Tea and Cakes

Today we headed out to the Wicklow Mountains (hills?) for a bit of a gentle hike. The walk from Crone woods up to Maulin starts off as a forest walk on a track, and is easy going enough. It’s nice and cool in the trees, and every now and then you catch a glimpse of the bright yellow gorse on the hills below.

About three quarters of the way up the hill the view opens up and you can see the grounds of the Powerscourt Estate Deer Park below:

The waterfall’s a popular family picnic spot – I’ve only ever been from this angle, and while it does look lovely down there it also looks pretty crowded and kinda noisy.

Anyway, from there the path takes a turn through a pine forest and out onto the mountain the other side. Then it’s down the mountain a bit to a lovely picnic spot by the side of the stream that feeds the waterfall.
At least, that’s how it used to be. Since I was last up here it’s all been cut down, and the beautiful green wood now looks like this:

The Irish Forestry Board owns the woods, and while you’d think they would be there to protect the environment and maintain the forests as a beautiful natural amenity, in fact they’re all about the profit. It was really disappointing, and this had been one of my favourite walks.

Nevertheless, we’d hiked up to the top so we carried on and settled by the stream (on the small green bit you can just about see in the picture) for our lunch and a bit of a rest.

I even managed a few rows on the sock.

Which nicely leads me into how the sock is coming along. I’m trying to stay a bit more focussed on my projects at the moment and have only a couple of things on the go, so I’ve mainly been working on this and my other project that’s not being blogged. The second sock is coming along nicely and I just need to start the heel flap.

I generally carry chocolate with me in case of emergency, and today it came in very handy. A journey that should have taken 30 minutes took an hour, and I was getting hungrier and hungrier and more and more frustrated.

Then I remembered the emergency chocolate, and all was well.

Technically this is the sky a couple of weeks ago, but I don’t have any current pictures, and it’s pretty much identical to this now.

It’s hard to believe that just over a month ago this was the weather:

Summer’s certainly on the way, and I’m really looking forward to spending some quality time sitting outdoors this weekend with either a book, a notebook or some knitting.

A couple of weekends ago we took advantage of the great walking weather – a slight breeze, and some sun, but not all of the time, and headed out to the Wicklow mountains for a look at Lough Tay from above:

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Last night I was able to make it down to This is Knit for their knit night. I forgot to take any pictures, but it was great. Really relaxing, and it’s so lovely to be able to knit in a yarn store! I fell for some cashmere sock yarn, which was a little bold, but it’s so soft and so pretty, and it’ll be perfect for those days (ok, evenings more likely) when I just want to lounge about the house and feel nice.
I’m hoping I’ll be able to make it back out to Blackrock some other Thursday nights from now on.

When I got home the power was out in our estate, which was kinda creepy outside. Torches and candle inside sorted us out though (but no internet access!), so we were fine in the dark, although it meant we got woken up at 2am when it came back on and various alarms, lights and music started up in other apartments nearby.

I promise a knitting update soon!

Tired Teaandcakes tonight.

Popped in to Borders for a coffee with Sara on my way home from work, and treated myself to a cinnamon cappuccino and apple-cinnamon muffin. I like cinnamon.

I’m not a big starbucks fan, but when it’s in a bookshop it’s a whole different story – the one there is up on a mezzanine floor and is pretty spacious, and, best of all, overlooks all the lovely lovely books.
I’d forgotten how sweet adding the flavoured syrup makes the coffee – a bit too sweet I think, but delicious nevertheless.

Anyway, home for a quiet night in. And here’s the rub. I have a couple of projects I could work on:
The second sock, but I don’t fancy small stitches.
The front of the tank, but I’ve put that away as I’ve gone off it.
Some more for the dog blanket, but I’ve run out of black yarn and that’s what I need now.

What I’d really like to work on is my current main project (no pictures until I’m done though, sorry). However, I need another ball of navy yarn:

Of course, I could always cast on for something new… Hmm, might think it over in a nice hot bath.

Righty-ho.

Tonight I’m busy getting my KTE package ready to send off, so here are a few places to go and visit.

I listen to a lot of podcasts on my commutes, and one of my favourites is Quirky Nomads. I have similar political and religious views to Sage (ie left leaning and athiest), and Quirky Nomads can always put me in a good mood no matter how frustrating I’ve found my day (sometimes I need a reminder that not everybody is small minded). Anyway, a while ago Andrew Page, an Irish blogger, posted up a booklet he’d found written by nuns here in the 1960′s on How to Choose a Wife. It sounded like something that Sage might like, and you can here the resulting episode here. Yay!
(Chris: This episode (I think it was this one) also featured a Good Name for a Band)

There’s also a new episode of Cast-On up, which is always fabulous news, and is especially welcome as Sticks and String is on a brief break between series. Brenda and David both have lovely calming voices which help make sitting in traffic enjoyable, plus both podcasts are about knitting, so it’s super soothing.

Of course, sometimes I feel like learning on the commute, and for that I turn to Matt’s Today in History. Snippets of history – short enough that I can keep focussed, but long enough to fit in loads of really interesting facts and explain situations.

Naturally, every now and then you need to listen to something that’ll make a person snort tea out of their nose with laughter. Quirky Nomads has done that (metaphorically speaking – laughing out loud on public transport is always a great way to draw attention to yourself), and for a combination of tea-snorting* and yarn pr0n there’s nothing better than Lime n Violet.

Happy listening.

Update: Check out the PG 300 trailer.

*I now have a vision of hardcore tea addicts furtively approaching dealers who hang around on street corners calling out things like “Earls, I got Earls” then brewing up and snorting tea out of delicate saucers.

Strangely for me, I didn’t have a celebratory cake. There was, however, a celebratory dinner, at the lovely Twelfth Lock.

Vegetable Tart. I took a picture of this as the last two times I’ve had vegetable tart in Ireland I’ve been expecting something like the above, but I’ve received quiche, which is a whole different story. This, on the other hand, was delicious.

Naturally I followed it up with a yummy dessert:

A sort of upside down pavlova – meringue with berries and cream. Mmmmmmmm. Light but sweet and tart and oh so creamy.

And, of course, some bubbly.

Unfortunately, I’m not much of a drinker any more, so my few glasses of wine, despite being spread out over many hours and matched by loads of water have left me suffering a little today.

I had a lovely day yesterday, and a lovely evening with some of the people who are most important to me.

Tomorrow: a return to knitting content, and maybe this week some Flickr Fiction again.

However, something that entailed the purchase of heels, after my favourite flats were rejected, along with my 4 year old ‘good skirt’ that didn’t match my jacket and a new top as apparently a black t-shirt wouldn’t do.

So, what was I up to that kept me from knitting?

I was graduating.

I studied part time for three years for my Masters with The Open University, a fine institution and a great example of what a proper Labour government should be trying to do. Graduates of the OU come from all walks of life, from all ages, and from many different countries. People do study full time at home, but the vast majority work full time and study in their spare time, a feat that also involves the support of family members and friends. I certainly couldn’t have managed without the calming influence and gentle reassurance I received. You know who you are.
Thank you.

(As an aside, during the ceremony I realised that I wore the rejected shoes at my first graduation 8 years ago, so mum might have had a point about needing new ones.)

Blimey, what a day.

The parentals are visiting, so there’s been lots of cleaning chez Teaandcakes.
Today was a busy one. It wasn’t meant to be.

We started off with a quick trip to the shops, where I discovered one of the Irish department stores is selling these:

Then it was off to Malahide Castle for a wander in the park:

And then home via a tiny little garden centre visit. I’m not allowed to buy plants. I love plants, but I have, erm, a bit of a reputation for killing them. It’s not my fault – how am I supposed to water them if there’s a spider in the watering can? Of course, the exception to this is the one miracle courgette plant that I managed to keep alive and kept us in courgettes for a summer. Anyway, I’m not allowed to buy plants.

Which is why this was a bit of an accident:

In fairness to me, the pot was empty and did need filling.

Anyway, gardening was followed by a selection of M&S cream cakes:

Then we had a small assessment of my planned outfit for tomorrow. Hmmm. Planned outfit? Whoops.

Another trip out was in order.

Why might I need to look smart tomorrow? (Hint: I’m not going to make it to knitting group, it’s not that)
Well, you’ll just have to wait and see.

…spiders are our friends
spiders are our friends
spiders are our friends

That spider, now residing under a leaf on one of my new plants, does not mean me harm.

It really is fine that I just almost touched it.

There’s no need to panic.

It is still perfectly fine to go out on to the patio.

In fact, it’s still safe to
a) leave the washing out there to dry
b) fetch said washing in later on
c) sit out there in the sun with a cup of tea and my knitting.

Spiders are useful. They kill flies. Therefore, that spider is really my friend.

Oh, who am I kidding?
Do you think the lock on the patio door is enough to keep it outside?

The Knitter’s Treat Exchange has been taking up a lot of my computer time, and I’m experimenting with the strange concept of not spending all my free time on the internet, which is why there’s been a slight slowing down of the blogging recently.

Anyway, I have been having fun.

Saturday was a fibre day. Holly, Kate, Florence and I popped over to Cheryl’s to play with fibre and eat cakes.

Florence (a weaver/spinner) learned to knit.
Kate (a knitter/spinner) learned to weave.
I learned to spin!

Look – yarn!

The really even bits are from where Holly was demonstrating first, and the messy slubby overspun bits are mine – all mine! I’m very proud of myself. For a little while I got into the rhythm of it and I was quite pleased with the results. Then, all of a sudden, my beginner’s mojo flew out the window and I couldn’t do it. The solution – more practice one day.

Now, what do you need after playing with fibre?
Oh yes: cakes.

Two types of chocolate chip cookies, brownies, carrot cake (made by Kate and absolutely wonderful), and rhubarb pie. Oh my.

Served, naturally, with a lovely cup of tea in a beautiful Russian hand-painted cup:

After lunch I watched as Holly whipped up a seriously cute pair of baby booties using some wool, soapy water and bubble wrap – felt really is magic, and Holly really is great with it.

After all that there was still time to sit outside on the patio at home and get a few more rows of my new project done.