Moomin treats and a week off work

Sorry I've been a bit rubbish keeping my blog up to date recently.

I took a week off work - so here's the brief summary:

I made an extra curtain for the allotment shed to cover up the unsightly gap under the bench where we store bits of wood and the BBQ.

I attempted to make a pinnie using the sewing pattern I ordered - I cut out all the pieces then got really confused and didn't get any further!  It's kind of put a dampener on my sewing exploits.

I splashed out on these Moomin goodies for my bedtime cocoa:

 

Was tempted to get this tray too!

I bought the Plenty cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and it's amazing.  I'd give it 5 out of 5 - it's the best vegetarian cookbook I own.  Every recipe looks delicious!  It's already one of my favourite books.

I picked a selection of flowers from the back garden and pressed them.

The dahlia has finally flowered.

I spotted this cool house spider on the kitchen window.

I picked lots more tomatoes and sweet peas.

Here's a few pics from the allotment.

The potato harvest - a lot had been damaged by slugs.

The San Marzano look great but haven't gone red yet.

Jenny's sweet peas are much better than mine.

A little caterpillar has made a chrysalis on one of the tomato plants.

I bought this cool onion pot off the car boot - it's made by Sylvac.

As well as some vintage buttons for a bargain price.

I put together a newsletter for the shop which seemed to go down well.

And I finally ordered the wool for the owls jumper. I'd been a bit reluctant to spend £35 on wool, because it seemed a lot of money, plus with the cost of the bamboo circular needles added on top, it was getting close to £50, and I still had to make the jumper myself. I bought the Rowan British sheep breeds chunky wool in Suffolk steel grey. I was a bit worried the wool might be rough and scratchy, but it's not. It's soft and chunky, not as fluffy as Patons eco wool chunky, but I think I like it more. I don't know if it's the natural lanolin, but it feels ever so slightly oily (in a nice way) and it glides off the bamboo needles and knits up really quickly. It also smells of sheep. I'll be very pleased with myself if I actually make the jumper! It seems quite an ambitious goal. But I know it will be so warm and lovely for winter. Wish me luck.