Pausing

13 Comments December 31, 2020 Anne Wheaton

The last day of 2020 and I’m pressing the Pause button. Rewinding through 2020 wouldn’t take long. Mostly, the year has been a bit boring with few high points (a bit like walking through the Fens) and learning to live by an ever changing list of rules.

Fast forwarding through 2021 to plan anything would be folly when there’s every chance it won’t happen as expected. There’ll be a time when we can, but not just yet.

sleeper bridge with cultivated field behind

So, I’m pausing and enjoying the last day of 2020 with a walk through the frosted countryside.

Setting time aside to finish darning in the loose ends of a gansey for a small person (cutting steeks was a mistake).

Catching a glimpse of Captain Flash in the undergrowth.

Later there may be a celebratory drink. Or two.

Next year, who knows. Maybe I’ll just hit Play and plod on until we can do things as we’ve always done them. Or maybe I should press the Reset button. If there’s one thing we’ve learnt in 2020, it’s to be adaptable and embrace change. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who was glad to ditch some of the normal December traditions. Who says they have to be resurrected?

Knitting Ganseys

8 Comments December 18, 2020 Anne Wheaton

I flit from one enthusiasm to another and my bookshelf charts my crazes for various crafts from long abandoned papier mache and wirework, a brief dalliance with natural dyeing and book binding, an erratic flirtation with calligraphy and printing, through to an enduring love of knitting. Not surprisingly, I have veered from colourful Fair Isle and Icelandic to plain and simple, from tiny baby clothes to enormous blankets with a detour via felted bags and knitting a scarf with two bird perches. And now, ganseys.

In January, when Ruth was planning her printmaking courses for 2020, we did a trial run of her Printing in Progress class, where students choose a topic or theme to explore and so trigger printmaking projects or other creative pursuits. As it turned out, all the printmaking courses were cancelled in 2020, but I ended up with a notebook filled with ideas.

Drawstring bag with print of sheep and field hanging from hook with green cardigan

I chose the theme “Stitch” and printed with samples of knitted plastic bags, wire of different gauges, various yarns and strings. Some prints were more successful than others but one idea was developed to make a Woolly Sheep screenprint and the printed fabric came in very useful for making face masks, even if they did look a bit odd.

The most unexpected outcome was an enthusiasm for knitting ganseys, the traditional hand-knitted jumpers fishermen wore in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries from the Hebrides down the east coast of Scotland and England to East Anglia and in Cornwall. It started when I was trying to find different stitch patterns to knit the samples to print with and got completely sidetracked. As so often happens.

The construction of a gansey is very simple as they’re knitted in the round up to the armpits, then the front and back are worked separately until they’re joined together by a shoulder strap. The arms are knitted by picking up the stitches from the body and knitting down to the cuffs. The glory of the gansey is the complex motif patterning, created by knit and purl stitches and cables.

The first gansey I tackled was based on Cordova from “Knitting Ganseys” by Beth Brown-Reinsel. In retrospect, this wasn’t the easiest pattern to start with as it has vertical bands of seven motifs, each with a stitch chart of different lengths so that on one chart I was knitting Row 2 and on another chart Row 28! Too confusing. I had several false starts and unravelled the work a few times as I knitted. Part way through, I used a spreadsheet to make a chart pattern that covered the full width, instead of using the individual charts in the book, which made life a lot easier. The gansey is still riddled with mistakes in the motif patterning where I lost my way, including a whole section missed out on the arms but it’s for me and it’s not a smart “going out” piece of clothing. I don’t think anyone is going to examine it and notice the mistakes.

I simplified the second gansey by using the same pattern motif across the whole width so that it was easier to knit. It also made a useful scarecrow while it was blocked on the jumper board and left it to dry in the garden. There followed a quick-knit gansey for a teddy bear that’s been so loved and worn away that the only way to stop his arm dropping off was to knit a skin tight (should that be fur tight?) gansey, slip it on and sew up the seams so it couldn’t be removed.

By now, my enthusiasm for knitting ganseys was in full flow. The first two were knitted on an old circular needle I bought decades ago to knit a gansey that was abandoned before I even reached the arm gussets. Ah, those heady days of my early twenties when a full and lively social life left little time for quietly knitting in the evening. The needles were badly bent and the cord had an annoying kink so I decided to invest in a new set of needles. I’d read about the old gansey knitters using double pointed needles with a knitting belt (a horse hair stuffed leather pad on a belt that the right hand needle is pushed into to keep it anchored as you knit) and it dawned on me that there had been one of these in my father-in-law’s collection of vintage machinery and domestic objects. I have no idea why he had a knitting belt, but his collection was very eclectic, so it wasn’t surprising. Fortuitously, I’d kept it back when we’d cleared out the sheds as I’d thought it Might Be Useful One Day even though I had no idea what it was. Hallelujah! That day had come. Even more amazing, I knew where the belt was and hoiked it out.

I ordered my next batch of yarn and added a set of stainless steel, 40cm long 2.25mm knitting needles. The yarn and needles duly arrived and fearsome weapons they were: pleasantly weighty, sharp and very long. I strapped on the belt and pushed the needle into one of the holes in the belt. It barely went in. I pushed harder and it went through the pad and out the other side. Into my side. Perhaps sitting in a shed hadn’t done the leather any good. After a few attempts, I worked it out and found a comfortable position. It was a revelation! It makes knitting so much easier. Without having to hold the right hand needle, it’s easy to cast the yarn around the needle with minimal hand movements and the weight of the knitting is supported by the needle pushed into the belt. Best of all, instead of sitting hunched over a circular needle, I sit upright and (if I were so minded) could even walk around while I knit. I’m converted.

The gansey was knitted in record time with a simple motif design of seed stitch, ridges and furrows for my farmer with a W at the waist above a ribbed welt (to keep out the draught). Ganseys are the ideal work jumper with their diamond underarm gusset that gives freedom of movement, the cuffs that can be reknitted when they start to fray by unravelling and picking up the stitches as they’re knitted from shoulder to wrist and a gansey is dense enough to protect the wearer from the wind. Unfortunately, I had to use a different dye lot for the sleeves (because I had some yarn left over from the last gansey and was too mean to buy more) but the colour mismatch only shows in a certain light and it’s only a work jumper.

The next gansey is already being planned; a project for the cold, dark evenings in January. This time, I shall knit the whole thing in the round with steeks instead of knitting the front and back separately. Something to look forward to in 2021.

If you’d like to knit a gansey, these might help:

Frangipani Yarn for wool and needles
Knitting Ganseys Book by Beth Brown-Reinsel
How to Knit a Gansey tips and advice at Gansey Nation
Using a Knitting Belt at Virtual Yarns

Something Exciting in the Post

2 Comments December 1, 2020 Anne Wheaton

At the beginning of lockdown in the spring (when we thought this would all be over by Christmas) I started a Letterbox Art Collaboration with my mother as a way of keeping in touch while we weren’t allowed to meet up. I’d been inspired by Anna’s post and thought it would provide a little ray of sunshine while we were socially distanced. Then, buoyed by the success of the first collaboration, I also joined an online chum for another Letterbox Collaboration as part of the Slamseys Creative Summer Challenge.

Art collaboration starter of circles drawn on card. — Starter | Letterbox Art Collaboration

The premise of the collaboration is that you send a set of prompt or starter cards to the other person who completes them and returns them with a set of their own prompts. There’s no telling how the other person will interpret your prompt, so it’s always a bit of a surprise when they’re sent back. As you can see above, the original prompt produced three very different reactions. You can read all about the Slamseys Creative Summer Challenge Letterbox Collaboration here.

I must admit that I wasn’t prepared for it to be such a joyous thing to do. This year, when celebrations have been few, it’s been a delight to find a little bundle of artwork in the post. It’s so much better than looking at a screen for there’s nothing like holding something in your hands to appreciate it. Perhaps we post a little bit of ourselves, revealing a hint of our character with our handwriting and choice of stationery that you don’t get with emails. It’s also been great fun to do. Sometimes I know exactly what I shall do as soon as I see the prompt but other times I guiltily push the cards to one side hoping that inspiration will suddenly strike. Not surprisingly, the answer often comes while I’m out for a walk and I hurry home to commit the brainwave to paper before I forget.

By the end of the summer, I’d accumulated quite a stack of cards. Some were pinned up and others stored in a box but I wanted to do something better with them, especially as I think they’ll be a wonderful record of this odd year.

Paper bag book as part of the Letterbox Art Collaboration project. Tunnocks wrapper and blackbird

The summer collaboration was very much a springboard for being creative and so we’d varied the collaboration a bit by sending out four prompts but returning only three. This provided the leeway to be experimental so that when it ended disastrously, (as it so often did) I could keep that card back and work on it a bit more or quietly consign it to the bin. In this creative spirit, I wanted to make a book from existing supplies and allow space to add the retained cards or work inspired by them and notes. I remembered seeing a Paper Bag Book in the book Making Handmade Books, so I liberated some bags from The Christmas Shop, found an old cardboard folder to use for the cover and sewed the whole lot together to make a very simple pocket book.

Paper bag book as part of the Letterbox Art Collaboration project. onion ring prints and flower print

The art cards are slotted into the half page pockets, where they form part of the page and can be easily pulled out to look at more carefully.

paper bag book standing to show extended cover

I extended the cover to wrap it round to stop everything falling out. One day I might even manage a fastening for it. Read the full instructions for making a Paper Bag Book if you’d like a go. They’re easy for young children to make if you make the holes for them to push the needle through and would be great for treasure hunts if you changed the orientation of the pockets to make them drop-in ones.

Envelope Book made for the Letterbox Art Collaboration 2020

For the other collaboration, I wanted to retain the theme of sending and receiving in the post and so made a book that looks like a collection of envelopes held together by a ribbon. I now realise that, had I thought about this at the start, I could have used the original envelopes they were posted in. Alas, forward planning has never been my strong point. The envelopes are made from a sheet of A4 paper, which is folded and glued to make an envelope.

Letterbox Art Collaboration Envelope Book Birds in Boxes

The envelopes are then stuck to a concertina cardboard spine, which holds them all together. Each envelope holds three cards, so if I’d kept them in their original groups, I could have put them into chronological order. But that would have needed some forward planning. No matter. From now on, I can keep them in order.

If you’d like to have a go at making an Envelope Book, the template for the envelopes and instructions for assembling the book with a concertina spine can be found in the craft section under How to Make an Envelope Book.

Both these books would also be a great way to keep a collection of postcards or photographs. They’d make good travel journals, especially if you used bags or envelopes picked up in your travels. If I’d thought about it earlier, I could have made an Advent pocket book, with something appropriate slipped in each day. Honestly, how did we get to December so quickly?

Why not give the Letterbox Art Challenge a try? You might be surprised how much you enjoy it.

How to Choose a Christmas Tree 2020

2 Comments November 19, 2020 Anne Wheaton

Families often start the festive celebrations by heading out together to choose a tree from their local Christmas Tree Farm but 2020 will be different.

Current lockdown restrictions in England mean that Christmas tree farms are required by law to close until 3rd December, which is a bit of a blow, especially as our local supermarket is (legally) selling Christmas trees next to the fish counter. Crazy isn’t it? The good news is that we can offer a Click-and-Collect service, which allows our customers to pre-order a tree and select one from the display when they arrive to collect it.

(Update 21 Nov) I’m delighted to say that we are now allowed to open for the sale of Christmas trees and would like to thank our local councillor for his work helping to get the rules changed .

If you’re Clicking-and-Collecting or planning to visit a Christmas Tree Farm, here are some tips from Slamseys for How to Choose the Perfect Christmas Tree in 2020.

The best time to buy a real Christmas tree

Christmas celebrations seem to get earlier every year and this year some British Christmas tree sellers have reported record sales for the beginning of November. It’s been such a dismal year that people have already started to put up their decorations but trees are living things and it’s a bit much to expect them to sit in a hot house for six weeks and still look wonderful for Christmas week.

Most Christmas Tree sellers open for the last weekend of November but many growers like us continue to cut trees throughout December so unless you always put up your tree on the first Sunday of Advent (29th November), wait until December to buy your tree.

Slamseys Christmas Tree Barn will open on Friday 27th November.

Measure up before you buy

Measure the height of the room where your tree will stand rather than taking a wild guess and then cutting off the top half. Add on an allowance for your tree topper and your tree stand. At Slamseys, the trees are displayed in clearly marked height ranges, which makes it easy to choose the right height tree.

Shop a different way

In a normal year, the start of the Christmas season for many families is the day they put on their Christmas hats or antlers and spend ages with grandparents, aunts and uncles choosing the perfect tree. Maybe this year you could elect one person to collect the Christmas tree and celebrate the start of the season when the Christmas tree is brought home. Switch on the Christmas music, heat the mince pies and pour a celebratory drink as the tree is carried through the door. Or buy the tree while the children are at school and let them discover it when they get home and carry it in to decorate.

Duplo man holding Christmas twig. Shop alone 2020

This year, it’s essential to check how you can buy your Christmas tree as many Christmas tree sellers are not allowed to open in the normal way under current Covid regulations. You might be able to use a Click-and-Collect Service or you might need to wait until after 3^rd December to visit in the normal way.

The Christmas Tree Farm you visit might look different this year. At Slamseys, we’ve changed the layout of the barn for improved social distancing and have a new display system that makes it easy to choose a tree without removing it from the rack. We’re limiting the number of people in the barn and may ask our customers to queue outside if they come at the busy weekend times. But you can still choose from hundreds of premium Christmas trees.

You can find a list of British growers and sellers at British Christmas Tree Growers Association

Which is the best type of Christmas tree? Nordman Fir or Norway Spruce?

Our customers’ favourite tree is the Nordman Fir with its dark green, glossy foliage and good needle retention. The soft needles make it an ideal Christmas tree in homes with young children or pets and there won’t be too many needles to sweep up if you keep the tree cool and watered.

The Norway Spruce is the traditional Christmas tree with a wonderful smell and shape though the needles are prone to fall off at the merest knock if you stuff a Norway Spruce tree in a hot room for weeks and don’t water it. Norway Spruce are lovely trees if you take them inside for only a couple of weeks or want a fabulous tree to display outside.

How to choose the best tree for you

Are you looking for a pot grown tree or cut tree?

A tree planted as a seedling and grown in the pot (as opposed to one dug out of the ground and put into a pot) can be planted out in the garden after Christmas if it’s only taken inside for a week (or two at most) and kept cool. Pot grown trees are usually sold at no than about 140 cms high, so aren’t suitable if you’re looking for a large tree. If you plan to grow your tree on, remember that they grow to over 5 metres.

You should be able to buy a cut tree in any size from about 90 centimetres to over 3 metres high and they’ll cost you less than a pot grown tree of a comparable size.

Christmas trees growing in a plantation in a range of sizes

A good Christmas tree seller will offer Nordman Firs and Norway Spruce in a range of heights and shapes, so go to the section that has trees in the height you’re looking for and find a tree that you like (or just grab the first one because by the time you’ve decorated it, you probably won’t notice the shape). Some people like dense trees while others like well spaced branches so there’s room for baubles to dangle.

Ask your seller to give the tree a shake before they wrap it in netting. If heaps of needles fall to the floor, reject it and choose another.

Taking the Christmas tree home

Before you set off to collect your Christmas tree, clear a space in the car for it and protect your car upholstery with an old sheet or blanket. You wouldn’t believe how many people don’t know how to put down the seats in their car or try to cram a tree into a car already loaded with shopping or dogs or children. Or sometimes all three. Be prepared!

Keep your Christmas tree looking good

At home, saw a slice from the bottom of the trunk so that the tree can take up water (like cut flowers), remove the netting (some needles will fall off as they get caught in the netting) and stand the tree outside in a bucket of water for a few hours.

When you take your tree inside, put it in an appropriately sized stand. You can try wedging it in a bucket, but a well-designed stand makes the process much easier. Don’t try to cram the tree into a stand that’s too small as cutting off great chunks of the trunk restricts water uptake and the tree may topple over if it’s in a stand designed for a smaller tree. Your stand should be marked with a safe height guide. Protect the floor from water spills with a large tray or waterproof mat.

Make sure your tree is standing straight and firmly secured in the stand. Trim any straggly branches and if your tree sticks out too far into the room, cut back the branches at the rear; nobody will notice unless you turn the tree around. Fill the stand with water and top it up regularly so that your tree doesn’t dry out.

And finally …

Drape the lights, hang the baubles and balance a star (or angel or fairy or whatever takes your fancy) on the top of the tree. Stand back and admire. What a beautiful tree.

Don’t forget to recycle your tree at the end of Christmas. Your local council may have a recycling service or there may be a local charity who raise funds by collecting trees and recycling them.

Buy your Christmas tree from Slamseys

Recycle your tree and raise funds for Farleigh Hospice

Preserving Autumn

14 Comments October 14, 2020 Anne Wheaton

I have a snapshot memory from my childhood of walking across a field on my way for a swim, with my swimsuit under my clothes and knickers rolled up in the towel, thinking about life and what it was all about. I can pinpoint the exact spot, just past the tin shed, as I wondered if we were merely like dolls and farmyard toys, being played with by some unseen hand and if there was more to life than being born, getting told what to do and then dying.

As we lurch from one set of arbitrary rules to another in this Covic-19 crisis, I get a fleeting reminder of that childhood impotence and crave a little control. Nothing major. Not world domination. It’s enough to gather up some fruit or vegetables, to fill the kitchen with the smell of boiling sugar or gently simmering vinegar and make a batch of jam or chutney. To carefully fill the jars and screw on the lids, label them and line them up on the shelf. A ritual that celebrates the late summer and autumnal abundance of the garden and hedgerows with nobody whispering Hands Face Space, Keep Your Distance, Cover Your Face, Stay Home, Eat Out or whatever the latest slogan may be.

I rarely make the same preserves on consecutive years because I often forget which recipe I used the previous year or there may still be a jar or two left on the shelf, so it seems pointless to make yet more. Also, there’s rarely an excess of the same things every year or I realise too late that everything is past its peak.

The quince tree, while not as burdened with fruit as it has been some years, is having a prolific year and we have an overabundance of quince. The knobbly fruit are pressed (from a suitable distance) into the hands of anyone who happens to call in along with boxes of walnuts, of which there are far too many for us this year, even when shared with the squirrels. We swap with friends: walnuts and quince for their surplus pumpkins and chillies, a jar of chutney for one of pickled onions.

The problem with quince is that they are inedible unless cooked, unlike an apple or plum that you can pick from the tree and pop straight into your mouth. A fruit for the cook. My quince repertoire doesn’t usually extend beyond poached quince, which we eat several days running with lemon ice-cream, Greek yoghurt or custard and, new for this year, Walnut Biscuits.

For the first time, I’ve also made Quince and Orange Marmalade. It’s funny how I can have a recipe book and use some recipes over and over again, yet completely ignore others. Then, I see something looking delicious in a magazine or on a blog and instantly want to make it, only to realise that I’ve had the recipe for years but, for whatever reason, have never been tempted. Quince and Orange Marmalade is one such recipe. The original recipe is in The Great British Farmhouse Cookbook, my copy of which is well used and food spattered, but I’ve never lingered on that page. Last week, the photos and descriptions on Fenland Lottie inspired me to find the original recipe and make it. It’s delicious and I wish I’d discovered it years ago. Annie has given a slightly shortened version of the recipe, so try it for yourself if you can get hold of some quince.

It only takes minutes to walk to the nearest shop, so I do all this preserving through choice, not necessity. It seems a little absurd and far-fetched to say it, but having a store of jewel coloured jams and wire clipped jars of chutney gives a feeling of permanence, of laying down stores for the future and being prepared. If nothing else, should there be another lockdown we’ll be able to dine on jam and slices of quince, which (obviously) we’ll eat with a runcible spoon.

Life in Mud Spattered Boots

Creative Country Life