Baking and such

Church fete you say? Then I must bake. However, I left it to the last minute, and as the theme was 'The 60's' left myself little time to invent something spectacular. I finished the final icing at 11pm Friday night.

I went with sugar cookies and brightly coloured royal icing, plus the oddments of decorations and toppings I found at the back of the pantry.

Naming them 'Psychodelic Sugar Cookies' did cause some consternation amongst the conservative crowd, and I was asked at least twelve times if they were psychodelic cookies, nudge nudge.

2010 News Years resolution- going strong!

About 5th Jan I saw an advert for a 'Learn to Crochet' serial on TV. Being easily influenced by advertising, I dutifully ran off to WH Smith and bought the first part- replete with DVD guide, 2 balls of yarn and 4mm crochet hook.

It was awful.

Then I bought the Happy Hooker book and lo and behold I had a go...

Since then I have made this and this and this and this and this and this:

6 months later and I have finished my 18th project, which looks like this:

I never in a million years thought I could make something beautiful out of a piece of yarn and a hook. It's a huge self-esteem boost to create something, too.

I have my eye on baby clothes, a poncho and another Clapochet for my next projects...

Ode to a Fig Roll

Ode to a Fig Roll

Oh, Fig Roll, there is beauty in thee,
Your inside is smooth and your outside is crunchy-
yet I've never known-
be you cake, or biscuit?
Plus with a runny bum, should I even risk it?
And so I lie in bed with thee,
and a long drunk cup of tea,
Contemplating all you are,
you little cakey biscuity star.

On the subject of Mumford and Sons...

OK, I have an admission to make. I like New Folk and Americana. I like it in a Cath Kidston n' Bunting kind of way. Basically, in an incredibly irritating Middle Class way. I like Eliza Carthy, Gillian Welch, Bright Eyes and The Mountain Goats. I hear a mandolin and get my wallet out. My dream decor is a mixture of shaker, Norwegian kitsch and random mis matched cups and saucers (preferably displaying hand picked bluebells from my cottage garden). My husband came home this week to find me in the kitchen, wearing an apron, and bread proving in the porch. I aspire to Orla Kiely and settle for Boden rip offs. I am, in a word, a cliche.

So, when I ordered my new smart phone (iPhones are so pedestrian, dontchathink?), and they sent a £20 music download certificate with it, I thought- Brillopads! Mumford and Sons for free. Score. They do twiddly guitar and foot stomping, yes?I really like 'The Cave'. That's the one you've heard on the radio. It is, in all seriousness, a very good tune. So is the last track, 'After the Storm'.

The rest.

Well.

If David Brent did folk, it would sound like this.It's a bit embarrassing, like finding your sixth form poetry when you're a married mother heading toward 30 (hypothetically *cough* ). The lyrics are clunky and self-aware, in a bad way. The music is folk-by-numbers (if you're in the West Midlands, try to catch Goodbye Lenin. They are what Mumford and Sons should sound like). I'll keep 'The Cave' and I'll keep 'After the Storm'. The rest I shall put to the back of my mind, along with that song I wrote when I was 17 and that time I interrupted a Hiroshima debate to rant about US Foreign Policy on camera. For shame...