Plums, potatoes & blankets

Even if I don't get a huge crop from my garden, I just love the harvest! 

This year we had a bumper crop of Mariposa plums.

We also dug up maybe 4 or 5 kilos of potatoes. I honestly expected more potatoes and bigger but this was a good experiment as we grew them in big, black, plastic garbage bins that had the bottoms cut out.

At harvest time it was easy to pull up the bins and sift through the soil for the crop.

There was quite a few tiny taters. The kind of size you'd throw back in. But I boiled them whole and tossed them in salt, pepper and a big thwack of butter.

From our 6 year old plum tree we harvested about 7 kilos of fruit. We washed, cut and froze some, and made alot of it into spiced plum jam. 

As usual I had my supervisor looking on.

I really love jam. And I really enjoy making jam. 

This was the first batch of jam I'd made in over 12 years. I got most of the jars to suck in their little lid button thingos which I feel was a win!

After the making of the jam, I had a real hankering for Jam Drops. I had never made Jam Drops. I only usually bake maybe once every 5 years. I think I baked something last year. And now I have baked something this year. Going by the law of averages I shouldn't have to bake anything else until 2032.

And it's probably just as well. They look like weeping sores. Maybe I should bake them at Halloween and name them appropriately. They did however taste delicious.  #nailedit

Last August/ Septemberish I ordered Jane Crowfoots Persian Tiles Eastern Jewels pack from the Woolwarehouse. I have lusted after that for years! And I came across it on sale. Although I started it way back in the beginning of September, I haven't been able to work on it solidly due to the usual life interruptions.

This guy kept me company through most of the work and insisted on photobombing as much as possible.

At one point early on I crocheted one of the octagons into a mini one using mercerised crochet cottons to get a feel for how it should look. It's super pretty! I want to make a table cloth out of lots of these funky things but it would take... ugh so freaking long I don't think I could deal with the longness. 

Photobomber.

I also didn't take really regular progress photos which I have only just realised now and am annoyed at myself.

By the way I literally put these octos down for a quick snap and this dude rocked up and flopped down.

Hot tip: number your octagons!

Finally all the pieces were finished. I have sewn in all my ends as I went along. Can you imagine how many ends there were? I've kept them all! Like zillions. Zillions of ends. If I ever have someone I hate who is evil because they drive big trains over tiny guinea pigs or kittens or babies, and I catch them and lock them up in a dungeon under my house (which I would make them dig as I don't currently have one), then I would torture them by crocheting this blanket completely without sewing in any ends at all and make them sew in all the ends.  

As I was sewing up, I threw it on the bed for a quick photo. I was alone. I was luxuriating in aloneness. I was lining up this shot and some loser decided to manspread in my photo.

I don't think it needs to be said what a genius Jane Crowfoot is. And this colourway was created by Lucia from Lucia's Fig Tree. She is also a genius. There are some super brilliant colour brained people in the world like these two and Lucy from Attic24 and I have envy and love them for it. ( I apologise for the use of many 'ands'. I have been reading Hemmingway.)

I have only 1 more round to go and I'm finished. I'm going to give it a gentle wool wash when it's done. 

Stay tuned!

Louise

Red Haired Amazona