A Box of Crocheted Fruit

You may remember that, last spring, I made some crocheted vegetables for the school I work in. They were a delight to make and I was quite happy to give them away when I'd finished them because I'd already had so much fun crocheting, stuffing and photographing them.

I'd always intended to create a box of fruit too and, over the last six weeks, I have been slowly putting together a collection of nine items. As with the vegetables, a really fun part of the project was styling the crocheted fruits with some real ones, or arranging them on a plate or in a bowl. I enjoyed this so much. 

They were all a pleasure to make. Some, like the strawberry and plum, took an hour to make from start to finish. Others, like the grapes (those grapes!) took days and days; eighteen little crochet balls which needed to be made, stuffed and sewn up before being attached to a stem and leaves. The banana was fun, I think that was a really well designed pattern. The pear is my favourite though; the muted colour, the shape, the soft squishiness of the finished fruit.

I used cotton DK yarn, mainly scraps, in a mixture of mercerised and unmercerised yarn. The mercerised yarn (in the plum and apple for example) is slightly shiny and doesn't split as easily, so it's lovely to work with. The unmercerised yarn (such as the pear) is more organic, untreated, and has a duller sheen and splits more when you work. I actually prefer the look of it. Each fruit was crocheted on a 3mm hook.

I thought I'd scratched my crochet fruit itch with this lot, but I am already planning some pumpkins to decorate the house with this autumn.

I'll be joining in with Jennifer's Winter Project Link Party again over the coming months. I am usually more productive with my crochet and sewing when the weather is colder - especially when there are Christmas gifts to be made - and it's good to share them here and see what others who join up with the party are making too. 

The Cookery Calendar Challenge

My chosen recipe book for September was The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman, who writes the well known cooking blog Smitten Kitchen. I love her blog, and her Instagram feed - especially her stories - and find her approach to cooking very inspiring. I've used this book a lot, but only the Sweet Things chapter. I have never used it for meals, which is a shame, as the cake chapter is only one part of the book. Chapters are divided into breakfast, salads, sandwiches etc, vegetarian main dishes, meat main dishes, sweet things and party food. Recipes are well laid out, easy to follow and each with a nice introduction, giving a little background or context to the development of the recipe. 

The first meal was a real test. Usually, I choose meals for this challenge that can be cooked at the weekend and eaten together on a Sunday night. I prefer not to have to get to know a new recipe when I am feeling rushed, but the meat needed eating up (and we have quite a relaxed approach to use by dates in this house at the best of times) so I decided to cook these tomato-glazed meatloaves with mashed potatoes on a busy week night with two hungry, waiting children, John late back from work and a puppy underfoot. That's some test. 

You begin by making the tomato glaze, briefly simmering together tomato puree, vinegar, mustard and a few other spices to create what is essentially a quick, fancy ketchup.

The meatballs required a little more attention, but not much.  

You finely chop some vegetables in the food processor then cook them for a little while.

Then add them to the bowl containing minced beef and bread crumbs.

Then the best part; wash your hands, roll up your sleeves and squish everything together with your fingers until it's combined and you have lots of large meatballs (or mini meatloaves).

Once glazed you bake them and serve with mashed potato, and then take a really terrible, unappetising photo of them. 

They were nice but the whole dish needed more liquid. I could've done with ten times as much of that delicious tomato glaze/sauce to go with the meatloaf and potatoes which are, let's face it, a little on the dry side, especially when you're doing slimming world and can't put loads of butter in the mash.

The second dish was wild rice gratin with kale and caremelised onions. This was a really last minute choice which I had no expectations of, and it turned out to be one of the best things I've cooked this year. And it was so easy.

You cook some wild rice and, while it's boiling, fry onions until they're really soft and sweet then add kale although I used cavolo nero as we had some lurking in the fridge. 

You mix the cooked rice, onions and greens together in an oven dish with grated cheese, add a little stock to stop it drying out, then top it with breadcrumbs and more cheese. 

Then you bake it until the top is crunchy and bubbling. 

I know, it looks so boring, but it's so good. The wild rice is chewy and the topping crispy, and the combination of cheese, onions and greens together is amazing. I'd never thought to cook a rice dish like a gratin, but it was so good. Definitely one to make again. 

I am joining in with Penny's Cookery Calendar Challenge in which, each month, I choose a neglected cookery book from my shelves and cook two meals from it. My choice for October is Scandinavian Comfort Food by Trine Hahnemann, a birthday gift which I haven't used much. It is, incredibly, only £8.99 on Amazon at the moment, which is not much more than the price of a couple of magazines, so if you were thinking of a little early Christmas shopping, or a treat for yourself, you could do worse. Amazon didn't pay me to tell you that by the way, just see me as your cookery book buying enabler, helping you fill your shelves with tempting and beautifully produced volumes of recipes...

Hello October

Just like that, September is over. What with the return to school and work and the arrival of Ziggy it's all been a blur, and our time after school has been packed with attending secondary school open evenings, baby showers, birthday parties. It's been busy. I think Bella and I both found looking at secondary schools a little overwhelming, although for different reasons, but pros and cons have been weighed up and I think we've made a decision that we're all happy with. 

It's also been very warm and we've had some beautifully sunny days. But I think I am ready for the cooler weather to arrive now and am dreaming about crisp leaf-kicking walks and woollen scarves. I found the prettiest leaf yesterday when we walked to the library - the colours and pattern remind me of retro pottery, Poole perhaps - and it made me impatient for the full glorious colour of autumn. The chimney has been swept and logs chopped for the winter but it's been too mild for a fire yet. Our weekends have been filled with Ziggy, DIY and chores and I am a little frustrated by not being able to get out and about much, to the woods or the beach. I am really looking forward to some dog walks.

The kitchen has been busy lately, churning out cake after cake for my colleague's baby shower, Macmillan coffee mornings, our cake tins. My crochet hook has been just as active, and I have now finished my box of crochet fruit and I made that ripple blanket you see above for my colleague as a gift. It was possibly the fastest thing I've ever crocheted, started and finished in ten days. But then she is one of the nicest people I've ever met and I was happy to do it for her. I do work with a lovely bunch of people, I really do. There are blanket details at the bottom for those who might be interested. 

The garden is winding down, although I still have cosmos and sedum in flower. My thoughts are now turning towards planting bulbs, trying to decide what to plant and where. Does anyone know how long you can reuse bulbs for? I have some in the shed that I have pulled out of pots when they finished flowering, and have stored them in the dark ready for another year. I've been doing this for a couple of years now and I wonder if they will still flower, or if I should just buy new ones. 

Right in time for autumn and winter, the roof has started to leak into the living room. We spoke to a roofer and it turns out that our roof is in a pretty bad way (the words ''sodden'', ''rotten'' and ''bowing'' were used). He can patch it, but said we will need to replace it properly at some point. We knew when we bought this house that we'd have to invest some serious money in the roof at some time in the future, but I think we were hoping it would be quite a lot further into the future! So now we need to decide what to do. It might be that we don't have any holidays next year (we were hoping to do something fun as both John and I turn forty next year), or the new bathroom we've been saving and planning for, but a dry house instead. We'll see what the quotes say. Wow, isn't being a grown up boring?

But on a happier note, my blog was shortlisted in the Amara Interior Blog Awards in the craft section! Thank you to those who voted for me. I have no expectations of winning, or of anything with this blog, it's just my hobby, but it does feel good to make the shortlist. 

Thank you so much for your welcoming comments for Ziggy! You are so generous and I really appreciate your kindness and your training tips and suggestions. Things are getting easier all the time and the nights have improved a lot, although we still have a long way to go with the house training, especially when it's raining...

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Blanket notes

• The pattern is the Neat Ripple from Attic24
• It measures 70cm x 90cm
• Yarn is Stylecraft Special DK
• 4mm hook
• I worked a starter chain of 115
• There are 70 rows, each colour stripe is two rows wide

Ziggy

Meet Ziggy, our nine and a half week old whippet. You'll notice I mention the half-week there - not that we're counting down the days until he can go out for walks at twelve weeks old, or anything. Thank you for all your lovely comments and for sharing our excitement.

He's gorgeous; playful, affectionate, easy going, busy, his tail wags almost constantly and he seems like a happy soul. We already love him to bits. When he's not asleep, his main hobby is chewing. Dog appropriate toys are not as exciting as shoes, mobile phone chargers, furniture, balls of wool, the log basket, handbags, books...I could go on. He was tentative and shy on his first day, never venturing more than a few feet from John or I, and unsure of the garden. But one week later he's very at home here, and is out in the garden chasing balls and chewing plastic plant pots as often as we'll let him.

Ziggy has two modes: asleep, or full of beans. When he's feeling energetic, you need eyes in the back of your head. It's gone quiet. Where is he?? Has he wee'd somewhere? What's he chewing? We've had to move a lot of things out of the way, temporarily I hope. He has a kitten-like fascination with anything that dangles in front of him, like yarn, tassels on blankets and throws, shoelaces, and likes to nibble them. If you move your feet too fast he'll bite your toes (gently, thankfully) and so slippers are essential.

Ziggy likes chewing (did I mention the chewing?), cuddles, people, the sofa, food, and building a nest in his crate. He dislikes the car, wearing his collar, the vacuum cleaner, being told "down" or "no" when we're eating, the lawnmower, the extractor fan in the kitchen, but he'll get used to all these things. 

If it all sounds exhausting then it is. The nights have been very challenging, and I haven't known a level of sleep deprivation like this in some time. But it won't be forever and I have to keep reminding myself that all the tough training we're doing now is going to reward us later. (Please?!) We didn't just want a puppy in our family, we wanted a dog, a four legged friend who'll hopefully be part of our lives for many years to come. I am particularly looking forward to the walks, especially now that the weather is starting to change and the leaves are turning. There's nothing like the woods in the autumn. And I really hope we can train his recall to a point where he can run off lead, especially on the beach. We've got lots of fun ahead of us, but for now, we need to enjoy the puppy moments because they will be gone in a flash.