The Cottage Garden at Christmas

A small mid-winter update on the garden, primarily to remind myself that we are over the midway of the season, spring is on the way, and soon there will be bees and crocus in abundance. Yesterday was a tres bad day and I managed to ruin a lot of things in one go, so today I am trying to be kind and gentle to myself. Things I do today will benefit me in the future, and that includes planting bulbs. 

This year, santa bought me a bird bath so I put it out in the garden and filled it with water. 

And then I thought, while I’m out here in my jammies, I may as well have a look and see what’s going on. So below is a photographic diary entry of the Bonemill Cottage Garden on Dec 25^th. It wasn’t a great day for me and the garden is a mess and needs sorting and my head is a mess and needs sorting. But in all seriousness, I do need to tidy up the garden before February Flooding begins.

The garden…

And the view from the other end. I am planning to turn this end of the garden into a P-patch: pumpkins, potatoes, and parsnips.

The hellebores and cyclamens are coming up. I’m very pleased to see the cyclamen as I thought they’d died long ago. The corms on these are HUGE, almost 6inches across.

My thick row of daffs is growing at the back of the herb bed. I really need to get around to finishing this. Need to go daff shopping. I planted these way too close together but I wanted a dense row of flowers so the bees can walk between the blooms.

The herb bed is looking sad after the heavy frosts we had here, but it’ll pick up again in spring. It is full of calendula seedlings, and grass that I need to pull out. I also need to clear away the sweet pea tepee towers.

Apples on skewers, for the wildlife. These are the apples from my allotment tree that didn’t store as well as I hoped they would.

Since the frost lifted, Monsieur Mole has been having oh so much fun digging away. There’s at least ten little spoil heaps around the garden.

The foxglove seedlings that I transplanted from my allotment have survived the frosts, and hopefully they will also withstand the floods. I planted these at the bottom of the slope in the garden, so they could very well end up under 6ft of water.

The section of garden hedge that we laid last Christmas is growing well. Lots of new growth and it certainly sorted out the huge hole that was there. I want to lay more, but I have zero motivation and zero hazel stakes. Also I probably shouldn’t be trusted with sharp tools at the mo.

It will soon be time for the pulmonaria and the hairy footed flower bees to wake up. I need more pulmonaria.

My saffron crocus have come up again. They’ve never flowered. Google says the corms can grow to be several inches across so I wonder if they are too cramped in this little pot. I shall dig them out and replant them at the allotment in a south facing bed. We are north facing here, so I don’t think they get enough light.

The heather by the front door is in flower.

And the paperwhites are coming up in the thyme planter on the front fence. I had this planter over the back gate when we lived in Halesowen and it cheered me up no end to having a trailing thyme with paperwhites 8ft in the air. 

I have a large amount of bulbs that I need to plant and I also have a very large desire to go back to Wilkos to see what they’ve still got at 70% off.

Santa got me two new metal planters so I need to get some compost and grit for them, and then I can spend some time planting them up with mixed blubs. I want to get more ranunculus – I bought a load in poundland and they grew, but when I took them from the seedling pots and put them in the ground, they gave up and died. So I want more. I always want more.

Anyway. Only a few more weeks and the snowdrops will be coming up in the garden and the woods, there will be bees, and the sun may climb high enough to actually get over the trees to reach into the garden. 

2022 - A Year In Crochet

I’ve been crocheting for 10 whole years!! Ish. Maybe technically eleven. I dropped out of university in January 2012 and during my year off, I taught myself to crochet. I only started keeping a log of what I’d made in 2015, and only started blogging it in 2018. Wahey! So perhaps 11 years of crochet. I’ve made lots of things in those maybe 11 years. Over 500 hats, multiple blankets (most double bed sized), absolutely loads of amigurumi toys, and a couple of uteruses. Why not.

I still need to get better at sock making; I have made 7 socks so far and only one of them has never been worn, mainly because I still can’t bring myself to make the second one for the pair. Two other socks are so beyond repair it’s not worth bothering and at this point I should just make a new pair. Or the second sock. Maybe 2023 will be the year of the sock? I hope so. Socks, pet blankets, and maybe a Persian Tiles blanket big enough for a double bed.

You can read the previous years posts here (click the numbers): 2021 / 2020 / 2019 / 2018

You can read about my varying blankets here (click) 

And if you’re on Ravelry, you can follow me (is that the thing?) and see my projects here (click) 

 

So, 2022! Last year I said that I feel a good making year coming on, and now I’m not sure if I have done. Yeh I’ve made stuff, but not as much as I’d planned or wanted. I did change jobs in 2022, and I have also started a monthly crafting social group. So maybe next year will be the good making year? Who knows. I say that every year.

 

Patterns are linked below the item name if I used one

 

1.       Pink hat for Uanita (for her granddaughter actually)

 Pattern – my own, but I alternated DC and Tr stitches to get a nice texture.

Flower – I think I used a sunflower pattern but changed the colours 

2.       14 mini covids, following on from the 4 big covids I did in 2021. These were chucked around at the annual Lickey Hills Wassail and much hilarity ensued! Everyone knows that St George died of being bombarded by squishy yarn covids.

 Pattern – my own, just a ball with bits on 

3.       Ripple blanket. The huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge blanket!! So big it covers the entire bed and hangs over the sides. So heavy. So comfy. Defo will never fit in the washing machine.

 Pattern – a google step by step for ripplestitch  

4.       Springtime gonk, complete with flowers and stuff. I made the flower in the pot freehand and I’m very proud of it!!

 Pattern - Gonk Shop 

5.       Freddie Mercury, for a cousins cousins cousin. Not really, but I think there is a cousin somewhere along the way. Definitely went to a family member!!

 Pattern - Freddie 

6.       Cushion cover foot rest for the trunk. It was made as a huge flat lay rectangle and then I cut some foam padding to fit. Stitched up one end and put press studs on the other end so I can remove the cover to clean it. No pattern, but I alternated DC and Tr stitch for texture. It is over my legs in this pic 

7.       Big pigs in blankets. Because why not? I love them. Most have been gifted.

 Pattern – A Good Right Hook  

8.       Mini pigs in blankets

9.       A tiny pig, sans blanket. The plan was to make teeny pigs in blanket earrings but it was such hard work to make one that I just can’t bring myself to make the second. 

 

10.   Bluey & Bingo. Quite a fun make! I like making lots of component parts and then seeing the whole thing come together

 Pattern - Bluey & Bingo pattern 

11.   Dragonscale stitch cowl. LOVE THIS. Easily the best thing I’ve made all year. Made from super squishy soft Alpaca wool from the Isle of Wight – the same stuff I used to make our socks and D’s fingerless gloves in 2019. SO SOFT. I wanted it to look autumnal like leaf litter, and it really does. Well pleased with this.

 Pattern – google dragonscale stitch.  Made as a flat lay then folded round and stitched together, after I had undone a lot of it because I made it too wide. Super fiddly and time consuming to make but worth it. 

12.   Cleaning cloths. I make these every year as they are an easy make. 100% cotton and machine washable, great to have around the home. Perfect for cleaning root veg. £10 for a pack of 7 if anyone is interested…

 Pattern – none, just freehand 

13.   Woollen Hats. All 100% wool.

 Pattern – none, I am very well practiced at making hats nowadays.

 I made this one to match a jumper I was asked to repair, using the leftover wool 

I made this one for David in the West Mercia Search & Rescue colours, and then I made him another one with a brim because he stole my old hat for the day and it spoilt him, so he wanted a luxury hat, and he has now gifted the other one

 I made this one for me!   

      

14.   Shell stitch cowl, for me! It was meant to be a cowl but I didn’t make it wide enough, so I just kept making it longer and longer, then decided I could turn it on its side, fold it, stitch it, then have a snug cowl which is double thickness and won’t flop open or down – which means it’s safe to wear when I’m chainsawing awwwwww yis!

Pattern – google shell stitch tutorial  

 15.   Screenwash hats. A moment of madness from me, but I am going to remake them slightly smaller. The idea was to put them over the screenwash nozzles on my car to prevent them freezing. It didn’t work, but that was because the overnight temperature dropped to -8c and ain’t no little woollen nipple covers gonna help in that weather.

Pattern – nowt 

16.   Jumper repairs. A geology friend from Twitter via Scotland asked me to repair his jumper, so I spent a merry two weeks patching up holes. Very pleased with myself. Some holes were darned and some were patched. 

17.   A woollen blankie for Sir Pippington the First, Esquire of Bonemill (‘Pip’ to his mates)

Pattern – just a granny square  

I have also darned socks (repeatedly) and am currently working on a few other things that I can’t say what until they’ve been finished and posted.

I am starting a new venture called Salopian Crafts, to sell some of the things I make. This is very much a pocket money venture rather than a life changing career move, and I’ll take commissions – just give me plenty of notice!! October is too late for christmas presents, just sayin’. You can find me here on Instagram. 

 

And a final late entry, made in two days after christmas, whilst watching Wednesday on Netflix (again)

18.   Bed socks for Poppa Beardy

No pattern, because I freehanded them and I’m well pleased with myself! Just dc stitch with some increases here n there. 

I have started my 2023 to make wish list, so I’ve got a busy crafty year coming up!

You Gotta Nourish to Flourish

I just want you to know that I am writing this with a pile of Roses chocolates next to me.

I recently had a wee mental breakdown (wahoo!) and was signed off work for five weeks. I’m fairly sure it was the last three years catching up with me, and my body, mind, soul, brain, whatever is now in a different place, one where it all felt safe enough to collapse and come to a grinding brain foggy black dog themed halt.

I am feeling a lot better now, but my recovery this time was helped by a) private health insurance through work, and b) the NHS. I was told that the NHS waiting time would be MONTHS, if not closer to two YEARS, but as luck would have it, there was a CBT course starting in October and I was more than welcome to join. A wait time of about 5 weeks! Hurrah!

So in August, September, October and November, I did two lots of CBT therapy back to back, 12 weeks in total. I wrote notes, I enjoyed pouring my heart out to the private lady (the NHS one was group therapy so I hardly said anything), and I think it did actually help. Any CBT I’ve done previously most certainly did not help, so this was a relief.

One of the things I took away from it all is this statement – “You’ve got to nourish to flourish”.

You can’t give give give give if you don’t look after your own reserves. You can only give so much before the tank needs replenishing.

So my motto for this festive holiday, and for 2023 will be exactly this. I am going nourish, I am going to feed myself, I am going to look after myself, I am going to nurture, I am going to CARE. Self care. May be selfish, may be proactive, may be a good thing. It starts with small steps like eating an entire tub of Roses chocolates to myself, but it also involves bigger things like being more active, going for a walk, stepping out of my comfort zone and setting up a social crafting group, making more things and more blankets even though we really don’t need any more in this house.

Basically, I am giving myself permission to be kind to myself, for a change.

 

This festive break I am going to do my usual stuff – eating, Netflixing, crocheting, but also my annual digital decluttering. I am also intending to get out once a day, and not just to bring in firewood or feed the birds. I want to walk around the fields and watch the river. I want to tromp around the woods and I want to eat healthily and I want to exercise more.

So tomorrow is Monday and as we all know, these sorts of things can only be started on a Monday. We are hopefully rehoming a cat tomorrow so it will be a very cat-centric sort of day, but I am also going to hula hoop. I am, I am, I am.

I have also started journalling again, and my crochet mojo is back with a vengeance. I can’t stop making stuff at the moment, I don’t have enough hands and I can’t crochet quick enough.

I want to return to work in two weeks time, feeling healthier and better and more relaxed and ready to face the year as we close down two big projects. I want to feel like I’ve had a restorative holiday break and not just slobbed out.

 

So yeh. You’ve got to nourish to flourish, and it starts with a tub of Roses.