Richard III

Blogging, or indeed spare time has been short over the last few weeks, mostly due to this chap:-

When the news reached us that Richard III was going to be buried in Leicester, I decided that if possible, we should mark the event. At four, M is too young to appreciate who Richard III was or the significance of a funeral for a medieval king, but I none the less wanted her to get some sense of the man, while also increasing her burgeoning understanding of history.

My problem was, when it came down to it, I just didn't know very much about Richard III, the late medieval period or The War of The Roses. Admittedly, we were unlikely to cover any of these areas in any depth with M at this age, but if she asked me any difficult questions I wanted to have a clue as to how to answer.

I came across a MOOC about Richard III from Leicester University, through the FutureLearn site, so signed up. The course itself is supposed to only take three hours of study a week, but when you are already squeezed on available spare time, that is a lot to fit in. Somehow I did it, I even completed the course yesterday (as M wanted to know the end of the story) doing a 'week's worth of work in one day!

The MOOC incidentally, was very good and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants an introduction to life in England during the latter part of The War of The Roses. 

The course lost me a bit during the first week, going through the political intrigues and switching allegiances which marked The War of the Roses. After that however, I was back on more familiar ground looking at culture, life, food, books and ideas around death in the 15th century.

The upshot of the course is that blogging and indeed anything else I'd normally do in my spare time, has taken a back seat for the past few weeks.

While I did hunt around for any further information on the War of the Roses, Richard III or medieval life, I couldn't find much in the way of resources that would have appealed to M. Like most four year olds, M likes castles, but she likes castles because they are old buildings rather than because of knights and princesses. Most of the resources intended for children, seem to focus solely on this aspect. In the end, I went for just talking about Richard III in the context of the Tudors and Shakespeare, who is a recent discovery for M.

We watched the video above and sang along to the Richard III song, sung here by children in Leicester. We browsed the King Richard in Leicester website, which I summarised for M. We watched the videos in the last part of the course together and I answered questions. M was very curious about the whole process of how and why Richard III was killed and speculated on what might have happened if he had lived.

And of course, we headed into Leicestershire to witness the passing of Richard III's funeral cortege. 

After checking the events list, we headed to Market Bosworth as most likely to appeal to M. We parked in a field just outside the town and for the first time ever, the car got stuck in the mud! It had to be pushed onto firmer ground so I could park.

We took a shuttle bus into the village, which amused M - "Mummy, a shuttle bus is a bus which zooms into space!"

We got our bearings, ate lunch, M played with some leaves and we all chatted to re-enactors. 

So much fun to be had in a leaf filled ditch.

M liked these poppets, but the lady's sewing kit was more interesting.

Learning about medieval weapons.

M watching and listening to the man painting standards.

At the craft fair, M regaled a bemused sewer with her own sewing exploits, then we started looking for somewhere to watch Richard III go past.

White roses lined the route of the funeral cortege.

The market square and main streets in and out of the village were packed to the point that I carried M for her own safety, but we couldn't get through and were stuck in the press of people. In the end, we followed a man next to us with a pram which he was used to clear a path through the crowd onto the road itself (while his wife carried their baby). Walking along the middle of the road, surrounded by waiting crowds felt very strange but it was that or stay stuck.

We found a less crowded spot at the end of the road where the cortege would pass us as it left Market Bosworth.

Sitting on a kerb and waiting for Richard III.

I think it is fair to say that while M was caught up in the event, she was underwhelmed by the cortege as it passed. Once the hearse had driven past as we watched in solemn silence, M asked loudly "But where is Richard III?"

The funeral cortege of Richard III.

The honour guard was more to her liking.

The honour guard.

Once the cortege had passed, the crowds began to disperse but M had her first halberd drill before we headed home. 

M is drilled in halberd use.

M insisted on having a go, following the re-enactors onto the field and having to be called off so they could demonstrate safely.

Being the smallest and youngest child on the field presented its own problems as M had difficulty controlling the halberd, which is why Dave accompanied her.  There were issues with the instructions too - take five paces backwards for example... M had no problem doing this, but her little legs covered about 2/3 as much ground as the other children, leaving her on her own and breaking the line.

Concentrating very hard on holding the halberd as she 'knee-bends'.

M was thrilled and could be heard cheerfully correcting the captain who was running the drill, as she took exception to his use of words.

"Right you 'orrible lot..."

"I'm not horrible!"

"One look at your ugly faces..."

"But my face isn't ugly!"

So ended a fabulous day out for all of us and we happily walked back to the bus stop to catch our ride back to the car. After a bit of hesitation, the car moved off the mud, allowing us to go home, tired but happy that we went to witness this historic event.

Useful websites:-

• King Richard in Leicester
• The battle video from the new King Richard III visitor centre
• The King Richard III Society
• The British Monarchy
• The Battlefield Trust
• Richard III at the University of Leicester
• FutureLearn - England in the time of Richard III

A Chinese sheep

February is full of holidays with so many crafting opportunities for myself and M, which has led to a busy few weeks. I've signed up for a MOOC with FutureLearn on Richard III which is taking up what little free time I have in the evenings, plus I have a BSL course to make progress on, meaning I'm feeling a bit over commited at the moment.

It is all good though, I just need more hours in the day!

Knitting wise, I've been plodding along, making another cardigan for M. Sadly I've been thwarted by the yarn. I am one of those people who likes to match up stripes in self striping yarn. Knots in said yarn are frustrating, because it makes matching those stripes harder. The more knots, the more difficult it gets. I ditched the yarn I was using, frogged and started again after the seventh knot. The yarn in question is now destined for pompoms, or kids crafts, or dresses for teddies, or anything where I don't care if the stripes don't match.

I restarted the cardigan immediately using a different self striping yarn and this time it is coming along nicely. I have only one piece to finish before making up, so hopefully it will be finished this side of summer!

Work in progress cardigan.

Most of my crafting efforts have been directed at things I can make with M.

For example, we made this ram for Chinese New Year (it being the Year of the Sheep, or Wood Sheep, or Ram or Goat).

Our Chinese NY sheep

He is a rather cute ram, made from two pompoms glued together. A big pompom for the body, with a smaller one for the head. I pushed some pipe cleaners through the middle for the legs and stuck a felt face on the front.

M did her share of wrapping the pompoms, a good fine-motor activity for little ones. This was her first attempt at making pompoms and M was worried when I cut the threads, asking me if I was _sure_ that was what we should do. I assured her that this was indeed what we needed to do, so M watched closely, but with a doubtful expression, as I snipped my way around the proto-pompom. I tied the pompom tightly before easing the template off, then presented the resulting oval ball to the delighted M for fluffing, which she did an expert job of.

M drew the face for the sheep, which I used as a template for cutting out the felt shape you can see in the picture above. M was worried it looked too much like a cow, but I assured her the face was suitably sheep like and you can see the result for yourself. M also chose the eyes she felt were most appropriate in size. I warmed up the hot glue gun and went to work, the sheep taking shape quickly in my hands.

Next time I do this, I want to look for extra strong sticky dots so the glueing can stay within M's remit and it might be nice to have more substantial pipe cleaners to hand, as my standard stock ones are a bit spindly.

We were both very happy with the result and M ran off to add the ram to her flock of sheep in her toy farm.

A caterpillar by any other name

Monday brought a bit of a surprise for M. She pulled a sock onto her foot, only to have her big toe go through the end. A new experience for M, because it is only recently that her growth rate has slowed enough that she is giving clothing a chance to wear out before it needs to be retired because it is too small.

M stared at her toe for a moment before asking me what we should do. I hesitated for only a moment before telling her to throw the holey sock away and we would make the other sock into a toy.

I received a booklet about making sock creatures for Christmas and this seemed the perfect opportunity to have a go.

Today, after a discussion with M, we settled on making a caterpillar, which while rated as a medium difficulty project in the book, seemed straight forward enough. We read the instructions together and M studied the photographs, then we gathered our materials and began.

A lonesome sock.

M is an experienced stuffer of home made toys, so took charge of that side of things, only needing the occasional reminder to pull the fluff apart and not to roll it into a tight ball unless she wanted a lumpy caterpillar. M stuffed the sock's toe and when it was full to our satisfaction, I tied it off with some yarn, forming a ball.

We repeated the process along the length of the sock, until we had a 'lumpy sock' as M called it. I cut the cuff, braiding in antennae whilst M held the caterpillar still to stop it from wriggling away. M then spent a happy hour delving in my button tin before emerging with the perfect eyes.

And here is Leaf Poppy, the caterpillar.

Introducing Leaf Poppy the caterpillar.

I have offered to sew pompoms on as feet, but M said she couldn't wait to claim Leaf as her own, which she has done, involving the caterpillar in all activities this afternoon. A successful project for both of us I think.

A wassailing we did go

On Sunday we headed back to Brandon Marsh to take part in a traditional wassailing of their orchard. Although I'm vaguely familiar with the ceremony, I've never been to an orchard wassailing before, so wasn't quite sure what to expect.

The answer was lots of dancing!

Walking down the driveway (the carpark was full) to the visitor's centre we could hear the booming of a big drum being hit but we were still surprised to step through into the courtyard to find it playing host to what appeared to be a Morris Dance off! Several different troupes took their turns in an endless dance to bring back the sun, while accordionists, pipers, fiddlers and drummers kept time to the ever present jingle of bells.

The Pretty Men - as M dubbed them.

The Pretty Men - look at their fantastic hats!

I think there were six different troupes, some of which had both male and female members. One group was comprised wholly of ladies and there was also a group of Appalachian dancers on a set of wooden boards they'd brought with them. Careful observation also showed dancers moving between troupes, as they shared members.

More Morris Dancers than I've seen in one place before.

M watched with a huge grin on her face as dance after dance played out in front of us. Oblivious to the cold, M twirled and moved to the music herself, getting into the spirit of things. Her favourites were a group M dubbed 'The Pretty Men', who wore fantastic hats covered with feathers, tinsel, holly and fairy lights.

Some of the musicians.

M was also impressed with the footwork of the Appalachian dancers, observing they were tap dancing, but dancing a lot quicker than she did. The all ladies group (The Black Alice Ladies Morris Dancers) also caught M's eye, with their glittery clothes. She was concerned at how some of the dancers had blacked their faces, asking if they would be able to get them clean again. I assured M that in my experience, vigorous application of a wet wipe will remove facepaint, unless it is green facepaint of course, in which case you are doomed to look jaundiced for a week after it's removal. For those who are curious, apparently Morris Dancers used to traditionally black their faces to disguise their faces so their employers wouldn't recognise them.

Appalachian Dancers take to the boards, which they'd brought with them.

Dave was trying out his new hat (Ravelry link), a smaller version of the one I made for Richard.

Dave's new hat, which has the useful property of not falling off while Morris Dancing.

We had a fantastic foot-tapping time watching and Dave was unable to resist the lure of an open invitation to join in the last dance. He grabbed a stick and he was off, much to M's delight.

Here is a clip of Dave trying out Morris Dancing.

Dave informed me his new hat had the excellent property of not falling off during an impromptu spot of Morris Dancing.

Once the last dance was done, we all moved off in procession towards the fruit orchard to wassail the trees. There we watched as the morris men and ladies formed up in a circle and we were told what needed to be done.

One of the Morris men started the refrain:-

"Apple tree, apple tree, we all come to wassail thee."

They sang. They danced. We made noise (to wake the trees up). After this we all made the traditional offering of toast dipped in cider, which everyone took turns to press onto branches of all the trees. M had a go at this, but couldn't quite manage the fiddly task with soggy toast.

Toast dipped in cider was pressed onto the branches of the apple trees.

Here is a link to Warwickshire Wildlife Trusts video clip of the event, so you can see for yourselves how much fun we had :-

Wassailing done, we went home to warm up. After a late lunch, M decided our garden's fruit trees and bushes shouldn't be left out, so Dave and M headed outside to sing to them. M danced around the garden, emulating The Pretty Men as best she could, before singing a song about an apple seed that was planted by a little girl and grew into a full sized tree at midnight. Singing and dancing done, bits of pancake were pressed onto branches of trees and bushes, before my wassailers returned to the warmth of the house. 

I am hopeful that the gooseberry bushes in particular have taken note of the ceremony and will bear fruit for the first time ever this year.

A good day.

Going on an ice hunt

Today we awoke to a cold, cold morning and the street cloaked in a thick blanket of freezing fog. It seemed like an ideal day to have a brisk walk around the local nature reserve at Brandon Marsh. M was a little reluctant, preferring the idea of staying indoors but I tempted her with the idea that she could wear her pyjamas under her clothes and how fun that would be!

To clarify, the pyjamas in question were thermals which M often wears as PJs during the coldest nights. Looking out through the haze at the frozen world this morning, thermals seemed like a good idea to me. Indeed all three of us wore thermal layers under our clothes for today's walk.

I had one other ace up my sleeve today - fairy ballerina wellie socks. How could M resist?

We pulled on our many layers and I defrosted the car so we could get into it. M watched carefully as I took luke warm water and poured it onto the bumper to release the tailgate which was welded under an inch of ice. It took two jugs of warm water to free it, then a little trickled down the door gap before the seal would break. M cheered as the door released and the tailgate swung reluctantly into the air.

Into the car we bundled, piling blankets on top of M as she never wears heavy coats in the car and it takes a while for the heating to get going. After extensive window clearing, we were on our way, albeit slowly to account for the ice on the side roads and lack of visibility. Once we were out of Coventry and heading for Brandon, the road cuts through countryside and it was beautiful. Fog hung low over fields behind the hedgerows while the white trees glistened in the weak sunlight that occasionally managed to break through the cloud cover.

The driveway to the reserve was a little scary, no salt or grit presumably because the run off into the marsh would be detrimental to the wildlife. Sheet ice was plainly visible on the road surface and around the speed bumps as I cautiously made my way down the hill towards the reserve carpark, where we parked without incident.

M donned her snowsuit, boots, scarf, hat and gloves. We grown-ups did up our coats and pulled on our boots.

We were no sooner making our way through the visitor centre courtyard when we spotted our first icy things, Frozen spiders webs.

Frozen spider's web in the courtyard of the Visitor's Centre at Brandon Marsh.

The pond in the education team's garden was frozen over and Dave had to step in with stern words as M tried to step out onto the ice. So started our walk around the reserve spotting ice and showing M how very thin it was, how fragile, slippery and so very pretty.

A willow tree in the middle of a frozen lake.

The view across a frozen lake.

A stick rests on the surface of a frozen lake.

M and Dave look out over a frozen lake.

The wildlife seemed to have hidden away warm in their lairs, burrows or nests, but that was OK as we were enjoying the spectacle of ice, ice everywhere. In total M was inspected by four robins, who examined her carefully trying to judge if she should be challenged or not. I think they decided in the end that if she was a robin, she was a big, noisy robin so should be avoided. Otherwise we saw two thrushes, a blackbird, a moorhen, one tiny black beetle, one great tit, one blue tit, one sparrow, a squirrel and two rabbits. Some ducks flew overhead and three tufted ducks were making their way carefully through a tributary in a gully that fed into one of the lakes.

M holds up a stick complete with an attached piece of sheet ice.

Ice crystals formed in wood chip and leaf litter ground cover in the Mouse Maze.

Odd ice formations across a bootprint in the mud.

Wrapped up warm as she was, M had a blast. She stomped on frozen puddles. Crunched through mud. Poked at frozen drips. Removed her gloves to touch wafer thin, glass like sheets of ice. Squelched through any liquid mud she could find and sank half way up her calf in one patch of surprisingly still soft mud. All the while, M kept returning to the refrain of We're going on an ice hunt as based on Michael Rosen's We're Going On a Bear Hunt.

Frozen leaves.

Ice crystals growing out from the stems of plants.

Very dramatic looking frozen teasels.

After our walk we shared bowl of chips and a hot chocolate in the cafe. I found some colouring sheets for M which sealed the day as a good one in M's estimation. We drove home as M sang Christmas songs to herself in the car before falling into exhausted sleep within ten minutes of arriving home.

Richard's hat

This was a Christmas present for our friend Richard.

Richard's hat.

Richard likes hats. Indeed I read Hamilton's Hats by Martine Oborne to him and he spent some time pointing out the hats he shares in common with Hamilton from the book's flysheet. Eventually though, Richard was forced to concede that Hamilton has more hats than he does. I suspect it is only a matter of time before poor Hamilton is outstripped as Richard's hat collection grows.

I have made hats for Richard in the past, including a Victorian gentleman's sleeping cap on teeny, tiny needles. He is a big chap, with a large head (as far making hats are concerned) and with time being short before Christmas, I decided to think big. Big yarn plus big hook or needles, meant a fast project which was important if Richard was to receive this hat for this Christmas rather than next!

With time being short, I decided I had to work from my stash with hook or needles I already owned. I didn't have time to trawl through my many pattern books or Ravelry, trying to match up my available yarns with potential hats, so I decided to wing it. I had an image in my head, did a little swatching to see if it worked and get an idea of gauge. I did a bit of maths and I was off.

Richard's hat is a pointy, cone shaped hat following a medieval styling but worked in crochet rather than knit. It is worked from the crown down to the brim. front post stitches run down the increase lines forming vertical lines and stopping at the brim. A turn up brim has been added complete with a contrast stripe with spike stitches in the stitch that would have held the front post.

Richard's hat being modelled by Richard.

Ravelry Link - http://www.ravelry.com/projects/jules101uk/richards-hat

• Worked on a 6mm hook for a 60cm head.
• Hat length, from point to brim = 26cm.
• Brim turn up = 8.5cm.
• Gauge 10cm = 10.5 stitches x 7 rows.

I used Palette Collection 073 (Hobbycraft) from my stash. This is a listed as a bulky weight yarn, but it is not particularly fluffy or lofty and consists of three fairly tight plies, so I found it worked up nicely on a 6mm hook. I used a denim colour, but added burgundy for a contrast stripe.

Pattern:-

Round 1: using magic ring to start, ch 3 then work 5 tr into loop. ss into 3rd ch to close loop (6st).

Round 2: ch 3, 1 FPtr into same stitch. Work 1 tr, 1 FPtr into  each tr from previous round and join with ss. (12 st).

Round 3; ch 3, *work 1 tr , 1 FPtr into next the st. Work 1 tr.* Repeat between *’s around. 1 FPtr into the last stitch, then join with ss into 3rd ch of starting ch (18 st).

Round 4: ch 3, *work 1 tr, then 1 tr + 1 FPtr into the next st. Work 1 tr.* Repeat between *’s around. 1 FPtr into last the stitch, then join with ss into 3rd ch of starting ch (24 st).

Round 5: ch 3, *work 2 tr, then 1 tr + 1 FPtr into the next st. Work 1 tr.* Repeat between *’s around. 1 FPtr into last the stitch, then join with ss into 3rd ch of starting ch (30 st).

Round 6: ch 3, *work 3 tr, then 1 tr + 1 FPtr into the next st. Work 1 tr.* Repeat between *’s around. 1 FPtr into last the stitch, then join with ss into 3rd ch of starting ch (36 st).

Round 7: ch 3, *work 4 tr, then 1 tr + 1 FPtr into the next st. Work 1 tr.* Repeat between *’s around. 1 FPtr into last the stitch, then join with ss into 3rd ch of starting ch (42 st).

Round 8: ch 3, *work 5 tr, then 1 tr + 1 FPtr into the next st. Work 1 tr.* Repeat between *’s around. 1 FPtr into last the stitch, then join with ss into 3rd ch of starting ch (48 st).

Round 9: ch 3, *work 6 tr, then 1 tr + 1 FPtr into the next st. Work 1 tr.* Repeat between *’s around. 1 FPtr into last the stitch, then join with ss into 3rd ch of starting ch (54 st).

Round 10: ch 3, *work 7 tr, 1 FPtr, 1 tr.* Repeat between  *’s around. At last FPtr do not follow it with a tr, just join with ss into 3rd ch of starting ch (54 st).

Round 11 - 21: Repeat R10.

A brim can add a lot of variance in sizing, making it a useful feature in a gift where you don’t have a head to measure.

Work brim as follows.

Round 22 and 23: ch 3, work 1 tr in each stitch, joining with ss into 3rd ch of starting ch. (54 st).

Round 24: In contrast yarn, ch 3 then *work 7 tr, 1 spike tr, 1 tr.* Repeat between *’s around. After last spike, do not follow with a tr, but join with ss into 3rd ch of starting ch (54 st).

Round 25: Still working in contrast yarn, ch 3 then work 1 tr in each stitch, joining with ss into 3rd ch of starting ch. (54 st).

Round 26: In original working yarn, ch 2 then work 1 dc in each stitch, joining with ss into 2nd chain of starting ch. (54 st).

Cut yarn and weave in all ends.

Magic ring - this is a loop of yarn which is crocheted over and pulled tight to close the hole that would otherwise be left at the crown of the hat. Start by laying the working yarn over your left index finger and looping the yarn around your finger twice. Pinch the yarn together to hold the loops in place, then poke the hook through the double loops. YO, pull back through the loops, YO again (giving 2 loops on the hook) and slip the first YO over the second to form the first chain. Work the remaining stitches in the starting chain, then work the first proper stitch (in this case a treble) into the double loop.Work remaining stitches for the first round into the double loop of yarn, then pull gently on the yarn end to close the loop. Work the join to close the first round, then crochet as normal.

FPtr - Front post treble stitch - YO, insert hook from front to back between the posts of the current and next stitch from the previous row. Push the hook from back to front, between the posts of the next stitch and one after, so the post for the next stitch from the previous row is lying across the hook. YO, pull yarn back through the post giving 3 loops on the hook. Work the rest of the treble stitch as normal.

Spike treble - Work a treble stitch into the top of the stitch two rounds below the current working round, creating an elongated or spike stitch.

Richard's hat - from the back.

The pattern as listed will give a very big hat to fit a large head (60 - 62 cm) complete with a wide contrast stripe. Fit is not exact and increasing the turn up at the brim allows the hat to be worn on a smaller head, including my 56 cm head but I found it very bulky. If making this hat for a smaller head, the following modifications work well:-

• Stop the increases at round 8, giving you a working stitch count of 48 which at this gauge should fit a 54 to 58 cm head.
• Alternatively for 58cm head, use 7 as your repeat count and stop increasing when you have 49 stitches at the brim, be warned though, this will give a slightly more rounded hat.
• Work 11 rows from last increase to start of brim.
• On the brim, only work a single row (including spike stitches) in contrast yarn.

I was very pleased with how the hat turned out and I think it went down well with Richard. Dave liked it too and asked if I could make one for him, hence stopping to work out how to make a smaller version. I'll have to update with pictures of Dave once I've had a chance to block the smaller hat.

Copyright 2014 Julie Spriddle. All rights reserved.

Of carols and alpacas

This is the weekend before Christmas and this month seems to have flown by. We've done most of our gift shopping online this year and are still waiting for a few of them to arrive, but this is in the hands of couriers or the postal service so there isn't much we can do about it. Instead, we're settling in to enjoying the festive season proper and that means lots of family time.

Today started slowly as usual, but with plans for some carol singing this morning. We are in the habit of being out of the house fairly promptly on Saturday mornings for M's dance class, even so we were maybe 10 minutes later than I'd have liked for heading out. We were greeted at the local common by the pastor from across the road who was bearing a tray of extremely cold 'hot' non-alcoholic mulled wine and mince pies.

M didn't recognise the mince pies for what they were and helped herself, while I took one sip of the cold mulled wine before handing it over to Dave to finish off. Dave left us too it, so M and I made small talk. I finished M's pie when she discovered the filling was not to her liking and M found a biscuit to eat instead.

Dave still hadn't returned when the singing started, so we muddled through as best we could. M was asked which carol she'd like and duly suggested Jingle Bells, which everyone agreed was a good choice for such a frigid morning. And boy, oh boy was it cold today! We sang along and M joined in, obviously very pleased her suggestion had been taken seriously. M's next suggestion was Away In A Manger, which went well too.

After a while we made our apologies and said thank you, before heading back to the car to try to warm up. Dave was standing by the car, having walked to a local supermarket in search of quiche for our lunch.

We bundled into the car to drive over to Toft Alpaca Farm who were having an open day today. We've been before so knew the format, but excitement was in the air as M anticipated seeing alpacas.

Alpacas outside the cafe and visitor centre at Toft.

We arrived much later than I'd hoped, so decided against going on a walk about the farm, instead choosing to stay close to the cafe. M played outside on the lawn or near the pond, with one of us in close attendance as she did so. Friends of ours showed up. We chatted. Had lunch. I bought some knitting needles. Father Christmas showed up on a tractor which amused M no end, especially when he dropped his bucket of sweets!

And then we walked an alpaca, the highlight of the visit.

We've done this before, so I'd already primed M with the do's and don'ts. The introductory talk was much the same as usual.

i.e.

• Do not get near the hind quarters or put your hand up the alpaca's bottom. While not aggressive, if surprised alpacas will kick and although unlikely to result in broken bones, it will hurt.
• If your alpaca tries to break free, let go of the lead. Do not try to hold on or you may be dragged off your feet. The area the alpaca is being walked in is fenced in, there is nowhere for the alpaca to go and a staff member will retrieve it for you.
• Do not wave your hand towards the alpaca's head, they don't like it and will shy away. Instead, bring your hand in from the side and under the head to stroke the neck or shoulder. Alpacas like fuss and cuddles, taking lots of them providing you don't startle them.

M chose a small, white alpaca this time; previously she has chosen feisty animals so it was a bit of a relief to get a rather placid one today. We walked and other than stopping to stare at its friends every time we passed the neighbouring field we did OK. When the alpaca froze, I'd give it some fuss and make encouraging sounds which would get it moving again.

Walking an alpaca is the highlight of a visit to one of Toft's open days.

M was ecstatic. Even her hat falling off didn't dampen her spirits, although the poor girl looked frozen after fifteen minutes of leading an alpaca around a field.

We led the way inside towards warmth and a hot chocolate, much to M's approval.

It seems we were not the only home educators present, as we were recognised by one family and I spotted another one, nodding a greeting.

M was very enamoured of the stripy paper straws that came with our hot chocolates, which it has to be said were not that hot but went down very well regardless. The straws reminded M of Humphrey's ("Watch out, watch out, there's a Humphrey about!") and she insisted on taking a straw home with her. The straw was used in a project to build a Humphrey later this afternoon.

We sat and drank our chocolate, making room for another family at our table where we talked about knitting, toys, dinosaurs, Christmas and how much fun we'd had on the farm. M played with some toy horses she'd been carrying in her backpack all day, the horses gaining some admiring comments from the folks we were sharing a table with.

I did a few rows of crochet. It was nice.

At home, an exhausted but mentally buzzing M designed her Humphrey while we brewed tea, then we all finished the afternoon with a piece of home made gingerbread cake that M and I had made yesterday. The cake was yummy, hitting the spot with all of us.

In all, a good if very cold day.

Some Christmas treats

In addition to writing Christmas cards and making paper chains, Sunday was a day for making sweets.

My mother and aunt are in town this week and will be visiting us, which calls for us to have something sweet on hand to offer our guests. It is also my last week at work before breaking for Christmas, meaning I need to take in some sort of confection.

I chose peppermint creams for the latter because they are so easy to make.

Peppermint creams, intended for work colleagues.

These are a tried and tested recipe based on this one, but I decided to do star shapes this time around.
Two egg whites and about a box and a half of icing sugar yielded a lot of mints.

Supermarkets do not sell suitable peppermint extract only heavily diluted 'essence', so we bought ours from Holland and Barratt.

No baking required here, but the mints need to be either refrigerated or put in the freezer to set both the fondant and chocolate.

M helped with rolling, cutting and placing on trays.

I made festive rice krispie treats in readiness for our visitors.

Festive rice krispie treats.

I melted 320g of marshmallows together with 150g of butter and 3 tablespoons of cocoa. The marshmallow mixture is added to 7 mugs of rice pops and mixed with a wooden spoon.

The krispie mix is shaped into balls, then a teaspoon of melted white chocolate is poured over the top. The krispie treat is finished with a red M&M.

M helped here as well, but not as much as she'd have liked as I was well aware how much chocolate and sugar she'd consumed by this point!

C is for Candle

Christmas preparations are in full swing in our house as we throw ourselves into the festive season. Following on from looking at angels and baubles we moved onto candles.

In addition to talking about the significance of the advent wreath, M had a go at making her own candle wreath from a paper plate.

A candle wreath.

This was made with cutting help from Daddy, but the sticking and colouring was all M.

In the meantime I'd had this idea that it would be fun to somehow imprint M's artwork onto a candle. My thinking was that it would make a good Christmas gift for the grandparent types in our respective families.

I took to Pinterest to look for an appropriate method for getting M's artwork transferred onto the surface of a candle and eventually settled on this 'tutorial'.

From the pictures it looked so easy.

Ahem, lets just say pictures can be deceiving as this one was harder than it looked!

The idea is to get your small person to draw onto a piece of tissue paper, which is wrapped around the candle. The tissue is covered with greaseproof paper and heat is applied via a hair dryer. Remove the paper and voila! The image should be imprinted on the candle.

What the tutorial doesn't make clear is that the image is not transferred from the tissue paper onto the candle. What actually happens is the melted wax seeps through the tissue paper, so that when the wax hardens the tissue is held against the candle under a thin layer of wax.

Believe me, both Dave and I did quite a bit of head scratching trying to figure that out before I had the 'Aha!' moment.

To be absolutely clear for my own benefit should I decide to do this again, what you need:-

• Tissue paper
• Felt tip pens
• Greaseproof paper
• Church candles
• Tape
• A piece of normal paper
• A hair dryer
• A mug that you don't mind getting wax on
• A cork mat to protect your work surface
• A teaspoon (optional)
• A combination of persistence and patience

To allow your child to create their masterpiece, firstly cut a piece of flat, uncrumpled tissue paper to size based on the candle. Make the tissue slightly shorter than the candle and try to minimise overlap.

Tape the tissue to a normal piece of paper, then ask your small person to draw a suitable Christmas scene using felt tips. The paper is to protect your table as the ink from the pens will leak through as your child draws.

M excelled herself here and drew the following:-

• Some Christmas trees
• Father Christmas and his elves
• Baby Jesus with his Mummy and Daddy
• Dancing snowmen, wearing leotards
• An angel visiting the shepherds who are so scared their clothes fall off

Needless to say, M she was chortling away by the time she had finished, as she is greatly amused by the plight of the angels who have messages to deliver, but have to stop folks running away before they can do so. Every. Single. Time. The angels find this very frustrating. Or at least they do in our version of the Nativity story.

I asked M to draw one more picture, explaining this was the one we'd use for our first try with the candle. M drew a cat and declared it her favourite, so was delighted when the first candle was a success.

Once you have an image to transfer, wrap it tightly around the candle then lay the it onto a piece of greaseproof paper, with the overlap in the tissue on the underside to hold it in place. Align the base of the candle with the edge of the greaseproof paper. Wrap the greaseproof layer as tightly as you can, covering the tissue and secure with tape.

The grease proof paper should be slightly bigger than the candle, it needs to wrap around the candle with an overlap of about 3cm. It should also be taller than the candle once the candle is standing up.

Put an upended cup onto a heat resistant mat (I used a cork backed place mat) and stand the covered candle on top of it. Use a hair dryer on its highest heat setting to  melt the wax under the paper. Keep the dryer moving and it should take a few seconds for the design to start showing clearly through the paper, which is a sign the wax is softening.

Rotate the cup (with the candle on top), applying heat to the entire candle. Once the greaseproof paper starts to look shiny all over, the task should be done and you can stop.

In reality I found that the transfer was patchy. Some of the tissue paper had sunk into the candle wax, but in other places the tissue would be unaffected. Since M's designs didn't cover all of the tissue paper, it was hard to see where I'd missed through the greaseproof outer layer.

At this point I applied the heat directly to the candle and pushed the bits of tissue I'd missed earlier into the wax as it melted. Initially I used the back of a spoon to do this, but switched to using my fingers as I found it easier. The heat from my hair dryer wasn't sufficient to do more than make the wax uncomfortably hot, but I'd advise caution here.

Applying heat to any patches of tissue that hadn't been absorbed into the wax.

The wax cooled quickly, allowing the candles to be moved aside. I used a kitchen knife to trim any dribbled wax, neatening up the base and finishing the candle.

The finished candles.

M was surprised at how her pictures had changed, taking on the circular nature of the candle, with figures that had been on opposite sides of the paper now standing next to each other. She decided she like the effect, but confirmed the cat candle was still her favourite.

M with her favourite candle, which now has a cat on it.

I was pleased with the effect too, but found it difficult getting an even finish on how much wax was absorbed into the tissue. It was also very fiddly trying to get the tissue tightly wrapped around the candle. Nonetheless, for a first attempt I think it worked well and it is a technique I might try again.

A knit for my baby

Back before M arrived, I had plans for my maternity leave which involved a lot of knitting or crochet. I had this vision of me with a new baby all tucked up in her bassinet beside me while I gazed lovingly at her sleeping form, my needles clicking or my hook hooking, as I made up all manner of woolly goodies for her. I planned accordingly, picking up suitable baby yarn and patterns, in readiness for those first few months...

Of course, as is the case with most new mothers, reality turned out to be a little different to my imaginings. I ended up with a baby who was happiest in my arms and I was happy to oblige, which meant my ability to knit or crochet was severely curtailed.

In fact, while I have crocheted intermittently since M’s arrival I had not picked up knitting needles since her birth until earlier this year! My first knitting project was started at M’s request and was Miss Sophie Bear.

My knitting break has left me with a stash of baby patterns and yarns, but instead of a baby I have an independently minded four year old, who has definite opinions on what she will or will not wear. I was determined to knit some of those baby patterns, with some of that yarn so was delighted to discover the Sirdar patterns I’d bought are actually sized from birth to seven years.

While I may be knitting again, I have to sneak it in around the edges of everything else I do, as spare time is practically non-existent these days. This means it takes a comparatively long time to make anything up and I make mistakes as I don’t have time to concentrate properly. I decided that with only three years to go before M outgrew the patterns, I needed to get started knitting straight away.

I chose the simply named ‘Design E - Striped and Plain Cardigan’ from Sirdar’s Little Stars and Stripes, which is a basic cardi with set in sleeves, a ‘V’ neck and fastened by a single button. A little lace adds interest at the cuffs, bottom, fronts and collar.

The yarn I chose from my stash was a pretty pink, self striping special deal from Aldi in a DK weight. Nothing in the way of natural fibres, but soft, cheap and picked up in a haze of hormones a few years back. It knit up nicely on 4mm needles, to the desired gauge of 22 stitches x 28 rows = 4 inch square.

Here is the result, pre-blocking (link to my Ravelry project - here).

Finished cardigan, before blocking - note the curl of the lace edging...

And here, after some steam had been applied.

Finished cardigan after blocking, curl much improved but still sneaking in.

Finished cardigan after blocking, curl much improved but still sneaking in.

Oh how that lace edging taunted me… It curls horribly at the cuffs and needed some seriously blocking to sort it out, but since I was working with a ‘baby’ yarn (code for acrylic), I was very timid when it came to blocking as it is so easy to over do the steam and kill the fabric. I did steam block this, but not heavily due to the acrylic fibre and although it was improved by blocking, that lace edging still has a slight curl to it, particularly at the sleeve cuffs.

Close up of the lace edging (after blocking).

When it came to the front edges and collar, i decided I didn’t like the suggested border or the way it was worked in two pieces and joined at the back of the neck. I decided to add a crochet edging instead, worked on a 3mm hook as follows:-

• Lay down a foundation row of dc (repeat of 4 + 1)
• 5tr shell around, 5dc-ch for the button hole

If I make this cardigan again, I will probably skip the suggested lace altogether and crochet a shell edging instead. I worked the edging (both the suggested lace on the cuffs and bottom, and the crochet edging) in a white baby DK from my stash. This contrasted nicely with the pink self striping.

I added a single lilac button from my button tin, which immediately decided it was a complementary shade of pink once I had sewn it on.

I am very pleased with how this turned out. I haven’t knitted many cardigan’s and due to the long break, this project represented a lot or re-learning old skills. I tried to stick to the pattern, but couldn't resist doing my own thing when the lace edging didn't behave, which was why I substituted with a far more civilised and far less scary crochet edging.

The finished cardigan, modelled by my 'baby'.

M likes the cardigan too. However I have a problem. She took a great deal of interest in how this project developed and has discovered my Ravelry queue which she has now co-opted. Rather than another cardi from my baby knits list, M has insisted my next knitting project should be a cat.