Bank Holiday Crochet: Beach Blanket

You will need:

1. A 5mm crochet hook
2. Lovely vibrant yarn.  I used Drops Paris Yarn which I purchased from the Wool Warehouse.  It's a lovely cotton yarn which you can wash easily which is perfect for a beach blanket.  I decided to use 7 different colours and so needed 250 grams of each colour.   I am going to do a border around the edge so I have an extra 50g ball of denim blue which is going to be my border colour
3. Scissors
4. Tapestry needle for sewing in all the ends. 

Pattern:

1. Make a slip knot then chain 145 stitches in your starting colour.
2. 1st Row: Work two double crochet stitches in the fifth chain stitch from the hook.  Miss out three chain stitches then work three double crochet stitches in the next chain stitch.  Miss out three chain stitches and work three double crochet stitches in the next chain stitch.  Repeat to the end of the row.
3. 2nd Row: Turn the piece.  Work four chain stitches.  Now make three double crochet stitches into the gap between the first two groups of double crochet stitches you made in Row 1.  Repeat, making three double crochet stitches in each gap to the end of the row.
4. Turn the work.  Change colour (leaving a tail of around 7cm yarn so you can sew it in easily at the end).  Repeat the instructions for the 2nd row twice. 
5. Change colour again and repeat the instructions for the second row twice again.  Continue until you have used up your wool! 
6. Using the tapestry needle sew in loose ends
7. Border: Starting at the short end of the blanket (where you first began), *work 1 double crochet in every chain stitch.  When you reach the corner work three double crochet, chain two and then three double crochet.  Along the long side work one double crochet group in every 4th chain**.  At the corner work three double crochet, chain two and then three double crochet. Repeat from * to **. Join with a sling stitch to the first double crochet.  Repeat all of this, going round the blanket again.  Fasten off.

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Bank Holiday Crochet Project: The stitches

Ugh outside it is cold and dark and raining.  I feel like snuggling up on the sofa with a big mug of tea and a hot water bottle.  This is not how summer bank holiday weekends should be!  To cheer myself up I think a spot of colourful crochet is in order.  I'm in the middle of making a striped beach blanket, and working the rows of colour is definitely cheering me up.

It's a brilliant pattern for a beginner, it's very simple - you just need to know two stitches and because it uses a nice chunky hook it works up very quickly.  Also I think it's great to get your teeth stuck into a nice juicy project! 

So if you are an absolute beginner these are the stitches you will need to know to complete the project:

Chain Stitch

1. Make a slip knot (take your yarn, make a big loop around the four fingers of your left hand leaving a decent length of 'end yarn'.   At the point where the 'end yarn' and the 'ball yarn' crosses over pinch a loop of 'end yarn' through the big loop around your fingers and pull this loop through. Put your crochet hook into the little loop and then pull the 'end yarn' to close the loop around your hook.  This is the starting point for your crochet!
2. Now for the chain stitch! Holding the hook in your right hand and the 'ball yarn' in your left hand, twist the hook backwards and use the hook to pick up the yarn.  Twist the hook back to the front and pull the yarn on your hook through the slip stitch which is on your hook.                  
   
   Repeat as many times as needed, this time pulling the yarn through the slip stitch on your hook.  Try and keep a good tension - not too tight and not too loose!!

Double Crochet

1. Wrap the yarn over the hook. 
2. Insert the hook into and through the stitch. (you should have 3 loops on your hook)
3. Wrap the yarn over the hook and pull it through the first two stitches on the hook (2 stitches on hook)
4. Wrap the yarn over the hook and pull it through the remaining two stitches on the hook (1 stitch on hook)

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Double Tulips

Back when days and nights were dark and cold we were sent a gift of a big box of mixed tulip bulbs from some friends in Holland.  They weren't labelled so we planted them in the garden and in pots, not knowing what would sprout up in spring.  But we have been treated to the most beautiful display of  different kinds of tulips.  My favourites are the big cluster of these shocking pink double tulips... aren't they beautiful?  They are like a peony in tulip form, I keep peeking out of the window to catch a glimpse of their vibrant cheerfulness.

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Friday Baking 2: Scrumptious Speculoos Biscuits

So, now you need to put your spice mix into action....

Traditional Speculoos Biscuits

This recipe makes a lot of dough, but trust me, once you have tasted the biscuits you will see why it's made in such large quantities! The dough freezes really well so you can separate it out into portions if you like, then wrap each portion in clingfilm and place them into a plastic freezer bag (this double layering prevents freezer burn and keeps the dough nice for a long time).

You will need:

200g butter, softened
250g soft brown sugar
100g demerara sugar
1 egg lightly whisked
2 tablespoons of cold water
500g plain flour
5g baking powder
5g speculoos spices

How to make the biscuits of deliciousness

1. Cream together the butter and sugars in a big bowl
2. Beat in the egg
3. Sift in the remaining (dry) ingredients
4. Kneed the dough, addding the cold water gradually.  Use just enough water to get the dough to come together.
5. Wrap in clingfilm and pop it into the fridge for at least four hours (I normally leave it overnight)
6. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C
7. Dust a board lightly with flour, the dough will be a bit stiff; kneed it until it is pliable then roll it out quite thinly (4mm is about right)
8. Cut out shapes with cutters - traditionally wooden moulds are used to shape the biscuits but these are quite hard to come by in the UK.  You can use any shape, if I don't feel like using my fiddly mould I like cutting star or heart shapes but you can let your imagination run wild!
9. Place your biscuit shapes on a lined baking tray, pop in the fridge for 20 minutes then bake for between 12-15 minutes (the biscuits will spring back to the touch when they are ready)
10. Leave the biscuits to cool on the baking tray - they will be soft when you take them out but will go lovely and crisp as they cool.
11. Make a cup of tea or coffee as a reward for all of your hard work and sample your delicious creations!

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Friday Baking 1: Speculoos Spice

I was brought up in Belgium.  Everyone has distinctive smells and tastes that instantly link them back to their childhood.  Mine all remind me of very happy days: in summer the smell of the corn field opposite our house which we used to play in (don't tell the farmer!), in autumn the pungency of fallen leaves in the great forest, and in the winter the smell of our log fire filling the living room with glowing warmth.  All the year through the heady sugary delicious smell of street vendors selling waffel would make your mouth water at the first whiff and then there was the taste of a speculoos.  Speculoos or Speculaas are a spicy dark biscuit.  If there was such a thing as a national biscuit, the Speculoos would be Belgium's.  Consumed in droves in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany and throughout the year moulded into different shapes, they are little pieces of spiced heaven.  In winter we would have enormous Sint Nicolaas (the Belgian father Christmas) speculoos biscuits which were always the favourite item to find in our slippers on Christmas Eve. 

The nearest thing you can get to a bakery made speculoos biscuit in Britain are sold in little packets by Lotus.  They aren't quite the same but I still gobble them up greedily whenever one is presented as  a coffee accompaniment. 

In order to get a truly authentic taste you have to make your own spice.  It's a incredibly simple and  lots of fun.  You feel like an alchemist mixing the different amounts of lovely coloured spices as delicious aromas fill your kitchen.  And once you have the spice you can keep it in an airtight container in your cupboard ready to whip out at a moments notice to give your baking an extra flavour sensation.

Enough waffeling (sorry!), here is the recipe:

Speculoos Spice

1.  Carefully measure the following spices into a largeish bowl:

5g of ground black pepper

5g of ground ginger

10g of ground cloves

10g of ground nutmeg

32g cinnamon

2.5g ground cardamom

2.  Mix the spices gently together
3.  Pour into an airtight container - I use a freshly cleaned jam jar
4.  Put into your cupboard ready to use! (recipe for speculoos to follow)

NB. The spice mix can be used to flavour any cake / biscuit / baking recipe I often use it to replace cinnamon in recipes and it always works really well giving the resultant goods a certain je ne sais quoi!

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Sand Art

H and I were in Cornwall for our first wedding anniversary in December.  One day, after a hearty breakfast, we walked across the headland from Mawgan Porth to the magnificent sweep of Watergate Bay.  The walk is a delicious one, continuously tracing the point where land meets sea.  We felt very Famous Five-esque as we clambered up and down the undulating headland looking down over little inlets inhabited by gulls.  Although it was December, the skies were blazing, hitting the sea below us with a glimmer and a sparkle; the fresh air was invigorating giving our cheeks a rosy hue. Arriving at Watergate Bay, we were happy to see that a cafe was open serving frothy hot chocolate, but before we treated ourselves we decided to burn a few more breakfast calories by walking the length of the empty beach.  As we neared the far end, we began to notice strange markings in the sand.  We skirted around them, careful not to disturb any of the indentations until we reached a small rocky outcrop.  Clambering up, we had a prime view of the beautiful swirling interconnected pattern which was gradually being eroded by the incoming tide.



The pattern stretched far into the distance, incredibly simple and beautiful, mimicking the round curves of the sea and logarithmic shell spirals.  Over steaming hot chocolates back in the cafe H and I imagined the anonymous artist(s) arriving at the empty beach at dawn to map out their design in the sand.  Had they pre-planned it or was it an off-the-cuff design created as inspiration took them? So many hours of work for such a transient expression of creativity. Beautiful.

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My home

I live in a little cottage with my husband.  We rent it from some friends and we love it.  It's quite old (I think it originally dates to the late 1700's) with wiggly walls but has been refurbished in a lovely, modern, light, clean, fresh way.  There are three rooms downstairs (lounge, kitchen and a downstairs toilet).  The little lounge has a woodburning stove which makes winter nights fabulously cozy.  The lounge also has two big doors which let in lots of light in the summer months.  They lead out to a small oblong of decking - perfect for an outdoor table and barbecue - and a large square raised bed which we have crammed full of plants.  Our outside space is enclosed by a wooden fence with neighbours gardens on both sides.  Back inside, the stairs in the kitchen go upstairs to a narrow landing and three more rooms - a small guest room, bathroom and our bedroom.   It's dinky and I love it.  We are saving to buy our own house but I know I will be more than sad when we have to leave our cottage home.

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