Versa tunic

I picked up some gorgeous angora at Halfpenny Home a few weeks ago, and so had to make this little baby dress.

It was a SUPER quick knit - I finished it within a week. I made it a bit longer than the tunic-length, but I decided that the full dress length was going to be more of an evening gown!

The pattern is Versa, and it's ravelled here.

Food Miscellany

We've been making Melissa Clark's roasted cauliflower with cumin for ages, and have recently started adding dal to it (and in this case, curried spinach). Oh, yum. It's a nearly-vegan dinner (except the butter in the dal). 

I was tired of playing the "hmm, what do I think that was and how long has it been in here" game with the freezer. The answer? Blue painter's tape. Contents, date, portion quantity (if it's more than one). Cheap and effective!

How cool is this special-edition Gordon's gin label? I love the shades of green against the green glass bottle.

And last, we had some friends over for lunch a few weeks ago. Boeuf bourguignon (which was amazing, obv, thanks to Julia), and then this Amsterdam-inspired dutch apple pie. Oh my goodness, was it good.

What have you been cooking?

Snawpaws, finished!

I mean, seriously. How could I not knit matching mittens for my super-excellent snawheid? Especially when Kate Davies was offering the snawpaws pattern for half price to those of us who had already bought snawheid?

I know.

I cast on, had a wonderful 10-hour-round-trip to Durham in the car for epic knitting sessions (thank you, husband!), and now I have warm paws!

To match my warm heid.

I'm not 100% sure about the length - a lot of people on Ravelry went down to 5 rows of snowflakes, rather than the suggested 6. They are rather long on me but very warm, and I think ripping one set of snowflakes out would make them a little bit too short.

Ravelled, here.

In keeping with the wintry theme, this picture was taken from my office window, a few weeks ago. The frost on everything was absolutely stunning.

Wintry Weekend in the North

We're spending the weekend with family near Durham, and having a proper Winter Weekend in the Countryside. Many adventures have ensued.

I rode Benjamin, the fell pony (we mostly agreed on speed and direction, and I didn't fall off, so I'm considering it a success). Cantering was NOT going to happen, according to Ben. Fair enough.

We went on a wintry walk with two naughty labradors. (One pictured below, between naughty moments.)

We saw nice rolling hills and dry stone walls.

We wore green wellies to match our green jackets.

We found a snowy mini pinecone.

We found a wintry forest with sun behind it.

And found a micro-climate road with sun, trees and blue sky. Shut UP. Blue sky. Really. I had to take its picture to prove that it does, in fact, exist.