Baby quilt

This is the quilt that I am currently working on.

First Bobbin Lace

This is my first attempt at bobbin lace!

The camera was focusing on something in the background, hence the fuzzy picture.  I can see that there's a mistake in the middle of the lace where I have crossed a couple of the lines that go straight down.  And I think there are a couple of places where it isn't 'under, over, under over', but I can live with these mistakes in this very first piece.  

Holiday Knitting

This year, I made 5 socks, started a 6th and knitted the front of a cushion cover.  

29 and 30.  white slipperette socks

31 and 31.  white slipperette socks

32.  Twisted Dozen sock in purple

(Not knitted on holiday, but definitely knitted, two additional slipperette socks, taking the total to 34.)

Last year I made socks for my Dad, and I asked if he might like another pair. There was a resounding 'Yes please'.  This time they are in a soft, soft merino 3ply.  Normally I would work in 4ply and cast on 60sts for an adult.  With this being 3ply, I am using 72sts and 2mm needles.  The needles are just half a millimetre smaller (diameter) than my standard sock needles, but they feel so much smaller!

I thought I had better offer some socks to my Mam, not really expecting to make them.  Mam surprised me and said she would love some.  This is the woman who taught me to knit when I was 4.  It was quite a thrill when she choose one of my patterns to be made up into socks.  

Dad's feet are almost the same size as my husband so it is easy to make socks the correct size for him.  For my Mam, I wanted her to try them on at each stage to ensure that they fitted perfectly.  

One Mammy sock made, and one Daddy sock started.  Christmas knitting is under way.

30 Days of Giving - Days 17 to 30

Days 17 to 30

I tried, I really did, but blogging on a daily basis is not for me.  I thought I would manage it for 30 days for this project, but it didn't work out.

One of the problems was the task itself, to donate £1 a day to 30 different charities.  I simply don't come across that many charities in my daily life.  It feels really mean donating £1 at a time in anything other than a charity collection box.  Those are designed for small amounts of money.  Giving on-line, my concern is that the money is consumed by the administrative costs involved in using an on-line service. After just over two weeks I had exhausted the local charity boxes within my daily orbit. 

My Mam does a huge amount of charity work, especially knitting for 'shoe box charities'.  She is currently making 'glove puppet' mittens for the shoe boxes.  This gives the child two toys, but also warm hands.  

I used the remaining £14 from the '30 Days of Giving' to buy a large selection of sew-in craft eyes.  My Mam and her team of helpers will use these eye to add life to the glove puppets, and toys they make for children in poor circumstances.  

It actually feels better making this £14 donation than the previous sixteen £1 donations.  Whilst my Mam isn't running a registered charity, I know she will be putting those craft eyes to good use, and that final products will be given to registered charities.  Lots of little bits of good will come from this donation.

It is also good to say 'Project completed', even though I had to change the rules part way through.

Oat Bread, second version

I was in a bread-making mood recently and thought "I know, let's make oat bread!" But, this time around I didn't have nearly enough oats. This is the modified, modified version of Oat Bread. We like it better than the previous version.

Also in the previous version I had cut the quantities in half. This time I have doubled them up again. It fitted into three small loaf tins, and the slices of bread came out at about the size of half a slice of shop-bought bread.

The gluten-free breads I can buy locally lack body and texture. If you squish a slice of gf bread between your fingers it almost turns back into a dough. In gluten-bread, this would be a sign that the bread was undercooked. The addition of oats in bread gives a great deal of body. When you bite into the oat bread it actually feels like you are biting into bread!

200g of gluten-free oats

2 (14g) sachet of dried yeast

360ml of warm water

120ml of oil

4 tablespoons of sugar

360g of Dove Farm gluten-free flour

2 teaspoon of xanthan gum

1 tsp of salt

big pinch of cinnamon

4 eggs

In a food processor,  turn the oats into oat flour.  Add the yeast, sugar, flour, xanthan gum salt, and cinnamon.  Mix in the processor.  In a jug, break the eggs and mix, add the oil, and mix, then add the water.  Once combined, add to the dry ingredients.  Beat for a few minutes until fluffy. Turn out into a well greased loaf tin.  The dough will be a sticky mess at this point, not the beautifully smooth dough ball of gluten bread.  Place the tins in a warm place and leave to rise until it has doubled in size.  Sprinkle the top with a few oats, and bake in the oven at 175°C. 

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Dove Farm flour is a great multi-purpose flour.  It is made from rice, potato, tapioca, maize & buckwheat.

30 Days of Giving - Day 16

Day 16

Riding for the Disabled is today's charity.    Many years ago, I had a friend who was horse mad, and who volunteered for Riding for the Disabled.  She would accompany the novice riders, helping to ensure that they were safe.  She spoke of the joy, contentment, excitement and exhilaration on the children's faces as they realised that they were able to control these huge beasts.  Suddenly their closed worlds exploded and possibilities presented themselves.  

RDA is a charity that expands the world of people with disabilities.

Thirty Days of Giving - Day 15

Day 15

Crossroads Care is an organisation that seeks to help carers.  So often the needs of carers are overlooked and they can become isolate and exhausted.  Crossroads Care provides more than 50,000 hours of respite care to people on the island, as well as providing other support and advice.

The charity has a number of charity shops. These have some very useful functions including providing low cost clothing and goods, to recycling items no longer wanted/needed by their owners, and providing much needed funds for the charity.

Thirty Days of Giving - Day 14

Day 14

Today's charity is the Manx Diabetic Group.   Their aim is to "press for the right of all diabetics in the Isle of Man to receive the best possible care necessary to help them maintain good control of their condition and to be able to live a fulfilling life."

Thirty Days of Giving - Day 13

Day 13 

My husband and I were discussing this project yesterday.  I mentioned that the majority of the charities so far have been medical or medical related ones.      He made a request that I include a literacy charity in this Thirty Days of Giving.

After scouring the interwebs, the best I have been able to come up with is the Family Library.  They do a great job of getting children interested in reading.

Thirty Days of Giving - Day 13

Day 13 

From the St John's Ambulance website: 

"We believe that it’s absolutely unacceptable that so many people die needlessly – because no one could give them first aid when they needed it. St John Ambulance teaches people first aid – about 800,000 last year alone – so that they can be the difference between a life lost and a life saved.  As a charity, we’re committed to making sure more people can be the difference between a life lost and a life saved. To do that, we need your help."

The world needs people who are prepared to make a difference in their local communities.  

Thirty Days of Giving - Day 12

I think I need to face facts; I am useless at blogging on a daily basis.  The good intentions are there, but life gets in the way, or I simply forget.  Thankfully, I have not forgotten to donate £1 on the missing days - I managed that.  It was just writing about it.

Day 12

A donation has been given to Breakthrough Breast Cancer.  This charity does fantastic work in researching breast cancer.  A quarter of the research done in the UK is funded by Breakthrough.  They also provide a wide range of information.

However, my one big grumble with this charity is at that the images, the stories, the information is almost exclusively about women.  Men get breast cancer too.  A man's life time risk of getting breast cancer is 1 in 1,000.  This is 100 times lower than a women, but sadly, because a lot of the breast cancer information was targeted only to women (not just talking about Breakthrough just now), there have been men who did not realise that it was possible to get breast cancer and who have died because they left it too late to seek treatment.

Yes, women are the ones who are most likely to be making use of breast cancer services, but it is important for men to be aware of the dangers too.  A bit more information would be good.  A bit less pink would be nice.  And changing the language from 'women' to 'people' would be wonderful.

But they do such fantastic research!  I am happy to think that my money (this £1, and the one pound coins given through the year) is going to fund the scientific reaseach.

Thirty Days of Giving - Day 11

Day 11

Craig's Heartstrong Foundation is a charity set up to to raise the necessary funding to enable the heart screening of men and women between the ages of 14 and 35 here in the Isle of Man in order to detect any possible symptoms of long QT syndrome or Hypertrophic and Dilated Cardiomyopathy and thus help prevent Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS).

Thirty Days of Giving - Day 10

Day 10

I'm now a third of the way through, and I am starting to find this a difficult challenge.  Who, or what, should I give money to?  

It is also tricky because the challenge is to give away £1 a day.   £1 feels like a nice little donation to drop into a collecting tin, but it feels far too small when making an on-line donation, or one given face to face.    I have given one £1 donation to Jo at Methodist Live at Home, but I know her and was able to explain that it was part of a series of donations I was making.  

My inclination is to pop to the shops and see what collecting tins they have by the tills and select one of those charities.  But this does not feel like the best way to select charities to give to.  

In may ways, this challenge would be so much easier taken over a year, with £10 given out each week.  £10 feels like a figure that you could do something with.    

The postie has just been at the door, and I asked him.  He said that there is a collecting tin at work for Cancer Research, and he was happy to take my £1 and pop it in the box for me.

Cancer Research is such a good cause.  Advances are being made all of the time against the range of diseases called 'cancer'.  

And thinking about Cancer Research, it has brought on thoughts of donating to Macmillan Cancer Support, Breast Cancer and also the hospice.  

It's tasty, tasty, very, very tasty!

I have just eaten a wonderfully tasty breakfast; so tasty I wish to record it.

It is not often that I eat breakfast as so much of what is touted as 'breakfast food' contains either gluten or eggs. Neither of those make a tasty breakfast for me.

Today I went back to an old breakfast style. It is a home made 'muesli', but instead of oats, I use a gluten-free rice crispy style cereal. To this was added some cashews, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries. The quantities were 'what ever is left in the packet'! This was topped with Rachel's low-fat vanilla yogurt. So tasty.

Guess what I will be eating tomorrow for breakfast?

Thirty Days of Giving - Day 9

Day 9

A round half of the people who are diagnosed with bowel cancer every year die.  It is thought that this is because the majority of people don't  seek medical advice until their cancer is advanced, making treatment more difficult and a successful outcome less likely.

A list of symptoms can be found here.

Thirty Days of Giving - Day 8

Day 8

Manx Gateway is a social club for people with learning difficulties. 

As well as providing a safe and social place for people to meet, they also run  a drama group and many sporting activities.

Thirty Days of Giving - Day 7

Day 7 

The Parish Walk celebrates its 100th anniversary today.  

"At 10 pm on Wednesday 28 May 1913, twelve men started the Parish Walking Match to each of the Isle of Man’s 17 Parish Churches. The only prescribed route from the start at the Palace Ballroom on Douglas Promenade was via Broadway, York Road to the Quarter Bridge and Braddan Church. Thereafter the entrants could choose their own course between churches and back to Douglas. Harry Bridson was the first of just four walkers who covered the estimated 79 miles."

"100 years, 24 days and 10 hours later, around 1,500 walkers will commence a similar challenge. The distance is now fixed at 85 miles with a few course changes over the years to accommodate the increased levels of participation.  The printed results and stories are still in demand but much of the information is almost instantaneous.  Radio stations broadcast from the start and throughout the 24 time limit, mobile phone technology will allow spectators to share stories and photos on social media sites and around 30 minutes after the flag has dropped the first photos of the walkers will be available to download."

Today's competitors often use the opportunity to raise money for charity.  "Safe, Strong, Secure (3S)" is a charity which seeks to provided to people who are, or have been, dealing with domestic abuse.  One of the 3S team is  Will Brown; he hopes to be one of the top finishers in the under 21s.  he came in first place, winning the under-21 section of the competition.

3S hopes to raise money, but also raise awareness of domestic abuse.  "We want abuse to be no longer a shameful secret that is hidden away, but something the Isle of Man agrees is no longer acceptable."

Thirty Days of Giving - Day 6

Day 6 

There was a young lass collecting for the Manx Blind Welfare Society.  My £1 coin was added to her collecting tin.

They help over 500 people on the island who have serious sight loss.  Blindness and other sight problems can be incredibly debilitating and isolating.  MBWC works hard, with their staff and huge number of volunteers to provide services that make a significant different in people's lives.  

Thirty Days of Giving - Day 5

Day 5

The charity today is Methodist Live at Home Schemes.

The aim of the Live at Home Schemes is to enable elderly people to live in their own homes, by offering friendship and support. 

The activities/services offered can be a little different from scheme to scheme, but typically they might be befriending, social group, including luncheon clubs, drop in sessions and coffee mornings, signposting service, day centre transport, and transport to essential appointments.

Wednesday is 'TidyDay'

Defrosting the freezer is a big, and often wet job.  But the time has come.  I can't put it off any longer.  The freezer must be defrosted, cleaned and restocked.  

On the dining room table there is a mound of frozen food, nestled safely under towels and a duvet.  I hope the ice cream and orange lollipops survive their migration to the dining room.

At some point today there will also be general sitting room tidying.