Rain Again

 

Considering how mediocre this rainy season has been, it's really a swizz that the market on Saturday was rained off again! It was beautiful rain, and we really need it, so no one dare complain.

 I'm sending the bath puppets to a gift shop down the road on consignment. I'm not sure that's a good idea, I'd much rather sell them direct at the market, but plan B was required and I had a message from the shop owner asking for them. 

Mr Giraffe is the tenth puppet in the group. 

Not Horsey Enough

 

This was supposed to be a horse with a rainbow mane. Mmm, no. I think the mistake I made was to use the same template as I used for the other puppets of this type. A horse has a different shaped head. I may need to call it something else. Any ideas?

More successful was the first pair of socks in my handspun wool:

Another Newcomer

 

A shark in my bath? Goodness. The gang is growing. I'd like to have 10 puppets to take to the market on Saturday. Another one today and one tomorrow and I'll be there:

Jelly And Chutney

 

The guava tree has fruit on that is starting to ripen. The fruit is rather ugly, with horrid black spots. So I decided to make jelly rather than jam with them. I cooked up the fruit, without peeling them, left the pulp to drain through a dishcloth overnight and then cooked it up with sugar the next day. 

I cooked it a smidgeon longer than I should have, it's a bit stiff, but has a lovely colour and smell. Tastes fine too!

Yesterday I used this recipe to turn some of the tree tomatoes or tamarillos into chutney. I think it'll need to mature for a few weeks to bring out the full flavour. 

Working On The First Sock

 

I spun and then plyed two bobbins full of wool, which gave me four and a half skeins. That should be enough for two pairs of socks. I think. I washed and dried the skeins and then started knitting the first sock. I didn't dye this lot, the natural colour is pretty and I thoughtthat combined with an easy lace stitch, it would be fine. The heel is turned, I'm onto the easy foot part. 

A New Puppet

 

I've been thinking for a while that it's time I created some new bath puppets. So let me introduce Fido. My daughter says he looks friendly, so that's good, I wouldn't want to scare anyone! 

Wool

 

After months of set backs of various sorts, 10kgs of wool roving arrived yesterday for me to spin. My Ashford Traveller and I were both a bit creaky after several years without spinning, but we soon got back into rhythm. I'm planning to make socks and scarves for winter markets. There's  not a lot of time now, but I'll see how it goes.