:48:00.002+00:002014-07-13T20:48:42.076+00:00The best spice biscuits ever
These are actually not just ginger biscuits, although that's one of the main ingredients. In fact they contain no fewer than eight spices if you make it the way I do, with your own homemade spice mix.
The recipe is a Dan Lepard invention for Tamarind Spice Biscuits, but I pimp it thoroughly with my own garam masala, and I strongly recommend that you do the same. I can't guarantee they Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1931837895365611571.post-67243935344527670882014-07-01T21:04:00.000+00:002014-07-13T21:04:40.225+00:00North Downs Way; Farnham to DorkingI never thought I would be the sort of person who would do long-distance trails, but I suspect I might start getting into this type of walking.
Nearly two years ago I signed up for a Meet-up group called 'Joined up hiking' which is dedicated to doing long-distance trails a bit at a time. Although they don't really do the well-known routes such as the North Downs Way, the leader does seem to Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1931837895365611571.post-37421340467295573622014-04-21T22:57:00.001+00:002014-08-10T21:48:45.200+00:00Hastings to Winchelsea
Taking advantage of the long weekend, Gareth and I took a trip to the south coast on Friday to walk from Hastings to Winchelsea. It's a walk I've been meaning to do for some time, having heard how lovely the coastline is in that part of Sussex, and I wasn't put off by Gareth pointing out that it was labelled 'the toughest walk in the book'.
The full walk (the one we were following in the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1931837895365611571.post-78181224443886391262014-01-20T22:15:00.001+00:002014-08-10T21:46:21.314+00:00New jumper on the goI cast this on last year but have only just got to the really (really!) easy bit - acres of knitting, not even any purling as I'm going round in circles on my lovely Knit Picks needles!
I've used the Drops Alpaca yarn before some years ago when I made hats and scarves for the niecelets one Christmas, and it's a lovely fine yarn that relaxes quite dramatically when washed. Hence I'm trusting thatUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1931837895365611571.post-79753486235421204152013-11-27T18:53:00.003+00:002014-08-10T21:46:03.908+00:00Homemade mincemeatYou are probably wondering why the hell anyone would bother to make their own mincemeat when you can buy 'perfectly good' stuff in the shops.
To be honest I don't always make the effort since I don't eat a lot of mincemeat at christmas, but I did some last year and the mince pies went down so well that I decided to do it again this year.
Here's why I make my own mincemeat:
1. no candied peel. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1931837895365611571.post-9932618167507818932013-11-08T00:23:00.001+00:002013-11-08T00:24:23.845+00:00A view I never tire of
When I work at home I miss the morning exercise I get from the bike commute, and if I'm not in the mood for a swim, I usually ride a half hour circuit round Greenwich before I sit down at the desk.
After nipping through the pretty streets of the Ashburnham Triangle I give the legs and lungs a workout up Point Hill, before cutting over Blackheath, against the traffic, and turning Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1931837895365611571.post-31780829604652430892013-10-19T21:40:00.001+00:002013-10-19T21:40:36.725+00:00Beautiful thingsWalking, for me, is not just about getting from A to B while having some exercise and perhaps seeing some nice views.
Anyone who's ever been for a walk with me knows that I am always pausing to look at things, pick things off bushes or off the floor, taste blackberries or muse about the name of a flower or tree.
On a recent walk from Cuxton on the Medway I found/picked/came across many Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1931837895365611571.post-713347241272409422013-10-06T18:51:00.001+00:002013-10-06T18:54:47.530+00:00More Kentish adventures
I pride myself on knowing Kent quite well - and I find myself often having to defend this much-maligned county against the naysayers. Until you have spent a fair bit of time exploring the many very different parts of Kent, it's impossible to get a full flavour of everything it has to offer.
So I was very pleased to discover yet another part of the county that I didn't know, on a recent Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1931837895365611571.post-55307790651246953802013-09-04T21:33:00.001+00:002013-09-04T21:35:32.473+00:00Tate memoriesRemember Carston Holler's slides at the Tate?
I went with my friend Lisa and we had a blast - at the time I was enjoying experimenting with the film setting on my camera and I had just discovered IMovie, so I thought I'd make a little movie about it.
I dug it out again recently after talking with another friend about making films, and felt quite proud of what I'd achieved, especially since I Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1931837895365611571.post-56163231160706892022013-08-22T10:25:00.000+00:002013-08-22T10:25:59.475+00:00From tree to chair
This is how it all started, in a wood in Herefordshire a couple of miles from the little town of Bromyard. I was here to make a chair, on a course led by famous greenwood chairmaker (and author of several books on the subject) Mike Abbott. Naturally, it began with a tree being felled, from the woods which were to be our home for a week.
One of the most crucial - and largely unpredictable, Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1931837895365611571.post-47008499502272497162013-06-26T13:05:00.000+00:002013-06-26T13:05:09.586+00:00Bergen
It's been a busy few months with a few trips for work, holidays and weekends away keeping me on the move pretty much constantly - or so it feels!
Latest trip was to Bergen, Norway, where I was treated to a much bluer sky than London, and even some warm sunshine. The Hanseatic Wharf on the harbour side in the middle of the city proved a beautiful and fascinating place, with its 18th century Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1931837895365611571.post-85545399056178205542013-06-26T07:56:00.001+00:002013-06-26T07:56:39.149+00:00Gifted coasters
Part of the enjoyment I get out of crafting for gifts is the wrapping and sending.
I recently crocheted these coasters for a friend as a thank-you gift and enjoyed packaging them up and labelling them almost as much as I enjoyed the crafting!
You'd think it would be a simple matter to find a good pattern for a circular, basic crocheted coaster - in fact it was anything but! I Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1931837895365611571.post-44374633090739030662013-05-12T08:17:00.003+00:002013-05-12T08:17:48.941+00:00Bristol street art
Found some very impressive street art on a recent weekend break in Bristol, these are on Nelson Street and are part of the 'See no evil' project which has been held for several years now on 'one of the ugliest streets in the UK'.
Some of these are huge and take up the whole of sides of the buildings, begging the question of how they were created.
There's a great video here that Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1931837895365611571.post-5713587624094913232013-04-02T12:48:00.004+00:002013-08-18T11:16:00.240+00:00Grain and HooMy exploration of the Hoo peninsula in north Kent continues; it seems there are many more secret corners to unearth, some of them in the most unexpected places. Yesterday we started at the eastern extreme, the Isle of Grain, which is nominally part of the peninsula. However since a new bridge was built recently over the end of the Yantlet Creek, it does seem like you are actually crossing to an Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1931837895365611571.post-1938412962728313952013-03-23T17:15:00.003+00:002013-03-23T17:15:55.128+00:00Wool House
Somerset House in London has just been host to a 12-day celebration of all things woolly, organised by the Campaign for Wool and curated by designer Arabella McNie. Although I didn't manage to get to any of the fantastic-looking workshops that were scheduled, I did find time to drop in on Friday and check out the exhibition.
There was an inspirational range of stuff - from humorous Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1931837895365611571.post-89738970669237390902013-03-03T00:23:00.003+00:002013-03-03T00:23:53.078+00:00Where did February go?
February seems to have been and gone in an unseemly haste - a mishmash of work deadlines (two publications in one week - argh!) and weekends with some rather difficult stuff mixed in, in particular a whole tranche of painful redundancies at work.
St Paul's Church, Deptford
But there have been some lovely bits, and here's a taster - and a reminder that it's not all been grey doom and Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1