I had great plans for last week. Once the children were back at school I was going to make some things to sell at the school Summer fair. Instead I ended up with my sick Mother and my sister and her two children from New Zealand. You can imagine how topsy turvey the house has been. My sister has been looking after my Mum mainly and she is doing a brilliant job. I seem to be doing endless shopping, cooking, washing up and clothes washing. Actually Amber and her cousin Pippa have been really helpful too.On top of all this was Rohan's birthday party. He had four friends over for a 'camping party'. Tom spent most of a very hot Saturday afternoon lugging everything over to our neighbours field. It was one party where I kept in the background and left everything to the boys and they had a great evening despite not sleeping much.
Even though I haven't done ANY sewing this week I have had my knitting to pick up every now and then. It was a bit of a labour of love this french market bag. Knitting 200 stitches around and round and on and on but I finished it on Friday and chucked it in the washing machine with some jeans. Here's how it turned out.
I'm not totally happy with the outcome. The colour is lovely, the sides have felted beautifully but the bottom hasn't. Also the handles are too short (even though I knitted them according to the pattern). I'm not sure whether to put it back in the washing machine to felt the bottom or to do it by hand on my washboard that I keep for wet felting. I'm worried that the sides and handles will shrink more in the machine. Might e-mail Polly whose pattern it is and ask her advice. I think I'm going to give it to my sister as she likes it (more than I do) - it'll be a momento of her trip.
Just to get some normality and rythmn back to our lives I decided to make some elderflower cordial. I spotted some trees in the fields over the weekend which are bigger than the ones in our garden. It's amazing how this tree that seems to shoot up everywhere like a weed can give us these amazing, fragrant full flowers that you can do so much with. Tom is planning to make some wine and I might just manage some fritters before the blossoms die. Here is my foolproof and perfect recipe:
Elderflower Cordial
- 20 heads of elderflowers
- 3 pints of boiled, cooled water
- 3 1/2 lbs sugar
- 2 oz tartaric or citric acid
- 2 sliced lemons
Put the water in a preserving pan and stir in the sugar. Add the remaining ingredients and stir periodically for 24 hours.
Strain through a muslin or fine sieve into steralised bottles. I use old wine bottles that I heat up in the Aga first (and then cool). That's it. Dilute to taste. The bottles can be kept for up a year (we've just finished last years batch). This amount makes three bottles.
Dear Simmy,
hope that you´re feeling better now, with your mum recovering and your sister being there for backup...use all the help and emaotional support you can get! i hope your mum will soon feel better.
different topic (even if it´s late): what beautiful presents Rohan got for his b-day... so lovingly chosen! i hope he has a great year ahead!
all the best to you and your family!
Heidi
Posted by: petits_poemes_en_prose | June 12, 2006 at 06:56 PM
Hope Rohan is enjoying his birthday gifts. The camping party sounded fun! He looks such a lovely boy who I am sure you are really proud of. Praying for you and your mum...
Posted by: Lindsey | June 12, 2006 at 07:31 PM
oh goodie, i'll be able to see the bag, it looks great!
Posted by: prairie mouse | June 12, 2006 at 08:22 PM
Hi Simmy --
I have been so out of the loop lately, though not in an unhappy kind of way, just very busy and tired and not getting a terrible lot of things done. I can't imagine how hard it must be to cope with so much at once. Big hugs to you and happy birthday to the big boy!
Posted by: Patricia | June 14, 2006 at 08:18 PM
Just surfed on over here for the first time and am glad I did. Elderflower cordial sounds just divine. I think your bag looks great, even if it has its faults. I wouldn't have the patience for such a thing myself!
Posted by: Megan | June 15, 2006 at 12:53 AM
Gorgeous bag - I love it! I hate it when things felt unevenly - so annoying for you after all that work! :-( Hope it all turns out after some rub a dub dub.
Posted by: sooz | June 15, 2006 at 06:24 AM
well done for sharing the recepie. I love elderflower cordial, but I've never made any, can't wait.
Posted by: weirdbunny | June 16, 2006 at 09:35 PM