Bunny Rabbit Rattle (with pattern)

I saw lots of these on holiday being sold for large amounts of money so decided to make one. This is a prototype which will be given to the next baby or baby bump I find for testing before I amend the pattern.

*amendment 1 - brighter colours

I suck at faces

HEAD
The head is a flat circle of increases:

round 1: ch 2, 6 sc into 2nd ch from hook
round 2: 2 sc into each (12 sc)
round 3: *2 sc in 1st, 1 sc in 2nd around* (18sc) - change colour
round 4: *2 sc in 1st, 1 sc in 2nd and 3rd* around (24sc)
round 5: *2sc in 1st, 1sc in 2nd:4th* around (30sc)
etc until desired head size is reached
round 10: sc in back loops only around
round 11-13: sc in both loops around
round 14: sc in front loops around
then decrease in the same way as rounds 1:9 changing colours as appropriate and stuffing with a bell and stuffing before you reach the end.

EARS
made in the round, no need to stuff

round 1: ch 2, 4 sc into 2nd ch from hook
round 2: 2 sc in each (8 sc)
round 3: sc around
change colours as desired and continue until proportional to head.

HANDLE
made in the round and stuffed tightly

round 1: ch8 and join
round 2: sc in each around (8 sc)
continue until it can fit around your wrist stuffing as you go.
Join together with a needle and then sew to head.

FACE
I suck at faces, this is just a mess.

Claire

Cornwall Day 4: Lizard Point, Kynance Cove, Coverack Cove and Falmouth

Day 4 was a Revalation of sunshine and blueskies! It was also packed, with lots of photos taken so take a deep breath and make a cup of tea.

We set off down to Lizard point packing the swimming stuff with us *justincase*.

Mullion Cove, see the blue water!

The first stop off was Mullion Cove. It was a very pretty harbour, similar to the ones we'd seen in Skye last year rather than the more commercial ones near Fowey. The water was beautiful. Unfortunately, the photo on the bottom right resulted in a bit of an argument in which I accused Mike of being insensitive to my fear of death by trying to pull me off the edge for a photo. Hugs always make these things better though (I think he got a bit of a shock at how much I freaked out) so on we journeyed to Lizard Point.

We'd rejected Land's End since it was too commercial (and we'd both visited it as children, and we'd visited Great Britain's most westerly point last summer which trumps England's). Lizard point is the most southerly, has a free car park (well, donation carpark) and is home to Ann's pasties (basically a pasty shop in someone's garage). We got the last pasties (apparently one is supposed to phone in advance), luckily I wanted the vegetarian one :)

We were supposed to save our pasties until we got to the point (a mile walk maybe?) to sit and eat them. This did not happen. Each of us snuck a little bit ("just testing how warm it is") until there was none left.

Bottom right, I'm much happier

Lizard point itself was still quite touristy. But this little beach with the old lifeboat station was almost deserted. Mike did some stone skimming, and then we tested my ability to stand near a fence for a photograph.

After some messing around, we set off walking to Kynance cove (total walk from the car to lizard point, kynance cove and back 7 miles). During the walk the sky became more blue, the sun and wind stronger. We were fairly wind and sunburnt by the end of it!

see how sunny!

It was a beautiful walk, along the cliffs with breathtaking views. One issue I have with national trust walks is that they're a bit too easy with well trodden paths, but the view was worth it. We did lots of overtaking of slower couples, but stopped to watch people throwing model aeroplanes from the top of a cliff.

I found the cove itself (supposed most awesome in England) a little disappointing compared to others we'd seen in Scotland. It was also packed, due to having a road down to it and a cafe. However, we were very thirsty so actually the cafe was appreciated (we had no money but they filled up our water bottle).  I think my most perfect cove would be one which was hard to get to and dramatic.The walk back to the car was a very speedy and flat couple of miles. 

Coverack Cove - brr

Since we hadn't gone swimming at the cove, we looked on the map for the nearest bit of sand and set off to Coverack Cove (it was about 4pm by this point so swimming was perhaps a little optimistic). Again there was donation parking. Initially we took nothing with us but since the beach was so quiet, Mike ran back for the camera to capture photos of us galavanting in the sea. I didn't do any actual swimming, but happily ran around splashing (like the smallest children on the beach) and preparing tea and cake for when Mike was done. I also wore a bikini outside for the first time in my life. 

The end of day 4 was a drive to Falmouth to get fish and chips from the Rick Stein takeaway. We'd highly anticipated these fish and chips, eschewing others on previous evenings to save ourselves. They were a disappointment. Nowhere near as good as the Wee Hurrie in troon so don't bother going. We got back and made up for the disappointment with dessert wine and hot brownie and icecream in the cottage whilst watching thursday evening comedy on E4...our kind of evening. 

With Love

Claire

Pita Recipe

In a break from scheduled holiday posts.....

Dinner tonight was awesome so I want to keep the recipe for the future.  I've added the calories to the recipes because someone asked for them.

I ate some of the pita before I thought to stuff the tabbouleh into the pockets. 

We had kingprawn tabbouleh with homemade pita.

The pita recipe was from farmgirl fare, I would add less salt in future but this was an incredibly quick recipe (considering that it was bread). It's reproduced here, converted into UK measurements:

the smell is amazing, wondrous puffy balls of yeast

Serves 8, calories in each pita 177

310g strong bread flour
1 tsp salt (reduced from 2 tsp in the original recipe)
1 Tbsp granulated sugar (for the yeast to eat)
packet of instant yeast
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup warm water

1. Preheat the oven to the highest temperature (ours didn't go up to 275). 
2. Cut out 4 bits of tinfoil (all that would fit in the oven) to put the pita on. We didn't preheat the tinfoil. 
3. In a mixer (or with a spoon) combine 125g flour with the salt, sugar and yeast. 
4. Add the oil and water
5. BEAT for 3 minutes (I just used the dough-hook and the fastest setting)
6. Stir in the rest of the flour a bit at a time (dough-hook on lower setting)
7. Knead for 6 minutes (I used a dough hook, but kneading is pretty much just folding and stretching)
8. Divide the dough into 8 pieces (I used a pizza cutting wheel)
9. Roll into balls, sprinkle on some flour and cover with a damp teatowl
10. Leave next to the oven for 30 minutes
    Now is the time to make your actual dinner/accompaniment
11. After 30 minutes, flatten 4 of the balls and then roll out to very thin (1/4 inch)
12. Put each onto foil and then use a metal spatula to slide into the oven straight onto the shelf
13. Cook them for 4 minutes, meanwhile roll out the others
14. After 4 minutes, turn them over and swap the shelves. 
15. After another 2 minutes put back onto the now less damp teatowel and wrap them up so that the pockets happen
16. Cook the others in the same way

And that's it! Took less than an hour in all of which most of it was pottering. Minimal mess too. I have pita left over for lunch today too (Mike ate his lunch portion on top of dinner). 

The tabbouleh was a spontaneous random recipe and made enough for 2 generous dinners and lunch. (Total 1292 bulky calories, 20% protein entire meal of pita and tabbouleh could happily feed 5 or 6, 8 with olives, hummous and extra salad). 

1. Pour 1 pint of boiling water over 125g uncooked bulgar wheat and leave for 30 minutes, you might need to sieve it at the end. 
2. Stirfry a packet of king prawns with 2 handfuls of mixed vegetables (we used some of Sainsburys big basic stirfry mix which is carrots and cabbage basically) and some pinenuts (optional). 
3. Meanwhile chop up an avacado, plenty of cherry or, my new favourite, vittoria tomatoes, 1/2 a cucumber, a spring onion and a handful of parsley
4. Make tzadziki (or use shop bought which we did and added extra mint to) and mix into the salad
5. combine everything with added lemon juice. We also added greek basil because it's lush.

Enjoy, for several days. 

Claire

Cornwall Day 3: Eden Project and Polperro

Day 3 was a bit foggy...

So we decided to go to the Eden project. We didn't really take many photos of the flowers because we wanted the best chance to see everything. We did take this photo of us on the viewing platform, I don't look happy at the height do I? This was my second attempt to get up to the top and, I think, if I hadn't had to wait 35 minutes in a queue I wouldn't have been so determined. The Eden project was great (and we bought tickets cheaply with our clubcard)! We saw (and learned) loads and bought ourselves some hot chocolate to take home (real stuff that you grate into milk).

After the Eden project we drove to Polperro (a harbour near Fowey), potentially to visit The Blue Peter Inn (which has great reviews) for dinner. When we got there, it was busy and the menu wasn't as exciting as we'd hoped so, instead, we drank tea on the beach (alas we'd already eaten the brownies in the queue for the viewing platform at the Eden project) and I saw a one-footed seagull. Polperro is strange because it has a river running through the backs of the houses but the harbour is very pretty, with lots of rocks to explore.

We spotted some steps up from the beach which pointed to a short circular walk with extensive views (2 miles I think). It soon transpired that the fog meant we weren't going to see anything but everytime there was a viewing point we took a photo as we felt commanded. 

On the way back we tried to be inspired by the various seafood restaurants but the lunch yesterday had spoiled us so we bought some mead and some cider and went back to the cottage for a simple tuna salad. 

Day 3 then was a success, despite the weather. We actually enjoy walks in this sort of weather (and the lack of people). Especially when we came across a smugglers tunnel with a ladder which went down through the cliff onto the beach. Mike went to explore it. I did not. 

Claire

Cornwall Day 1 and 2

The next few posts are going to be more detail about our holiday itinerary- incase you decide you want to go to Cornwall and get ideas.

The cottage was a national trust cottage  which we got last minute and therefore discounted. By FAR the best thing about the cottage was the complete cornish teaset from TG Green: teapots, lots of cups, dinner plates, a huge serving bowl, coffee pot and milk jugs. I loved it, I remember having a cornish coffeepot which  Rachel (from Generation Artisan) had a matching set of, but both ended up broken :(

The cottage was well equipped and comfortable, but the dehumidifier got annoying after a while and the fact that the cottage was split into two (as are lost of their cottages) was a shame compared with our amazing honeymoon cottage.

We took a bit of a detour via Dartmoor to get there which was well worth the extra hour or so. The first evening involved going to the supermarket (requiring a ferry) and to a pub in Polruan where we enjoyed scallops, and playing a game of fluxx.

Playing Fluxx in a pub

Day two was our wedding anniversary. After opening our cards and presents (and Mike doing the crossword) we went to Padstow (to eat at Rick Stein's seafood restaurant).

Padstow Beach

Our meal was booked for 2pm so before that we went for a walk to the beach. Due to the grey day it was fairly quiet and we spent a lovely hour just wandering. We also visited the shops in Padstow - pretty greetings cards were bought.

After the meal we did a small recovery walk before heading off to Beduthran Steps. We parked and set off on a cliff-top loop, returning to the beach (down the precarious steps) for a cup of tea and some gingerbread.

And that was our first couple of days.

Cornwall Holiday

A few photos

Mike and I have just got back from our summer holiday. We took a week out before the hardcore final writing stage of my PhD and visited Cornwall. We stayed in a national trust cottage at the top of a creek near Fowey. It was very peaceful and the creek was swamp like: muddy with tree-roots diving right into the mud. Another perk was that the best way to get to a pub was via a ferry (either car or passenger). We took the teacosy with us every day, along with the teapot filled with loose-leaf tea, a tiny jar of milk (for Mike) and a thermos of hot water. The teapot had 3 beach trips, but we were upstaged on the last day by a marshmallow cooking family. It was grey for the first two days, with a fair amount of rain, but we were blessed with two lovely days (we even managed a swim). We did lots of walks (a few cliff-top ones and one around the creek) and ate lots of cake and had a very relaxed time.

For our anniversary (2 years since we got married), we had a special lunch at Rick Stein's seafood in Padstow. We shared an epic plate of shellfish (the only thing I didn't like was the whelk) and then Mike had Turbot, and I a lobster pie. The chips were also awesome (wife tax from Mike's plate) but I had samphire. They gave us free petit fours at the end (with happy anniversary written on :)) which we followed with an 8 mile walk and tea on the beach nearing sunset at Beduthran Steps - a perfect day.

anniversary lunch

We also bought a print in Padstow, which I'll frame and blog sometime soon. There was lots of beautiful sea-side art to choose from but that's not how we roll.

Love

Claire
x

Quick Tea Cosy

I made a teacosy from scraps for our holidays. there wasn't a pattern - the vertical stripes give it enough give to stretch around and I left a slot for the handle, and added a gold button. The top is just Sc2tog and the bottom edge SC in white. It'll be handy to sit outside with though. I feel like I've seen something similar before so there may be a pattern for it online somewhere. 

The pink was left over from this elephant - the design is Nicki Trench's one in super cute crochet and I've made 3 very cute elephants from it in the past - they don't hang around long until somebody claims them. 

Claire