Toile and I ventured home last week to spend a few days with our loved ones.  Well my loved ones, Toile hadn’t become known to her loved ones at that point, although this is her second visit, the last time she was very tiny so we kept her wrapped up in cotton wool as all good cat owners should tiny almost defenceless (perhaps we shouldn’t mention the vets war wound) kittens.   I didn’t manage to get out and about as much as I would have liked to start with, down to Son no.2 giving me a huge bear hug which left me feeling wounded and quite ill for three days, we think he must have put some sort of slight dislocation on my shoulder, I just know that there were many times I was severely tempted to ring the NHS just for some advice, the pain was incredible.  But I got better, time is a great healer, that and the fact that I would probably pick up more than I went in with if I sat in A & E for several hours.

But what this did give me was lots of time to cuddle Toile.

How can you resist that face.

So adorable.

And occasionally she escaped the bedroom and occasionally Pip’s curiosity got the better of him as we would hear him tip toeing up the stairs to stand outside the bedroom door ready to poke his nose in to see what this mewing and bouncing around was all about.

So we thought it was time.

It went well.  Pip is very cat steady and Toile had come from a family with a pet dog, so I knew we stood a good chance if both of them could just hold their nerve.  

Although there was a moment where Toile did become just a little bit nervous, but then her very good nature and a cats natural curiosity got the better of her.

And she thought she would have a little sniff.

And then there was nose touching.   And a minute or so later there was Toile rolling around on her back, paws waving in the air giving her best come and have a play body posture, whilst Pip is looking at me all confused with a ‘what does she want look?’

Its early days but it looks promising.  Maybe next time we will introduce Eric, we are leaving Florence until last, not sure how that is going to go at all.  They will either be best friends or they will hate each other.

I think we can safely say that Toile has taken to the blanket in a big way.

Every time she has gone quiet I have found her sprawled out on it.  As she is the only one that has witnessed string being made into fabric, I wonder what she has thought of that process.  Whatever it is, she is a happy girl with the outcome.

And I think we can also safely say, that her owner is in love with it too.  I love, love, love it.

It is everything I want it to be and more.  Next time I get the sewing machine out I will make a tag to sew onto it with my name and date.  You never know, in fifty years you might find it in a retro thrift shop and someone might resurrect it and patch and wash it and throw it over old sofas with love and other pussy cats might come along and notice the warmth of the wool on their paws and fall in love too.  And they will always wonder who mandycharlie was, maybe I’ll put a link to the blog, that would be a modern twist on finding a retro blanket.

And for those with more of an eye for the pattern, this was made from Rowan Purelife Home, called Granny Squares Throw by Marie Wallin in yarn Rowan Renew.   I used two more balls than called for in Trailor 681 and some of the others were short by a ball, but I simply can’t remember which ones, and I crocheted with a 5.00 mm crochet hook.

Hubby had been and gone and left just under half a  bottle of red.  Tempting as it was, I thought of other ways to put the wine to good use.  Not least I’d just picked up a very good buy of chicken thighs.  So I skinned the thighs and added them to some fried onion, garlic and chopped up bacon, added the wine, a tin of chopped toms, a few mushrooms that were rescued from the fridge and a good sprinkling of oregano, salt, pepper and some water to cover the thighs and let them burble for a bit, about an hour and a half.   And during that time I cooked off some potato and swede and mashed it together and cooked some just picked runner beans with a couple of young carrots.

It was really, really yummy, with plenty left for the freezer.

Just a quick post, I’ll try and get some photo’s in daylight for the weekend, and there are about three rows of ends still to sew on the wrong side, but essentially it is finished.  I’ve crocheted and sewn in for about twenty five hours in the last two days – so I’m slightly knackered…  But I just needed to get this done, before it drove me crackers!

I love it. It sings to me as much as I knew it would, the colours are just so lovely.  The weight of it feels so snuggly, the wool keeps you toasty warm and the size is just perfect to snuggle under, its wide enough for two sitting and long enough for one lying (its over 6ft 6″) so very useable for the taller members of our family.  Its just perfect.

As with all knitting, there is much more sewing, and/or, sewing in of ends than one first imagines, unless your one of the clever Americans who knits everything in the round, starts top down and adds sleeves as you go and then you just have a little kitchener stitch to deal with under the arms,  which depending on the way you roll may or may not be a good thing.

The blanket is finished, well almost finished, a three hour film may do the trick. 

If you look carefully there are two ends to sew in at every corner, I’m not even going to try and do the maths for 130 squares, its A Lot.  And with the best will in the world there is no point in rushing it with gritted teeth just because I’m sick of the sight of the thing – or is that just me.  I’ll take it slowly and allow the feeling of slight sadness to develop, the sadness where I know I won’t be playing with this beautiful yarn any longer.  Although the plus part of a blanket is that I get to look at it everyday as it will be pride of place in my living room.  Not stashed away in a wardrobe waiting for winter, like alot of my woollies are. 

And then I have to wait and at the present time it takes about five years, before the pain of tackling such a large project passes and another blanket catches my eye which I simply have to make.  Its nearly finished, I’m so excited.

I had a good sized butternut squash that was waving to me from the larder.  (a glorified laundry basket in the cupboard under the stairs)  And I’d been umming and arrhhing about what to cook with it when I decided that a curry with lentils and coconut might go down very well.  And so it was I chopped onion, ginger, garlic and chilli and cooked them off, adding a tin of toms, a mug of desicated coconut, the chopped up butternut squash, tomato puree, curry spices, add some, taste it, add some more, is normally my favoured way of adding those – don’t add cloves though, never, never add the cloves..  Added lentils and lots more water and cooked gently, stirring so that it doesn’t stick.  And then with a final flourish of a big handful of chopped up fresh corriander, dinner was served.  And it was so much better than it looks.  I served some to hubby when he visited and he is a confirmed carnivore and he loved it !!!  It is one I will be doing again.

When ever I pop into John Lewis, I have to go and see what these ladies are up to. 

Will it be something for the day, Or maybe something a little more daring.

Who knows, but I do know one thing, they are sure to be having some fun.

I keep meaning to write about my small garden and the constant supply of beetroot, courgettes and beans.  At the moment I am getting just enough to keep me going through the summer and it looks like the vegetables will continue to provide for at least another month or so.

Its amazing what you can pop into a border.

I was walking through the local indoor market after swimming when my eye caught huge bowls of peaches going for a pound.  They were glistening with juice and the chap had cut one open to show how beautifully ripe they were, they would not have lasted another day in the heat of the market,  so I quickly bought some and hoped they wouldn’t perish on the way home.  I guzzled three down on the way home!, and then when home I looked at my bounty.  There were eighteen left, they were a good size as well.  The best ones, I popped into the fridge and the ones that had taken the odd knock I popped into a pan to warm with some sugar, allowed the sugar to melt and then took it off again and whizzed with my hand blender.

I then separated a couple of eggs and whisked the whites into stiff peaks.

and then mixed together with plain full fat yoghurt and the peach puree

and froze.

And then later I had this,

which was delicious, tangy and fresh.  It has eventually set into something much more solid, but its still gorgeous and it is worth the effort of hacking bits of when in need of a mid afternoon treat.